(At the beginning of the video, a scene is shown of Omfak, a boss from “Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon”, as his head transforms from that of a wolf, to a lion, and finally and strangely, to a large pair of lips.)
Omfak: Whatever I see, (kills bird) I shall devour! (cooks and eats the dead bird like chicken) Mmmm!
(The Nerd looks at the screen in utter horror and gasps quietly.)
Title card for episode.
CD-I (Part 3) Faces of Evil Zelda's Adventure - Angry Video Game Nerd - Episode 61
Link: The Faces of Evil[]
The Nerd: It’s time to wrap up this CD-i shitfest. Let’s take a look at the two remaining Zelda games. First, Link: The Faces of Evil.
The Nerd: All the same problems I addressed in Zelda: [The] Wand of Gamelon are present here, so there’s not much need to go into such detail again. It has the same style of gameplay and the same cheesy cutscenes.
Harlequin: (snorts) Do ya know what it means when you lose your last Rupee?! (The Nerd's jaw drops in shock) Now you work for me! (snorts and turns a man into a rat minion) Take him away! (snorts)
Fairy 1: You’re doing great, Link!
Fairy 2: You're our hero.
The Nerd: Man - those fairies really like Link. The only real difference with this game is that ya play as Link and this time you’re goin' to rescue Zelda, so the roles have been reversed. If you watch the demo, Link tells ya how to play the game.
Link: Move the controller down, and I crouch. When I’m crouching, you can make me do the duck walk! Cool, huh?
The Nerd: One difference is that ya have to collect snowballs and fireballs. There’s some enemies that can only be killed by either of these weapons, so it only adds more to your inventory that ya have to keep up with. So, even more so than the other game, you spend half the time collecting these items and collecting Rupees so that you can buy bombs, rope and lantern oil. And to top it off, there’s more weapons that drain your Rupees. Could this be any more tedious? And I hate collecting Rupees. Oh, come on, you can’t even get two at the same time?
The Nerd: And the jumping is still a big problem. Come on, why can’t I get up there? Oh, your mother! Oh, you son of a bitch. Get up there! (Grunts angrily)
(The Nerd looks at the screen, enraged.)
The Nerd: It's time to start droppin' some F-bombs! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! (Zelda-esque, F-imprinted, fuse-lit bombs are launched out of his mouth and explode with every word.)
The Nerd: Probably the worst example is right here. I’m tryin' to go in the door. Seems simple, right? But I can’t approach the door from any conceivable angle. If I’m below the door I can’t reach it, at least not without a rope. Too bad I had to use them all in order to get this far.
The Nerd: I can’t approach it from the other side because the pillar’s blocking me. This is the part I really don’t understand. You can pass through the bottom of the pillar and you can pass through the two pillars before it, which look exactly the same. Why is it that I can’t go through this one fuckin' part?
The Nerd: It seems the only way I can make it is to drop down from the top, but I can’t get back up there. I’m jumpin' everywhere; I obviously can’t go back up, which is ironically the way I came. All because I missed the jump, which is hard to begin with because you’re so close to the ceiling.
The Nerd: I’m also prohibited from going to the left. Whether I’m on the top or the bottom floor, there’s a fuckin' piece of shit in the way. So, once ya fall down there, you’re stuck. This is a joke. They designed this part of the stage to be a trap. The only way to get out of this is to stand here and let the falling spikes kill ya. If it wasn’t for them, you’d have to reset the game and lose all your data.
The Nerd: The darkness is still a huge issue. Look, my lantern oil ran out, so I can’t find my way back. So I’m really up Shit Creek without a paddle, and that means I’m paddling through the shit with my hands.
The Nerd: Talkin' to people is still a strange ordeal. Why do ya have to shove a sword up their ass? Right up their ass.
Link: Wow!
The Nerd: You also use the sword to buy stuff. If the shop owner gets in your way, ya end up talking to him. Go away! I’m tryin' to buy bombs!
Morshu: Lamp oil, rope-
The Nerd: And here, once again I’m tryin' to fight, but I keep talkin' to this asshole!
Gwonam: Through the eye of Glutko-
The Nerd: Go away!
Gwonam: Through the eye of Glutko-
The Nerd: The enemies, once again, are a pain in the ass. Half of them are impossible to hit. Look at this! I’m tryin' to go down, but the fuckin' warthogs are in my way! This would be so simple if you could just jump down!
Militron: Oh my goodness, this is awful!
The Nerd: Another nuisance is that I can’t hit the Dodongos because the bombs just fly over ‘em. If I could duck and throw the bomb, maybe I could hit ‘em, but you can’t do that because it activates the status screen. Yeah. Ya have to be standing to use your items. And I hate these damn snakes; your timing has to be perfect.
The Nerd: (Grunting angrily) Uhh, I hate these fuckin' bastards! But these gargoyle things are the worst. They take several hits to kill, and they NEVER STOP COMING. If you stay there and try to fight ‘em off, you’ll be there forever. I’m not kidding. It makes the most sense to just try and outrun ‘em. Alright Ganon, here I come.
Ganon: Join me Link, and I will make your face the greatest in Koridai. Or else you will DIE!
The Nerd: All I need is just one shot... with a book. Yeah, it’s a book this time. Just one hit... (Grunts angrily) (Link dies at the same time Ganon dies.) That doesn’t count?!
Ganon: NO! NOT INTO THE PIT!
The Nerd: I still get the dramatic death scene, but I’m back outside the castle. Fuck... So, I gotta go all the way though the castle again, and when I get there, thankfully Ganon’s still dead. Then ya gotta wake Zelda. (Link hits Zelda repeatedly with his sword) Come on! I’m here to rescue your royal ass, get the hell up! Wake the fuck up.
(Link hits the gong)
The Nerd: Oh, I get it.
Link: I just saved ya from Ganon! I won!
The Nerd: Nothing short of poetry.
Zelda’s Adventure[]
The Nerd: Let’s move on to the final piece of what’s known as the Unholy Triforce.
(The Nerd opens the case for “Zelda’s Adventure”, then holds the disc above his head with both arms while a familiar "Zelda" fanfare is played.)
The Nerd: Zelda’s Adventure was released the following year, in 1994. Unlike the other two, this one doesn’t have the cartoon cutscenes. Instead it’s digitized actors. Sometimes they don’t even move, they just cross-fade.
Gaspra: And so I found this champion of strength and courage...
The Nerd: As the title would suggest, it’s the only other game where ya play as Zelda, goin' to save Link’s ass once again. Ya have to find dungeons, where in each one you collect a piece of a stone... much like pieces of the Triforce in the original Zelda game. So this one follows the classic format a little more. Not to mention, it’s an overhead view. That means you don’t have to do stupid shit like push up to jump and crouch to bring up the inventory screen.
The Nerd: You can also touch the Rupees and hearts without having to attack ‘em. Of course, ya do have to wait for them to touch the ground, which is confusing since it’s overhead. It’s better than the other two CD-i games, but not by a whole lot.
The Nerd: The most constant annoying thing is waiting for the screen to load. Watch how long it takes.
(The next screen takes about five seconds to load)
The Nerd: (Groans) Uhh... And you’re probably thinkin', "Oh, it can’t do that every time." Oh yeah, it does.
The Nerd: Imagine how long it takes ya to get anywhere. Look at the original Zelda; watch how quick it is. (The next screen takes only two seconds.) See? And that was on an old 8-bit console. Damn CD load time, look at this! (The screen slowly loads) That’s when ya grab your beer. (The Nerd begins drinking his beer as the screens slowly load on the TV screen)
The Nerd: The next thing that’s really annoying is that somebody keeps talkin' to you.
Shurmak's Voice: Zelda! Zelda! Do not roam unprotected.
The Nerd: Oh, shut the fuck up!
Shurmak's Voice: Look nearby for something to aid you.
The Nerd: What - is Zelda hearing voices in her head? Crazy bitch. Unlike other Zelda games where the dialogue is all text, this one uses real bad voice acting.
Woman: Sit a moment. It is said, "Those who go deep into the Earth learn to overcome the sins of greed."
Sheepman: (gruffly) Hey, who goes there? Aren’t you an enemy of my boss, Llort? You can’t come in here.
The Nerd: Even the sound effects aren’t appropriate. Why do the Vires have humanoid grunts?
Vires: (grunts three times)
The Nerd: And what the hell is that thing?
Mushroom Creature: (weeping)
The Nerd: WHAT IS THAT?!
Mushroom Creature: Those Moblins out there are so slow and stupid!
The Nerd: You don’t get very much music either. Just immerse yourself in the good ol’ outdoors. (Birdsong from the game.) I also find the ground very strange looking, almost like a satellite view. (A yellow arrow points to the green patches on the ground.) These would be trees, so, maybe Zelda’s a giant?
The Nerd: Oh look, we got a ladder. Remember that from the original Zelda? Remember how to use it? You just walk right across. Let's see how easy it is here. You come to a gap, you gotta go to your menu... select the ladder, and then use it. You always have to select shit. Take this for example: in any good Zelda game, how do ya buy stuff? Like this.
(Link walks up to the Green Potion to buy it.)
The Nerd: That's easy, right? Here, you gotta stop, bring up the menu... select the Rupee... and there. What a bunch of fuck.
Merchant: That was a wise purchase, young princess!
The Nerd: And, I gotta say, the menu screen sucks. First of all, you can only hold one item. That includes the sword or a wand, whatever. In the other games you always have the sword and can select an additional item. Of course the CD-i doesn’t utilize as many buttons, so whenever ya need to use something, ya bring up the menu screen.
The Nerd: And the other thing that really pisses me off is that ya have to scroll through the items; not by pressing left or right on the D-Pad, no, by moving the cursor to the left or right arrow and painstakingly clicking until ya see the item ya want. THAT... is bullshit. Why couldn’t they fit 'em all on the screen like the other games?!
The Nerd: How 'bout the map screen? In any other Zelda game, you can bring up the map with the ease of a single button. That’s simple, right? Well here, the map screen is inside the item screen. Yeah, so, whenever ya wanna see the map, you have to bring up the item screen, select the map, look at the map, go back to the item screen, and finally back to the game.
The Nerd: How about getting treasure? You think you'd just open it and there’d be nothing more to it than that. But no, the fuckin' treasure chest starts talkin' to you.
Treasure Chest: Why, what a great event! Hoo-hoo!
The Nerd: Then, it spits out the treasure, and the first time I didn’t even know what happened. Whatever happened to this?
(Link just opens the chest with no problem in "A Link to the Past")
The Nerd: How 'bout this shit? Somebody gives me an empty bottle and tells me to go fill it up at the source of the river. Why I can’t just go to any river bank, I don’t know, but anyway, I go to the source, which is this... fuckin' skull thing. I select the bottle, and then it doesn’t just fill up, it mysteriously disappears from Zelda’s hands and then reappears behind her to the left. What?
The Nerd: You’re never even sure what the items are gonna do. I got a flute, and I was told to use it against a snake. So I use the flute, and what happens? It kills the snake, but not before freezing me, making me momentarily helpless while the snake nearly kills me! (sarcastically) Thanks!
The Nerd: But one major problem I have is that the save function doesn’t seem to work. If I turn off the game, it erases all the data. That sucks.
The Nerd: The overall design is horrendous. You can never tell where to go. See that dark area right there? That’s a cave, you’re supposed to go in there. But with all the random rock patterns, you'd think it was just part of the wall.
The Nerd: And when I got to this part, I thought it was a hole in the floor, 'til I realized that it’s just part of the ceiling. Rarely does that even happen, and it occurs right after the part where ya need a ladder, so naturally, I thought it was a hole. Here, I’m just tryin' to go to the right, but somethin' apparently's blocking my path. What the fuck’s goin' on?
The Nerd: Oh shit, I’m gonna die; get over there! I’m stuck! (Grunts angrily twice) Ugh, UGH! FUCK!
(Zelda dies from the enemy while stuck to the wall)
The Nerd: Even the dungeon maps aren’t consistent. See the white square? That’s where I am. But if I go up, it jumps me all the way up here. And it happens more than once; you just jump all over the map. In other Zelda games, there’s secret passageways that transport ya all around the dungeon. That makes sense. But here, when you’re just walking to the next screen and suddenly appear some place different on the map, it’s like "What the hell happened to this game?"
The Nerd: I don’t believe this! (stuttering) Like, I-I seriously don’t believe this!
(The Nerd starts drinking some more Rolling Rock beer.)
The Nerd: That’s it, that’s all I can take. How could they fuck up Zelda this bad?! I-it’s not a Zelda game, I wouldn’t call it that. "Oh, but it is. It has Zelda in it, it has Link..." Yeah, y'know what, that’s a pointless argument right there. That’s like if your dad says "I fucked your mom." It’s like... like "I can’t argue with that!"
The Nerd: You know, playing these games is as worthwhile as melting a dog turd in a frying pan! Yeah, put some buffalo puke and some cat piss all over it, and you have a shit sandwich that is Zelda CD-i. This game FUCKIN' SUCKS! (The Nerd tosses "Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.") FUCKIN' SUCKS! (The Nerd tosses "Link: The Faces of Evil.") FUCKIN' SUCKS! (The Nerd tosses "Zelda’s Adventure.") Oh yeah, and the Mario game? That one sucks too! (The Nerd tosses "Hotel Mario" and grunts.) CD-I SUCKS! (The screen goes black as the Nerd tosses the CD-i console out the window and grunts.)
(Then it shows Zelda CD-i cutscenes and game footage with the Nerd, who makes fart sounds in the background to the tune of the overworld theme from Zelda 1)