BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban
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| BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Nintendo |
| Publisher(s) | St. GIGA |
| Series | The Legend of Zelda |
| Platform(s) | Super Famicom - Satellaview add-on |
| Release date | 1997, 1998 (rebroadcast) |
| Genre(s) | Action Adventure |
| Mode(s) | time-restricted single player with multiplayer scoreboards |
| Rating(s) | Not rated |
| Media | pseudo-streaming download via satellite network, saved to either the Satellaview base unit's flash-RAM or to a BS-X flash-cart |
BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban (BSゼルダの伝説 古代の石盤 Bīesu Zeruda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban?, lit. "BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets") is a video game developed by Nintendo for the Satellaview, a Japanese-only attachment for the Super Famicom. The game was broadcast in 1997 and again in 1998.
BS stands for Broadcast Satellaview; the Satellaview unit is commonly referred to as the BS-X. Using this addon, gamers could download the game from the BS-5 channel of St. GIGA's satellite radio network and save it onto either the BS-X base unit's flash-RAM (included) or a BS-X Special Broadcast Cassette (an additional purchase or prize).
Contents |
[edit] Storyline
Ancient Stone Tablets is set six years after the events of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, after Link had set out upon his voyage to Koholint Island (see The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening). It is due to Link's absence from Hyrule that dark forces begin to lay siege to the kingdom.
However, hope is not lost. A youth from "another world" comes in a flash of light and descends into Hyrule, only to be discovered by Sahasrala and Zelda. This youth (who can be either male or female, depending on the player's choice), is identified as the "Hero of Light" and is instructed to obtain the eight Ancient Stone Tablets which contain the divine words of the three goddesses. It is believed that if the hero/heroine can obtain these tablets, the message within them will reveal an ancient secret that will be able to keep Ganon and his dark forces at bay once again.
Thus, the "Hero of Light" sets out to collect the "Ancient Stone Tablets", traveling in the same Hyrule that Link had not too long before (and many of the residents of Hyrule refer to this very fact). After collecting the Tablets and drawing the Master Sword from its pedestal in the Lost Woods, the "Hero of Light", along with Zelda, climbs to the summit of Death Mountain to an ancient monument. There, Zelda uses the Book of Mudora (which can translate from Hylain to English) to translate the tablets, and the monument cracks, revealing the Silver Arrow and a Sacred Bow. This, Zelda says, is what the hero/heroine needs to defeat Ganon. Finally, a red portal opens up and reveals the way into the Dark World, the twisted version of the Sacred Realm where Ganon is hiding.
The "Hero of Light" enters Ganon's Tower and does battle with the evil beast, managing to defeat him with the Silver Arrow, bringing him to justice. Then, after retreating back to Hyrule, he/she returns the Master Sword to its resting place in the Lost Woods, along with Zelda and Sahasrala, and returns to their world in a flash of light.
[edit] Gameplay
The game and its gameplay was mostly identical to A Link to the Past, which it is modified from. It is similar to a "second quest" or "Master Quest".
Many gameplay mechanics were tidied up. The most notable change was to the Pegasus Boots; the player could now change directions when running with the Boots, and could also move between rooms and screens without automatically stopping as in A Link to the Past. The dungeon items were also changed. Instead of three pendants and seven crystals the player now collected the titular Ancient Stone Tablets, of which there were eight.
Bombable walls, which in A Link to the Past were noticeably cracked, are in this game completely indistinguishable from regular walls. Only prodding with a sword will lead to their discovery by making a hollow ringing sound. Each and every bombed-out area rewarded the player with Rupees, or pots containing bomb and arrow refills, and so on. Sometimes the wall concealed an "Upgrade Thief"; the thieves who in A Link to the Past knocked into the player and stole the items they dropped now appeared in a helper role; he would upgrade their maximum of one ammo type (either bombs or arrows, each thief only upgrades one type, and once only), but for a cost. The price increased as the player progressed through the game. When discovered in caves found on the overworld, these thieves gave out large quantities of Rupees.
[edit] Presentation
The game was divided into four weekly episodes. These episodes were played live, and a video game advice show simultaneously ran on the satellite network, possibly containing advertisements that promoted the games currently being played.
 Overworld week 1 |
 Overworld week 2 |
 Overworld week 3 |
 Overworld week 4 |
In each week the player could only access certain portions of the overworld. Areas shrouded in clouds were unreachable. Two dungeons were accessible per week, however the episode ended only when time expired, not when the player had completed all the objectives for that week. In the meantime, the player could complete side-quests and hunt for Rupees, bottles, and Pieces of Heart.
Once they acquired certain key dungeon items, new areas of the overworld become available. For example, once a player has the Magic Hammer, he or she can knock previously unpassable pegs into the ground, allowing access to the area it blocked. At one point in the game large and heavy rocks lie in the hero's path; when he or she acquires various types of Gloves he or she can lift some or all of these rocks and throw them out of the way.
[edit] Live Voice
All cutscenes were fully voice acted, live, much like a radio play. The players constantly heard the "narrator" (playing the part of the voice of Sahasrahla, a character from A Link to the Past) give various tips and hints during play. During the final minutes his statements become more demanding and forceful as time was running out.
The non-mandatory side-quests were also fully voice-acted;[citation needed] however since the player could come across that event at any point rather than at a forced time, and there was no viable way for the console to convey proximity information to the voice acting center, it is assumed that the voice actor for that character kept saying their script over and over for the entirety of the designated time (they can each be saved from about 18:43 until 18:56), whether any player was actually on the same screen (and thus in "earshot") or not.
The Zelda no Video documentary shows several minutes of Live Voice-enhanced gameplay in action, both of the opening cutscenes and of a side-quest, with the voice actor for Princess Zelda calling for help desperately for the entirety of the clip.
[edit] Character selection
Satellaview players configured a profile and gender using its game-selection interface. This information then carried across to the games, where they are represented by the unnamed Satellaview mascots. In the case of this game, the female character was the A Link to the Past Link model with hair replacing the traditional green hat, while the male character was Link with a baseball cap.
[edit] Real-time clock
The game was played in real-time. Each episode was one whole hour, and so the gameplay was intense and compressed, with cutscenes in between. However, the game in its entirety took one hour; that means the cutscenes counted as part of the gameplay time.
There were several optional side-quests available, each with its own mostly text-only cutscene (they were not activated at any set time so could not feasibly feature live voice),[citation needed] the completion of which netted a score bonus and some Rupees, but getting this reward meant deviating and delays while reading through all the thanks responses, thus shortening the available game time even further. The player could also choose to bomb walls and explore caves and find countless chests full of Rupees (and, in turn, get points for opening them). While doing these side-quests netted more points for players hoping to win prizes, every minute of delay subtracted points from the value of that week's Tablets, and if the player got lost or waylaid in the dungeon or overworld and ran out of time it is assumed that they got nothing at all (judging by the specific wording of the "bad ending" scene in week 4).
Unlike other games where any clock feature stops when the player open a menu or pause it, in this game the clock kept on ticking no matter what. The enemies and everything else in the world as a whole do pause when the item menu opens, but the clock does not. So the player could not leave the game. He or she had to keep playing or he or she would lose time.
The clock affected gameplay enormously. At particular times on the clock various things might happen: health-restoring fairies appear, a Bombos or Ether magic attack destroys enemies on-screen, the player gets unlimited bombs or arrows or magic or can shoot magic rings from their sword, etc. An enormous variety of things could happen each week, and the events and the times they occur vary between weeks.
At a different time each week, fog descended on the overworld. A few minutes afterward a thunderstorm would break loose, restricting exploration by defusing any bombs and increasing the difficulty by replacing any normal overworld (i.e. not in a dungeon) enemies with Zoras, fierce lizard-like creatures that home in on the player and could not be stunned with the Boomerang like their A Link to the Past forefathers. After a few minutes the rain and thunder cleared. The fog remained, although it too disappeared shortly after.
[edit] Rental shops
Many changes were made to the overworld, such as many rental shops. At these the player can purchase a sword upgrade (unless he or she already has the L-4 sword) or a Shovel (unless he or she already has it), for 100 Rupees each. However these items are rented, as the title indicates, for only ten minutes, so the player must make the most of them in order to make his or her purchase worthwhile.
It was most advisable to buy the Shovel, because with it the player could dig for a hidden Piece of Heart; there were an even number of these in each week, and the dug-up ones could not be retrieved in later weeks, so if the player intended to have the maximum hearts when he or she faced Ganon he or she needed to buy a shovel and begin digging. The first time a shovel was rented each week, the shop owner marked the location of the digging spot on the map. Each week this could be one of four different locations, and the locations that are randomly chosen between change from week to week.
Since the Shovel could now dig up Rupees almost anywhere in the overworld - it could not in A Link to the Past - it became a very lucrative way to fill up any spare time before the gameplay hour ended.
[edit] Mole
The Mole is a strange character unique to this game. At a certain time he will burrow out somewhere (the location is different from week to week). If the player talks to him he or she will get 10,000 points, but then he burrows down once more. If the player can again locate his diggings, he or she will find he has discovered a Rupee treasure trove. He will have opened a cave containing six treasure chests, and the quantity of Rupees found inside increases for each successive week.
[edit] Scoring and prizes
| Item/Event | Reward |
| Treasure Chest | 500 points |
| Small Key | 1,000 points |
| Piece of Heart | 1,000 points |
| Dungeon Item | 1,000 points |
| Heart Container | 5,000 points |
| Special Item | 5,000 points |
| Rescuing someone | 10,000 points |
| Talking to the Mole | 10,000 points |
| Tablet | 40,000 points* |
Each event on their journey, both major and minor, will net the player points. Every event in the chart to the right has a score value associated with it. The scores add up, so a chest will give points to the player, even if it contains a points-bearing item in turn. However, 500 points are deducted from the player's score for every minute that passes (including the six minutes before play starts).
There are no points given for collecting Rupees, slaying enemies, or defeating bosses. The items the player acquires after defeating bosses do give points.
There is no feasible score limit; while the game allows for 8 digits worth of scoring, there is no way a player can ever reach this even if they do absolutely everything and collect the tablets as soon as possible. This is because the amount of score-giving items in the game world are strictly finite; there is thus no way to discover what the game would do if the score was surpassed.
While scoring had absolutely no effect on gameplay whatsoever, there were other post-game benefits. At the end of each hour of play the gamer was given a score readout. By submitting these game high scores (probably a coded password sent by mail, but perhaps sent directly via the satellite link) his or her score would be recorded. If the player scored high enough, he or she might receive a free gift, such as a phonecard or flash-cart.
[edit] Differences
There are several differences between Ancient Stone Tablets and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. As stated before, this game was available for play in 1997-1998. Like Link's Awakening, it was also a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, the key difference being that it took place in the same world as the prequel. The following is a list of some of the differences that exist between the two games:
- The overworld of Ancient Stone Tablets is nearly identical to that of A Link to the Past. However, there are a few layout differences, such as new houses, Rental Shops, caves, heart-pieces and dungeon locations.
- The game contains Rental Shops where the "Hero of Light" can rent a Shovel or Sword Upgrade for periods of 10 minutes. The sword upgrade is one-level higher than their current sword, unless they already possess the Master Sword (Level 4).
- As previously mentioned, the game features "weather effects", such as rain and fog, which occur at various time intervals throughout the game. The weather does have an effect on game-play. For example, when it is raining, the Hero/Heroine is not able to detonate any bombs that they place outside. Also, Zoras come out during the rain.
- The game only contains eight dungeons, as opposed to the twelve dungeons of A Link to the Past.
- Since the game was only released in Japan, the items of the game were given the same names as the Japanese version of A Link to the Past. In particular, the Blue Mail is the Blue Clothes, the Red Mail is the Red Clothes, the Titan's Mitt is the Powerful Gloves, etc.
- The sword levels have been reworked: The Hero's Sword is Level 1, the Tempered Sword is Level 2, the Level 3 Sword is Level 3, and the Master Sword is Level 4.
- The Pegasus Boots resume dashing off-screen and allow you to change direction while dashing.
- You receive swords and shields as treasures in dungeons.
- You get upgrades, such as the Blue Clothes (in Level 3) and the Red Clothes (in Level 6) earlier in the game.
- In Ancient Stone Tablets there are three levels of gloves as opposed to the two found in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Worn-out Gloves (Level 1- can lift most objects, but only one per screen), Power Gloves (Level 2- can lift most heavy objects), and Powerful Gloves (Level 3- can lift all heavy objects).
- The King of Hyrule and Impa are characters in Ancient Stone Tablets; Impa was not present in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and the King only made an appearance after Hyrule was saved from the clutches of the evil wizard Agahnim and Ganon by Link in A Link to the Past. In this game, the King resides in Hyrule Castle and offers the Hero/Heroine words of encouragement and gives them small hints as to what they need to do in their quest. Impa, also, serves no major role (she too simply wishes the player good luck).
- The "Hero of Light" is not Link, but is instead a boy or girl from "another world". In Ancient Stone Tablets the Hero/Heroine is represented as Link, but with the Satellaview mascot's head (either a boy with a baseball cap or a girl's head).
[edit] Replaying the game
Because the Live Voice content was absolutely central to gameplay (and was not stored on the base unit or flash-RAM cartridge in any way whatsoever) and also because the timer was based on a real-time clock set by the satellite itself, this game could not be played whenever the player chose like some of the other BS-X games, but only during the set hours. The game would not run outside these broadcast times. The game was rebroadcast in the following year, but other than that the game was rendered completely unplayable.
With the advent of console emulation, it is possible to play the entire game in four separate parts (but without the cutscenes and voice acting) using Snes9x 1.42 or 1.43. In 2007, the team at the BS Zelda Homepage made it possible to play all four parts of Ancient Stone Tablets with sound and without any graphical errors (previously dungeons and inside locations had major graphical errors, but the team managed to retrieve the graphics and restore them to the ROMs). While the original MP3 music and voice-acting has yet to be restored, the team plans to do so in the near future, as well as to remove the play-timer (as they did with BS Zelda no Densetsu).
[edit] Original broadcast dates
| From... | To... | Chapter Title |
| 30 Mar 1997 | 05 Apr 1997 | BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban Dai 1 Wa |
| 06 Apr 1997 | 12 Apr 1997 | BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban Dai 2 Wa |
| 13 Apr 1997 | 19 Apr 1997 | BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban Dai 3 Wa |
| 20 Apr 1997 | 26 Apr 1997 | BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban Dai 4 Wa |
- Date taken from The Nintendo Database (Waybacked, page no longer exists).
[edit] External links and references
- The BS Zelda Homepage – the most complete resource for this game.
- StrategyWiki's BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban wiki guide - the scoring table above comes from this guide.
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