The weird ones: "Link's Awakening" and the CD-i games
After "A Link to the Past," Nintendo set to work on the first "Zelda" title for its handheld gaming system called the Game Boy, which debuted in 1989.
The result, called "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening," came out in 1993. Mechanically, it was very similar to "A Link to the Past," though its tone was quite different than what had been seen in the "Zelda" series. Caught in a fierce thunderstorm in the middle of the ocean, Link awakens to find himself washed ashore on an island, where a mysterious owl tasks him with finding eight musical instruments that can wake the Wind Fish, the island's guardian who lies dreaming at the top of the mountain.
With its emphasis on music, dreams and fantasy, its lack of color (due to the limitations of the Game Boy), and its stronger focus on puzzle solving, "Link's Awakening" was an introspective turn for the series. It was well received, but after its release, five years passed before Nintendo released the next official "Zelda" title.
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In the meantime, tech company Philips closed a deal with Nintendo that gave it permission to make two "Legend of Zelda" titles for Philips' console, the CD-i. Both released in 1993, the games were called "Link: The Faces of Evil" and "Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon," and both are considered to be totally badonkers, and not in the good way.
"The Wand of Gamelon" is noteworthy for making Zelda the playable character and Link the character in need of rescue. Many major video game magazines praised "The Wand of Gamelon" and "The Faces of Evil" at the time they were released, but their bizarre animated cutscenes and clunky side-scrolling gameplay turned the games into objects of ridicule.
In 1995, a third CD-i game called "Zelda's Adventure" — this time created by third-party developer Viridis — was released. Again, Zelda was the player character, tasked with rescuing Link. However, instead of cheesy animated cutscenes, the game featured even cheesier live-action cutscenes. Reception of "Zelda's Adventure" was unanimously negative.
It's almost impossible to find and play the CD-i games. Don't expect them to be coming to the Virtual Console any time soon; to this day, Nintendo excludes these three CD-i games from its official "Legend of Zelda" timeline.
