The first, shown above, was a Super Mario All-Stars style remake of The Legend of Zelda, with some pretty significant differences. Most notably, it was serialized. The game was broadcast over the satellite system over four weeks (from 4pm to 7pm daily), and only one section of the game could be played per week.
However, it wasn't just a pretty, frequently-interrupted The Legend of Zelda. In fact, it's something of a "Third Quest." The overworld map was cut in half, and locations and enemies were mixed up. The dungeon maps were also all redrawn (the maps of the six dungeons spell out "St. GIGA", the name of the satellite network), and Link was replaced by a generic boy or girl "from another world." But those are among the least shocking changes made to this game.
The game also had a timer that corresponded to real time. At certain intervals, the game would pause, and an actor, as our favorite Zelda character, "Old Man," would read some dialogue. This narration was transmitted over the Satellaview network during play sessions. Even when the game was saved to the BS-X RAM cartridge, the narration was lost. The Live Voice aspect, which was an important and innovative part of the experience, is now completely gone, leaving even the most perfect emulation of BS Zelda incomplete.
Six months after the first broadcast, in December of 1995 through January of 1996, BS Zelda no Densetsu was broadcast again as BS Zelda no Densetsu ~MAP 2~, with another new map and new dungeons.
Other features included item rentals (powerful swords and such, for ten minutes), and a point system through which Nintendo awarded prizes to high scorers. The point competitions and live narration, again, are long gone.
And that's the problem with these games. It is impossible to purchase a used cartridge of either of these, because even if someone did save the data, the narration is gone. It was apparently important to the gameplay of The Ancient Stone Tablets, as well. We won't discuss emulation in too much detail, but suffice it to say that the games had to be hacked significantly to run at all, and that in any form, the ROMS are copyrighted material and not legal for download.
We doubt we'll ever see another video game with live narration, but we wonder why Nintendo couldn't record such voice for a DS cartridge or Wii downloadable release of these games. It's strange for Nintendo to sit on fresh Zelda content, including new quests for the NES and SNES games. We would have imagined them throwing it on a GBA cartridge at the very first opportunity. These would make an outstanding DS release to capitalize on the success of Phantom Hourglass.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-04-2007 @ 11:21AM
sergioalb64 said...
Thanks for that very cool article.
Yeah, hopefully we see these titles, maybe on some sort of 'The Legend of Zelda: The Lost Dungeons' pre-order bonus for the next big Zelda title.
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 11:39AM
troy said...
The next Zelda on DS needs to be, or at least contain, 'The Ocarina of Time' in DS format. If it ALSO has these other features, say 'Zelda All-Stars' like you suggested, then it will be all the better. I would love it. You would love it. They probably should make '4 Swords Ocarina Wi-Fi' and we would all BE THERE!
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 11:48AM
JC Fletcher said...
I totally agree, except for the Ocarina of Time part.
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 12:10PM
jpn said...
Wow - I never knew about the live narration! Wow...live narration...it really shows you how ahead of the times they were. I remember how the US had the Sega Channel (parts of the country, anyway) for a while, then it was gone...and it only took about 10 years for it to be replaced by the XBLA/VC/PS Store!
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 12:10PM
Matt said...
They've released Ocarina of Time enough ...times, and on three different formats, I don't think they need to do it again for the DS. And there's already a Zelda compilation for the GC (which includes Ocarina..), so no need for that again. Unless it was a compilation of never-released-stateside games like the BS ones :)
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 1:56PM
Rubang B (NDF - Heart) said...
I want Adventure of Link II, with 2.5-D (think Smash Bros. graphics) platforming on the DS, with spells and hack'n'slash battling, dammit! I want to jump really high and turn into a fairy and fight endless slimes like I was in Dragon Quest! And giant slimes! And shadow me! I'm insane!
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 2:13PM
BPM (FDF - Hypno-Toad) said...
The playable characters in the BS Zelda games were the mascots for St. Giga.
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 3:02PM
Andy S. said...
Sad that we're going to face this same problem with modern MMOs and, well, anything that focuses primarily on online play. You can hold on to the software for as long as you like, but you can't do much with it if the network that supported it is gone. Just as you can't really play PSO on the Sega Network anymore, WOW and Halo 3 are going to be as useless as Asheron's Call when their respective networks are shut down.
The move towards more online content is a move away from software that can still be enjoyed years down the road.
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 3:33PM
troy said...
Well Mr. JC with a job, you might not take into account that even some very old folk like me (I'm almost 24!) have never played Ocarina all the way through, and that though Ocarina has been released on GC (i.e. the Nintendo system that the MOST PEOPLE HAVE BOUGHT, apparently) it still might be something that the, i don't know, FIFTY MILLION PLUS DS OWNERS might want to buy. Sheesh. Ok, I guess it was a bad idea because it was such a popular game and such a well received one I mean who would want to play it?!? SHAME ON YOU! I mean at least spend more time telling me why I'm wrong, ok? You spend all the time on the wit and not any on the actual and the TALKING and the glaven!
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 3:42PM
Mainman said...
@ Andy S.
You're half right. When the content owner pulls the plug on the servers, the game ceases to be playable in its intended state. However, fans of these games are a special kind of crazy, and will create their own servers just so that they may continue playing online. This is especially true of Phantasy Star Online (Except for the PC version, whose official servers are still going); if you do your research, there are several private servers for each PSO version out there, and they provide instructions on how to configure your settings to access them. The number of people playing is heavily decreased, but otherwise it's as playable as it was on the official servers.
We probably won't see the likes of BS Zelda again, but it's (nearly) plausible that some dedicated fans could create a similar broadcast system, grab a few of the Japanese SNES consoles that could recieve these games, and recreate the original version's environment for their own use.
I wouldn't hold my breath for any news regarding a project like this (too expensive, not enough people), but you can be somebody will try (or has tried) to do it at some point.
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 3:44PM
JC Fletcher said...
No, you're actually right, I spent too much time on the glaven. I would have no problem with a DS version of Ocarina, but, well, Ocarina is WAY not my favorite Zelda. I was mostly being glib by suggesting it shouldn't go on a DS cart. I don't know, I was kind of hoping that the Zelda discussion could skew a little more closely to the game(s) that the post is about, instead of the one Zelda game that seems to get talked about over and over and over and over.
If it meant BS Zelda came along with the DS OoT, I'd be just fine with that. But yet another release of Ocarina? It would be okay for plenty, but I wouldn't buy it (again).
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 4:48PM
troy said...
No threat intended master of the Wit JC (And i don't mean that facetiously because you are really damn funny) i see you're point. There is never enough glaven! I just mean that after Mario 64 DS making a smooth launch if Nintendo really liked money they might think of a Ocarina DS. I see what you meant about the discussion: but is a pure BS Zelda DS (ha ha letters all over) reissue really LIKELY AT ALL? I was just imagining what might be an actual, possible venue for the little buggers. I mean, why didn't 'Zelda All-Stars' come out about 10 years ago? I just think Ocarina is a 64 game that would make sense on DS.
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 4:52PM
troy said...
In fact, a cart with LoZ 1, 2, ALttP on it in touch screen control would be nice, sort of an all stars, but where would the line be drawn? Would Link's Awakening be on it or would these BS Zelda's, with new voice acting maybe, be on it, or would maybe even BOTH 64 Zelda's be on it? I just think a portable OoT is inevitable and obvious, being as ALttP was made portable as soon as the technology existed. I just think that if SquareEnix is going to remake every game in the world Nintendo can remake the very best.
Reply
10-04-2007 @ 7:06PM
Extinction said...
I hate the DS and it's crappy games with a fiery passion, but I'd buy one if Nintendo made a DS card with OOT, MM and MQ on it. None of this splitting up BS like they did to All Starts on the GBA
Reply
10-09-2007 @ 3:15PM
Thorlord said...
@ #8
almost right, while when wow and PSU go offline, Halo 3 will still be played, the way the network for XBL is built is in such a way so that the online play for a game never needs to be disabled. all games connect to a centralized server that connects them it to other gamers, it does this through an advanced tunneling system and a P2P server system.
its essentially Battle.net, the servers can be used for any game, at any time. there is no need to disable use of older games, for server performance increases.
i guess thats a long way of saying, no, in 20 years your Halo 3 should still beable to play online (that is if the Xbox is still around then)
Reply