This Zelda’s Adventure demake redesigns the CD-i title for the Game Boy Color

Zelda's worst game is finally enjoyable

There’s nothing I love more than a good demake, especially if it’s released on the Game Boy. As a matter of fact, demakes are a great way to take older, less popular titles and make them more palatable. For instance, did you know there is a demake of the CD-i game Zelda’s Adventure?

John Lay developed the demake three years ago, using parts of Zelda Game Boy games to recreate the story of Zelda’s Adventure in the classic top-down style fans are accustomed to, and the demake just received a massive update that adds color support. Nice.

Zelda’s Adventure demake just got the DX treatment, and it looks great

^{Gameplay of Zelda’s Adventure DX, recorded with Modretro Chromatic using OBS}

It’s always great to see Game Boy games receive color patches, even if those Game Boy games are demakes that are only a handful of years old, like Zelda’s Adventure (via Metal Game Solid). Now that the game has reached version 2.0. Of course, if you’re interested in the full changelog, you can find it below. More or less, Zelda’s Adventure DX now offers color support, new music, sound effects, combat, and enemy animations, with a handful of bug fixes along for the ride.

Release 2.0.0

Features / Enhancements:

• Port to GB Studio 4.1.0
• Add colour
• Add sound FXs
• New music
• Improved combat (enemy/player flash and death animation)
• New enemy animations (flying enemies cast a shadow)

Bug Fixes:

• Fix kernel panic bugs. Previous project used too many local variables exceeding the global limit
• Allow rupee, hearts and items to be collected by touching/walking over
• Player restarts in the correct location after game over in Shrine
• Remove dependency on custom version of GB Studio to draw HUD and use native plugin system to swap spell sprites

As you can see, there is a lot that’s new, polishing the demake well beyond its original release. So of course, I had to take it for a spin just to see what’s up, and so far I’m digging it, which is precisely why I wanted to write this article to share the news, not to mention a gameplay video (above) so that everyone can see the game in action as it plays on physical hardware, my trusty Chromatic. Thanks to its recently improved video-out feature, recording gameplay of any Game Boy ROM is a snap.

^{Zelda’s Adventure DX screenshots from BGB emulator}

Of course, Zelda’s Adventure DX can be played on any Game Boy emulator or hardware, and since the game is listed on itch.io, you can even play the demake in your browser. The ROM is free, though the developer accepts donations on their itch.io page if you feel generous enough to pay for the game (and you should — the demake is really solid).

So there you have it. One of the worst Zelda games ever made is reborn as a demake, now with color support for all you Game Boy Color stans out there. I’ve tested the ROM on several PC emulators, as well as a Modretro Chromatic and Analogue Pocket, using an Everdrive-GB X7 for both. No matter how you slice it, Zelda’s Adventure DX is easily worth the effort to install on local hardware to get the full experience. Highly recommended.