Aonuma explains why CD-i games weren’t mentioned in Hyrule Historia

In case the Zelda CD-i games needed to be  ostracized even further than they already have been, Zelda series Director Eiji Aonuma has explained why the often-mocked trilogy wasn’t mentioned in Hyrule Historia, the art book meant to provide a comprehensive history of all things Zelda. Aonuma apparently believes the games simply don’t fit in.

For the few out there who have somehow avoided hearing about them, the Zelda CD-i games Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda’s Adventure were produced by the electronics company Philips for its ill-fated CD-i system. They have received almost universal criticism ever since their release in the early ’90s, and Nintendo itself has gone out of its way to pretend they don’t exist. Even Aonuma was left scratching his head when asked about them in a recent interview. Being told, however, that they were “really, really bad” jogged his memory.

“I don’t know that those really fit in the ‘Zelda’ franchise,” Aonuma said with a laugh.

Now, as bad as the Zelda CD-i game are, I personally think they deserved a place in Hyrule Historia. Nintendo might not like it, but these games, thank’s in part to the mountains of comedic gold included in their cutscenes, are almost as recognizable among hardcore Zelda fans as the series’ mainstays. At the very least they are responsible for some of the most popular Zelda-related memes on the internet. How can they not be considered a part of Zelda history?

It’s impossible to tell a proper history of anything without mentioning both the good and the bad of a particular topic. Including the unofficial CD-i trilogy in Hyrule Historia would have given Nintendo a chance to pinpoint the games’ failures and poke fun at them in print. Instead, they put out an incomplete history that focused only on the series’ success stories.

Do you think the Zelda CD-i games were worthy of a mention in Hyrule Historia? Let us know in the comments!

Source: MTV Muliplayer