I just got my Zelda No Video DVD today after ordering it from Otaku.com and putting it off for about a year. This video by Enterbrain goes through the entire history of Zelda, from The Legend of Zelda on the Famicom Disk System, to The Wind Waker on the Gamecube, along with commentary from game enthusiasts, journalists, and Zelda staff. There is also an extensive interview with Eiji Aonuma, and another with Shigeru Miyamoto. Along with the commentary, there is a large amount of game footage for each game, in some cases especially interesting because of the differences between the Japanese and U.S. versions. The Zelda DVD is awesome… of course the entire video was made for and produced in Japan so the whole thing has Japanese audio, so its even more awesome for people that live in Japan and who can speak Japanese. I wish I knew Japanese to understand it, I wonder if a fansub will ever be produced?
In particular I found the coverage of the BS-Zelda game that was based on A Link to the Past to be interesting. I’m not very familar with the BS Zelda games. During the footage of this Zelda, I heard what sounded like the Sound and Drama from the ALttP soundtrack “Sound and Drama”, except it sounded like the voice actors were doing an entirely different drama. I thought it might have been edited at first, but there was actual voice samples, along with music from Sound and Drama, being played in sync with the game. For example, when the Sahashrala sprite was moving like he was wounded, there was actual speech to accompany it, and when the sprite of Zelda was being chased by Octoroks, there was a voice of Zelda to accompany her terror. I think this might have been what I heard about one of the BS-Zelda games containing a “voice” that pushed players through the game as the clock ticked. I’m going to have to watch that part again to be sure.
Also on the disc are the endings to each Zelda game, and there is also the option to hear commentary about the endings from two of the speakers from the history part. I think during the ending of Zelda II, with Link and Zelda holding hands and then the curtain going down and Zelda moving closer, one of the guys said something like “Awwwwwwwwww”.
Below are some scans of the packaging



My friend TSA at ZHQ got his DVD a long while back, and put up a few pages of screens and commentary on the video.
The Zelda No Video DVD is available at Otaku.com, and is 105 minutes long. If you should buy this, be warned that it is a Region 2 DVD and will not play on North American Region 1 DVD players, although you may be able to find a trick to view it. If you have a PS2, I understand that a Gameshark will allow you to view a DVD from any region. The video was released a year ago, so if you want to get your hands on it, I’d do it now. I had also put off getting the Zelda Box fan guidebook, and just as soon as I recieved my copy from Otaku.com, they took it off of their site because now it’s out of print.
edit 3-30
I forgot to mention, one of the guys in the video talks about the Magic Hammer from A Link to the Past. There was a clip of Donkey Kong to go along with it, so I think he was either saying the Hammer was similar to the one Mario uses in Donkey Kong, or it was suppose to be the same hammer. I think the handle was even in the right spot.
Tags: DVD, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda No Densetsu
RSS Feed