BS The Legend of Zelda

From WE Computers Museum
BS Zelda ad.jpg
BS The Legend of Zelda
Developer Nintendo EAD
Publisher Nintendo
Platforms FDS, NES, GameCube, GBA, Wii, 3DS, Wii U, NES Classic Edition
Released Map 1, Week 1: August 9, 1995
Map 1, Week 2: August 16, 1995
Map 1, Week 3: August 23, 1995
Map 1, Week 4: August 30, 1995
Map 2, Week 1: December 30, 1995
Map 2, Week 2: January 1, 1996
Map 2, Week 3: January 3, 1996
Map 2, Week 4: January 5, 1996
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BS The Legend of Zelda (BSゼルダの伝説) was based on the first game in The Legend of Zelda series, but with upgraded graphics, music and sound. It was released with two different maps.

It was released digitally in weekly episodes, over the Satellaview on the St.Giga Broadcast Satellite network. The first map was released in four episodes in August 1995. The second map was released in four episodes between December 1995 and January 1996.

The maps are half the size of the maps in The Legend of Zelda.

The player character was either the male or female Satellaview avatar, based on the information given during account creation. Both the male and female avatars wear a green tunic. The male character wears a backward baseball cap whereas the female character has long red hair without a hat.

Story

BS Zelda.jpg

The land of Hyrule has three golden Triforce pyramids, the Triforce of Power, the Triforce of Courage, and the Triforce of Wisdom, each of which contains mystical powers.

One day an evil army led by Ganon, the prince of darkness, invaded Hyrule and stole the Triforce of Power. Princess Zelda, due to fear of what Ganon would do with the entire Triforce, split up the Triforce of Wisdom into eight fragments and hid them around Hyrule.

Angered by her action, Ganon imprisoned Zelda and sent troops out to search for the pieces to complete the Triforce.

Thankfully, a hero has set out to defeat Ganon and to save Princess Zelda. To do this, the hero has to find all of the pieces of the Triforce so that Ganon can be defeated and Hyrule can return to a state of peace and harmony once again.

Release

BS The Legend of Zelda was only released digitally, in two maps, over the course of four weeks each.

In addition to being only released digitally, the voice acting and music that accompanied the game were broadcast over satellite, so the game in its original form is no longer available.

Fans have made the digital files that have been saved by people who played the game in its original release playable in emulators. In addition, video recorded from the 1995 broadcast is available online.

Fans have created projects which both make this game more like a traditional game in The Legend of Zelda series, as well as projects which aim to make the game as close to the original broadcast as possible.

Original release dates

Japanese Title English Translation Original release
地図1第1週 Map 1, Week 1 August 9, 1995
地図1第2週 Map 1, Week 2 August 16, 1995
地図1第3週 Map 1, Week 3 August 23, 1995
地図1第4週 Map 1, Week 4 August 30, 1995
地図2第1週 Map 2, Week 1 December 30, 1995
地図2第2週 Map 2, Week 2 January 1, 1996
地図2第3週 Map 2, Week 3 January 3, 1996
地図2第4週 Map 2, Week 4 January 5, 1996

Fan translation

On June 21, 2016, a Japanese-to-English translation of BS The Legend of Zelda was released, including both the translation of the text in-game, and an English dub of the Japanese audio from the videos of the recorded broadcast of the game circa 1995 or 1996.