Legend of Zelda for MSX

Source: Konamito

The adventures of Link, a boy on his quest to save his princess Zelda, were mostly released on Nintendo systems. One of the releases that perhaps has the most recognisable graphics, is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, where you control Link from a top-down perspective on his quests through Hyrule. While the Commodore 64 had Mythos, a tech demo showing a scrollable, interactive Hyrule world, the MSX hasn't had any Zelda love yet…

Till now! In the French MSX Village community lives Pascal Loquais, the MSXosaure, who brings us an LttP-inspired demo game and level editor, written in XBASIC 2. It comes with a nice tile set that looks very similar to the SNES classic, so you can go ahead and create your own levels! Check out the manual, and a quick recording which show off what the engine can do. The demo might be 'just' 24 levels so far, but with plenty of space left, maybe the MSX community can help out to recreate the world of Hyrule?

Relevant link: Zelda for MSX topic on MSX Village

By pitpan

Prophet (3156)

10-08-2011, 14:19

I'd say that the graphics, both tiles and sprites, are borrowed from the Gameboy Colour version. SNES version is more colourful and has bigger graphics.

But cool initiative, anyway. Go on with it, please!

By FiXato

Scribe (1743)

10-08-2011, 15:09

Well, yeah, I guess you are right Also that the SNES version was smooth scrolling, instead of the 1 screen at a time that the MSX 'remake' and the Gameboy version have.

By ARTRAG

Enlighted (6977)

10-08-2011, 19:19

humm, in xbasic it will be hard...

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5684)

10-08-2011, 20:30

Indeed.

Out Of Memory

leers around the corner, especially with a game design that involves a lot of items and stats.

By RobertVroemisse

Paragon (1330)

11-08-2011, 08:49

It looks really nice and playable. Too bad the editor is "en france". Will there be a more international (read: English) version available in the future?

Merci beaucoup

By MäSäXi

Paragon (1884)

11-08-2011, 11:03

almost slightly off-topic: here´s Legend of Zelda for msx(1) like machine:

http://www.collectorvision.com/wip.htm#g6

By hap

Paragon (2043)

11-08-2011, 15:40

continuing off-topic: yeah that looks pretty good, but I have a feeling those are (very)early development stage mock-ups. I have more faith in dvik/joyrex Mr Do's Wild Ride, looks better than the official MSX1 version. Also, Burn Rubber (aka Lotus F3 v2) looks close to release: http://www.collectorvision.com/uc-burn.htm - let's hope for an MSX1 version too!

By Huey

Prophet (2696)

11-08-2011, 15:55

Yeah that zelda2 screen is impossible on MSX1/colecovision as the bushes have 3 colors on a line
Those Zelda 1 screens look genuine tho.

Is there interest for a Zelda-ish game on MSX?

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5684)

11-08-2011, 15:58

Well, we do have Golvellius but there can never be too much.

By hap

Paragon (2043)

11-08-2011, 16:10

Is there interest for a Zelda-ish game on MSX?depends on who you ask, I'd answer:
NES Zelda 1? hell yes, and plain MSX1 of course
NES Zelda 2? no thanks

By guantxip

Paragon (1615)

11-08-2011, 17:12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anz5ZqlSBJ8&feature=related

By RobertVroemisse

Paragon (1330)

11-08-2011, 18:27

Bring it on! A MSX2 version that is

By nanochess

Master (222)

11-08-2011, 19:45

Very nice , and speed also is right, just a more colorful palette and it would be perfect.

By Huey

Prophet (2696)

12-08-2011, 09:48

NES Zelda 1? hell yes, and plain MSX1 of course

A remake or a port (exact same behaviour)?

btw: A nice read I found about Zelda as it would be best to use the original map/dungeon data : MAP doc

By hap

Paragon (2043)

12-08-2011, 21:43

port

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5684)

12-08-2011, 22:31

Original Zelda NES graphics could be nicely upgraded when porting to MSX2.
MSX1 < NES < MSX2
FM-PAC support for the music would be good IMO.

By Salamander2

Expert (124)

13-08-2011, 10:44

I'd like to contact the author, please mail me at:
magicspellbr@gmail.com

By haroldo-ok

Supporter (16)

14-08-2011, 13:25

Well, looking at the video, it looks like Zelda, but certainly doesn't play like it.
If it's just a limitation of the language used, then that's okay.

By Sarcasmic

Master (149)