Zelda's Adventure, one of the infamous CDi titles, gets a Game Boy demake
The trilogy of Zelda titles on the CDi have been a topic of interest and curiosity for many Zelda fans, mostly due to their bad reputation on the franchise from one of the worst decisions Nintendo has ever made in their career in terms of business decision, with the partnership with Phillips and their CDi console leading to the creation of one of their biggest competitors, Sony and their PlayStation console.
The first 2 side-scrolling CD-i titles, Link: Faces of Evil, Zelda: Wand of Gamelon, got full fan remasters just a couple of years ago back in 2020, with the remasters fixing a lot of the issues that many people throughout the years complaint about the original games, alongside a lot of other great quality of life features that make the games a worthwhile experience. However, that still left the original, and the odd one of the bunch, Zelda's Adventure out of the picture, since that title had a whole different play-style compared to the other 2, with this one being a top-down styled game, in the same vein as the classic 2D Zelda experience, albeit, with a lot of flaws and cons, which the the CDi releases are well known for.
Homebrew developer, John Lay, has worked on a complete recreation of Zelda's Adventure for quite some time, but this isn't a remaster like the other 2 titles, instead, Lay opted to recreate the game from the groundup on the Game Boy.
John Lay said:Background
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.
In order to create the game, John Lay worked with GB Studio, and created the gameplay and aesthetics to be similar to those found in Link's Awakening, with some additional inspiration from the Oracle titles as well. With this, Lay has successfully recreated Zelda's Adventure 1:1 into the Game Boy, keeping the overall layout, structure and story found in the original, with the charming graphical and gameplay style of Link's Awakening.
Game's synopsis said:Your Quest
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.