Game:

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon (1993)

Duration: 1:00

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Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon is light on story. It follows Zelda as she explores the land of Gamelon after the King of Hyrule and Link go missing during a quest to stop Ganon. It’s the first game that feature Zelda as the protagonist. The Wand of Gamelon in the title is a magical relic that can defeat Ganon. The game was developed by Animation Magic, which packed the game with fully voiced cartoon animations meant to take advantage of the CD-i’s relative power but the results are jarring, as characters pop up on screen and yell at players with terrifying voices.

The Wand of Gamelon plays a bit like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It’s a side-scrolling action game where player collect special items to help them clear obstacles or defeat bosses. This is a fine format for a Zelda adventure. Players navigate new areas, fight monsters, meet townspeople, collect items, and slowly explore the world. What makes it difficult is how poorly implemented everything is.

The Wand of Gamelon is difficult for annoying reasons. Locations swarm with enemies that can hit Zelda from a variety of angles that she can’t defend. Enemies who throw things at her or fly overhead can easily exploit her avatar’s generous hitbox. There are no invincibility frames; a single enemy rushing down on Zelda can end her life in a manner of seconds. The only defense she has is a shield that can be used to block projectiles, but she can only raise it after standing still for a moment. If players are lucky, this will stop an impending blow. More often, it leaves them exposed from another angle. The only viable way to play is aggressively, which can be fun once a proper pace is found and the controls are wrangled in. Unfortunately, that is a difficult task to master as combat blurs into a mix of menu navigation, haphazard movement, and frantic sword stabs to fight off infinitely spawning enemies.

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