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	Video games - BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban

BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban (Japanese: BSゼルダの伝説古代の石盤, literally BS Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets) was like a "second quest" or "Master Quest" for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
that was released for the Satellaview (a Japanese-only attachment for the Super Famicom) in 1997.

BS stands for Broadcast Satellaview and the Satellaview unit is comonly referred to as the BS-X. Using this addon, gamers could download the game from the BS-5 channel of St. GIGA's satellite radio network and save it onto either the BS-X base unit's flash-RAM (included) or a BS-X Special Broadcast Cassette (an additional purchase or prize).

Gameplay

The game and its gameplay was mostly identical to A Link to the Past
(hereafter abbreviated ALttP), which it is modified from. However many mechanics were tidied up. The most notable change was to the Pegasus Boots; the player could now change directions when running with the Boots, and could also move between rooms and screens without automatically stopping as in ALttP. The Shovel also got a makeover. While in ALttP it was merely a plot device, it could now be used to dig for Rupees.

The dungeon items were also changed. Instead of three Pendants and seven Crystals the player now collected the titular Ancient Stone Tablets, of which there were only eight.

Bombable walls, which in ALttP were noticeably cracked, are in this game completely invisible. Only prodding with a sword will lead to their discovery by making the trademark hollow ringing sound. Each and every bombed-out area rewarded the player with Rupees, or pots concealing bomb and arrow refills, and so on. Sometimes the wall concealed an "Upgrade Thief"; the thieves who in ALttP knocked into the player and stole the items they dropped now appeared in a helper role; he would upgrade their maximum of one ammo type (either bombs or arrows, each thief only upgrades one type, and once only), but for a cost. The price increased as the player progressed through the game.

When discovered in caves found on the overworld, these thieves gave out large quantities of Rupees if the player found them.

Presentation

The game was divided into four weekly episodes. These episodes were played live, at the same time as a videogame tips show was running on the satellite network (it probably contained ads and such to promote the games currently being played).

Character Selection

The player could configure his or her name and gender in the Satellaview game-selection interface. This then carried across to the game. The female character was the ALttP Link model with hair replacing Link's traditional green hat, while the male character was Link with a baseball cap. This was the forth time a female character had been a playable protagonist in a Zelda game; the previous three occurrences having been in Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon
, Zelda's Adventure
, and BS Zelda
(the former two of which are of the three Zelda titles released for the Philips Cd-i, wherein Princess Zelda herself was the playable character, and the latter is a Legend of Zelda remake). The characters themselves are nameless in-game, but fans typically give them the names "Link" and "Aryll" for simplicity. In actuality, they're Satellaview's mascots, and "come from another world" in this game. They're collectively known as the Heroes of Light. Thus, a more accurate name for them should be "Hero" and "Heroine".

Live Voice

All cutscenes were fully voice acted, live, much like a radio play. The players constantly heard the "narrator" (playing the part of the voice of Sahasrahla, a well-known character from ALttP) give various tips and hints during play. During the final minutes his statements become more demanding and forceful, as time is running out.

The non-mandatory sidequests were also fully voice-acted; however since the player could come across that event at any point rather than at a forced time, and there was no viable way for the console to convey proximity information to the voice acting center, it is to be assumed that the voice actor for that character kept saying their script over and over for the entirety of the designated time (they can each be saved from about 18:43 until 18:56), whether any player was actually on the same screen (and thus in "earshot") or not.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban ]

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