Link: Faces of Evil

Okay... So typically I'm not one to advocate someone getting shot in the face, but I'm always willing to make an exception. That exception? The Phillips CD-i disgracing of our beloved childhood video game characters through the form of failed partnerships.



The Phillips CD-i Video / Game Console

Whoa... nice one there Phillips, with your ginormus VCR lookin' console there.

I know, I know. Everyone was jumping on the CD format console bandwagon, and you just couldn't be left behind, could you?

So heres the beef behind this failed attempt to join the Video Game craze of 1993.

Nintendo had plans for a CD-add on for their then current system the SNES.

They had first went to Sony to set up a deal which later fell through. Leading soon after to the release of Sony's Playstation. After that failed partnership, Nintendo struck a deal with Phillips.

A deal that involved the rights to several beloved Nintendo Characters to be signed over to Phillips for limited use, for a few titles for this new CD add-on. Those characters included Link, Zelda, Gannon, Mario and Luigi [to name a few].

Needless to say, Nintendo decided not to move forward with the CD-add on, and dropped the partnership with Phillips. However, Phillips still had rights to create a game based on those characters. Hence;



Link: The Faces of Evil

A New Interactive Animated Adventure, with absolutely no involvement from Nintendo or Zelda's creators / developers. Instead, this task was handed to Animation Magic, Inc.

Who, in their infinite wisdom, decided to take everything we know and love of our young Hyrulian hero Link and his Adventures, and strip them; then replace them with some horribly written 1980's sunday morning cartoon dialogue, a bad plot line, and oh yeah, its a game as well, so might as well throw in some poorly thought out action / adventure side-scroller gameplay.

Have we killed everything they knew and loved from the original Zelda?... Alright... we're good to go then.



Is that Lipstick and a bouffant?!

Oh, and I forgot to mention. They managed to develop this masterpiece 100% completely in MS Paint.....[or so it would appear]. Way to go doucheholes.



Some of the glorious gameplay...



Oh Link.... you're such a card!

Sadly, Link: The Faces of Evil was just the first of three tragedies to strike the Zelda community in the form of CD-i releases. It was soon following by two more releases bearing the likeness of The Zelda Franchise, including:


Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

Which is basically the same exact title as Link: The Faces of Evil, except this time Animation Magic, Inc. decided to spice it up a bit and make Zelda the lead heroin! Way to innovate there guys! The results... much the same:


What an improvement!

Now, instead of a young hero in a green tunic, you have a young hero in a Pinkish purple tunic... original...

Considering both of these titles came out on the same day, too many differences shouldn't have been expected. Lastly, however, it seemed Phillips had finally taken the hint. Animation Magic, Inc. was dropped, and a new developer was brought on to round out the Phillips CD-i Zelda series with Zelda's Adventures by Viridis.



Attempting to return to the tride and true formula The Legend of Zelda on NES had perfected, they went for a somewhat over the head perspective, dropping the cartoon-y side-scroller gameplay, and returned to traveling a massive overworld, visiting towns and townspeople to obtain clues before venturing into dungeons.


Zelda's Adventures

Slightly better than the previous two, this one at least attempted to go back to its roots, however you still play as Zelda [hence the title] which I feel is a slap in the face to any Zelda title, as Link should always be the protagonist.

As much as I'd like to say it however, this wasn't the end of the disgracing the CD-i has left in it. Before the evil reign of Phillips CD-i was over, they managed to churn out an equally sub-par Mario title, by the name of 'Hotel Mario'.


Intro Screen to Hotel Mario

Returned is the horribly cheesy MS Paint-esque Animation, along with a complete stray from the foundation that was the NES / SNES Mario titles.

As they did with the Zelda franchise, they went in a completely different direction [my guess; South]. Hotel Mario was a puzzle game, where you would visit different hotels comically named after real hotels, and attempt to shut all the doors while stopping various goomba and koopa troopa looking creatures that enter.


A'looka ovea tha Luigi! Itsa Bargin Bin!

Something tells me this could have done a lot better, if they branded it with the Super Mario Super Show, and sold it as an adaptation of that, opposed to a completely original idea / brand. Then again.. what do I know?

At last... it was over.

The Phillips CD-i met an all too timely end, popularity of the console and its titles died in the US, with it lasting a bit longer in the UK, and eventually everyone moved on to titles they could be proud of, such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Super Mario 64.

Now there thats how you innovate a franchise!

[/rant]