[hiroshi]

I stumbled across this VHS transfer someone made of the loading screen and gameplay of BS Zelda. Haven't really seen this anywhere else. After watching this, the purpose of all those things that were hacked out made much more sense.

[kap]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sl4qV0BpN0

...this is emulated. I had no idea there was a rom of this floating around.

edit: or is that just a hack?

[hiroshi]

The rom is out there, but useless in its virgin state. In order to finish the game a lot of things have to be hacked. It's not the same experience, but good enough. You'll need a walkthrough as the voiceovers for timed events aren't in the rom, they were just streamed live over the satellite channel.

The BS Zelda homepage has a lot more info.

[KlarthAilerion]

The time of day thing is neat, and that kind of stuff was just beginning to be utilized back then (Tengai Makyou Zero: Far East of Eden Zero is another example from SFC-time, I think). For a more modern example, think of the singing dog (Totokake?) from Animal Crossing on the N64/GameCube, as well as the seasonal and day/night changes from a variety of games.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess kind of incorporated this with the different activities you could perform during the day and night (such as Poe soul hunting). I'm really surprised that they didn't do anything more specific in Twilight Princess, like the Dampe grave tour from Ocarina of Time.

Now all we have to do is wait for a new Wall Street Kid game, where the different international stock markets open and close at their appropriate international time, regardless of where in the world the player is.

[kap]

[ProgrammingAce]

i think someone has

[Tongueman]

It's interesting to see the game as it was meant to be played: with the music and voices from the TV broadcast, and the voice hints at timed intervals.

Watching this, I kept thinking: how annoying. How distracting. Who would want to play a game like this, gameplay limited to 50 odd minutes a day, a stupid voice meddling in your game, with each installment doled over the course of a month? What an elaborate waste of money for all involved. It's a sad substitute for a CD-ROM attachment.

[TheRedEye]

So would this technically be the first episodic game?

[rbudrick]

If only we had the complete voiceovers...There's two ways I think they could be obtained. Since someone recorded this on VHS way back when, it's feasible he recorded the rest of the game. It's also possible if he didn't someone else out there did. It's a longshot, but I never even thought I'd see what was in those two videos, so whatever. Contacting the person that posted them is the best lead for them right now...other than that all else is just waiting until they pop up, if ever, except for the second method, which is a bit more impossible..the satellite/cable company and/or Nintendo may have recordings of the voiceovers.

I noticed the music was completely out of sync. Weird.

-Rob

[KlarthAilerion]

Rob, if you read the info on that page that's linked above, it explains why the music is out of sync. They basically just broadcast it from the CDs over the Satelleview connection... it wasn't built in to the game itself. So, no matter where you were at a given point in time, you'd hear the same music.

They also talk about the voiceovers and whatnot. Just repeated in certain areas at certain times. Definitely an interesting project.

[sailoranna]

According to the website, the main reason it was timed at a certian time and on certian days was because the whole thing was a contest, and depending on items you got and points per item you one little prizes.

[taiki]

[nekta]

Sorry I'm confused, there was a NES version and SNES version that I saw on youtube.

Are both of these valid or is he making this shit up? The SNES style video looked kinda hacked and simple to me. All the pots in the corners and the key in the same one almost every time. But I would love anyone to tell me otherwise...........

[KlarthAilerion]

The video is of the game that was available in Japan only on the Satelleview, a satellite gaming service.

[TheRedEye]

[FlowingMindspin]

This is extremely interesting. I've never done any extensive research into the subject or anything, but when reading about the Satellaview it always seemed interesting. I never quite understood how it would work with the live voiceovers and such, but seeing it in action is pretty sweet.

I really hope whoever this person is did manage to tape the entire game, for posterity's sake if nothing else.

[hiroshi]

BS Tantei Club was another episodic game for the service.

I'd check to see if there were more, but I've lost the link to that custom Japanese SFC + BS-X emulator that'll actually play them properly.

[Broadcasting Satellite]

BS Satella Walker 2 Video

I wanted to play this game...

[ProgrammingAce]

[ArnoldRimmer83]