The recent Nintendo Direct featured a bevy of exciting announcements… and then there is the Virtual Boy. Complete with Nintendo Labo-style cardboard cutout to emulate the Virtual Boy’s infamous setup, the addition will allow fans to check out Nintendo’s most obscure console.
While I am perplexed by the inclusion, I can’t help but wonder if this could potentially open the door to the inclusion of more obscure relics from Nintendo’s past. In fact I would love to see Nintendo resurrect three forgotten games from The Legend of Zelda series that elude even most die-hard fans, released for a SNES peripheral almost nobody has heard of.
I’m talking about the BS Zelda games released for the Super Nintendo’s Satellaview peripheral. I would love to see Nintendo bring them to Nintendo Switch Online.
For the uninitiated, the Satellaview was a Japan-only peripheral released in 1995, i co-development with the satellite radio company St. GIGA. The peripheral gave internet access to the SNES, allowing for games and programs to be downloaded to the console. The purpose of the article is not to provide a history for this fascinating piece of technology, but it resulted in the creation of a number of wholly original games that could only be experienced via the Satellaview.
This includes a whopping three completely unique Zelda titles. BS Zelda was a 16-bit remake of The Legend of Zelda for the NES, featuring nicer graphics and remixed dungeons. BS Zelda Map 2 was a reproduction of that games’ famous “second quest,” featuring a brand new overworld. Lastly is The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets which was a bonafide sequel to A Link to the Past, featuring a new story that happens in the aftermath of the SNES classic. All these titles could only be experienced through the Satellaview.
Nowadays the Satellaview Zelda games can be experienced through the power of emulation, but these are only romhack facsimiles of the original experience. This is because the uniqueness of the BS Zelda games comes from their nature as broadcasted experiences. This came at a heavy cost, the games could only be played during periods during which the satellite was broadcasting, generally only in hour-long chunks. The upside though, is the live nature allowed for some truly cutting edge innovation. The games were accompanied with an orchestral score that far surpassed the output of the SNES, and they also featured voice acting. All doable because of the sattelite broadcast nature. Additionally the game featured events that could affect the game world, based on how those overseeing the broadcast were feeling at any given time. It was truly a unique live experience.
This isn’t something that can be truly replicated by an emulator. Certainly they have tried, with romhacks attempting to emulate the orchestral score, voice acting live events, and even the timer. However they are all static recreations of what was originally a fluid experience. It cannot ever be truly emulated.
Nintendo could recreate it though, and Nintendo Switch Online is the perfect vehicle for that.
If Nintendo is willing to add the Virtual Boy to Nintendo Switch Online, one certainly has to assume the Satellaview is on the table as well. They could take the easy route of releasing the game onto the NSO SNES offerings as as sort of “SNES Plus” type experience, with voice acting and random effects built into the offline game, taking the same approach as modern romhacks. I would be pleased to see this.
Though if they wanted to, Nintendo truly could bring the BS Zelda games back in all their glory. The internet replaces the need for a broadcast connection, and the online nature of Nintendo Switch Online lends itself perfectly to the BS Zelda games. Voice acting and orchestral music could be built into the experience with current technology, but Nintendo could put the games on a schedule exactly like they used to be, and enact random events at their leisure. Anybody with an NSO account would be able to take part.
This is hardly cutting edge territory nowadays with games like Fortnite frequently engaging in these sorts of live experience, and Nintendo themselves has been dabbling more with online experiences as of late, as seen with their 99 series of games, and the mysterious network test experience. Bringing the BS Zelda games back now would be a perfect fit. Once Nintendo chooses to cease running them as live events, they could then be left as fully playable, albeit not live, experiences.
Aside from how cool it would be to see Nintendo bring back such obscure gaming history, I also genuinely want to see the BS Zelda games get the attention they deserve, because they are worth checking out. BS Zelda Map 1 + 2 are wonderful remakes of the original game, with some beautiful sprites, and the new dungeons are very enjoyable. Likewise Ancient Stone Tablets is a pretty cool sequel to A Link to the Past, and it is an absolute novelty to check out Nintendo-produced Zelda content you had probably never known about.
I’m sure it is not as easy as I make it sound. No doubt there are licensing issues with St. GIGA that would need to be sorted out, and would require entirely new online infrastructure. Nevertheless I can’t help but fantasize about how insanely cool it would be for Nintendo to bring the BS Zelda games back. While I admit the odds are low, I thought the same about the Virtual Boy making it over. Perhaps one day these forgotten Zelda games can make a return.
Featured Image: Nintendo of America
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