About The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition

zerothis
2008-07-31 (updated 2009-08-11) #

The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition video game info

Released 2003-11-07 in Japan, 2003-11-14 in Europe, 2003-11-17 in North America, and 2004-03-19 in all other regions.
A emulated collection of 4 previous Zelda games, a playable demo of Wind Waker, and two videos.

The Legend of Zelda
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition: A Retrospective (Video)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Special Movie (Video)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 20 minute playable Demo

The WW demo lets you play the 1st sequences of the Forsaken Fortress, Windfall Island and Dragon's Roost. All games can be shown in 640x480p by holding the B button when turning on the GameCube. LoZ and AoL were 320x240i and even thought they are still drawn with 320x240 pixles, 640x480p does make a difference in image clarity. The 3D elements of OoT and MM, which were originally 320x240p and are much more noticeable improved. However, the 2D interface of these games is like LoZ and AoL, is only a slight improvement.

The emulation is not perfect, this most notable in Majora's Mask that can experience lag, graphic glitches and even freeze. Disabling the rumble feature generally improves the emulation. And, most of the same minor shading glitches that are present when running OoT and MM under PC emulators are also present in these GameCube emulations; how curious.

All packages are marked "NOT FOR RESALE" and it was never intended for retail sales. Instead it was made available to customers who pre-purchased GameCube units, purchased various limited edition GameCube bundles, registering a GameCube and two games at Nintendo.com, subscribed or renewed a subscription to Nintendo Power or Club Nintendo, the Stars Catalogue program, or proof of purchases from certain GameCube games. These promotions were different for the various regions and change periodically. Nintendo authorized an official strategy guide and continues to sell copies of the manual. despite the restrictions, some stores blatantly sold packages including only the game that they managed to obtain through manipulating the various promotions. A few authorized outlets continue to offer the unauthorized sale of used copies. This grey market and used game distributing is generally protected by Law in Europe and the USA, but is a risk for the distributor since Nintendo can stop doing business with them. Obviously, Nintendo did not intentionally offer this game to unauthorized (grey market) distributors and retailers directly, the intended distributors and outlets that manipulated promotions are engaged in grey marketing. Despite the relatively large number of this 'limited edition', it is genuinely rarer than most other GameCube games.

Since the original games were produced at various times when Nintendo had various company structures, their are different developers listed. Also, the Actual emulation (digital) repackaging was handled by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development (EAD Team 4) and the US based Nintendo Software Technology Corporation.

Tags

Applies to two games in this collection. First discussed will be the Ocarina of Time. When the Hero of Time removed the Master Sword from it's pedestal in the Temple of Time, he was held in place for 7 years while Gannon used the opened door to get access to the Triforce. But he was only able to gain access to the Triforce of Power, the other two pieces hid themselves from him. Freed seven years later, the Hero of Time found the world devastated by Gannon's war and Hyrule Castle replaced by Gannon's fortress. Due to possessing the Triforce of Power, Gannon became extremely difficult to kill. It is speculated that Gannon wished for immortality and his wish was mostly granted, but not quite complete, since he didn't have the whole Triforce. Meanwhile, The Hero of Time was able to use the Master Sword to return to the exact moment he'd first removed it. He could then affect the future in small ways. In the past, he could use the Master Sword again to travel to the future time after the war. But, he was unable to stop the war or go to a point in history before he'd opened the Door of Time and stop himself. In the future, the Hero of Time managed to disable Gannon and in that moment the seven sages sealed him in the Sacred Realm with his Triforce of Power. Now, Princess Zelda did have the power to send The Hero of Time back to a previous point using her magical Ocarina. The Hero and Zelda both had pieces of the Triforce that may have enable this feat, no other incidents of such a precisely controlled trip through time have happened with any other people in the canonical Zelda universe. This is where the timeline splits, Princess Zelda went on to rebuild Hyrule and presumably marry and have children in a world without the Hero of Time. But in the other time line, the child Hero came with knowledge of a possible future and one very important piece of advice for the young Princess Zelda. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR OF TIME. They fought with Gannon in what became known as the Imprisoning War because this war ended in baiting Gannon with the complete Triforce that was never taken out of the Sacred Realm. Gannon became trapped in the Sacred Realm with his Triforce.

AlternateTimeLine also applies to Majora's Mask. First it must be established that this game takes place in the alternate time line where the young Hero of Time warned young Zelda about a possible horrible future if the Door of Time was opened. But this isn't the reason for an Alternate Time Line. More to the point, The Hero was given the Ocarina of Time and a song by Princess Zelda that enabled him to repeatedly return to a key point in the past with important items and create a additional time lines. He did this repeatedly until he was able to create a time line in which he retrieved Major's Mask from the Skull Kid and defeated Majora. The 'failed' time lines were all presumably terminated by the natural yet extreme forces resulting from the collision of two planetary bodies near the physical location of the key point in time (this occurred in ALL other timelines when Majora was undefeated). Yet, the Hero seems to have been able to retrieve items from these different time lines that continued to exist.

Link can ride Epona in OoT and MM, shoot a bow an arrow in LoZ, OoT, and MM, go fishing in OoT, travel back a forth between two time periods that are 7 years apart in OoT, Travel back to a key place and point in time in MM and teleport around the land of Hyrule in OoT and Termina in MM by playing a song or finding a shortcut portal. Of note, Link does not teleport in LoZ, he is carried from place to place by a whirlwind. OoT is both a prequel and a remake. Despite taking place in a previous time than the previously released games (some of which are included in this package), it follows the formula developed by those previous games. Even to the point that 4 major roles reoccur, Gannon the demonic magician-thief lusting for power, Link the Hero, Zelda the Princess, The wise of sage who advises Link, and Impa the Loyal servant of Royalty. Stealth is required for the Hero to gain access to the outer then inner sections of Hyrule castle in OoT. The Hero is required to sneak past multiple guards without being seen, heard or touched by them. Additionally, some enemies will fail to notice the Hero under certain conditions; although these instances are merely helpful and not at all required. Stealth in MM is required and the Stone Mask is specifically for causing the Hero to go unnoticed by most characters and enemies in the game.
Shigero Miyamoto is "involved in Shinto" (apparently this is the politically correct term) and most of the Legend of Zelda games he designed either encourages or requires the main characters to participate Shinto like practices in order to beat the game. Shigero Miyamoto was a key author of LoZ, AoL and OoT. Additionally he had creative influence on the design on MM. The main Shinto practices presented are collection and use of spiritual relics and rituals at 'shrines'. Miyamoto has confirmed his Shinto faith publicly including during game related interviews. When asked if the Zelda games promoted shinto, he did not deny it.
[Someone more familiar with Shinto needs to expand or/and revise the above paragraph.]
OoT and MM feature, snowscapes, item durability (for a few specific items), day and night. All games feature melee combat, trap rooms, mountains, forest, bridges, monsters, and blobs. All but LoZ feature towns and magic. Some games feature ruins, outlaws, and plains. OoT features the inside of a megafish as a location. MM features the tragic introduction of the Scooby Tingle character, alien abduction, and off-screen action. Foes with Achilles' Heel type weaknesses are a mainstay of the series, especially bosses and Gannon. Naming your kid "Link" effectively chooses them to save the world while still a child in the Zelda universe. But Links age in LoZ, sequences of OoT, and AoL is debateably teen or adult. All but MM feature a mix of 2D and 3D type graphics in their attempts to represent a 3D environment. MM features tattoos and they are present in OoT. Nighttime enemy encounters in OoT a merely relentless, not random. But overworld enemy encounters in LoZ are both random and relentless.