Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

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Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon
Developer(s)	Animation Magic
Publisher(s)	Philips Media
Release date	October 10, 1993 December 25, 1993
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single player

"Wand of Gamelon" redirects here. For information about the item with the same name, see Wand of Gamelon (item).

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon is a video game released for the Philips CD-i in 1993. It was developed by Animation Magic and published by Philips Media alongside Link: The Faces of Evil. The Wand of Gamelon is very similar to The Faces of Evil in its gameplay, though the player controls Princess Zelda rather than Link. Both games, as well as Zelda's Adventure, are the only The Legend of Zelda games where Nintendo was not involved in the their development.

While both games initially received mixed reviews, they are infamous for their extreme negative reception in contemporary reviews and retrospectives, and they are often considered the worst games in The Legend of Zelda franchise, as well as some of the worst games of all time. The CD-i games were ambiguously disowned from the franchise by Eiji Aonuma.

Plot

King Harkinian announces his plan to aid Duke Onkled when the latter falls under attack by Ganon, so the King orders Zelda to send Link for backup in case he does not return from his mission within a month. A month passes without word from the King, so Zelda sends Link to find him.

When he too goes missing, Zelda ventures off to Gamelon (accompanied by the elderly Impa) to find both Link and the King. During Zelda's time in Gamelon, Impa discovers that King Harkinian has been captured, and that Link has engaged in a battle, the outcome of which is unclear. As she adventures across the island, Zelda meets many friendly characters and battles with many monsters including Gibdo and Iron Knuckle. Along her travels, Zelda battles the sorcerer Wizzrobe to free Lady Alma, who gives Zelda a canteen that she claims Link gave her in exchange for a kiss.

On reaching Duke Onkled's palace, Domodai Palace, it is revealed that Duke Onkled has betrayed the King and is working for Ganon. Zelda storms the palace, kills Hectan, and saves the imprisoned Lord Kiro who used to work for the King. Kiro reveals the secret entrance to Onkled's chamber, and when they confront him he reveals the entrance to Reesong Palace, where Ganon has taken residence.

Zelda travels to the Shrine of Gamelon to defeating the head-switching chimera Omfak and obtain the Wand needed to defeat Ganon, and she also visits Nokani Forest to obtain the magic lantern needed to clear the darkness around Ganon. Finally at Reesong Palace, Zelda fights Ganon, incapacitates him with the Wand, and rescues her father. Back at Hyrule Castle, Duke Onkled is turned over to the king, begging for mercy. He is arrested and punished by the King by scrubbing "all the floors in Hyrule." Although Link's whereabouts are still unknown, a comment by Lady Alma prompts Zelda to throw her mirror against the wall and as it smashes Link magically materializes, seemingly having been trapped in the mirror.

Gameplay

The gameplay is very similar to the accompanying title, Link: The Faces of Evil. The player controls Princess Zelda, who must find and defeat Ganon and rescue both King Harkinian and Link to become the heroine of Gamelon. The weapons, a handful of the items, and most of the enemies are the same as in Link: The Faces of Evil, although the trading items, characters, and bosses are different. When the player begins this quest, three areas are initially available, accessible through Impa's map. The player can access each area on by moving the on-screen cursor over one on the map and then pressing Button One.

At the beginning of the game, Zelda is only equipped with a sword and shield. The sword is used to attack enemies and to fire deadly Power Blasts, and the shield can deflect projectile attacks thrown at the player. The shield is automatically lifted when the player is standing still or crouching. Other helpful tools, such as lamp oil (for lighting a lamp), rope (for climbing) and bombs (which can destroy some obstacles) are available for a price at the General Shop in Sakado. The rubies that the Merchant takes as currency can be obtained by defeating enemies.

Like The Faces of Evil, Zelda's health is also measured by Life Hearts. By running out of Life Hearts the first two times, the player is provided with the option to continue near the point where Zelda's last heart was lost. The player is forced to restart the level if Zelda loses all her Life Hearts a third time.

Characters

Main characters

Name	Description
Princess Zelda	The main protagonist. Seeks to liberate Gamelon from "the evil forces of Ganon" and rescue her father and Link.
Link	The Hero of Hyrule. After a month with no word from King Harkinian, Link makes his way to Gamelon, only to be captured by Ganon as well. Link is revealed to have been sealed within a hand mirror at the end of the game, and shattering said mirror frees him.
Impa	Zelda's caretaker and keeper of the Triforce of Wisdom. While the Triforce does predict the King's safe return, it does not foresee Onkled's treachery, nor is it able to decipher what happened to Link. Impa is awoken in the middle of the night by Zelda to accompany her on her mission to Gamelon. Impa plays the role Gwonam had in Link: The Faces of Evil.
King Harkinian	The King of Hyrule. Implied to be a powerful figure, as Link claims that "Ganon's no match for the King!" He sets sail for Gamelon after a distress call from his ally, Duke Onkled. Onkled, however, turns traitor, and Harkinian is imprisoned by Ganon.
Duke Onkled	The supposed Duke of Gamelon. According to Lord Kiro, "Duke Onkled betrayed the King," which Zelda had suspected. Duke Onkled's treachery seems to be out of fear, as he is portrayed as a cowardly man. He is sentenced to scrubbing every floor in Hyrule at the end of the game.
Ganon	The recurring antagonist of the series. Ganon now wages war against the country of Gamelon in the hopes that Duke Onkled would seek diplomatic aid from King Harkinian. In the end, the cowardly Duke Onkled betrays his ally and allows him to be captured. Ganon is defeated by Zelda using the Wand of Gamelon, which binds him with magical golden chains and drags him into the Book of Koridai.

Supporting characters

Name	Description
Fairy	Fairies that have been captured by the Three Witches. Once freed, they give Zelda a life heart, Fairy Dust, and some Water of Life.
Grimbo	An alchemist who transforms Zelda's glove into a Power Glove after she retrieves some Hanyu Spore.
Harbanno	A Sakado baker who was imprisoned in Tykogi Tower. He gifts Zelda with some of his bread after being freed.
Lady Alma	A noblewoman who Wizzrobe entombed within Shutoy Lake's tower. She met and kissed Link before his capture, and gives Zelda his canteen upon meeting her. It's later revealed that her hand mirror contained the imprisoned Link, which is shattered after Zelda throws it at a wall.
Lika	A rather frightening resident of Sakado; despite her appearance, she helps Zelda by creating the Magic Cloak after the Princess retrieves some Fairy Dust.
Lord Kiro	A nobleman who was with King Harkinian when they were betrayed by Duke Onkled; Kiro in particular was imprisoned by Hektan. He is freed by Zelda in Dodomai Palace and, after telling her about the ordeal, apprehends the Duke and brings him to Harkinian.
Lubonga	The only resident left in Aru Ainu after Gleeok's arrival. She knits a green shroud for Zelda.
Makoto	A starving girl who longs for an Arpagos egg. She hands Zelda a flute upon receiving said egg.
Mayor Cravendish	The mayor of Sakado, who was imprisoned in Tykogi Tower despite his protests that the action was illegal. He was able to conceal a lantern which he later gives to Zelda.
Merchant	A shifty shopkeeper who sells lamp oil, rope, and bombs to Zelda.
Myra	A sorceress who enchants Zelda's shroud with an Arpagos feather. She later hands Zelda an upgraded lantern before the Princess' expedition to Reesong Palace.
Sanda	A water carrier that gives Zelda some Water of Life after jumping over a Gohma-infested pit. She also points out Yokan's entrapment in a nearby fish skull.
Yokan	A fisherman who gets trapped inside a giant fish skull in Ahitaru. After being freed, he moves to Sakado and becomes a blacksmith; there, he increases the power of Zelda's sword.

Enemies

Name	Description	In Link: The Faces of Evil?
Arkadai
Armos
Arpagos
Bago-Bago
Boar
Boon
Bot
Daira
Darknut
Deadite
Deeler
Dodongo
Ghini
Gleeok
Gohma
Goriya
Head of Gleeok
Jawbee
Keese
Lowder
Mini-Dragon
Moa
Moblin Spearthrower
Octorok
Phyrandaii
Spearfish
Stalfos
Stone statue
Vire
Wall Master
Wall Master
Zora

Bosses

Name	Description
Gibdo
Iron Knuckle
Three Witches
Wizzrobe
Hektan
Omfak

Items

This section is a stub. You can help Triforce Wiki by expanding it.

These are items that can be used from Zelda's inventory:

Item	Description
Bomb
Bread
Canteen
Fairy Lantern
Flute
Lantern
Magic Cape
Magic Cloak
Magic Lantern
Power Glove
Rope
Shroud
Wand of Gamelon
Water of Life

These are items that cannot be used from the inventory. They are the exact same as in Link: The Faces of Evil:

Item	Description
Key
Lamp oil
Life Heart
Ruby	Rubies are used to purchase items and to use certain items.
Triforce Map

There are some items that Zelda must trade with other characters, entirely different from those in Link: The Faces of Evil:

Item	Description
Arpagos Egg
Arpagos Feather
Cloak
Fairy Dust
Hanyu Spore
Heat Crystal

Weapons

Just like Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda can only use a Sword and Shield as an equipped weapon.

Item	Description
Power Sword
Reflecting Shield
Shield
Sword

Development

Main article: Link: The Faces of Evil#Development

The Wand of Gamelon shares a nearly identical development story to Link: The Faces of Evil, as both games were developed in tandem by Animation Magic and saw a simultaneous release. Together, they were the first Nintendo-licensed games to be released on the Philips CD-i.

With the relatively low budget of approximately $600,000, Wand of Gamelon was given a little over a year for completion — time which would have to be split between the development of Wand of Gamelon and Faces of Evil. It was decided by Animation Magic, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based development team led by Dale DeSharone, that the two games would be developed in tandem and would share the same graphics engine to more efficiently use the budget.

The voice of Princess Zelda was provided by Bonnie Jean Wilbur and the voice of Link by Jeffrey Rath, while additional voices were provided by Jeffrey Nelson, Mark Berry, Natalie Brown, Karen Grace, Josie McElroy, Marguerite Scott and Paul Wann.

Reception

At the time of its release, contemporary criticism was largely positive. SNES Force magazine described the animated sequences as "breathtaking" and praised the game's high-resolution graphics and "brilliant" use of sound and speech. Highly anticipated by the French video game press, Joystick magazine's development preview of the title highlighted the fact that this would be the first of the Zelda games to feature true voice acting, and described its plot as highly original and the background graphics as a tableaux of great beaut.] The UK-based CDi Magazine rated the game a 75%, describing it as a "reasonably good game" and praising the puzzles and the animation sequences while criticizing its perfunctory plot and poor controls. In 1994, Edge reported that both Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon had sold a "respectable number of units", but as CD-i sales began to suffer criticism sharpened and the games were described as low-cost, low-risk ventures that had failed to excite any interest in the platform despite their sales figures.

All three Zelda CD-i titles have garnered a largely negative reception among modern critics, with The Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon standing out as the most frequently derided. The magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked Zelda: Wand of Gamelon the sixth worst game of all time, and GameTrailers rated it fifth worst game of all time. The Star Tribune described the game's voice acting as "laughable" and it was also criticized by Zelda Elements as jarring. IGN described the games as "infamous" and "cheesy"; other reviewers called the animated cutscenes "freakish" and "an absolute joke". Wired magazine said that the animation on the first two Zelda games was extremely simple and stilted and that the graphics had several glitches.

Despite the largely negative reception of The Wand of Gamelon, there have been a few positive reviews as well. Both Danny Cowan of 1UP.com and John Szczepaniak praised Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon as among the best games on the CD-i. Szczepaniak in particular suggested that several of the gaming magazines that had rated and reviewed Wand of Gamelon and Faces of Evil had engaged in hate campaigns having never even played the game. Cowan's and Szczepaniak's praises drew from the games' detailed, well-drawn in-game backgrounds and "pretty decent" gameplay, although both criticized the controls.

While the audio was thought to be "average", and not up to the usual Zelda quality by some reviewers, this has been contested by others who have described it as diverse and high-quality with an adventurous upbeat tempo blending electric guitar, panpipes, marimbas, and other unusual instruments. In a periodical for Retro Gamer magazine, Szczepaniak identified the natural comparison of the games by reviewers to the quality of games in the rest of the Zelda series as an improper comparison to make and suggested that when reviewed in their own right the games were actually excellent.

Contrary to what were described as "lies perpetuated about [Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon]," Retro Gamer described these games as "astoundingly good" and rated them together as number ten in its "Perfect Ten Games" for CD-i. While acknowledging that the games lacked canonicity, the games were praised for exhilarating pacing and superb gameplay design and music. The game's background art was also described as ranging from Gigeresque to Monet-esque.