BS The Legend of Zelda (partially lost Satellaview remake of "The Legend of Zelda"; 1995)

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BSzeldaload.jpg

The loading screen for the game.

Status: Partially Lost

BS The Legend of Zelda is a partially lost SoundLink game for the Satellaview, an add-on to the Super Famicom (the Japanese version of the SNES). It was developed and published by Nintendo and distributed by St. GIGA.[1] It is a variation of the original The Legend of Zelda for the NES/Famicom.

The Satellaview

SoundLink games were special games broadcast over the radio to Super Famicom systems with a Satellaview expansion attached and a subscription to the St. GIGA radio service. Games would be broadcast in weekly or daily episodes (usually four). As new episodes were added, more and more of the game became available. These games were not permanent and would be erased at the end of the broadcast period to make space for new games. Additionally, SoundLink games could only be played at set hours due to real-time narration being used. This makes the games impossible to obtain, as new broadcasts are not being sent out (the service shut down in March of 2000).

Gameplay

The gameplay of BS The Legend of Zelda is identical to the original The Legend of Zelda. The game is an action-adventure game, puzzle game, and has some elements of role-playing games. The player controls a hero as they adventure throughout the overworld, fighting through dungeons, collecting shards of the Triforce, and ultimately fighting the final boss Ganon and rescuing Princess Zelda.

Differences

The Hero of Light, whom you play as in the game.

While having identical gameplay, many differences exist between The Legend of Zelda and BS The Legend of Zelda. For one thing, the graphics are 16 bit instead of 8 bit due to BS being on the Super Famicom. You also play as The Hero of Light, a different person than the normal protagonist of the Zelda series, Link. The Hero of Light is based on the avatar character from the Satellaview account system. If you chose male, your character wears a white backward baseball cap, while females have a pink ponytail. Both characters wear Link’s signature green tunic. The Old Man from the beginning cave also narrates your journey. The dungeons are also in a completely different layout than the original, forming the word St GIGA, an arrow, and a skull. The plot also differs from The Legend of Zelda and actually takes place years after A Link to the Past (The third game in the Zelda franchise). The biggest deviation, however, is the time system. At certain hours of gameplay, characters would get power-ups or become stronger in some way. The player would also only have one hour every week to complete two dungeons.

Broadcasts

Due to being a SoundLink game, BS The Legend of Zelda could only be played from 5 P.M. to 7 P.M..

The only known ad for the game.

Original Broadcast

  • Aug 6th, 1995 (Week 1)
  • Aug 13th, 1995 (Week 2)
  • Aug 20th, 1995 (Week 3)
  • Aug 27th, 1995 (Week 4)

Reruns

  • Sep 3rd, 1995 - Sep 29th, 1995
  • Oct 1st, 1995 - Oct 24th, 1995
  • Nov 5th, 1995 - Nov 28th, 1995
  • Jan 1st, 1997 - Jan 4th, 1997

Availability

The only known ROM dump of the game comes from the third week and is thus incomplete. However, by using videos of gameplay from the broadcast period, fans have been able to recreate the final week of the game, sans the time and narration elements.

Gallery

Screenshots

Footage

Gameplay footage.

Annotated gameplay (part 1).

Annotated gameplay (part 2).

Annotated gameplay (part 3).

Annotated gameplay (part 4).

See Also

External Links

References