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

The Wand of Gamelon marks the first game in the Zelda series where the eponymous princess, Zelda, is playable. The game is different from most conventional Zelda games in that it is played using a side-scrolling view, similar to that in The Adventure of Link. Levels are accessed from a world map which are selected with a cursor, with more areas becoming available as Zelda progresses through the game. Each level has two Triforces (called Triforce Maps in the in-game tutorial) that serve as exits; one at the beginning and one at the end. In addition to simply reaching the second Triforce in each stage, some levels also have special items and power-ups in them that are necessary to progress through later areas. Zelda also encounters several NPC characters in certain stages who provide Zelda with essential equipment and information, often requiring a specific item in return found somewhere else in the game. Zelda also collects "Rubies" dropped by defeated enemies, which are used to buy extra equipment from The Merchant's shop in Sakado.

Character interactions is achieved through the use of full motion video cutscenes, which are activated when Zelda approaches a character and touches them with her sword. The game describes this as the "Smart Sword", a sword Zelda uses that cannot hurt friendly characters and instead encourages them to talk.^[7] The cutscenes uses voice acting to provide Zelda with instructions and story, which makes The Wand of Gamelon one of the few Zelda games to have voice acting. Very little in-game text is encountered otherwise.

Trivia

The Wand of Gamelon seems to be a sequel to The Faces of Evil, as Zelda imprisons Ganon inside a book that appears identical to the Book of Koridai, an item Link had to find in The Faces of Evil.