Over 200 Artists Come Together to Reanimate the CD-i Zelda Games

Back in the 1990’s, after Nintendo decided not to partner with electronic giant Philips to create a CD add-on for the Super NES, some interesting negotiations took place. Nintendo agreed that Philips could use Nintendo characters in third-party games developed for the Philips CD-i format, and by 1993, The Faces of Evil and The Wand of Gamelon, developed by Animation Magic, released in North America. These action-adventure games featured characters from The Legend of Zelda with very little funding and input from Nintendo itself. Needless to say, the games didn’t sell very well and have received their fair share of criticism over the years. The voice of Link apparently rubs a lot of Zelda fans the wrong way! It seems unfair to compare the quality of the cutscenes within these games against modern-day graphics, but they are still considered especially poor.

Fast forward to 2020, and a team of over 200 animators and artists decided to give these cutscenes a makeover. After 18 months of dedication and hard work, these artists have recreated the cutscenes from The Faces of Evil and The Wand of Gamelon. This extraordinary collaboration video has so many different animation styles, from stop motion, to goofy hand-drawn animation, to more professional-looking CGI efforts. There are even some surprising interpretations, such as artist PotooBrigham using Midna from Twilight Princess and PatchToons & Artemis having a distinct Paper Mario vibe going on. Many of these segments have also included other Easter eggs, so you might need to watch a few times to spot them all!

A catchy remix by noteblock takes us to the end of the video, along with a few snapshots of the animating process which I think is a nice touch. There is a great mix of talent here, and it is clear a lot of love has gone into making each contribution. Whether you have played the original CD-i games or not, I would recommend checking out this video; it’s quite intriguing to see how the original scenes compare to the updated reanimations.

So, what do you think of this collaboration? Are you surprised that Zelda fans went so far to recreate the animations? Which was your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!