In the early 90s, there were two lonesome souls who, amongst all the odds, managed to find each other, fell in love, and started a relationship. These two lovebirds were known as Nintendo and Sony. They cherished the time they spent with each other, and together, they were working to bring a brand new piece of revolutionary tech to the world known as the Nintendo PlayStation. However, it was then that tragedy struck, as Sony had then found out that Nintendo had cheated on them with another company known as Phillips, and from that day, Sony and Nintendo would be the biggest of enemies. This would ultimately benefit Sony, as they would go onto then create the Sony PlayStation, a revolutionary piece of tech that would be praised, and would lead to many other successes for years to come. As for Nintendo, however, they would not be so fortunate with their decisions. From this new love affair came another piece of tech known as the Phillips CDI, a console that many have loathed and despised for generations, as well as a set of brand new games that were made thanks to Nintendo giving them permission to. These games would then go on to also be loathed for many years to come, even more so then the console itself, and one of these games would be known as Link: The Faces of Evil.
If you are familiar with the Zelda franchise, then I am sure you have heard about this game at some point in your life. It is widely regarded to be one of the absolute WORST games of all time, let alone from the Zelda franchise, and while it may have initially had a positive reception, it has gone on to be reviled and made fun of all the way to this very day. I myself have known about this game, along with the other Zelda CDI games, for a long time, thanks to the videos made by PeanutButterGamer, and while they did indeed look awful, I had wanted to try them out SO BADLY, just to see how bad they really were. I was never able to figure out how to run a proper CDI emulator, which meant I thought I would never get the chance. However, then I heard about a little fan remaster of these games by a guy named Dopply, and of course, I jumped on it as soon as possible.
I decided to play The Faces of Evil first, because that was the first of the bunch I had heard about, and after beating the whole thing, I think that I may actually be crazy… because I actually found the game to be somewhat good? Don’t get me wrong, there is PLENTY about this game that is terrible, and in terms of the original version of the game, there was plenty there as well that amplified how bad it was even more. But, based on what I had played, I actually didn’t think it was all that bad. Of course, a lot of this is thanks to the remaster of the game making a lot of changes to make the game better, but even on its own, I still managed to have a good time with it, both genuinely and ironically.
The story is extremely simple for a Zelda game, with Link going off to Koradai to stop the “Faces of Evil”, but then UH OH, Zelda has been kidnapped, so now he has to go save her as well, which is pretty straightforward for the series this is, but honestly, if we got anything more complicated than that, then the universe might actually explode, so this is fine, the graphics… certainly vary in quality, with the main game itself looking fine, even if there is a lot of problems with the environments that I will bring up later, and as for the cutscenes… we’ll hold off on those for now, the music is actually pretty good, with there being plenty of tracks I fondly remembered from the game, and I enjoyed quite a bit, but of course, they don’t compare to the tracks from other Zelda games, the control was originally, from what I have seen and heard, complete dogshit, but thankfully, the remaster makes things MUCH more simple and easy to control, so thank god I never had to deal with any of that, and the gameplay is somewhat familiar with the Zelda series, but made much more simple and tedious as a result.
The game is a 2D action-adventure game, where you take control of Link, go through many different locations through the land of Koradai, defeat many different monsters along the way (and I do mean many), gather plenty of helpful items that will either increase your stats or help with completing certain quests, talk to many different colorful characters that you will find throughout the land for useful information, and take on plenty of bosses that would be challenging, except most of them go down with a single hit most of the time. For the most part, it sounds pretty straightforward, and since it takes on the style of Zelda II rather than a traditional Zelda, there are a lot of interesting elements to be found here that do make for a unique experience. However, there is a LOT holding it back, so we may as well go through all of the negatives before saying why the game actually isn’t all that bad.
First off, we may as well address the elephant in the room: the cutscenes. If you know anything about this game, or any of the other Nintendo CDI games, chances are it is related to these cutscenes, with there being plenty of them that show up throughout the entire game. If you don’t know about them, let me be the first to tell you then… these cutscenes are AWFUL. Their animation is some of the worst I have ever seen in a game, the characters move around very unnaturally, the voice acting is really bad, the line delivery is extremely goofy and amateur, the dialogue is repetitive and generic, and they have gone down as some of the worst cutscenes in video game history. However, with all that being said… I can’t help but love them. These cutscenes fall in the same category as The Room, where they are so bad that you can’t help but adore every second of them, and I am sure that for anyone who knows this game, they can quote plenty of lines from this almost exactly. That’s how iconic they are.
As for the game itself though, it also has its fair share of problems. Just to go through them really quickly, there are way too many enemies that can be on screen at once, a lot of items you need to grind money for, even very early on in the game, the control in order to do anything can be pretty wonky, even when doing something as simple as opening a menu, the bosses completely suck, you have to refight a good number of them multiple times, some of the NPCs don’t help you out whatsoever, and what is quite possibly the worst problem this game suffers from, the background and foreground. Everything in the areas you go to look the exact same when compared to each other, so there will be plenty of times where you can’t determine what you can and can’t interact with, leading to a lot of unneeded frustration. Granted, while a good amount of these problems are tweaked with in the remaster of the game, a lot of the problems are still there, making it still a pretty bad game at the end of the day.
With all that in mind though, I still managed to have a good time with the game. Yes, a lot of it is still pretty bad, and the game is repetitive enough to where it can get boring at times, but it did feel satisfying getting through a lot of these levels, and I did manage to have a fun time with slashing through these enemies and getting these items. Not to mention, a lot of the worse elements of the game, such as the cutscenes and the pathetic bosses, do add a lot of charm to the game in a way, and make it much more enjoyable. I always wanted to keep moving forward, because even if what I faced would be annoying, I would be given a garbage cutscene at the end of it, which makes up for everything at the end of the day. Seriously, when you hear Ganon say “Join me Link, and I will make your face the GREATEST in Koradai… or else you will DIE”, you simply just cannot completely hate this game. It is impossible.
Overall, despite the many, MANY problems that hold this game down, and the infamous reputation that it has gotten over the years, I surprisingly ended up really liking my time with Link: The Faces of Evil. Of course, a lot of that is thanks to the remaster, but even then, a lot of it I just can’t help but really like, and while I definitely probably won’t be playing it ever again, I am glad to say that I finally got to witness it in all of its glory. I would definitely recommend that any Zelda fan, or anyone in general, play or witness the game at least once in their lives, but for your own sake, DO NOT play the original version. Play the fan made remaster, because it manages to make the game a lot more bearable, while still keeping a lot of that awful charm perfectly intact. And hey, while we may all shit on these games for the dumpster fire that they are, we have to give them credit at the end of the day for inspiring many other works, such as this one game called Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore, which is being made to be a direct spiritual successor to this game, along with the other Nintendo CDI games. If you somehow aren’t excited for that game, then you my friend don’t know what true art is.
Game #438
If you are familiar with the Zelda franchise, then I am sure you have heard about this game at some point in your life. It is widely regarded to be one of the absolute WORST games of all time, let alone from the Zelda franchise, and while it may have initially had a positive reception, it has gone on to be reviled and made fun of all the way to this very day. I myself have known about this game, along with the other Zelda CDI games, for a long time, thanks to the videos made by PeanutButterGamer, and while they did indeed look awful, I had wanted to try them out SO BADLY, just to see how bad they really were. I was never able to figure out how to run a proper CDI emulator, which meant I thought I would never get the chance. However, then I heard about a little fan remaster of these games by a guy named Dopply, and of course, I jumped on it as soon as possible.
I decided to play The Faces of Evil first, because that was the first of the bunch I had heard about, and after beating the whole thing, I think that I may actually be crazy… because I actually found the game to be somewhat good? Don’t get me wrong, there is PLENTY about this game that is terrible, and in terms of the original version of the game, there was plenty there as well that amplified how bad it was even more. But, based on what I had played, I actually didn’t think it was all that bad. Of course, a lot of this is thanks to the remaster of the game making a lot of changes to make the game better, but even on its own, I still managed to have a good time with it, both genuinely and ironically.
The story is extremely simple for a Zelda game, with Link going off to Koradai to stop the “Faces of Evil”, but then UH OH, Zelda has been kidnapped, so now he has to go save her as well, which is pretty straightforward for the series this is, but honestly, if we got anything more complicated than that, then the universe might actually explode, so this is fine, the graphics… certainly vary in quality, with the main game itself looking fine, even if there is a lot of problems with the environments that I will bring up later, and as for the cutscenes… we’ll hold off on those for now, the music is actually pretty good, with there being plenty of tracks I fondly remembered from the game, and I enjoyed quite a bit, but of course, they don’t compare to the tracks from other Zelda games, the control was originally, from what I have seen and heard, complete dogshit, but thankfully, the remaster makes things MUCH more simple and easy to control, so thank god I never had to deal with any of that, and the gameplay is somewhat familiar with the Zelda series, but made much more simple and tedious as a result.
The game is a 2D action-adventure game, where you take control of Link, go through many different locations through the land of Koradai, defeat many different monsters along the way (and I do mean many), gather plenty of helpful items that will either increase your stats or help with completing certain quests, talk to many different colorful characters that you will find throughout the land for useful information, and take on plenty of bosses that would be challenging, except most of them go down with a single hit most of the time. For the most part, it sounds pretty straightforward, and since it takes on the style of Zelda II rather than a traditional Zelda, there are a lot of interesting elements to be found here that do make for a unique experience. However, there is a LOT holding it back, so we may as well go through all of the negatives before saying why the game actually isn’t all that bad.
First off, we may as well address the elephant in the room: the cutscenes. If you know anything about this game, or any of the other Nintendo CDI games, chances are it is related to these cutscenes, with there being plenty of them that show up throughout the entire game. If you don’t know about them, let me be the first to tell you then… these cutscenes are AWFUL. Their animation is some of the worst I have ever seen in a game, the characters move around very unnaturally, the voice acting is really bad, the line delivery is extremely goofy and amateur, the dialogue is repetitive and generic, and they have gone down as some of the worst cutscenes in video game history. However, with all that being said… I can’t help but love them. These cutscenes fall in the same category as The Room, where they are so bad that you can’t help but adore every second of them, and I am sure that for anyone who knows this game, they can quote plenty of lines from this almost exactly. That’s how iconic they are.
As for the game itself though, it also has its fair share of problems. Just to go through them really quickly, there are way too many enemies that can be on screen at once, a lot of items you need to grind money for, even very early on in the game, the control in order to do anything can be pretty wonky, even when doing something as simple as opening a menu, the bosses completely suck, you have to refight a good number of them multiple times, some of the NPCs don’t help you out whatsoever, and what is quite possibly the worst problem this game suffers from, the background and foreground. Everything in the areas you go to look the exact same when compared to each other, so there will be plenty of times where you can’t determine what you can and can’t interact with, leading to a lot of unneeded frustration. Granted, while a good amount of these problems are tweaked with in the remaster of the game, a lot of the problems are still there, making it still a pretty bad game at the end of the day.
With all that in mind though, I still managed to have a good time with the game. Yes, a lot of it is still pretty bad, and the game is repetitive enough to where it can get boring at times, but it did feel satisfying getting through a lot of these levels, and I did manage to have a fun time with slashing through these enemies and getting these items. Not to mention, a lot of the worse elements of the game, such as the cutscenes and the pathetic bosses, do add a lot of charm to the game in a way, and make it much more enjoyable. I always wanted to keep moving forward, because even if what I faced would be annoying, I would be given a garbage cutscene at the end of it, which makes up for everything at the end of the day. Seriously, when you hear Ganon say “Join me Link, and I will make your face the GREATEST in Koradai… or else you will DIE”, you simply just cannot completely hate this game. It is impossible.
Overall, despite the many, MANY problems that hold this game down, and the infamous reputation that it has gotten over the years, I surprisingly ended up really liking my time with Link: The Faces of Evil. Of course, a lot of that is thanks to the remaster, but even then, a lot of it I just can’t help but really like, and while I definitely probably won’t be playing it ever again, I am glad to say that I finally got to witness it in all of its glory. I would definitely recommend that any Zelda fan, or anyone in general, play or witness the game at least once in their lives, but for your own sake, DO NOT play the original version. Play the fan made remaster, because it manages to make the game a lot more bearable, while still keeping a lot of that awful charm perfectly intact. And hey, while we may all shit on these games for the dumpster fire that they are, we have to give them credit at the end of the day for inspiring many other works, such as this one game called Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore, which is being made to be a direct spiritual successor to this game, along with the other Nintendo CDI games. If you somehow aren’t excited for that game, then you my friend don’t know what true art is.
Game #438