BS Zelda Series

Overview

The BS Zelda series consists of three distinct Satellaview games based on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. These games were among the most popular Satellaview titles and have received significant fan restoration efforts.¹

BS Zelda no Densetsu (Map 1: "Third Quest")

The first BS Zelda game featured a modified version of A Link to the Past's overworld with new dungeon layouts. The dungeon names spell "St.GIGA":²

Week	Dungeon Theme
Week 1	S
Week 2	t
Week 3	.
Week 4	GIGA

Each week was broadcast separately and required the player to complete the dungeon within the broadcast period. The game was downloadable and could be played between broadcasts.³

BS Zelda no Densetsu (Map 2: "Fourth Quest")

The sequel map featured even harder dungeons. The dungeon names spell "NiNtENDO":⁴

Week	Dungeon Theme
Week 1	N
Week 2	i
Week 3	N
Week 4	tENDO

BS Zelda no Densetsu: Inishie no Sekiban (Ancient Stone Tablets)

The most complex of the BS Zelda titles, Ancient Stone Tablets (AST) was a SoundLink game -- the first Zelda game with full voice acting and a live radio drama component. The game was broadcast in 1997-1998 as the centerpiece of St.GIGA's Satellaview programming.⁵

Format

• SoundLink format -- required live radio broadcast; could not be saved to Memory Pack
• Featured voice actors performing character dialogue in real time
• Music and sound effects synchronized with radio broadcast
• Functioned as a direct sequel to A Link to the Past⁶

Story

The game takes place six years after A Link to the Past. A new villain named Grah appears and Link must once again save Hyrule. The game introduced new items, puzzles, and a scoring system that ranked players based on performance.⁷

Scoring System

• Deaths: -10,000 points each
• Rupees: +10 points each
• Heart Containers and tablets auto-calculated
• Result screens at end of each week calculated scores automatically⁸

Restoration History

ROM Dumping

The BS Zelda ROMs have a complex dumping history. The first known dumps came from BS-X Cult (via Pachuka/ROMar) and were among the first Satellaview ROMs to hit the internet. Multiple revisions and versions have been identified; some versions have undumped corruption (e.g., week 3 of Map 1 had 0x28CC7: 0x02 instead of 0x00 per LuigiBlood's analysis).⁹

BS Zelda Shrine (1999-2020)

The BS Zelda Shrine, founded November 2, 1999 by Con, has been the primary hub for BS Zelda restoration. Key milestones:

• Full restoration of Map 1 and Map 2 as real-hardware-compatible ROMs¹⁰
• English translation of in-game text
• Voice-over subtitle patches
• MSU-1 audio enhancement patches
• Master Quest hard mode (2009)
• AST Master Quest competition (April 2009)¹¹

Translation Efforts

The BS Zelda games featured voice-over dialogue that was never subtitled. Fan translation projects have worked to: - Transcribe all voice-over material - Create English subtitle patches - Translate Japanese text in menus and item descriptions¹²

Music Restoration

The BS Zelda music has been restored from multiple sources: - VHS recordings of original broadcasts (audio extraction and splicing)¹³ - Album sources -- official soundtrack releases that contained BS Zelda music¹⁴ - MSU-1 patches -- replacing restoration-enhanced music in the ROMs¹⁵

Where to See/Hear Original Broadcasts

Original SoundLink broadcast recordings with live voice acting survive online:

• BS Zelda Map 1 — annotated complete run (YouTube, 4 parts): subtitled gameplay with original Japanese voice acting¹⁸
• BS Zelda Map 1 — makuchan's video (YouTube): shows how a SoundLink game was downloaded and played during the original broadcast¹⁹
• BS Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets — week 4 voice acting translation (BS Zelda Shrine): full transcript synced to original broadcast video²⁰
• BS Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets — all weeks (NicoVideo): discovered 2007, contains complete voice acting and music²¹
• English dub project (Nintendo Life, 2016): fan-produced English voice acting replacement for Map 1 and Ancient Stone Tablets²²

Current Status (2026)

• All three BS Zelda games are playable in emulation
• Map 1 Week 4 was newly dumped as recently as December 2020 (from sanmaiwashi/LuigiBlood)¹⁶
• Con declared the restoration mission complete in 2016 but returned for minor updates through 2020¹⁷
• The BS Zelda Shrine remains online at bszelda.zeldalegends.net
• The forum (originally at z9.invisionfree.com/bszelda) is largely defunct

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1. BS Zelda Shrine ↩

2. BS Zelda Shrine - Map 1 ↩

3. Satellablog - BS Zelda coverage ↩

4. BS Zelda Shrine - Map 2 ↩

5. BS Zelda Shrine - Ancient Stone Tablets ↩

6. BS Zelda Shrine - AST ↩

7. BS Zelda Shrine - AST Story ↩

8. BS Zelda - Master Quest ↩

9. Satellablog - Just how difficult ↩

10. BS Zelda Shrine ↩

11. BS Zelda - Master Quest ↩

12. Satellablog - BS Zelda changes ↩

13. Satellablog - Soundtracks ↩

14. Satellablog - BS Zelda album sources ↩

15. BS Zelda Shrine - MSU-1 ↩

16. BS Zelda Shrine - Updates ↩

17. BS Zelda Shrine - 2016 announcement ↩

18. Zelda Dungeon Wiki - BS Zelda external links — YouTube annotated complete run ↩

19. Satellablog - Satellaview Content, Part 1 ↩

20. BS Zelda Shrine - AST Week 4 Voice Translation ↩

21. BS Zelda Shrine - AST Video Translation ↩

22. Nintendo Life - BS Zelda English Dub ↩