Retro Gaming Australia

Last week, a prototype version of The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System was listed with a Buy It Now price of $US150,000. While most people (quite rightfully) scoffed at the price, it appears someone was willing to spend an obscene amount of money for the cartridge, as it has now sold for a price of $US55,000.

Speaking to the Examiner, the seller said “I feel as though that was accomplished. It was also important getting prototype video game collecting into the news. It is amazing what is out there in released and unrealesed protos.”

When asked about getting a third of his original asking price he replied “Do I think it’s worth more? Yes. There was no way I was taking less than the previous world record. The fact that it remained in tact over the last 25 years is amazing. The legacy of this cart and how it came into the hands of the previous owner is incredible.”

Do you think that the buyer got his money’s worth? The word going around the prototype community is that this version of the cartridge is indistinguishable from the retail release – possible leaving someone rather red faced and considerably poorer. The label on the cartridge is dated 02/23/87 – some six months before the US release, but a full year after the original Famicom Disk System release.

Source: the Examiner

In celebration of one full year of the Nintendo eShop, Nintendo are offering select eShop titles at a discount for a limited time.

During the European Nintendo Direct briefing, it was announced that ten games (some of which are awesome!) will be available for 20% off – five on sale this week and the remainder on sale the week after. Australians also have access to the anniversary sale; however the titles for the second week are yet to be confirmed.

A list of the sale titles and their prices has been provided below.

Week 1: 22 June – 28 June
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX – £4.30/$7.20
Let’s Golf! 3D – £4.30/$6.00
Pullblox – £4.30/$7.20
Super Mario Land – £2.90/$4.80
Zen Pinball 3D – £3.60/$6.00

Week 2: 29 June – 5 July
Dillon’s Rolling Western
Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive!
Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH!
Mighty Switch Force!
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

I think The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, Super Mario Land and Pullblox are this week’s necessary purchases – if you haven’t snagged them already.

Source: Nintendo Life, Nintendo Nation

Zelda fans have been clamouring for a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask for 3DS since the release of the popular The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D last year. The remake has been hinted at by Nintendo representatives, however the series creator Shigeru Miyamoto has also expressed a desire to remake or recreate The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (my personal favourite Zelda game <3). Speaking with IGN recently, Miyamoto has indicated that Nintendo are currently in deliberation. “We haven’t quite decided yet, whether we’re going to do A Link to the Past, because there’s also the possibility of doing a remake of Majora’s Mask,” Miyamoto explained. “This is something we’ve certainly been talking about and doing a little bit of experimenting with, to figure out which way we’re going to go.”

Unable to make any announcements at present, Miyamoto said that fans will have to wait “just a little while longer” for information regarding Nintendo’s decision. He went on to say “[Nintendo are] always looking at expanding our audience and giving people the opportunity to get their hands on 3DS and see what kind of fun gaming experiences they can have. And now, we’re also tasked with pushing the Wii U. So we have lots of good opportunities in terms of thinking about which Zelda game is going to be best for which purpose.” It would appear that the question is not only which Zelda game to remake, but also on which system it should appear.

So, which game should be remade, Majora’s Mask or A Link to the Past? Both!

MaJoRa, The Legend of Zelda fan and member of the Zelda Fan Game Central community, has spent the last two years meticulously recreating Ocarina of Time’s Hyrule using A Link to the Past style sprites.

The maps, created pixel by pixel, depict the entire Ocarina of Time overworld and other non-dungeon locations in 2D SNES style graphics. The Lost Woods (pictured), Hyrule Castle, Kakariko Village, Lake Hylia and even the Fishing Pond and all represented – and much more. It is an impressive feat.

You can view the complete overworld map here.

YouTube user ZeldaFreakGlitcha has discovered a warp glitch in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 that allows players to finish the game in less than 24 minutes.

The recently discovered glitch warps players from the Deku Tree straight to the Ganon’s Castle escape sequence, as child Link. Upon activating the blue warp circle after defeating Queen Gohma, plays must ignore this warp and instead travel through the glitch warp to teleport past adult Link, the Light Medallion, Zelda’s Lullaby, and much more of the 1998 classic.

Click the video above to watch the 23 minute 29 second speed run in its entirety.

In a recent interview with Edge, Shigeru Miyamoto has once again expressed interest in reviving the Super Nintendo classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Last year, Miyamoto stated A Link to the Past (which he produced) was the game he would most like to see remade for the Nintendo 3DS. Miyamoto confirmed that while he would still like to see an enhanced 3D port or remake of the original game, he would be much more interested in creating a new game perhaps “based on, or starting from, A Link to the Past.” Miyamoto went on to say “I think it’s important to bring some really new software.”

“To be very honest and open, it really depends on the directors that have time at the moment as well,” he said. “Some directors, I can give them the title and I know they will do something great with it. Other directors I’m not so 100 per cent confident [in], so they’re the ones I’d rather take a more remake approach to the title.“

A Link to the Past is my personal favourite of the Legend of Zelda series (hence the site banner) and I would truly love to see the title revisited, preferably by way of a new game. However, it would appear that such a game will not come into existence until Miyamoto can entrust the title to the right game director. That’s A-OK with me; I’ll happily continue to wait with bated breath.

Just a friendly reminder that The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition will no longer be available after February 20th.

The game was released as a part of the 25th anniversary celebrations for the Legend of Zelda series last year. It’s an upgrade of the original Four Swords which was released on the same cart as the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past.

It’s bloody good too, so get it before it disappears!

Flagship’s first crack at Zelda was fantastic.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons are two parts of a whole. Originally, they started development as “The Triforce Series” – three interconnected games that could be played in any order – The Mystical Seed of Power, The Mystical Seed of Courage and The Mystical Seed of Wisdom. Co-ordinating the development of the titles and getting them to interact proved too difficult, so The Mystical Seed of Courage was cancelled, and Power and Courage were adapted into Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons

As mentioned several times before, Nintendo is hosting various events during the year to promote the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda series (as opposed to Metroid, which got nothing for its 25th anniversary on Saturday).

Now they’ve launched a website celebrating the occasion, which has all sorts of fancy things like an interactive series history, wallpapers and a FlipNote Studio contest for those with DSi consoles (and compatibles).

Nintendo has announced dates for the Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony concers for Tokyo (October 10), Los Angeles (October 21) and London (October 25). An Australian concert date has yet to be announced, but I’m willing to be that it’ll be in Sydney.

Perhaps you’ve heard of Operation Rainfall, the letter writing campaign to get Nintendo of America to localise several Wii games. Following in its footsteps is Operation Moonfall, a new campaign which aims to get Nintendo to produce a 3D update of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.

The campaign appears to have been started by the fansite Zelda Universe after long time series producer Eiji Aonuma said that he was up for it. After the solid retail performance of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, it might actually become reality.

So if you want The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D to happen, contact Nintendo and tell them!