Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

Template:Game Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon is a video game developed by Animation Magic^[1] and released for the Philips CD-i in 1993.^[2] It was developed in tandem with, and released on the same day as The Faces of Evil,^[3] and followed up a year later by Zelda's Adventure, which was developed separately by Viridis Corporation.

A product of a compromise between Nintendo and Philips due to their failure to release a CD-ROM based add-on to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System,^[4] The Wand of Gamelon, alongside the other two, are the only Template:LZS games developed by a non-Nintendo company and released on a non-Nintendo system. The games have been subject to much criticism,^[5] and Nintendo does not recognize them as canon to the Zelda series.^[6]

Story

File:Zeldawandofgamelon1.jpg

An in-game cutscene

King Harkinian, Princess Zelda's father, announces that Duke Onkled, ruler of the island of Gamelon, is under attack by the evil forces of Ganon, and that he is going to the island to aid him. Zelda expresses worry for her father's safety, but Harkinian reassures her that he will take the Triforce of Courage to protect him, and tells Zelda to send Link to help if he does not return in a month. Impa also assures Zelda that her father will safely return by looking into the Triforce of Wisdom's vision. An entire month passes without word from the King. As instructed, Zelda sends Link to find him, but he fails to return either. Zelda then decides to venture forth herself to search for Link and her father, taking Impa along with her.

In Gamelon, Zelda does battle with many creatures working for Ganon, and meets many friendly characters and obtains a variety of useful items along the way. On her adventure, she confronts and defeats several of Ganon's minions: Gibdo, Iron Knuckle, the Three Witches, Wizzrobe, Hectan, and Omfak. Between her battles, Zelda and Impa learns from the Triforce of Wisdom that several of Gamelon's citizens have been captured by Ganon's minions, and eventually learn that the same fate had befallen to her father as well who was captured by Ganon himself. Although Link's fate remains unknown, Zelda meets Lady Alma after saving her from Wizzrobe, and learns that she had once met with Link. Eventually, Zelda reaches Duke Onkled's castle, Dodomai Palace, where she frees the King's imprisoned Royal Retainer and learns from him that Duke Onkled is actually working with Ganon and had betrayed the King. She confronts Onkled and forces him to give her the key to Reesong Palace, where Ganon is. Zelda learns from Myra, a woman encountered earlier in Hanyu Forest, that only the Wand of Gamelon can defeat Ganon, which she finds in the Shrine of Gamelon after defeating its keeper Omfak.

At Reesong Palace, Zelda uses the wand to imprison Ganon inside a book with chains, and rescues the King. Duke Onkled is arrested and turned over to the King, and begs for mercy. He is made to "scrub all the floors in Hyrule" as his punishment. Zelda wonders where Link had went to, but Lady Alma, present at the King's liberation, calls him a bore. Zelda then takes her mirror and throws it away, which breaks and spontaneously releases Link, although he seems to have no recollection of what happened. The group then celebrates by having a feast.

Gameplay

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon was the first Zelda game where the player plays as the eponymous princess. It is played using the side-scrolling view introduced in Template:AOL. For a variety of reasons, it is generally accepted that this game does not play as tightly as The Adventure of Link. These range from the quality of the CD-i controller, to the speed of the gameplay and the jerkiness of the character animations.

The game's different areas are accessed from a world map, where more areas open as the player progresses through the game. Each level has two Triforce symbols which are used to exit to the map, one found at the beginning of the level and another at the end, which "completes" the level when activated. In addition to simply making it to the end of the various stages, Zelda must also collect various items and power-ups that are needed to complete certain tasks or to give to a certain NPC. The enemies in the game include some well-known creatures from the canonical Zelda games, such as Moblins, Octoroks, and Armos, and others created exclusively for the CD-i games. Most of the enemies in the game are also found in Link: The Faces of Evil. The player also collects "rubies" for defeating enemies, which can be used to buy lamp oil, rope and bombs from the store in Sakado.

Listings

Characters

The game features several friendly NPCs, all original characters created exclusively for this game, who give Zelda essential information and items. There are also a number of villainous characters who Zelda must defeat to progress through her quest. All of these "bosses" are defeated in one hit, although some require a specific item to kill. Many of them are based off of regular enemies from the main series.