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Remember when Nintendo gave out their most recent 4 mainline Zelda games for free?

Ignis

Ignis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,757
Edit: technically not "4 most recent" my bad

Article from 2003

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A new GameCube incentive from Nintendo will see the company offering a collector's disc featuring four classic Zelda games and a demo of Zelda: Wind Waker for free with every purchase of the console.
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i remember this disc came with my Gamecube bundle (which in itself was crazy cheap at £99), but could you imagine this happening now? Where the Switch came bundled with Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess HD, Wind Waker HD and Majora's Mask 3D/Link between Worlds. That would be considered an absolute steal.

And back in 2003 this really was a steal. It was my first time playing Ocarina of Time, Majora, Zelda 1 and 2 and I did it all for "free".

Was a really crazy time for Nintendo where they pulled these moves to boost dwindling sales....anyone remember any other crazy moves?
 
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Thiago

Thiago

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Oct 27, 2017
5,671
Nintendo wasn't officially in my country anymore at that time and I remember paying a lot on eBay to get this Collector's Edition disc. Even that Ocarina of Time and Master Quest free preorder bonus for The Wind Waker cost me a lot at launch. No regrets!
 
Pangorogoro

Pangorogoro

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Oct 31, 2017
674
This + Animal Crossing is all that was played at my house for months when we got our Gamecube... good memories
 
CHC

CHC

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Oct 27, 2017
10,246
Ignis said:
well that's kinda the point of my post. That part was a rhetorical question, the fact that Nintendo even did this is pretty nuts
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haha oh I got that, I was just replying literally. Nintendo's games are high quality but I'd probably try many more of them if they were a bit more generous with the pricing.
 
Border

Border

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,859
To be fair, the negative reactions to Wind Waker and the poor performance of the Gamecube left Nintendo in a pretty desperate place. If things were as bad for them now as they were then, they would probably be giving away free games on the Switch as well. They weren't "generous", they were just extremely anxious and hungry to generate any kind of hype for a flagging console with a flagship Zelda game that people had rejected out-of-hand.

I forget -- how did you get the OOT Master Quest disc? Was it a pre-order bonus?
 
night814

night814

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It wasn't the 4 most recent Zelda's to be clear, Link's Awakening and a Link to the Past were not included which came between 1 and 2 and the 64 games which were included, the Oracle games also would have been out for a few years when this came out. It was an awesome disc though
 
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OP
Ignis

Ignis

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Oct 27, 2017
1,757
Mobu

Mobu

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The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
5,932
That disc was the first time i played zelda as a kid

Funnily enough i remember the Wind Waker demo being the one i played the most and MM scared me a lot.
 
krae_man

krae_man

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Oct 25, 2017
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A Switch bundled with a year of Nintendo Switch Online is entirely possible at some point.
 
Hippopuncher12

Hippopuncher12

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Oct 25, 2017
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Oh man I remember getting one of these when I worked at Best Buy, I already had a GC and wasn't going to buy a second one, so my manager gave me one of these because he knew how much I wanted it and I worked my ass off.
 
milestailsprower

milestailsprower

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Oct 25, 2017
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Border said:
To be fair, the negative reactions to Wind Waker and the poor performance of the Gamecube left Nintendo in a pretty desperate place. If things were as bad for them now as they were then, they would probably be giving away free games on the Switch as well. They weren't "generous", they were just extremely anxious and hungry to generate any kind of hype for a flagging console with a flagship Zelda game that people had rejected out-of-hand.

I forget -- how did you get the OOT Master Quest disc? Was it a pre-order bonus?
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This . On Wii U they gave early adopters of Mario Kart 8 a free game. Desperate Nintendo is often generous Nintendo.
 

Deleted member 18021

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If they released that today, there would be a giant shitstorm about all the freezing that Majora's Mask's doing.
 
night814

night814

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Ignis said:
yeah I dun screwed up I'm sorry
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Its still an awesome collection, I remember the preorder bonus for Wind Waker was a disc that had Ocarina of Time and the master quest versions and I thought that was super cool. This disc was even more mind blowing at the time, it and animal crossing with a cheat device were an awesome Nintendo history lesson at the time.
 
neptunez

neptunez

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Apr 21, 2018
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Desperate Nintendo is best Nintendo

For the consumer anyway, looking back at that promo, it was a pretty good deal. It was so unlike anything they've ever offered value-wise.
 
skeezx

skeezx

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Oct 27, 2017
20,172
well it was before you could basically have any game you wanted at the edge of your fingertips

but that aside yeah it was an uncharacteristically great "steal"
 
SalvaPot

SalvaPot

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Oct 25, 2017
8,599
I miss my copy, I hope it found a good, nice place were it is appreciate it and played yearly.
 
Arttemis

Arttemis

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Oct 28, 2017
6,220
Man, the expanded GameCube library was pretty awesome. I had every Zelda just about, all the Resident Evil games, Rogue Squadron sequel came with the entire original game, Metroid Primes, Smash Melee, MK Double Dash, etc.

I'd love to see Nintendo embrace that level of desire at making accessible their part games... Even if it's not given... Instead of choking access to their ROM ports and making us buy them repeatedly.
 
Wamapoke

Wamapoke

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Apr 11, 2018
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Apparently the performance of the two N64 games are really poor on this. I have it in my possession but I put it on ebay a few days ago. Are several better ways to play OOT and MM these days.
 
AlexFlame116

AlexFlame116

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I had the one that came only with OoT and Master Quest, but man do I regret selling that copy. I had no idea how much I would miss it today.
 
Mr. President

Mr. President

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Oct 27, 2017
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Even if the Majora's Mask port(emulation?) had issues I loved this.
They also gave it out to people who registered a few games with Club Nintendo, or whatever loyalty program they had back then.
 
perfectchaos007

perfectchaos007

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Oct 25, 2017
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AlexFlame116 said:
I had the one that came only with OoT and Master Quest, but man do I regret selling that copy. I had no idea how much I would miss it today.
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I ended up getting 2 of them somehow. I gave one to a friend and kept one for myself. I remember going to Gamestop and seeing that disk was selling for liek $70 used. I didn't regret giving that extra copy to my friend but I do remember making him aware of how much it was worth lol
 
Border

Border

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,859
Remember when Animal Crossing used to come with a dozen unlockable NES games?

When Nintendo is against the ropes they give away a lot of great vintage games. When they are riding high, the faucet shuts off pretty quick.
 
mordecaii83

mordecaii83

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Oct 28, 2017
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Yeah I still have this disc along with the Ocarina/Master Quest disc, never gonna get rid of them or the original N64 carts.
 
YaGaMi

YaGaMi

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Oct 29, 2017
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I got that disc for free from a friend who used to work at GAME. Still have it unopened.
 
Grunty

Grunty

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Oct 28, 2017
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I received two copies back in the day. Still have one factory sealed! Master Quest I remember getting immediately after pre-ordering The Wind Waker. It wasn't supposed to be sold individually, but I remember my Wal-Mart shelving all of their extra ones and selling them for $10 each. I sure regret not snatching those up. No idea why I didn't.
 
brinstar

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I remember getting a few free Wii U games back when things were looking pretty dire for them. I also got a free copy of Pokemon Y for registering my 3DS XL or something.
 
mopinks

mopinks

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Oct 27, 2017
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I can never remember which of the weird Gamecube Zelda discs I actually own

both, I think? maybe? could be both. pretty sure I played Majora's Mask on the Gamecube at SOME point
 
Belthazar90

Belthazar90

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Jun 3, 2019
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Well... Why would Nintendo be "nice" like this when their fans are willing to pay 60 bucks for low budget 1:1 'remakes'.
 
samred

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The cartridge for Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest I in the states) was given away for free to *every* Nintendo Power subscriber. That's how I got my copy. Former Nintendo of America exec Howard Philips talked about it in an AMA a while back:

Dragon Quest tested poorly primarily due to the relatively limited action play and the dated graphics - Mr. Arakawa badly wanted to get the benefit of releasing the whole series in the US as it had been hugely successful in Japan. Unfortunately, the graphics of Dragon Quest 1 looked really dated and this helped depress expectations. After ordering manufacture of 1 million copies, Mr. A decided to give it away to promote Nintendo Power subscriptions (it was originally a free magazine!), launch the series in the US, and get rid of the million copies of the game.
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www.reddit.com

r/IAmA - Comment by u/[deleted] on ”I am Howard Phillips, Gamemaster, ask me anything!”

4,175 votes and 935 comments so far on Reddit
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
 
butalala

butalala

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Nov 24, 2017
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Desperate Nintendo is generous Nintendo. Remember when Mario Kart 8 on Wii U came with another free game? I think that's how I got NSMBU.
 
NookSports

NookSports

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Oct 27, 2017
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I didn't have a lot of money in college, so I lived to flip physical games. Getting rid of that disc is one of my biggest regrets.
 
Tea & Honey

Tea & Honey

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Apr 22, 2020
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I don't remember how I got that, perhaps from a used copy from a video game store. I did get the Ocarina and Majora's Mask double disk for pre-ordering Wind Waker, which is how I first played Majora.

Those were some wonderful bonuses.
 
ElMexiMerican

ElMexiMerican

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Oct 25, 2017
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I love this collection. I remember getting this years after the fact when I first got a Gamecube (like '05). I still have it, and it's one of my most cherished video games because of all the fond memories I have of it.
 
AlexFlame116

AlexFlame116

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Ron Paul said:
I ended up getting 2 of them somehow. I gave one to a friend and kept one for myself. I remember going to Gamestop and seeing that disk was selling for liek $70 used. I didn't regret giving that extra copy to my friend but I do remember making him aware of how much it was worth lol
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Believe it or not I sold my copy to GameStop years ago back when GameCube games were still common ish to get another system. I don't regret buying that system but man do I miss my copy. I loved playing through Master Quest so much.

And to think that I bought Wind Waker ONLY to get that Walmart preorder of OoT and MQ lol. Didn't even look at Wind Waker for months and sold it brand new cause I wasn't interested in "kid graphics" (despite being youngish myself). I understood how awesome WW was later on.
 
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