Video Game / The Legend of Zelda CD-i Games

Oh boy!

Link: Gee, it sure is boring around here!
King Harkinian: My boy, this peace is what all true warriors strive for!
Link: I just wonder what Ganon's up to!

—The opening conversation of Link: The Faces of Evil.

Mah boi, this description is what all true tropers strive for!!

A series of games based on The Legend of Zelda (as Philips didn't have the rights to the franchise name, none of them actually use the name "Legend of Zelda" anywhere) made in the early 90s, as part of Philips Electronics' deal with Nintendo's SNES CD-ROM. The idea fell through, but Philips had been given the right to make several games based on Nintendo characters (not their respective franchises, just the characters), in this case from Mario and Zelda. So, along with Hotel Mario, they made three games for the Philips CD-i system: Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure. These are not regarded as canon by Nintendo, and are ignored by the timeline inside material such as Official Nintendo Power Zelda game lists, and Zelda's 25th anniversary artbook Hyrule Historia.^note In fact, these games aren't mentioned at all in Hyrule Historia. Not even so much as a footnote.

The most infamous by far are the two sidescrolling games reminiscent of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, both released in 1993. In Faces of Evil, Link had to travel to the island of Koridai to liberate it from Ganon's forces; Wand of Gamelon featured Zelda traveling to Gamelon to save her father — King Harkinian — and Link. The games are quite infamous on the internet due to their animated cutscenes, often regarded as hammy, bizarre, and unintentionally hilarious; as a result, they are one of the sources most often used for humorous remix videos known as YouTube Poop.

Less (in)famous is the top-down adventure game Zelda's Adventure, released in 1995 in Europe. In a reversal from the norm, Ganon has kidnapped Link and invaded the Kingdom of "Tolemac", plunging the Kingdom into an Age of Darkness. Princess Zelda sets out to save the young adventurer, and learns from the astronomer Gaspra that she must first collect the seven celestial signs before she can conquer the dark king and bring Tolemac into an Age of Lightness. Zelda's Adventure featured live action full-motion video cutscenes and pre-rendered sprites and backgrounds (primarily through a combination of live-action footage and surprisingly impressive model effects), and was generally more reminiscent of the very first Zelda game for the NES.

Believe it or not, these games are of genuine historical importance not just to the games industry, but to the entire global political and economic sphere. Specifically, this marked the very first time an American company outsourced work to Russian labor, representing a thawing in US-Russia relations in the wake of the Cold War's end on Christmas Day of 1991. Developers Animation Magic hired a team of four Russian animators to work on the cutscenes for The Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon, flying them into the States to work on the project. The end result was... distinctive, to say the least, but it was this of all things that became a significant touchstone in the post-Cold War era of global politics.

27 years after the release of Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon, amateur developer Dopply created Fan Remakes of both games, retaining all of the original assets while updating the gameplay to be less frustrating. Their downloads were only available for a limited time, but mirrors can be found elsewhere online. Tropes specific to the remakes should go here.

In 2023, in collaboration with Limited Run Games, Dopply (under the professional alias Seedy Eye Software^note "CD-i", y'see) would announce that he had been working on a Spiritual Successor to Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon, titled Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore. In addition to Dopply himself, the development team also includes Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon's background artist Rob Dunlavey, and Jeffrey Rath (Link) and Bonnie Jean Wilbur (Zelda) are featured as part of the game's voice cast. Arzette was released on February 14, 2024.

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These are the examples of evil. You must read each:

• The '90s: Most apparent in the music, from the synth quality to the style. Much more than was apparent in the canonical games.
• Abhorrent Admirer: Link gets too much attention from an overweight woman named Alora in two cutscenes in The Faces of Evil. His expression speaks volumes on his levels of discomfort.
  Alora: (while sultry walking towards Link) You're not afraid of dragons, are you?
  Link: (gulp) O-Of course not.
• Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Almost every single character has a bad grasp on how to emphasize certain words.
• Achilles' Heel: Each of the bosses in the first two games require a specific item that will usually defeat them in one go.
  "Here's a shroud that scares the wraps off Gibdo."
• A Day in the Limelight: Zelda is the player character in Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure.
• Adaptational Wimp: Ganon is typically portrayed as a threatening dark lord. Here, he's incredibly laughable, and is defeated in one hit, with a book.
• All There in the Script: Many characters are only named in the guides from the Dutch magazine CD Interactief.
• Almost Kiss: The visuals near the end of Faces Of Evil suggest one of these between Link and Zelda, though it's interrupted by Gwonam appearing to congratulate Link on saving Koridai.
• Ambiguous Gender: Agwanda in Zelda's Adventure who is voiced by both a man and woman.
• Ambiguously Evil: Lady Alma in Wand of Gamelon seemed to enjoy mocking Zelda, was quick to point off she's better off without Link, and it's revealed Link was trapped in her mirror, though it's unknown if Alma was the one who trapped him.
• Ambiguously Human: Gwonam in Faces of Evil and The Fisherman/Blacksmith in Wand of Gamelon have yellow skin for some reason.
• Anachronism Stew: An NPC in Zelda's Adventure is a bartender wearing a cap, despite the game taking place in a medieval-fantasy setting.
• And I Must Scream:
  • Hamsha in Faces of Evil, who is frozen. When Link thaws her, she thanks him by giving him a drink of Water of Life — then promptly freezes again. And you can just keep rethawing (and refreezing) her whenever you want. Since the mountain was frozen by Ganon, she's presumably freed once he is sealed away.
  • Goronu threatens to do this to Link:
    Goronu: I may be hideous, but after a year of being frozen, you will beg to join me!
  • Ganon's fate in the end of Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon is being trapped in a book for who knows how long.
• And That's Terrible: Mayor Cravendish feels the need to point out that Ganon's forces imprisoning everyone in Tykogi Tower is bad.
  Impa: Oh my, it looks like everyone's being taken to Tykogi Tower!
  Mayor Cravendish: This is illegal, you know.
• Artistic License – Space: Odranoel the astronomer claims that the night is cold because stars are made of ice. In reality, stars are made up of gases, and even the coldest stars would be considered hot for humans. Justified since the games and the franchise as a whole are medieval fantasy games, and the proposal that stars were made of gases would not be made until 1925 by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.
• Art Shift: The cutscenes are very obviously animated by different people. Link and Zelda look different in pretty much every scene they appear in, and Zelda is even shown wearing a completely different outfit seemingly inspired by the 1989 animated series sometimes.
• Aside Glance: In the opening of Wand of Gamelon, after Zelda tells Link to go find the King, she looks at the player in a way that practically says: "I just know he's going to mess this up."
• Bag of Holding: Link and Zelda both carry magic pouches that allow them to carry many items.
  Link: Good thing I have my magic pouch. I can carry everything!
  Zelda: Luckily, my magic pouch can carry as much as you want.
• Bag of Spilling: Hand Waved in Faces of Evil, where Gwonam drags Link along for the adventure without letting him grab his stuff, insisting "your sword is enough".
• Beat Still, My Heart: Hektan's heart continues to beat after he melts away.
• Big "NO!": The bosses tends to shout "No" when they get defeated.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: In the French dub of Wand of Gamelon, Zelda's "Guess again Iron Knuckle." is translated to "Devine encore Iron Knuckle.", which is a literal translation, but it doesn't mean anything in French.
• Book Ends: Link tries to get Zelda to kiss him in the beginning and final cutscenes in Faces of Evil.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: Gleeok in both Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon. It's found in only one area in each game, and is tougher than any of the bosses despite not getting an intro cutscene (though one NPC brings in up in each game) as well as being accompanied by its disconnected heads. They each drop an item that can be traded for an optional piece of equipment, with Link getting the canteen and Zelda getting the second sword upgrade.
• Boss Rush: At the end of Zelda's Adventure, Zelda has to defeat five of the game's bosses in a row before she can face Ganon.
• Bottomless Pits: Certain levels like Doradung Cave contain pits and bodies of water that will kill Link and Zelda if they fall into them.
• Breathless Non Sequitur: "My ship sails in the morning. I wonder what's for DINNER?"^note If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of a dinner bell in the background of the scene, so it's not a complete non sequitur In-Universe.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": Link and Zelda's default shields are marked with an "L" and a "Z" in their respective item menus.
• Canon Discontinuity: Nintendo put little quality control into the CD-I games, only making sure the illustrations in the manual and cover were on-model. Nintendo dumped all endorsement of Philips' games as soon as they hit shelves, and the attitude has only gotten stronger since then. The Nintendo Power guide to Ocarina of Time acknowledged all Zelda games except the CD-I games; Nintendo Power advertised Spirit Tracks as the first time Zelda joins the adventure instead of just waiting to be rescued, even though Zelda was the player character in two of the Philips games; the book Hyrule Historia didn't even mention them at all, not even in footnotes. Nintendo Power does acknowledge the existence of the games, but only to mock them, even before the cutscenes went memetic.
• Canon Foreigner: Everyone except Ganon, Link, Zelda and Impa, the enemies, and the King, who comes from the comics and TV series.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • The name Harkinian first appeared in the comics and cartoon. All versions of Zelda's father in those media seem based off of the King in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
  • Probably unintentional, but Lamp Oil, which first appears as an item in Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon, becomes a real Zelda item in Twilight Princess. There was a Lantern in A Link to the Past, but it ran on Link's magic power. Yellow Rupees also first appeared in Zelda's Adventure before they appeared in Wind Waker eight years later.
  • Spear Moblins and Snowballs make their debut in Faces of Evil, though the latter was only an item before becoming an official enemy obstacle in Majora's Mask seven years later.
• Cast from Money: Most items cost rubies/Rupees to use, much like The Legend of Zelda. Justified in Zelda's Adventure with the claim that Rupees contain magical energy.
• The Chosen One: According to a scroll Gwonam reveals in the intro for Link: The Faces of Evil, Link is the only one who can stop Ganon.
  Gwonam: It is written: Only Link can defeat Ganon.
• Climax Boss: The battle with Ganon's dragons in both games; Lupay of Faces of Evil is the only boss other than Ganon that isn't repeated (though, oddly, they can be skipped completely), while Hektan of Wand of Gamelon precedes an important plot point (Duke Onkled being revealed as a traitor).
• Contrived Coincidence: At the end of Wand of Gamelon, Zelda throws Lady Alma's mirror in frustration just because Alma likes to look at herself. It turns out that Link was trapped inside the mirror all along. This is something that neither Zelda or any of the other good guys knew. Link was just freed thanks to a lucky coincidence.
• Covers Always Lie: The art of Link and Zelda in the Animation Magic games depict artwork taken straight from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Aside from a few minimal features like a green outfit for Link or blonde hair for Zelda, they do not resemble their in-game appearances at all.
• Creepy Good: Several of the characters encountered can be a bit on the creepy side, though most of them do help Link and Zelda on their quests.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: All the bosses in Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, even Ganon, can be beaten by either attacking them a few times with the right equipment or by throwing a certain item, which will kill them in one hit.
• Crystal Ball: Impa uses the Triforce of Wisdom as one regularly.
  Impa: The Triforce of Wisdom promises the King will safely return.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: If you die in the first two games, you are simply put back on the stage with all of the items you've collected. This is in stark contrast to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, in which Continuing is Painful.
• Declarative Finger: King Harkinian memetically uses this in Faces of Evil, while saying: "MAH BOI, this peace is what all true warriors strive for!"
• Dem Bones: As with the main series, the Stalfos are skeleton enemies. Goronu also has a personal Stalfos minion named Sleepy Bones.
• Denial of Diagonal Attack: Link and Zelda are only capable of swinging their swords forward.
• Denser and Wackier: Probably unintentionally, but the CD-i games are definitely wackier and more comical compared to other Zelda games released before or after.
  Suprena: This shield both sword and spear deflects, but cannot stop the vilest curse. This crystal makes the shield reflect, cursing the curser with twice the curse.
• Depending on the Artist:
  • Several characters' sprites look different from the way the same characters look in the cut scenes. The difference is so great that you might wonder if the people who made the sprites even saw the cut scenes (or vice versa).
  • Link and Zelda appear as they did in A Link to the Past on the cover art for Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon, but they take on a variety of designs in the games proper. Sometimes Link is depicted with shorter brown hair like his appearance in Zelda II, and one cutscene unmistakably gives Zelda her outfit from the DiC cartoon.
• Depth Perplexion: A common complaint about the game is that the perspective of the game, platforms, and the enemies sometimes makes no sense. One notorious example of this is in Doradung Cave, where walking to the left at the start will cause Zelda to fall into a bottomless pit found on the root of a dead tree trunk.
• Deranged Animation: The cutscenes are some of the most horrible in gaming history.
• Developer's Foresight: Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon have special audio messages that play if the disc detects that it's dirty.
• Disintegrator Ray: Wizzrobe uses a disintegration spell as his primary means of attack. Zelda uses the Reflecting Shield to turn his own attack against him and defeat him.
  Wizzrobe: Not the disintegration spell! NOO!
• Disproportionate Retribution: Whatever you do, do not bring light into Ganon's lair or else you will die.
  Ganon: You dare bring light into my lair?! You must die!
• Disproportionate Reward: Anutu is so pleased with Link knowing that his "crab" is a Gohma that he gives him a sword.
• Dull Surprise: In Wand of Gamelon, nobody reacts to Link being released from the magic mirror after Zelda breaks it, unaware that he was in there.
• Easter Egg: In Zelda's Adventure, if you hold on a specific item in a specific part of the map for seven seconds, a skateboarder will come put of nowhere. The skateboarder is a character from a cancelled game called Food Dude.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Wand of Gamelon ends with Zelda and the king laughing together.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The King. He's only called Harkinian in the manual.
• Evil Is Hammy: Everyone is hammy, but the evil characters are more so on average.
  Ganon: YOU DARE BRING LIGHT TO MY LAIR? YOU MUST DIE!
  Ganon: Join me, Link, and I will make your face the GRRREATEST IN KORIDAI! Or else you will DIE.
• Exact Words: In the opening cutscene of Wand of Gamelon, Impa says "The Triforce of Wisdom promises the King will safely return!" shortly before the King gets captured by Ganon. However, he does safely return at the end of the game (having been rescued by Zelda), and the prophecy never specified when he would safely return, or how.
• Expy: Some characters in Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon have a clear parallel in the other game:
  • Gwonam and Impa: Wise old folks who accompany the hero on their overseas journey, and assist them by showing visions of the bosses and citizens in distress.
  • Militron and Iron Knuckle: Both are covered in heavy armor that can only be destroyed by the Power Glove.
  • Lupay and Omfak: Both are wolf persons.
• Extreme Close-Up: Various characters will often zoom up close to the camera in the cutscenes.
• Extreme Omnivore: Glutko in Faces of Eviland Omfak in Wand of Gamelon. Both bosses are shown to be highly gluttonous, with Glutko eating innocent Koridians and Omfak killing a bird before roasting and eating it whole.
  Omfak: Whatever I see, I shall devour!
• Face–Heel Turn: Midway through Wand of Gamelon, it's suddenly revealed that Duke Onkled was lying about being attacked by Ganon, and had actually allied with him in a plan to capture King Harkinian.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Hektan gruesomely melts away into the ground after being hit by a Sword Beam from Zelda, leaving his Heart Container — which looks like a still-beating cartoon heart — behind.
  Hectan: YOOOOOOOOU'VE KILLED MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
  Zelda: (with a cocky smirk) Good.
• Fan Remake: Both The Faces of Evil and The Wand of Gamelon received one in 2020. They were taken down by the developer pretty quickly (to lower the risk of a DMCA and because they were intended as just learning projects), but can still be found in some places. Notably, it includes high-quality assets, gamepad support, and optional Anti-Frustration Features such as removing the limited number of continues.
• Fake Longevity: Reesong Palace, the final level of Wand of Gamelon, requires you to fall down a well to get a key, and when you get out you have to go through half of the level again.
• Feed It a Bomb: Link can't wait to bomb some Dodongos! This is also how he beats Glutko.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Mayor Cravendish is searching his coat for a magic lantern, his eyes pop when he looks into the wrong pocket.
• Gambling Ruins Lives: Harlequin has Koridians gamble with eachother until they end up in complete dept which he then subjects each loser to being Reforged into a Minion.
• Giant Flyer: In Zelda's Adventure, Zelda reaches the Sky Shrine on the back of a giant bird. The boss of said Shrine, Avianna, is also a giant bird.
• Good Is Not Soft: Zelda is kind and friendly to most people, but shows no mercy to Hyrule's enemies.
• Green-Eyed Epiphany: Zelda normally denies affection for Link, but seems rather annoyed (or at least surprised) when Alma implies that she kissed him.
• Guide Dang It!: It's fairly easy for a first-time player to get lost in Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon but the amount of cryptics in Zelda's Adventure makes it the most notorious of the three.
• Hand Wave: Nearly everything is interacted with by stabbing it with the sword. The tutorial simply claims it to be a magical property of the sword itself to pick up items and compel villagers to talk.
• Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: In Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon, whereas a good number of the mooks can prove quite challenging to defeat, most of the bosses die with one hit. Even Ganon himself — Link must throw the Book of Koridai at him; Zelda must use the titular Wand of Gamelon to summon binding chains... and then the book inexplicably reappears again to seal Ganon. The only bosses that put up a fight are the ones that need to be killed with standard attacks or weapons that don't kill in one hit like the Power Glove.
  Link: When I'm crouching, you can make me do the duck walk! Cool, huh?
• Hitbox Dissonance: The sword seems to have a much shorter range than usual.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: Link is "so hungry, [he] can eat an Octorok!"
• The Hyena: A guy in one of the shops in the town of Wimbich in Zelda's Adventure.
  Man: Is a shrine a thing to be taken lightly? No! And a candle is needed to light a shrine! Hahahahahaha!
• If I Do Not Return: Upon leaving the castle to help Duke Onkled fend off Ganon, King Harkinian asks for Link to be sent if nothing is heard from him in a month's time.
  King Harkinian: If you don't hear from me in a month, send Link!
• I'll Kill You!: The bad guys are fond of telling Link or Zelda that they will kill them.
• Informed Ability: Link claims that Ganon is "no match for the King", though we see nothing of King Harkinian's supposed fighting ability (indeed, him getting captured by Ganon is what kickstarts the game's plot).
• In Harm's Way: Link's first few lines in the intro for The Faces of Evil indicates he has this attitude.
• Insane Troll Logic: The astronomer tells Link that night is cold because the stars are made of ice.
• In the Hood: During Gibdo's introductory cutscene, there are two white hooded figures behind him.
• It Makes Sense in Context: The introductory cutscene for Tykogi Tower. It's supposed to depict the inhabitants of Sakado imprisoned there, but since all of the cutscenes save for the intros and endings use the level artwork for their backgrounds, it instead shows out-of-context clips of Mayor Cravendish saying "This is illegal, you know." and Harbanno saying "My cakes will burn!". The Game Grumps were notably confused by these characters suddenly appearing when Impa was the only person around (they're actually just visions in the Triforce of Wisdom).
• Just in Time: Right after Link voices his curiosity on what Ganon's up to, Gwonam shows up to deliver the news of what Ganon's up to.
• Live-Action Cutscene: In Zelda's Adventure, the cutscenes are of live-action people portraying the characters. Interestingly, the character sprites are also live-action people shot from above, pasted into the otherwise computer-generated world.
• Loads and Loads of Loading: Zelda's Adventure has to load for a number of seconds during every screen transition. The game cannot play music while loading, so in dungeons, moving to another room forces the music to restart.
• Magic Mirror: Link gets trapped inside Alma's mirror in Wand Of Gamelon, though it isn't elaborated on how exactly he was trapped.
• Malaproper: Rupees are referred to as "rubies" in the game.
• Marshmallow Hell: Link endures this from a woman with red braids in Faces of Evil, when she grabs him and calls him "My hero!"
• Mercy Invincibility: Averted. Prolonged contact with an enemy can result in a good chunk of your health getting eaten up. Getting hurt doesn't knock you back, either.
• Metaphorically True: In The Wand of Gamelon, when Zelda expresses concern to Impa over her Father going by himself to aid Duke Onkled and his kingdom, even with the Triforce of Courage, Impa declares that "The Triforce of Wisdom promises The King will safely return"... it just didn't say when or how he would safely return.
• Mood Whiplash: In The Wand of Gamelon, King Harkinian wondering what's for dinner comes right after Zelda worrying about the King running into trouble on the island of Gamelon (which is exactly what happens).
  Link: How about a kiss? For luck?
  Zelda: You've got to be kidding.
• Mythology Gag: The manual for The Wand of Gamelon reveals that the king's name is "King Harkinian", a nod to the DiC cartoon, where the king of Hyrule is also named "Harkinian".
• Never Say "Die": Averted with extreme prejudice, despite Nintendo enforcing it at the time. Characters will freely refer to the act of death or killing with reckless abandon!
• Nightmare Face: Many characters have this during their extreme close-ups due to the strange animation styles, especially Ganon.
• No Hero Discount: Morshu explicitly says that he can't give Link credit if he's short on rubies, though he's at least apologetic about it (and Ganon's minions all killing people or turning them into monsters means he probably needs all the rubies he can get). The Gamelon shopkeep, meanwhile, bluntly tells Zelda to wipe out a few more Goriyas if she can't afford something.
• Nuclear Candle: Using the lantern lights up the entire dark area for a limited time in exchange for some lantern oil.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Ganon in Faces of Evil offer Link power and fame and threatens to kill him if he refuses, though he starts fighting the hero anyway.
  Ganon: Join me, Link! And I will make your face the grrreatest in Koridai! Or else you will die!
• Ominous Pipe Organ: Gibdo is playing one during a cutscene, despite being at the top of the church and nowhere near the organ.
• Only Six Faces: The Koridians who end up being the victims of Harlequin, Glutko, Militron, and Lupay's antics all share the same design.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Zelda kills her enemies without mercy, as shown by this exchange from Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon:
  Hektan: You've killed me!
  Zelda: Good.
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: Gwonam gives us one with the phrase "Squadalah!", which he utters while taking off on his magic carpet with Link.
• Power Fist: The Power Glove, an item in both Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon, lets the heroes break boulders and hurt tougher enemies.
  Stir the berries in the tub. Let the juices soak the glove. Let Link fight and never cower, for his glove's a glove of power.
• Practical Currency: The manual for Zelda's Adventure claims that rupees contain magical energy, which is why Zelda's spells are Cast from Money.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: This exchange from Wand of Gamelon when Zelda confronts Iron Knuckle:

  Iron Knuckle: You dare defy me?! You will die!
  Zelda: Guess again, Iron Knuckle!

• Prepare to Die: Bosses are fond of telling Link and Zelda "You will die!" or some similar variation of the sentence.
• Pre-Rendered Graphics:
  • Zelda's Adventure features a pre-rendered world viewed from the top down, similar to the classic games.
  • Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon both feature pre-rendered backgrounds for the in-game levels, and 2D animations for the cutscenes.
• Promoted to Playable: Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon marks the first time the titular Princess is playable.
• Psychotic Smirk: Zelda after she kills Hektan. You be the judge.◊
• Recurring Boss: In Faces of Evil, you fight every boss twice, except for Lupay and Ganon.
• Reforged into a Minion: This is explicitly happening in Faces of Evil, wherein Harlequin, Lupay, and Militron are depicted turning people into their minions. Alora from Toyku Lighthouse also implies this by saying that her husband is "an Abominom now."
• Rhymes on a Dime: Faces of Evil contains a handful of these.
  Ganon: In the darkest nightmare hour, when not moon nor sun has risen, I take Zelda in my power, I shall keep her in my prison!
  Witch: Stir the berries in the tub, let the juices soak the glove, let Link fight and never cower, for his glove's a glove of power!
  Aypo: Such is the power of the prince of darkness, that he can kill with a single look. Attacks against Ganon will prove fruitless, unless Link attacks with the sacred book.
  Suprena: This shield both sword and spear deflects, but cannot stop the vilest curse. This crystal makes the shield reflect, cursing the curser with twice the curse.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Harkinian and Zelda, both of whom travel to Gamelon to stop Ganon and his forces. Harkinian also asks Gwonam how Koridai could be assissted in fending off Ganon. Averted with Duke Onkled, who does absolutely nothing and shows himself to be a traitor by the end of the game.
  King Harkinian: Zelda, Duke Onkled is under attack by the evil forces of Ganon. I'm going to Gamelon to aid him.
  King Harkinian: How can we help?
• Scenery Porn: For the time these games were made (1993 and 1995), the levels are actually rather beautiful. Zelda's Adventure tried to make things look realistic, and a few rooms in the game actually do look pretty stunning.
• Schmuck Bait: In Zelda’s Adventure, there is an old woman in the Forest of Ogbam sitting next to a campfire, who beckons Zelda to come closer to hear a great secrets, if Zelda approaches her, the Hag tells her not to trust "anyone with hair", including herself, and steals one of Zelda's Life Hearts.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Zelda kills Iron Knuckle, one of the Armos says "He's dead. Let's get out of here."
• Sdrawkcab Name:
  • The astronomer NPC from The Faces of Evil is named Odranoel, which is "Leonardo" backwards.
  • Zelda's Adventure takes place in the land of Tolemac.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: A rare positive example- The Triforce of Wisdom predicts that the King will return safely, but in the end this is only because Zelda set out to rescue him.
• Skewed Priorities: In Wand of Gamelon, when the baker is captured by Ganon's minions, he's more concerned about his cakes burning because of his absence.
• Skippable Boss: Lupay's whole area in Faces of Evil is optional since it only leads to the final lantern upgrade, which turns invisible enemies visible and isn't strictly necessary, making Lupay, the rematch with Harlequin, and the Reflecting Shield all optional. You can also skip Militron's return by just walking past him in the final dungeon.
• Smiting Evil Feels Good: When Zelda kills Hektan, she says "Good." with a smile. She also seems happy when she kills Omfak.
• Some Dexterity Required: Controls in the games for using items are very complex, due to the controller only having two buttons, far too little for action-adventure titles.
• Stealth Pun: In Faces of Evil, Link meets a girl on Shipwreck Cliff who asks him to free her father on the other side of a chasm, ending her request with "Pretty please? Have a heart." You're healed back to full health after the cutscene, and it's quietly revealed that she's given you a Life Heart.
• Suddenly Voiced: Link, Zelda, and Ganon, who usually are not fully voiced and were not voiced at all in the main series games when these games were released, are given full voices.
• Super Drowning Skills: Of the Bottomless Pits variety. Should Link or Zelda fall into water at any time, they will instantly die.
• Tally Marks on the Prison Wall: When Zelda enters the cell where Kiro is being kept, tally marks can be seen on the cell’s wall.
• Tempting Fate: Link, in Faces of Evil, remarks, "I just wonder what Ganon's up to!" Roughly a half-second later, Gwonam arrives to tell of Ganon's conquering of Koridai.
• Throw the Book at Them: Link's method of defeating Ganon in Faces of Evil is to throw the Book of Koridai at him to seal him inside.
  Aypo: Listen! Such is the power of the Prince of Darkness, that he can kill with a single look! Attacks against Ganon will prove fruitless unless Link attacks with the sacred book.
• Time Skip: Two end up happening in The Wand of Gamelon, first when King Harkinian departs and another when Link is sent to find him.
  [One Month Later]
  Zelda: [sigh] A whole month gone, and still no word.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Book of Koridai has a secret verse that only Aypo can read. Said verse reveals how to defeat Ganon, this requiring throwing the book itself at him.
• Totally Radical: Zelda's Adventure has an Easter Egg in the form of a skateboarder who says "Radical, dude! Totally!".
• Tragic Monster: If the cutscenes are any indication, many, if not all of the monsters you fight are transformed citizens.
• Trial-and-Error Gameplay: The games tend to be very non-linear and progression items are usually not very clear, which can easilty stump some first-time players.
• Victory Is Boring:
  Link: Gee, it sure is BORING around here!
  King Harkinian: MAH BOI, this peace is what all true warriors strive for!
• Villain-Beating Artifact: In Faces of Evil, Link defeats Ganon with a single hit from the otherwise-useless Book. Similarly, in Wand of Gamelon, Zelda defeats Ganon with a single hit from the otherwise-useless Wand.
• Villainous Harlequin:
  • The freaky pig-faced Harlequin who turns citizens into Goriyas when they lose his game.
    Harlequin: Do you know what it means when you lose your last RUBY? Now you work for me!
  • Pasquinade, the boss of Shrine of Illusion in Zelda's Adventure, is a jester with wolf-like head who speaks in rhyme.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: Link actually awaits Ganon's next disturbance of the peace.
• Vocal Dissonance: There's a lot of this going on, in all three games.
  • Many enemies in Zelda's Adventure make a masculine grunt noise when they get hit. This includes things like birds, spiders and dragonflies.
  • Odranoel, the wizard-looking astronomer from Faces of Evil, is clearly voiced by a woman.
  • Lupay has a feminine voice despite looking like Omfak from Wand of Gamelon, whose voice was a lot more befitting of his Wolf Man appearance.
  • Grimbo, the bearded blacksmith in Wand of Gamelon who gives Zelda the Power Glove, has a very high-pitched, almost witch-like voice, and is indeed voiced by a woman. Yokan, the fisherman, has the exact same voice.
  • Though Zelda's Adventure is clearly set in a European-style fantasy world, many of the voice actors have very obvious, if not stereotypical, African-American accents.
    Peddler: That was a wise purchase, young princess!
• The Voice: In Zelda's Adventure, sometimes you will hear a voice that provides you with gameplay hints.
• Voodoo Shark: Faces of Evil attempts to justify why Link doesn't have any items: Link is about to grab his stuff only for Gwonam to say: "There is no time! Your sword is enough!" This explanation only works if Gwonam is malicious or a total buffoon, as he is incorrect on both counts; you do need the items, and you do have enough time to claim new ones, but you have to do it the slow way thanks to his advice.
• Was Once a Man: The Mooks in Faces of Evil used to be Koridians before they were turned into monsters.
• Weakened by the Light: Possibly the reason why Ganon wants to kill Zelda for bringing light into his lair.
• A Winner Is You: The final cutscene in Faces of Evil is pretty short and sudden, and ends with Link exclaiming "I won!" before the credits roll. The one in Wand of Gamelon is only a bit more substantial. Likewise, Zelda's Adventure ends with Zelda and Link holding hands and Gaspra giving a short speach about peace returning to Tolemac.
  Gwonam: There is no time, your sword is enough!
• World of Ham: Even shopkeepers and common townspeople deliver their lines in the most poetic possible way. One might wonder if they're this theatrical to everyone they meet. Ganon himself is not immune to this, either:
  Ganon: In the darkest nightmare hour, when not Moon nor Sun had risen, I take Zelda in my power, I shall keep her in my prison!
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Zelda says this almost verbatim when Link asks her for a Motivational Kiss at the start of Faces of Evil.
• Your Size May Vary: Some bosses, namely Militron and Glutko, are depicted as huge in cutscenes, being able to fit a person in the palm of one hand, but are only a little taller than Link in-game. Militron is also revealed upon defeat to be a regular old man in armor the entire time.
• Zero-Effort Boss: In Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon, most of the bosses usually go down in one hit — even Ganon. You need the right weapon to do it, though.

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