An enterprising fan has ported the worst Zelda game, the original Philips CDi Zelda’s Adventure, to the original Game Boy.
The new demake project was a solo job by fan and modder John Lay, who adapted the top-down, 2.5D Zelda’s Adventure to an 8-bit game that could probably play on an actual Game Boy cartridge.
Development on the Game Boy port was handled with GB Studio solely by John Lay and music was arranged by Beatscribe. You can play Zelda’s Adventure over on his site, or download it for your own devices.
Zelda’s Adventure is actually the third game developed for the Philips CDi after the infamous and hideous originals Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.
Both featured strange and sometimes horrificly bad animations coupled with awkward voice acting that became the source of many YouTube poop videos. Zelda’s Adventure is considered by many fans the absolute worst Zelda game ever made.
Here’s a rundown on the project:
About Zelda’s Adventure
It is the Age of Darkness.
The evil Ganon has captured the young hero Link. Only Princess Zelda can rescue him. Her journey will be difficult, filled with many challenges and mysteries. Armed only with the advice of the wise court astronomer Gaspra, and the guidance of Shurmak, Zelda must set out on her journey deep into the uncharted southeastern region of Hyrule, known as Tolemac.
Before she begins, Gaspra warns her that the only way to save Link is to collect the seven Celestial Signs that Ganon has stolen, and that she must overcome one final obstacle: Ganon himself. Once she succeeds, she gains the knowledge and strength to rescue Link and brings the magical land of Hyrule into the Age of Lightness.
About Zelda’s Adventure port for Game Boy
In the 1990s Nintendo made a deal with Philips to develop 3 Zelda titles. The first 2 were side scrolling platformers, similar to Zelda II, and the third was a traditional top-down action adventure game.
Zelda’s Adventure looked interesting and I thought it would be fun to play on a portable system. I chose the Game Boy because of the existing Zelda games on the system.
The game sticks to the aesthetics of Link’s Awakening, but also incorporates some features from Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons.
This is a complete port of the CDi original and was developed in GB Studio, with a few modifications. Thanks to Beatscribe for composing the music. I hope you enjoy playing the game as much as enjoyed making it.
