Zelda 1 Redux / The Legend of Zelda Redux

[ShadowOne333]

Don't forget to let us know if you guys find any bug, glitch or anything out of the ordinary in regards to the arrows or the 999 rupee counter! It's really important so that the code for those two features can be polished and reworked properly to make it available for the repo.

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In the meanwhile, I'll share what I have in terms of redesigned enemies.
I am taking the following official artwork as a base for the redesigned enemies:
https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/Gallery:The_Legend_of_Zelda_Enemies

If the redesigned enemy is not based from the Official Artwork, it's based on the Million Publications artwork found at the end of the page.

With that said, here's the whole enemy roster I have redesigned so far based on official artwork:

Left = Original / Right = Redesigned


That's what I have so far.
I have yet to tackle the bosses, but I am so drained atm that I might do it over the weekend haha.
Let me know what you guys think!

[EthansDreamLand]

The redesigned sprites look good! I like the Wizzrobe sprites the most IMO.

[Pineapplefish]

My personal feedback for the sprites redesign:
Link's hat lining shouldn't be visible from the back. The orange halo currently looks a little odd.
I miss Zol's (black dot) original dark palette. There's already so many blue monsters.
The old woman looks too friendly. She had an "old hag from the deep woods" look to her that added to the atmosphere, especially since she's initially mute.
This just might be me, but the Octorok's eyes turn into three triangles when rotated sideways.
Gibdo's redesign (mummy) doesn't really work for me. Again, too much blue, and he lost so much weight. He used to look physically imposing.
Zora (lake monster) would look more menacing without eye pupils, or inverted as before. Currently, eyes are too cartoonish.
Stalphos' eyes (skeleton) make him look depressed.
Goriya's (boomerang guy) sideways sprite looks a little thin. It's possible I'm simply too attached to the original.

Hopefully I don't come across as too negative. I'm really quite fond of the majority of these new designs.

Edit: after examining more closely the official artwork, I can see the motivation for some of these changes, but I don't agree that close adherence to these necessarily improves the in-game visuals. Concessions clearly must be made. The "Million" artwork translates more cleanly to lo-res sprites.

[gzip]

Just played through level 3 and had no issues. Maxed out rupees but not arrows. I even killed Manhandla with arrows. Here are some thoughts:

• 5 arrows per drop feels excessive. It will only take 6 drops to fill up?!
• You might limit arrow drops to the same enemy group as bombs. Maybe 5 arrows makes sense if the frequency is similar to bombs.
• The old man hint in level 1 still talks about arrows and rupees.
• Side note: I think the key infinity symbol should be flipped horizontally. It's currently backwards (calligraphically speaking ).

So when do flaming arrows and bomb arrows get added?

[ifightdragons]

The redesigns look flawless. Excellent sprite-work within the harsh limitations of this game.

[AdamDravian]

I really like the redesigns for the most part. Great job. I'm glad I can finally see the wizzrobes for what they are instead of my brain always turning their amulate into an open mouth.

I miss Zol's (black dot) original dark palette. There's already so many blue monsters.

Perhaps using the color of the blue-green molblin would be a nice compromise.

The old woman looks too friendly. She had an "old hag from the deep woods" look to her that added to the atmosphere, especially since she's initially mute.

I actually think the original old woman sprite looks more friendly than the new one. She's no longer smiling.

Gibdo's redesign (mummy) doesn't really work for me. Again, too much blue, and he lost so much weight. He used to look physically imposing.

I agree that this it the one change I'm not sold on. Perhaps it's too radical of a departure. If I came across that in the game I woudln't know that it was a gibdo. I think a compromise between the two designs would be best.

Goriya's (boomerang guy) sideways sprite looks a little thin. It's possible I'm simply too attached to the original.

I prefer the thinned up look. They always looked too fat to me in the original.

[ShadowOne333]

Thanks for the feedback, guys!
I'll take the arrows suggestions and see what can be done.

As for the sprites:

• I forgot to mention the Zol sprite is NOT using its in-game palette. I was too lazy to just search for the proper palette to colour him correctly, so his original colors will still be the same
• The game has a problem with way too many sprites looking thick or fat. Link, Gibdos, Goriyas, Armos, Moblins (though these ones are supposed to be thick/fat), Darknuts, Lynels, Vires... Almost all the sprites are thick. I'm not sure why, maybe they took the same base dimensions for every sprite, but it really makes for a somewhat bland in-game art. Having some slightly thinner sprites would help to have some variety, and to stay close to the enemy's original art.
• Out of all the sprites, the least happy I'm with is the Stalfos. I am not too sure what to do about him, while not sacrificing his original design as much. The same goes for the Gibdo, I'm still not undecided about that one too, although for the Gibdo I went for his official art, and also later depictions of him in Zelda games for his design.

If anyone has mockups hat would help with some designs (mostly Stalfos or Gibdo, or bosses too), please feel free to post them!

[The3Dude]

I actually think the original old woman sprite looks more friendly than the new one. She's no longer smiling.

If you look in the artwork. It never was a smile. It's supposed to be her huge nose.

[lexluthermiester]

The redesigned sprites look good! I like the Wizzrobe sprites the most IMO.

I have to agree, they look good!

[Pleiades7]

Thanks for the feedback, guys!
I'll take the arrows suggestions and see what can be done.

As for the sprites:

• I forgot to mention the Zol sprite is NOT using its in-game palette. I was too lazy to just search for the proper palette to colour him correctly, so his original colors will still be the same
• The game has a problem with way too many sprites looking thick or fat. Link, Gibdos, Goriyas, Armos, Moblins (though these ones are supposed to be thick/fat), Darknuts, Lynels, Vires... Almost all the sprites are thick. I'm not sure why, maybe they took the same base dimensions for every sprite, but it really makes for a somewhat bland in-game art. Having some slightly thinner sprites would help to have some variety, and to stay close to the enemy's original art.
• Out of all the sprites, the least happy I'm with is the Stalfos. I am not too sure what to do about him, while not sacrificing his original design as much. The same goes for the Gibdo, I'm still not undecided about that one too, although for the Gibdo I went for his official art, and also later depictions of him in Zelda games for his design.

If anyone has mockups hat would help with some designs (mostly Stalfos or Gibdo, or bosses too), please feel free to post them!

Your sprites look awesome!

Also, some improved environmental changes are welcome (e.g. better looking rocks, trees, etc.) and improvements to the bosses if possible.

My 2 cents.

[The3Dude]

What about this sprite for Gibdo? I wouldn't mind you keeping the one you made already, but in game he'll look a lot smaller than Link if you use it.



I based it off of the BS Zelda version of the Gibdo.

[ShadowOne333]

What about this sprite for Gibdo? I wouldn't mind you keeping the one you made already, but in game he'll look a lot smaller than Link if you use it.



I based it off of the BS Zelda version of the Gibdo.

That looks really good!
Only thing I'd change would be blue outline, since almost none of the Zelda 1 sprites have outlines, but outside of that it looks cool!

[Vanya]

I like most of the new art too.
Gibdo is the only one I felt was a bit off.

[The3Dude]

That looks really good!
Only thing I'd change would be blue outline, since almost none of the Zelda 1 sprites have outlines, but outside of that it looks cool!

This way look better?

[ShadowOne333]

This way look better?

Looks way better
Still a bit of outline, but I like the way it looks right now, I'll add it to the current enemy redesigns!
Just out of curiosity, have you tried doing a Stalfos sprite?
That's the one that really didn't like how it came out on my end.
It'd be interesting to see how others tackle that one, and I'd love to see your take on it!

[The3Dude]

Looks way better
Still a bit of outline, but I like the way it looks right now, I'll add it to the current enemy redesigns!
Just out of curiosity, have you tried doing a Stalfos sprite?
That's the one that really didn't like how it came out on my end.
It'd be interesting to see how others tackle that one, and I'd love to see your take on it!

Oh cool! Haha!

Glad to help , also I made some stalfos sprites... here's my crack at it.



Top-left is original
Bottom-left is your new stalfos
Top-Right is your sprite with edited skeleton head.
Bottom-Right is the edited head sprite with shading.

Look better?

[ShadowOne333]

Awesome!
I went ahead and retouched both of them a bit, made the swords a solid colour for the Stalfos (so they match the Million Artwork) and this is how they look right now (also fixed the Zol and Gel's colour palette from the mockup, so this is how they'll look in-game now):



Right now, I started work on the bosses.
Gotta say tho, holy shit did they nail the design from the Million Publishing artwork with the bosses almost to the beat hahah.
You can see official the artwork from which the bosses will be based on:
https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/Gallery:The_Legend_of_Zelda_Bosses

Here's the bosses sprites, I haven't edited any of them except the very first sprite for Gohma based on the official artwork:


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Here's my first attempt at Ganon:

Above = Redesign / Below = Original


Gohma:

[Pineapplefish]

The3Dude, you are nailing it. Never thought Stalphos could look this good.

Already, the new Gohma boss is a 200% improvement. When I was young I thought his giant pupil was actually a nose.

BTW, I always thought they were going for a chibi look, as they often do in japan when they want to simplify the visuals. Still, varying the monsters' width makes sense.

I'm enjoying these redesigns. Very tastefully done.

[jimstrom]

Really love the redesigned sprites, the Wizrobe, The Zol and the Lynell's are my favorites, but they all look amazing. Just for the fun of it, how would an 8bit Legend of Zelda style Impa look like?

I also love that you make the Ganon sprite more consistent with his later looks, some hip armor or a loin cloth could be a good idea though, i never understood why they gave ganon a shirt but not pants

[ShadowOne333]

Thank you so much guys!
Such words really encourage me to keep going with the redesigns.
I really like how the bosses are coming up as well.

Really love the redesigned sprites, the Wizrobe, The Zol and the Lynell's are my favorites, but they all look amazing. Just for the fun of it, how would an 8bit Legend of Zelda style Impa look like?

I also love that you make the Ganon sprite more consistent with his later looks, some hip armor or a loin cloth could be a good idea though, i never understood why they gave ganon a shirt but not pants

An 8bit Impa?
I think the closest would be the old woman sprite I did. You can see it in the enemy image posted a few comments ago.
Impa from the official artwork looks very close to that sprite actually:



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Seeing Ganon from the current design, I really, REALLY want to make him look leaps better from the original sprite and not just like a plain Moblin with some metal T-shirt.
I want to make his clothing actually look like armour, and his colours much more accurate to his official depictions going forward (since original Ganon has few to zero official depictions).

So far, these are a few mockups I came up with:

Original / 1st mockup (posted here before) / 2nd mockup / 3rd mockup with better armour and change of palette


Please let me know what do you guys think!

PS: And for those wondering how the bosses are coming along, here's what I have right now.
Only Gleeok, Aquamentus and Digdogger are pending:



Remember that most of these are based on the official artwork.
The Ganon one from the Wiki is NOT from the original Zelda, it's artwork from ALttP.
Original Ganon has very little to almost no official artwork.