Allison  on March 9th, 2010

This collection includes four complete zelda games: Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. I played two of the games with their original systems when they first came out. And it was really great to be able to experience those again with the gamecube since I don’t own any of the old Nintendo systems anymore. And I also got to play two more great games that I had missed out on before. There is also a demo for the windwaker (another great game!). Highly recommended!
Rating: 5 / 5

Franz Liszt  on March 10th, 2010

This collection includes 4 classic Zelda games: Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. It even includes a demo of the Wind Waker. The best thing about it is they’re all on gamecube so even if you don’t have the other two systems these games were originally made for, you won’t need them since they’re all on gamecube! The resolution is also higher on these versions which make the graphics a little sharper. Sometimes while playing though, the sound gets a little distorted when entering a new area since these were put on to discs and the disc needs time to think. Overall though, this is the ultimate collection of 4 classic Zelda games all on one disc. Perfect for any Zelda fan!
Rating: 5 / 5

Anonymous  on March 10th, 2010

Andrew The legend of Zelda collectors edition is one of the best zelda games disc ever. The games included are Legend of Zelda, Zelda 11 the adventure of link, Legend of Zelda Ocarnia of time and Majoras Mask. This game is really fun because once you pass 1 game there is three more, and i did pass Ocarina and Majoras Mask and im almost done with legend of zelda. it allows you to play four classic Zelda games. This game is good for Zelda fans. Im sure you Zelda fans like My self will like this game!!!

Rating: 5 / 5

Mike London  on March 10th, 2010

A lot of people (myself included), were exited to learn Nintendo was releasing this compilation. 2002/2003 was a very time frame for Zelda fans. Not only did we get this comp, but we also got the long fabled Ura-Zelda that was for the cancelled 64DD attachment that never made its way out of Japan (like so many other video games in history, I’m looking at you Mother, Final Fantasy, and Lost Levels). It was a whole second quest for Ocarina, just like the original Zelda with two different remixed quests.

In 2003, Nintendo began the first of many Zelda back game reissues, which was a long time coming. The whole reason for this compilation’s existence was so you can play the entire Legend of Zelda series (at that time, anyway) on one system: the GameCube. With the Gameboy Adapter, you could play the entire Zelda catalogue on your GameCube, including the three Gameboy Titles that were out at 2003. Being Zelda fans, a lot of people (myself included), were exited to learn Nintendo was releasing this compilation., especially since we could play the entire franchise on one system.

For close to ten years (1994 to 2003), you had not been able to buy a new version of THE LEGEND OF ZELDA or ZELDA II due to them not being in production or released on any current system. Every time you wanted to play NES ZELDA, you had to dust off the old NES and fire the game up. In my 2001 review of the original game, I lodge that complaint against Nintendo that there hadn’t been a legitimate release of these two games. They’ve more than made up for that oversight in the intervening years.

Well, Zelda Collector’s Edition changed all that. Though never sold in stores, you got the game buy either preregistering for the then new WIND WAKER, or you bought a new GameCube. I actually traded my original GameCube in for 50 dollars, bought a new one for 100 dollars (which I viewed as the cost of this compilation, which isn’t bad since it’s 12.50 a game) so I could get this. At the time, there was no other way to play LEGEND OF ZELDA without a NES legally. So how does it stand up?

Pretty good. The four games are actually emulated, not ported. As noted in previous reviews, this leads to some bad frame-rate issues with Majora, as well as saving in that game. Majora also has some bad audio issues as well.

The GameCube controller adapts fairly well for the two N64 titles. The Rumble Pack feature, which obviously doesn’t work for GameCube, causes crashing issues with Majora and saving, which is sad. I actually don’t like the configuration for the NES titles but that’s more of a complaint against the GameCube controller in general. I find using the D-Pad puts the thumb in an awkward position, and using the stick not quite the same on those two games.

Nintendo ported the latest versions of all four games. What does that mean? Only that OCARINA had the fire-temple edited due to potential offense to the Islamic faith, and some blood colouring. However, newer versions of the N64 cartridge had these changes as well.

Also notable (and which I have), they releases a (very) barebones game guide covering all four games in the comp.

Here’s a brief overview of the games and features itself.

Legend of Zelda: A game that needs no introduction. If you’ve played any Zelda game, you will instantly recognize that most of the series’ conventions and major gameplay features were present from the very beginning. Like Stephen Hawking said of Einstein’s theory of relativity, the new Zelda games put some new ribbons and bows on the game design, but the series is still all about this title.

Zelda II: Adventures of Link: The weird cousin or uncle of the Zelda family tree, it’s strictly sidescrolling with an overworld map. It’s also hard as hell.

Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time (Collector’s Edition) – Nintendo 64: One of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, equally rivals Super Mario 64 for best game on the N64.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask — Collector’s Edition (Nintendo 64)Majora’s Mask: same game engine as Ocarina, much darker, sadder Zelda. Short with only four dungeons, but lots of side quests and plenty of innovation with the Masks that Link can dawn.

Zelda Retrospective: pretty disappointing. Just a video clip showing screenshots of previous Zelda music while playing the overworld theme (if I remember right, haven’t looked at it in a while). It’s ok, but I was hoping for more.

Wind Waker Demo: pointless, just Nintendo trying to sell you Wind Waker. Twenty minute demo. Not that offensive, but still very much just an advertisement.

And that’s really it.

As far as the omission of my personal favorite Zelda game, Link to the Past, I understand why they did it. Why cannibalize the sales to of the GameBoy advanced title by including it free here? The other four titles hadn’t been reissued at that time. As far as those people who say the hand-held market is different from the console, that’s true, but remember, the whole point of this release was to ennable the gamer to play the entire series on one console. You can play the Link to the Past reissue on the GameBoy Player. It was a valid business decision, but I still wish they had included that and Link’s Awakening, which still hasn’t been re-released on any of the 7th generation consoles.

Let’s hope they add GameBoy games to Virtual Console, release Majora and Ocarina Master Quest, and then we can really play the whole Legend on one game (excepting Phantom Hourglass, of Course)

Overall, some bad emulation bugs with Majora, but a good comp nonetheless. Sad it wasn’t more widely released, but you can pick it up on eBay or a lot of game stores. The ironic part of the whole transaction is there’s a big red warning the bottom of the game cover saying “Not For Re-Sale.”

Life is funny like that sometimes.

Rating: 4 / 5

Sean A.  on March 10th, 2010

First off, this collection is great. Aside from all the titles being

stellar games, this rerelease have a few added perks:

The ability to play the N64 games with the Gamecube controller is a

definite plus.

The NES titles run smoothly, and having a memory card save slot means

you never have to worry about the battery back-up saves failing.

Ocarina feels quite true to form graphically, with a few small changes

for the better. Though the emulation has changed improved the screen

resolution, the 2D sprites now seem more removed from the 3D items.

Overall that is trivial and the screen resolution change is for the

better.

The retrospective video is a neat throwaway, but you’ll find yourself

going back to it once in a great while.

The Wind Waker demo is not necessary, but I won’t complain about a demo.

===

Now for THE BAD

The exclusion of the SNES title “A Link to The Past”. They just re-

relased the game for the GBA, so I can see why they did this:

Because they were greedy and were milking the re-issued GBA title for

all its worth. When Rareware parted ways with Nindento for Micrisoft

Xbox, they swore to continue making handheld games for Nintendo,

becuase they didn’t see that as a competitor system because it’s a

DIFFERENT MARKET.

Aside from that, wasn’t this Collector’s Edition hard enough to get? You

have to have five games registered, renew a Nintendo Power

subscription, reserve Wind Waker, or buy a new Gamecube.

Thanks, Nintendo, you Jerks.

The exclusion of “Link’s Awakening” AND “Link’s Awakening DX” This is my

pie-in-the-sky suggestion, i mean it’s a gameboy/gbc title so it’s not

really relevant to the other titles included. But this is called a

COLLECTOR’s Edition, so kind of a bummer.

Majora’s Mask. This emulation has HORRID sound glitches, freeze/crash

problems when saving.

Disabling the rumble feature miraculously rids this glitch, but it’s

a shame that you have to sacrifice something that was so nostalgic

to the N64 games.

Now for the absolutely inexcusable atrocity:

THE FRAMERATE.

NEVER have I seen so much lag on an N64 title. Never.

Majora’s Mask slows down at every chance it can. Why? I don’t know.

I know who’s at fault. Nintendo. This is absolutely inxecusable. I can understand why they emualted the N64 games to save time instead of converting them to actual Gamecube games. I can understand running into something minor like sound glitches during emulation and letting them slide.

Horrid, and I MEAN horrid framerate slowdowns in clock town while walking around… how are the enemy battles going to be? Worse.

This reminds me of a 15fps Playstation game, not a smoother, crisper version of a 30fps N64 game with a 4mb memory expansion.

Bad Nintendo. Bad.

===

My Suggestion? If you have a wii, buy Majora’s for Virtual Console. If you have N64, dust it off. Otherwise, get an N64 emulator (Project 64) and download it for PC, AS LONG AS YOU OWN Majora’s Mask for N64, wii’s VC, or this game.

You can get the great higher resolution, no sound glitches, and no framerate slowdowns.
Rating: 3 / 5