While the Zelda series is one of the most popular video game franchises of all time, there are two instalments in the lineage that have been largely passed over by even the most hardcore of fans: the non-canon Wand of Gamelon and The Faces of Evil, two titles produced by for the ill-fated Philips CD-i as a result of the failed deal between Nintendo and Philips to create a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES.
Created not by Nintendo but by the late Dale DeSharone's Animation Magic studio, these titles – along with the third CD-i Zelda, Zelda's Adventure, created by Viridis – are generally reviled by fans today due to their ropey production, terrible voice acting and poor design – but that hasn't stopped programmer and CD-i enthusiast Dopply from dusting off The Wand of Gamelon and The Faces of Evil for a little more fun in 2021.
You might recall that Dopply worked on "reimagined remakes" of the two games using Game Maker, and his latest venture goes one step further by randomising elements of each game. His new application reconfigures the locations of items, bosses, NPCs, and even world unlocks to create a totally fresh experience.
You'll need Dopply’s CD-i remasters to use this application, and those are currently only available via the Merlin’s Palace Discord server after Dopply’s decision to withdraw them from wider public access. If you'd do manage to get your hands on the games, you can then download the randomizer application from Dopply’s page on archive.org. Enjoy!
[source zeldadungeon.net]
Comments 20
Wait, I dont see Skyward Sword mentioned in this article. 😏
I kid, I kid! 😉
I'd really like a remake that would fix all the flaws...
still waiting for Zelda CD-i All Stars for the 35th Anniversary celebration.
@Kang81 you beat me too it 😂
Play them again? I haven’t played them a first time. 😬
But yeah, not for me.
I’ve played an hour of The Faces of Evil. It’s worse than you could ever imagine.
If it randomizes voice lines, then you get a ytp generator from early 2010's
I played the fan remakes of them and I'd say they're more playable than the originals and way less frustrating due to unlimited continues and a usable button layout.
But that doesn't change the subpar level design (they consist mostly of enemy spam), short length and hilariously bad animated cutscenes (though they're the only reason to play these games so this might be a pro)
And I must admit, the music is pretty good and the level backgrounds aren't half bad either...
As for the third game, Zelda's Adventure: I watched a let's play of it and it was the most boring game I've ever seen.
I completed them both and I had to say it wasn't satisfying though I do had to say the soundtracks for both are actually rockin' good and the animated NPC skids are cheesy. If you want to play it, play it for the music and the skids, everything else are just throwaways.
You know the actual download for the remastered CD-i games themselves are also available on archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/FOER-and-WOGR
These games are the Ark of the Covenant for YTP.
Every time I see these games I can't help but wonder how the developers of these games feel about them nowadays.
I bet they don't say "oh boy, we sure made uncle Nintendo proud!"
I think the developers would be proud as punch these days. These are major touchstones of internet culture.
We talk about wanting Nintendo to embrace indie devs, how about they give us what we really want: the return of Morbo!
I can't even set up a non-randomized game.
Again? Nope.
For the first time? Nope.
I had both these on CDi and would actually love to see a CDi collection on Switch, if only for nostalgias sake. I'd buy a collectors edition and everything. I loved these horrible games.
Throw in Hotel Mario & weird top down Zelda as a bonus. I will pay for this.
@Whitestrider absolutely not. The flaws are what makes them special.
@dustinprewitt CD-i all star would have been such a great April Fool.
@Rhaoulos and available for sale for only one day!
Lamp oil! Rope! Bombs, you want it? It's yours my friend.
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