| Link: The Faces of Evil Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon | |
|---|---|
  Packaging for Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon. The artwork for Link and Zelda were reused promotional art from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. | |
| Developer(s) | Animation Magic |
| Publisher(s) | Philips Interactive Media |
| Director(s) | Dale DeSharone |
| Producer(s) | Dale DeSharone |
| Designer(s) | Dale DeSharone Rob Dunlavey |
| Programmer(s) | Linde Dynneson John O'Brien John Wheeler |
| Artist(s) | Tom Curry Max Stienmetz John Ursino |
| Writer(s) | Jonathan Merritt |
| Composer(s) | Tony Trippi William Havlicek |
| Series | The Legend of Zelda |
| Platform(s) | Philips CD-i |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon are action-adventure games developed by Animation Magic and published by Philips Interactive Media for the CD-i on October 10, 1993 in North America[1] and December 25 of the same year in Europe.[1] They were released on the same day, were developed simultaneously, and look and play similarly because they use the same graphic engine. Both games are based on Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise, but are not acknowledged as official, canonical entries[2] and are the first two games of three Zelda games released for the CD-i. The third, Zelda's Adventure, was developed separately and plays differently.
Link: The Faces of Evil puts the player in control of Link, who goes on a quest to defeat Ganon and rescue Princess Zelda. Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon changes the roles and has the player control Zelda, who sets out to save Link and King Harkinian and defend her kingdom from Ganon. Both travel to a new world (Koridai and Gamelon, respectively) to thwart Ganon's plans. At the time of their release, the games received mixed to positive reviews. In later years, both games have received universally negative reception for their plots, full-motion video animated cutscenes, voice acting, controls, and graphics. The games were not acknowledged in the official The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia guidebook; Eiji Aonuma, who has served as a series director since Ocarina of Time, has remarked that the games do not "fit in the 'Zelda' franchise".[2] This has led to the three games (Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda's Adventure) being considered not only the worst games in the Zelda franchise but also among the worst video games of all time.
- ^ a b c d "Amateur dev remakes CD-i games Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon so we can suffer them again, 27 years later". Eurogamer. 28 November 2020.
- ^ a b Cipriano, Jason (19 September 2013). "Eiji Aonuma Addresses Those Horrible 'Zelda' CD-i Games". MTV. Viacom International Inc. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
Mr. Aonuma laughed a little bit before stating, "I don't know that those really fit in the 'Zelda' franchise."