BS Zelda

BS Zelda was an expanded version of The Legend of Zelda that was released for the Satellaview attachment of the Super Famicom in Japan.

Gamers could download the game from the satellite and save it onto either the base unit's memory or onto a BS-X Special Broadcast Cassette using this add-on.

Gameplay

The gameplay was identical to its predecessor, but the maximum of Rupees was increased to 999 (rather than 255), the overworld was altered, and dungeons were completely different. There is some allusion to this game being a "Third Quest", much like the The Legend of Zelda's Second Quest.

The Clock

The game was played in real-time. An onscreen clock showed the current time, and at various times on the clock certain events would happen. The game pauses for a moment before making a change. Sometimes the enemies are killed or stunned, sometimes a fairy appears, and occasionally the player is granted unlimited quantities of one of their items for a limited time. Bombs, boomerangs and candles can all be auto-upgraded this way, and will never run out of ammunition until the clock reaches the ending value, at which point the player's bombs are returned to the amount they had before the unlimited amount was activated, or the boomerang will downgrade, or the candle turn from red back to blue.

Presentation

The game was divided into four weekly episodes. These episodes were played live, at the same time as a videogame tips show was running on the satellite network (it probably contained ads and such to promote the games currently being played). Due to technical limitations, the download time was a whole seven minutes just for one episode.

Character Selection

The player could configure their name and gender in the Bandai Satellaview game-selection interface. This then carried across to the game. This is the first (and possibly last) time a female character has been a playable protagonist in a Zelda game.

Live Voice

BS Zelda's implementation of Live Voice was significantly different to that in Kodai no Sekiban. When the clock hit certain times the game would pause and display Japanese writing onscreen (that apparently reads "listen"), and the player would hear a narrator (apparently playing the part of the Old Man, and allegedly the same voice actor as Sasharhala) give a hint or suggestion. It is unknown as to how long these tips were, but under emulation the pauses are about two to three minutes long. After that time the text disappears and gameplay resumes as before.

Free gifts?

In one issue of Nintendo Online Magazine, there is some allusion to the player getting free gifts. According to the limited Translator English description, it states that "the prize was sent in the student with exellent records." This seems to indicate that high-scoring players were mailed gifts. Due to costs involved, it is to be assumed that they were only Gashapon-style trinkets; however many Zelda-themed merchandise items with unknown origins do exist, and some of these may well originate from here. Since the player had to be subscribed to the St. GIGA network to play the company would already have their mailing adddress recorded, so it is quite possible they sent cheap gifts... all quests for information have resulted in more dead ends, so the truth of this might never be known.

Broadcast dates

(taken from The Nintendo Database (Waybacked, page no longer exists)

(taken from The Nintendo Database (Waybacked, page no longer exists)

See also

• The Legend of Zelda series
• BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban, its "cousin"
• Nintendo Online Magazine screenshot and writeup, potentially referring to free gifts.
• The BS Zelda Homepage, the definitive BS Zelda source
• List of Super Famicom games