The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition
The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition is a compilation of many of
Nintendo's Zelda
video games from previous consoles for the
Nintendo GameCube, along with a demo of its then newest Zelda game.
It contains the following
Legend of Zelda games:
The Legend of Zelda (based on the Japanese cartridge version)
Zelda II: The Adventure of LinkThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeThe Legend of Zelda: Majora's MaskThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 20-minute demo
The compilation excludes
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past because its
Game Boy Advance port was still being sold. Nintendo pointed out that with both this disc and use of the
Game Boy Player, every notable game in the
Zelda series at that point could be played on the Nintendo GameCube.
This compilation was never sold commercially, although can sometimes be found used in some video games stores, although the game says
Not For Resale on the front. It was only available as a bundle with a GameCube (in
North America and
Europe) and as a prize to members of
Nintendo websites and clubs around the world, specifically by registering Nintendo games and hardware (in
North America,
Europe,
Japan,
Australia) or by subscribing to
Nintendo Power (in
North America).
These games are not actually ported in the traditional sense, but rather the (slightly altered)
ROMs of the original games are run via
emulators; this has been proven by the ROM dumping community, who have been able to extract authentic ROMs of all these games from the disc, and they can even be booted on their original consoles with a copier or flash-cart (depending on the console).
Because they are only emulated (rather than altered for the new console) there are some problems, most notably some of the music in
Majora's Mask is said to be inaccurate. Many have also complained that
Majora's Mask unexpectedly
crashes and freezes occasionally, again, caused by the inaccuracies of Nintendo's emulator. Aside from a few emulation glitches, there are advantages to these ports as well. The games all run at a higher resolution (640x480) due to running on the more powerful GameCube. Also, this edition is the only way to play these games in component video quality, as well as
progressive-scan (480p). Virtually all reviews have stated that the games on this version sport a much cleaner, crisper look.
The flaws of this set do not affect the games themselves. However, when run under fan-made emulators, the games run far more accurately than under Nintendo's. The fan made emulators have had various bug and compatibility fixes made to them over several years, whereas Nintendo's emulator is seen by some as have being made very quickly.
