In the 1990s, Philips Interactive Media published three action-adventure games based on Nintendo's Legend of Zelda franchise for its Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-i) players.
[5] Faces of Evil, Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda's Adventure were created after Philips secured the rights to use Nintendo characters in CD-i games.
Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon received mixed reviews at the time of their release,[6][7] whereas reception to Zelda's Adventure was mostly negative.
The FMVs of Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon also received renewed criticism for their rough animation quality after they became widely available through video-sharing websites such as YouTube.
[14] Philips insisted that the development studios utilize all aspects of the CD-i's capabilities including FMV,[15] high-resolution graphics, and CD-quality music.
Following the traditional Link-saves-Zelda plotline, Faces of Evil was patterned most closely upon Nintendo's previous side-scroller, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Reversing the traditional Link-saves-Zelda plotline, Wand of Gamelon stars Zelda as she adventures to rescue Link and her father the king who have not returned from their quest.
As with Faces of Evil, the game was patterned most closely upon Nintendo's previous side-scroller, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and again features outsourced Russian animation for all cutscenes.