Miyamoto says the Famicom Disk System version of Zelda II was a "bad game"
The Adventure of Load Times
Shigeru Miyamoto is highly regarded for his commitment to producing quality games. He’s even been known to completely overhaul aspects of a game in the middle of development if it isn’t living up to his expectations. That said, it turns out there’s at least one instance of a release that Miyamoto wasn’t happy with.
In a recent interview with podcasters and former Nintendo employees Kit and Krysta, games journalist Stephen Totilo shares a tidbit from a discussion he had with Miyamoto. According to Totilo, Miyamoto was very excited at the time about the release of Pikmin 3. Miyamoto said he knew Pikmin 3 was going to be good because of his experience as a game developer. In response, Totilo asked if he had ever released a “bad” game. Miyamoto answered in the affirmative, citing the Famicom Disk System version of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
The Famicom Disk System was an add-on for the original Famicom released only in Japan. The accessory used floppy disks and was meant to produce cheaper games, as well as higher quality sound. According to Miyamoto, he was disappointed with the Zelda II release because of its long load times, an unfortunate side effect of the peripheral.
As far as revealing Nintendo secrets go, this one is a pretty safe answer! As Totilo says in the interview, he was hoping that Miyamoto would give up something juicier, but an alternative version of Zelda II was the best he could get. Check out a clip of the full anecdote below:
@kitandkrysta Recent podcast guest Stephen Totilo tells us a fun story about a conversation he had with Shigeru Miyamoto about his one bad game #nintendo ♬ original sound - Kit & Krysta
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ngamer01
1M agoMiyamoto not liking Zelda II isn't new news. It's been stated before he would have liked to sped the game up, but also add more content that the Famicom/Disk System just wasn't capable at the time. Even though Breath of the Wild/Tears can be thought off as a Zelda 1 reboot, the game in real need of a remake/remaster/reboot would be Zelda II.
Even though it could be real easy to turn Zelda II away from sidescrolling, I don't think Nintendo would have to give up side scrolling. They can make it 2 1/2-D and Just add save files and the ability to make hard saves, remove the lives system, and add autosaving as checkpoints. Die in an action zone/dungeon? You can restart from either the last hard save or the last autosave. No more restarting from the Northern Palace where Zelda sleeps.
Heal wise, add the bottled potions from later Zelda games. Red: Heal Life to full, Green: Heal Magic to full, and Blue: Heal Life and Magic to full. These would help Zelda II go a long way to be more playable without having to give up the sidescrolling.
kingbroly
1M agoYou heard the man. Time to remake Zelda 2.
nin2000
1M agoUgh, ticktok embedded yet again? I deeply distrust even the web form and have this blocked the url.
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