For being the first part of the notoriously infamous trilogy of Zelda games made for the Phillips CDI, you could imagine the surprise I had when I found out that, for all its faults, Link: The Faces of Evil wasn’t all that bad. Yes, it still has MANY issues, even ones that go beyond the hilariously god-awful cutscenes, but not only were many of these issues fixed in the fan-made remaster of the game, but it still managed to be short and entertaining enough to where I ended up not completely hating the experience as a whole. In fact… I may even go as far to say that I actually liked the game a little. Yeah, I ain’t afraid to admit it. But anyways, that was only just the first Nintendo game to show up on the CDI, and in terms of this installment, this could only be seen as one half of a true package, for on the very same day that game was released, we would get another Zelda game right alongside it, and it would be known as Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.
I was actually somewhat excited to go into this game, because since I did end up enjoying my time with The Faces of Evil, I figured I would have just as good of a time with this installment as well. Hell, even if I didn’t end up liking this game as much, I would at least have the glory of the terrible cutscenes to entertain me at least, so I was looking forward to that as well. With that in mind, you could imagine my absolute disappointment that I felt when I went into The Wand of Gamelon, and I ended up thinking it was… not as enjoyable as the one that came before it. To be fair, it doesn’t do anything that much better or worse than the previous game, and if I played this before The Faces of Evil, I would probably like it a little more, but as it stands, I would consider this to be the worst out of the two games, and not really that enjoyable bad at all. Just sorta… whatever.
The story is one that is a bit of a role-reversal for the series, where King Harkinian plans to help repel Ganon from taking over Gamelon, but he ends up getting captured, so when Link fails to save him from his fate, it is up to Zelda, accompanied by her caretaker, Impa, to defeat Ganon, and save Link and the King, which is about as good of a plot that you can ask for with this game. The graphics are pretty much the exact same as The Faces of Evil, so nothing to comment on there, with the cutscenes looking just as hideous and hilarious as ever, the music is… alright, with there being several memorable tracks to listen to throughout, but not as much as I would be hoping for, and the control and gameplay is pretty much the exact same as well, which can tell you everything you need to know about this game.
The game is an action-adventure game, where you take control of Zelda, go through the many different locales in the land of Gamelon, defeat many different enemies found within the land using either your sword or whatever additional items that you could use to help out, gather plenty of Rupies (no, I refuse to call them rubies), treasures, and additional items that you can use to help you out on your journey to reach your ultimate goal, interact with plenty of different, colorful characters that will either help you out on your journey, or waste your time with whatever nightmare-fueled-nonsense they have to show you, and take on plenty of fearsome creatures that range from being somewhat frustrating to pathetically easy. It is mostly what you have come to expect, especially if you had played The Faces of Evil before this, which could be a good thing depending on who you ask, but for me, it ended up being one of the biggest factors into me not enjoying this title as much.
In many ways, this game is essentially an exact copy of The Faces of Evil, with it having the same mechanics, the same means of progression, the same graphical style for both the main game and the cutscenes, as well as the same enemies, treasures, and bosses that you can find throughout the land. The only real differences between this game and the previous one is that you play as Zelda, and you have a new world to explore full of new characters, which really doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day. To be fair, since this was released right alongside The Faces of Evil, it makes sense as to why this game is pretty much the exact same as it, but at the same time, there could’ve been a little more done to make this stand out from that other title, but that is not the case. It provides all the same positives that I had to mention with the previous game, with no additional layers to it whatsoever, while also keeping all the same issues that that game had as well.
However, I will say, despite my disappointment with this game, I will say that, in terms of quality, the game is pretty much on the same level as The Faces of Evil. It is still a hilariously awful time, especially with the cutscenes and the people you can find throughout the game (even though there are less meme-worthy moments in this game), and in terms of the remaster, it takes care of all of the same issues that plagued the original release, making it much better as a result. At the end of the day, I think your enjoyment of these titles, as well as which one you prefer over the other, will all come down to the content at hand. What set of characters did you like more, what challenges did you like facing more, and of course, what meme-worthy material was the best at being so hilariously god-awful. That is, if you are playing the remasters, because if you are playing the original releases, then you can just throw both of them right into the trash.
Overall, despite a lack of major differences between this and the Faces of Evil, while still carrying all of the same problems as before, The Wand of Gamelon is about on the same level of quality as The Faces of Evil, and even though I consider it to be a disappointment, it will still manage to provide an awful, yet enjoyable experience throughout its short length, and even if you don’t wanna play it again after one sitting, you still have all the wonderfully terrible cutscenes to watch and remember afterwards. I would recommend it for those who both loved and hated The Faces of Evil, as well as those who are a fan of Nintendo’s CDI games in general, because this should provide both all of the hilarity and the awfulness that you would expect from these types of games at the end of the day. And hey, even if I wasn’t as enthralled by this title as the last one, we at least have one more title to go for Zelda on this system. The only downside though is that… this last one is supposedly worse then these………. far worse…….
Game #491
I was actually somewhat excited to go into this game, because since I did end up enjoying my time with The Faces of Evil, I figured I would have just as good of a time with this installment as well. Hell, even if I didn’t end up liking this game as much, I would at least have the glory of the terrible cutscenes to entertain me at least, so I was looking forward to that as well. With that in mind, you could imagine my absolute disappointment that I felt when I went into The Wand of Gamelon, and I ended up thinking it was… not as enjoyable as the one that came before it. To be fair, it doesn’t do anything that much better or worse than the previous game, and if I played this before The Faces of Evil, I would probably like it a little more, but as it stands, I would consider this to be the worst out of the two games, and not really that enjoyable bad at all. Just sorta… whatever.
The story is one that is a bit of a role-reversal for the series, where King Harkinian plans to help repel Ganon from taking over Gamelon, but he ends up getting captured, so when Link fails to save him from his fate, it is up to Zelda, accompanied by her caretaker, Impa, to defeat Ganon, and save Link and the King, which is about as good of a plot that you can ask for with this game. The graphics are pretty much the exact same as The Faces of Evil, so nothing to comment on there, with the cutscenes looking just as hideous and hilarious as ever, the music is… alright, with there being several memorable tracks to listen to throughout, but not as much as I would be hoping for, and the control and gameplay is pretty much the exact same as well, which can tell you everything you need to know about this game.
The game is an action-adventure game, where you take control of Zelda, go through the many different locales in the land of Gamelon, defeat many different enemies found within the land using either your sword or whatever additional items that you could use to help out, gather plenty of Rupies (no, I refuse to call them rubies), treasures, and additional items that you can use to help you out on your journey to reach your ultimate goal, interact with plenty of different, colorful characters that will either help you out on your journey, or waste your time with whatever nightmare-fueled-nonsense they have to show you, and take on plenty of fearsome creatures that range from being somewhat frustrating to pathetically easy. It is mostly what you have come to expect, especially if you had played The Faces of Evil before this, which could be a good thing depending on who you ask, but for me, it ended up being one of the biggest factors into me not enjoying this title as much.
In many ways, this game is essentially an exact copy of The Faces of Evil, with it having the same mechanics, the same means of progression, the same graphical style for both the main game and the cutscenes, as well as the same enemies, treasures, and bosses that you can find throughout the land. The only real differences between this game and the previous one is that you play as Zelda, and you have a new world to explore full of new characters, which really doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day. To be fair, since this was released right alongside The Faces of Evil, it makes sense as to why this game is pretty much the exact same as it, but at the same time, there could’ve been a little more done to make this stand out from that other title, but that is not the case. It provides all the same positives that I had to mention with the previous game, with no additional layers to it whatsoever, while also keeping all the same issues that that game had as well.
However, I will say, despite my disappointment with this game, I will say that, in terms of quality, the game is pretty much on the same level as The Faces of Evil. It is still a hilariously awful time, especially with the cutscenes and the people you can find throughout the game (even though there are less meme-worthy moments in this game), and in terms of the remaster, it takes care of all of the same issues that plagued the original release, making it much better as a result. At the end of the day, I think your enjoyment of these titles, as well as which one you prefer over the other, will all come down to the content at hand. What set of characters did you like more, what challenges did you like facing more, and of course, what meme-worthy material was the best at being so hilariously god-awful. That is, if you are playing the remasters, because if you are playing the original releases, then you can just throw both of them right into the trash.
Overall, despite a lack of major differences between this and the Faces of Evil, while still carrying all of the same problems as before, The Wand of Gamelon is about on the same level of quality as The Faces of Evil, and even though I consider it to be a disappointment, it will still manage to provide an awful, yet enjoyable experience throughout its short length, and even if you don’t wanna play it again after one sitting, you still have all the wonderfully terrible cutscenes to watch and remember afterwards. I would recommend it for those who both loved and hated The Faces of Evil, as well as those who are a fan of Nintendo’s CDI games in general, because this should provide both all of the hilarity and the awfulness that you would expect from these types of games at the end of the day. And hey, even if I wasn’t as enthralled by this title as the last one, we at least have one more title to go for Zelda on this system. The only downside though is that… this last one is supposedly worse then these………. far worse…….
Game #491