Saturday, May 28, 2016

Excuse me, Episode 2 - Cold Spells


Well, in this very well scripted and epic episode it's spring cleaning time in Hyrule. Zelda wants all of Hyrule Castle to be cleaned, Link bails by pretending to be sick, Spryte has then to do all the work and Ganon actually uses this clear opportunity to mess with Spryte's magic to cause chaos and steal the Triforce of Wisdom. Finally he has all two of the Triforce pieces!! That's funny, because the episode clearly shows a Moby enemy from Zelda II - The Adventure of Link and even calls it by its name, while completely ignoring the fact that the TRIforce is made out of three pieces. Who would have thought?

I think, they decided to simplify the whole Triforce thing for story reasons, since it was supposed to be a Kid's show. There are two parties, good and evil, each party has a Triforce and whoever gets both in their lair, wins. It's like Capture the Flag with Triforces and nearly every episode follows this formula.

Now, after Ganon got his hands on the blue Flag, errrhh... the Triforce of Wisdom, he let himself carried to the next Underworld entrance, exactly like he did in the first episode. But this time Link and Zelda actually used horses to pursue him. And I really wonder why... Weren't there any beanstalks nearby?

Anyway, interestingly Zelda is using some sort of Light Arrows in this episode. I take it that it's supposed to be the Silver Arrows, but it really looks like arrows made out of light and together with horses and companion fairies this again would predate a feature from Ocarina of Time nine years before the game got released. I'm starting to see a pattern here. There's no other explanation, but the development team of Ocarina of Time had to be inspired by the show!

Well, at least Zelda didn't end up as a total b*tch in the N64 game, because she really an unlikable person in this episode, all high and mighty. But this leads to the most hilarious moment of Episode 2, where Spryte makes farting sounds at Zelda, after the princess told her to clean everything. Good one. I wish, Navi would have been as entertaining.

"Oh, boy, smooching time!" - Link

4 comments:

Marandahir said...

Triforce of Courage never shows up in the show – though the Captain N episodes featuring Link, Zelda, and Ganon (drawn in the same style and with the same voice actors) finally bring the third piece into play.

My guess? The showrunners (who, remember, were Westerners, not Japanese players), hadn't beaten Zelda II. And the lack of widespread internet or other ways to know what was at the end of the game, they didn't even know about the third Triforce piece. Probably should have read the manual.

A lot of people who play Zelda 2 get as far as Death Mountain – by which time they'd have encountered the Moby enemy in the swamp – and then give up.

TourianTourist said...

But to know the names of enemies, they had to read the manual or some other material describing the game...

I think, they just wanted to simplify the story. The Valiant Comics later did feature all three Triforce pieces.

Marandahir said...

That's another possibility: Valiant Comics did speak to the enemies.
Which came first, Valiant comics of LoZ or Super Mario Super Show Zelda segments?
I know they used the same art design and conceptual development (North Castle is actually the home of Zelda and her father and whatnot).

TourianTourist said...

The show came first. The Valiant Comics are based on the concepts of the show and they even re-used characters, such as King Harkinian, but they stay closer to the source material of the games and have a more serious tone. So, no "Excuuuuse me" in those.