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Eiji Aonuma Addresses Those Horrible 'Zelda' CD-i Games

Earlier this year, when "Hyrule Historia" was released, it provided a comprehensive history of every "Zelda" game, save for two, "BS Zelda" and "Link's Crossbow Training." The two smaller pieces of Link's history were mentioned in a footnote on page 68, but It makes sense that they weren't included, since one was a Japan-only, digitally distributed title for the Super Famicom, and the other was seemingly created just to showcase the Wii's Zapper.

However, two additional "Zelda" games were complexly overlooked, not even getting a mention; "Link: Faces of Evil" and "Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon," both of which were released in 1993 for the infamous Phillips CD-i system. They have become known for their poor design, bad animation, questionable voice over work, and generally being two of the worst games ever released. On any system. Ever. They're so bad that they have become Internet fodder, and have been at the root of one of gaming's most beloved memes.

So, where were those games, and why weren't they included in "Hyrule Historia"? Surely, Eiji Aonuma, the Director of the "Zelda" series for Nintendo, and a major contributor to "Hyrule Historia" would know. So I asked him, and got what may be one of the only comments on the games, ever, by a Nintendo employee.

I'm sorry to break it to you CD-i fans, but Nintendo doesn't consider those two games part of the "Zelda" cannon. As I wrapped up my interview with Mr. Aonuma, I asked why the CD-i games weren't even mentioned in "Hyrule Historia," which was supposed to serve as the comprehensive history of the series, and, at first, he didn't even know what I was talking about.

It was only after I mentioned that they were really, really bad that it jogged his memory.

Mr. Aonuma laughed a little bit before stating, "I don’t know that those really fit in the 'Zelda' franchise."

So, there you have it. That's an official statement, coming from Eiji Aonuma, the man that is behind all of the modern day "Zelda"s, including both the original and HD re-release of "Wind Waker." He curiously made it a point to mention that those games came out before he was working on the series, which was probably a smart move. You might be hard-pressed to find anyone that would actually admit to working on either of them.

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