BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets

BS The Legend of Zelda: The Ancient Stone Tablets (BSゼルダの伝説 古代の石盤 BS The Legend of Zelda: Inishie no Sekiban) was a game for the BS-X Broadcasting System add-on for the Super Famicom (Japanese Super Nintendo). Games were downloaded from St. GIGA's satellite radio service. The game was much like a Second Quest or Master Quest of A Link to the Past. Various actions earned the player points, and these points could later be traded in to Nintendo for different prizes.

The game was divided into four "weeks", each of which had to be played within a strict one-hour time period; minus the cutscenes this gave players 50 minutes in which to beat two dungeons, hunt for secrets, and perform all the other standard Zelda actions. The game made use of streaming orchestrated music as well as a technology called Live Voice, which supplied tips to players at key points during the game. Other than a rebroadcast the following year the game was never playable again, even for those who still possessed the game on a 8M Memory Pak, until the advent of emulation.

The game is based on the fact that you are the character in the game. The character is named and is male or female based off of the broadcasting ID, which is also true for BS Zelda. The male character wears a green tunic, though others are later available, and a backwards baseball cap. The female character has long red hair and is otherwise almost exactly the same as the male.

Weeks and Objectives

 * Week 1: The character awakens in the house in which Sahasrahla was found in A Link to the Past. Aginah is standing next to him or her, and he explains that he doesn't know who the character is, but he knows that he or she is important. He tells the character to go to the Eastern Palace to find out more. the character must travel there and defeat the enemies inside to acquire a stone tablet and some equipment. The character then finds Zelda and rescues her. She tells the character that she believes him or her to be the Hero of Light. The character then takes her to the castle, where she leaves him or her. After this, the character must acquire the flippers and complete the second dungeon which awaits behind the waterfall where the fairy fountain was found in the original A Link to the Past. After the week is over, the character is told to travel to Kakariko Village to find the next objective.
 * Week 2: The character awakens in Kakariko Village in Sahasrahla's house. The character must then find two more stone tablets. The character learns more of Ganon and a first hero who saved the land not long ago. There is little plot in this episode, but there is much inventory growth. The week ends with Aginah talking of going to Link's house. He says that the Hero will accompany him.
 * Week 3: The character wakes up in Link's house. The character then acquires the glove which allows him or her to lift heavy rocks once per screen. the goal is once again to acquire two more stone tablets.
 * Week 4: Zelda decides she is going to follow the character throughout this week. She follows the character into the graveyard (7th) dungeon and the dungeon that goes up the mountain (8th). On top is a giant stone tablet, and she tries to decipher it. Once she does, the tablet breaks, giving the character the Silver Arrows and a path to get into Ganon's Tower. A flight or stairs leads to a drop down into an area like the center of the pyramid. After the character defeats him, Zelda remarks that she never realized how beautiful Hyrule really is. When time runs out after 50 minutes, the character drops the Master Sword into place. He or she is transported back in a flash of light from where the hero came. The reason Ganon still existed is that while Ganon's body was destroyed, his malicious spirit lived on, and coveted the power that the Hero of Light had.

It is speculated that Ganon's Tower is in the dark world, but no one is sure where it originally was. There are also spots for the Magic Cape and the Book of Mudora, but neither of them normally appear in the game.