Well, speaking as an Adventure of Link fan, it's because it takes Zelda's canon, and spits on it. Promptly after spitting on it, it stomps on it with its poorly drawn foot, killing it. Burying the canon carelessly, the CD-i games then puts on the canon's face, which is cut off if the now destroyed canon, pretending to be it. Once everyone is good and mad, the CD-i games resurrects the canon, surgically puts the canon's face back onto its head, and promptly blows its own brains out.
That being said, just because a game has similar gameplay features, does not mean that they should be comparable. Zelda is Zelda; a well-known series from Nintendo that millions of people have bought and played over the years. CD-i Zelda is a poorly produced video game that Nintendo tried with all its might to shove under the bed, but alas, people rarely forget. That being said, I have nothing against CD-i Zelda as a game; I have everything against it as a Zelda game. I still occasionally look up all the cutscenes just to get a cheap laugh. I've even watched DARK MASTER stream it in his chat last Summer. Watching it then, I thought of it like I do now; it would have been better had it not bared the name "Zelda" alongside it. Not because then it would be ridiculed as its own game, but because it wouldn't tarnish Zelda in the eyes of gamers who look for reasons to insult the series.
It takes more than just similar gameplay to make me enjoy a game like I do another. It requires a compelling story, beautifully made characters, and so many other elements that make the game worth the time and money spent on it. I can't say that The Wand of Gamelon or The Faces of Evil will ever quite do that for me; not just because I don't own the system for it, but also because I've only watched gameplay on those two for comedic reasons. I just can't respect them as Zelda games - as video games perhaps, but they aren't on the level that Zelda is at.
Seth said:
Even if we ignore the lame cutscenes and whatnot, FoE and WoG have TERRIBLE physics and gameplay. It's hard to play because it's terribly programmed. Awful physics, awful hit detection, items that are extremely awkward to use, scenery where it's hard to tell where you can walk/jump and where you can't, etc etc. AoL might be hard, but it's well designed and programed.
Having never played it before, I wasn't aware of these gameplay issues. However, now that I'm aware of this, this is no doubt yet another reason why Adventure of Link fans don't usually care for the CD-i games.
