Cellda: cell phone, not cel-shaded, Zelda

by Christopher Grant { Jul 6th 2006 at 8:05PM }

More like Cellda, amirite?

So, we all agree that most cell phone games are really, really boring (we agree on this, right?), but here's one that we think any red-blooded gamer can still muster some excitement over: The Legend of Zelda. That's right, the plain-old, original Zelda ... but with a twist. The homebrew heroes behind this project have seen fit to update all that old, pixelated stuff with new, Minish Cap-ish graphics, and they're looking good.

Don't believe us, check out these hi-res maps or -- better yet -- download the latest demo (featuring dungeons one through three) for your Midp2-compatible phone. Don't have one of those? Then try out the PC executable. Can't run one of those? Sorry, bub.

[Via Flicker Gaming]

Tags: Cell, Cell phone, CellPhone, Java, Legend of Zelda, LegendOfZelda, Minish Cap, MinishCap, NES, Zelda

Related From Joystiq

OnLive 'works on cell phones too,' says Perlman
23 days ago
Access your PS3 anywhere with the Sony Aino cell phone
193 days ago
GDC09: Train your eyes on 'The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks'
258 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Mongeez @ Jul 6th 2006 8:16PM

Phone games are great these days. Check out strategy games like Insaniquarium or Zuma and then 3D action games like Brothers in Arms 3D. Mobile games are only getting better and will continue to do so. Mark my words!

GSI @ Jul 6th 2006 8:27PM

What is a "Midp 2-compatible phone" exactly? I'm getting a new phone (namely the T-Mobile MDA here in the US at the end of the month) and I wonder if it will work on that.

Linky @ Jul 6th 2006 8:31PM

Congrats Gorthwog!

/LInky

Felix Andrews @ Jul 6th 2006 8:43PM

You've only gone and crashed their site. I hope you're happy, Kevin!

deft @ Jul 6th 2006 8:56PM

Crash'D

Seriously though, it looks good.

*tries to download*

Jedimonkey27 @ Jul 6th 2006 9:25PM

Can anyone mirror the site?

bob23 @ Jul 6th 2006 9:26PM

Good job Gorthwog! The games come a long way it seems. :D
- bob23

Limey @ Jul 6th 2006 9:44PM

CONGRATS GORTH! (This game rocks btw n__N)

LongshotX @ Jul 6th 2006 11:07PM

I got the game on my phone but I don't know what the controls are. Seems like I can only move up down left and right. (No hold A start)

Tooley @ Jul 6th 2006 11:29PM

yeah, we deffinatly need a mirror

LongshotX @ Jul 7th 2006 12:15AM

Here guys I posted the .jar file on rapidshare. If you want to upload the file to your phone use the second link. It doesn't require you to be a Sprint User so don't worry. Just go to the URL and put in the Jump Code.

http://rapidshare.de/files/25158999/Zelda.jar.html

http://rumkin.com/tools/sprint/index.php

GSI @ Jul 7th 2006 1:00AM

/ping

Anyone care to enlighten me (and I'm sure others) on what a "Midp 2-compatible phone" is?

007craft @ Jul 7th 2006 1:04AM

Can I play this on my Motorolla V220? I hacked it a while ago to upload my own Java games, but I dont know if It will run this? So will it?

LongshotX @ Jul 7th 2006 1:08AM

http://www.jbenchmark.com/phonedetails.jsp

Go to the following link to determine whether your phone is Midp2 compatible. You'll see a drop down menu on your far right. Select your cell phone and the website will tell you whether you have it or not. Once you're done use the links I provided in the previous post to download the Zelda.jar file and upload it to your phone*.

*make sure you have a WAP enabled phone.

Marc Butler @ Jul 7th 2006 1:16AM

Just tried it on my N-Gage QD. Works pretty damn good...14fps with sound. My device is "only" Midp1 but the game is totally playable and even though I imagine its running slow it doesn't effect the game, it feels like a good speed. Anyway, slow or not, playing it with a dpad on the right with the buttons on the left is nice.

Marc Butler @ Jul 7th 2006 1:17AM

Um, make that the dpad on the left and buttons on the right like a normal controller.

GSI @ Jul 7th 2006 1:27AM

Yes! My new phone will be able to play it! (MDA Vario)

hollow2010 @ Jul 7th 2006 1:27AM

Anybody have a mirror to the PC download? That would be awesome.

Mogg @ Jul 7th 2006 1:30AM

I have a LG vx9800 with Verizon. My phone isn't even listed. Looks like it may be a verizon thing.

Jeff Guebert @ Jul 7th 2006 1:39AM

Basically, if anyone cares about the techinical description behind MIDP 2, it's a specific set of Java specifications/APIs that developers can write code against and be sure any phone labeled "MIDP 2 compliant" can run that code. It's a part of the Micro Edition of the platform (designed for cellphones and other small/embedded devices) rather than the Standard Edition which desktops use.

Here's the Wikipedia link for those interested even more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDP

007craft @ Jul 7th 2006 2:07AM

Downloaded it and played it on my v220. It was pretty bad. First off, The game displays my phones menu bar along the bottom, wasting a good 20% of the screen (Other games dont do this so It must be the game).

Combine that with the black item bar, and my phones naturally small screen, and the game is unplayable. All I see is maybe 6 link widths and 3 link heigts. Enemies appear and hit me before I actually kill them. They need to make it so that menu bar is not visable during play. Then at least Ill be able to play it. I know a bigger screen on my phone would help tho.

AS for the game itself... some things I noticed that might want to be chancged since it is beta.

- Links hit detection is on his hat, not his feet. This means I can walk over items and not get them and enemies and not get hit, unless they touch the top of my player.
- Enemies drop way to much money. Killing standard enemies and im picking up blue and red rupies like common change. You get rich to fast it seems. Regular enemies should only give green rupies and RARELY reds, and most of the time, nothing.
-SFX and music would not work on my phone. I suspended and resumed the game and then music was working. SFX was still not working however.

Gorthwogh @ Jul 7th 2006 2:56AM

Hi guys..

sorry for the slowness of my page, my router is dying from overheating.. ;)
damn D-Link stuff...

i'll see if i can get it working better soon.. =)

i'm glad you liked it..

kyou @ Jul 7th 2006 3:18AM

Havint Zelda in my cell is the awesomes. The only probelm is... yeah... I think my screen might be too small for this game. It'd be sweet if it looked like those screenshots though.

Chris @ Jul 7th 2006 6:13AM

can i post a link to a site where you can get bit name games for free? or would you delete the post?

one man @ Jul 7th 2006 6:42AM

Since not everyone has a phone that this will work with I have uploaded the pc version here. This is great Iloved Minish Cap and the original Zelda good work.

http://rapidshare.de/files/25178757/Zelda-PC.zip.html

cb43569 @ Jul 7th 2006 7:40AM

Why is everybody forgetting the slient 'h' at the end of Gorthwogh!? Anyway, this thing is old. Us guys at ZFGC have been cheering him for months. This was originally a mobile version of his online Zelda MMORPG, Xelda.

32_footsteps @ Jul 7th 2006 7:41AM

Well, among other things I know, the original Zelda did not have red rupees, the hookshot, or Pieces of Heart. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that this is a fan update of the original.

Hyrule_boy @ Jul 7th 2006 8:08AM

This is defenitly the best game for the mobile and its free too!!!

Uppy @ Jul 7th 2006 8:45AM

Gorthwog is becoming famous, deservedly so. Awsome game!

Gorthwogh @ Jul 7th 2006 9:37AM

ok, due to the insane traffic to my server..
i have put the official mirror here.

http://nyo.se/ZM/

sully @ Jul 7th 2006 10:29AM

Here's a fixed copy of the JAR file that will allow those of you who experienced "Invalid JAR archive" errors with the original:

http://mediablog.mail2web.com/sully/blog/entry.html?id=6027

Corris @ Jul 7th 2006 11:51AM

I dunno what some people are moaning about, just downloaded it to my k750, and I've got to say, it was real fun
I applaud your work, its really quite cool, if you manage to get all the dungeons on there and some extras it will defiantly be a must for Zelda fans

if all goes well and you manage to finish it, I would suggest making you're own, then you could let you're creative juices flow and do you're own thing and story and such like
anyway, good luck

Saucy @ Jul 7th 2006 12:42PM

For those of you wondering about MIDP2 phones - that's basically the java (j2me) library pack. Most newer GSM and CDMA phones now come with MIDP2 installed. As for you Verizon and Alltel subscribers, you're SOL since they use BREW instead of J2ME. The programmers would have to code, from scratch, this game in C++/BREW to get it to work on those carriers, plus there is no easy way to install the game on those phones. All installs must come through the carrier.

Welcome to the f'ed up world of mobile gaming.

liquidash @ Jul 7th 2006 1:58PM

Running the MIDP2 version on the Samsung D600 emulator (an MIDP2 phone) results in the following error: "ALERT: Cannot create class in system package". If anyone is interested in exploring this problem, the emulator can be downloaded here: http://developer.samsungmobile.com/eng/front_zone/bbs/res_qry.jsp?p_menu_id=1501&p_pagenum=2&p_num=51. Btw, the MIDP1 version seems to work just fine.

mrchu @ Jul 7th 2006 2:04PM

would this work with the nextel i930?? i no its a smart phone and i guess you can dl emulators for it but its to much work and im not up to the task

sgt.clooney @ Jul 7th 2006 2:16PM

i got this working on my phone and there is sound at the main menu but not during gameplay, does anyone know what the problem could be

LeaveJoystiqAlone @ Jul 7th 2006 2:29PM

To #10

Just so you know, any phone released in the last two years is basically an MIDP 2.0 compatible phone. Its just a reference to the graphics library of the java system on the phone. If you go into the Java system settings, you should find an ABOUT section or Version section that lists the exact version of MIDP the phone is capable of. I have a Nextel i860 phone and this is how I check:

Go to Java Apps. Select the Java System icon. All the versions numbers are listed including glorious MIDP 2.0.

Yeah, so I'm downloading this bad boy now! Thank God a game worth playing on the cell phone! I just hope it supports saving!

bikeage @ Jul 7th 2006 3:10PM

From the screenshots, this looks like Link's Awakening, and not the original Zelda.

John @ Jul 7th 2006 6:05PM

Anyone have any luck converting this to a PRC file for a palmOS phone like the Treo 700p?

LiquidAsh @ Jul 8th 2006 6:34PM

Just to follow up on the "Alert" error I was receiving, running the jar through jdb results in the following extra details:

Exception occurred: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException (uncaught)"thread=main", java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(), line=199 bci=72

I hope this helps ... looks like a great project, that I'd love to try on my phone.

Btw, I also noticed that the jad file on your site specifies MIDP1 insteady of MIDP2.

Brett Berish @ Jul 9th 2006 1:42PM

I love it. Previously I stole my sister's RAZR to play as I got the 'INVALID JAVA ERROR DIVIDE BY ZERO' message on my Cingular 8125, but now it's fixed and runs great.

Here's my question. is it possible to remap the keys? My phone is WinMo 5.0 based, and lacks a normal number pad. I can walk around and swing the sword fine, but I have no way to trigger the B button. There's no way within the game itself to do this, but do any of you java awesome people have an idea about reconfiguring that?

Gorthwogh @ Jul 9th 2006 4:44PM

about remaping the keys, i use the phones standard game keys..

i might try to add an option in setup where you can choose your own A and B key..

Xev0luti0nXx @ Jul 13th 2006 6:15PM

I downloaded Zelda Mobile on my RAZR V3 and I can get the game to load and walk around fine, but "1" doesn't work for the "B" button, nor do any of the other buttons. Any suggestions?

Ohmster @ Aug 24th 2006 1:12AM

OMG, this really is Zelda! The real thing. Holy cow. I have an L7 Slvr with Cingular. The game works with music in menu. No sound at all in game, but press "hang up" and then come back with "Resume" and music will play in game, no sound effects or game sounds though. The graphics are stunning and it has the feel of real Zelda, same enemies, board layout, the whole 9 yards.

I cannot save in game, only "Save and exit" which does save, but also throws you back to your cellphone desktop. There seems to be no other way to save the game. The D pad works like it should, I guess. I have not found any bombs yet but want to so I can see if I can switch weapons or not.

Awesome freaking game, can't wait until it is done, dying to play it for real. Please fix the sound so that it works all the time and so that the actual games sounds work too, not just music. (The music is "dead on" by the way, Zelda music for sure!)

Fix these 2 things please:

Make sound work all the time, game sounds too.

Make save game work without having to end the game.

So freaking awesome. Thank you very much for doing this, you will have one of the best and most popular cell phone games ever if you complete this project. I am rooting for you.

~Ohmster

Charles Decatur @ Aug 29th 2006 6:27PM

So far I love this game but I seem to be stuck. i almost never get stuck so I'm mostly worried that something is wrong because many cave openings in the game either won't do anything when I enter or a load error message appears. I'm basically at the castle in the tree that you get to by walking across the water. The castle is a dead end although I did manage to walk up the wall at the door but then I can't see my character. My question is what do I do there? Thanks.

Ohmster @ Aug 24th 2006 9:30PM

How do you select stuff in this game? I have a Motorola Slvr L7 phone and when I open the menu, I got the blue candle and I guess red potion (Lower middle box) but how do you use this stuff? I can D pad around or use the numbers to highlight the blue candle, but there seems to be no way to select it. How the freak do you use stuff in this game like candles and bombs? There seems to be no B button, only the middle button on the D pad and that just swings the sword.

By the way, the sword never shoots across the screen no matter how many hearts you have, you can only stab with it. Is this normal? Thanks.

Ohmster @ Aug 24th 2006 10:02PM

No B button on Motorola L7 Slvr phone. So now I cannot use any bombs, candles, potion, etc., because not one button anywhere on my phone fucntions as the "B" button. The A button is the round button in the D pad, but B? Anyone find the B button and can you tell me where or how to use it on your phone?

Ohmster @ Aug 24th 2006 11:23PM

Can I like hex edit this thing to make some sort of a button on my L7 Slvr act as a B button? Without a B button, the game cannot be played and this sucks. It is such a freaking *awesome* work and I cannot play. I can't stand it, make it stop! Somebody, how do I get some sort of a B button on my phone!

Having the music play without having to suspend the java app then resume would also be nice. And of course, imagine if the actual game sounds worked? How freaking cool this would be, game of the year for cellphones? For sure. Somebody please hack this thing or tell me how to do it so that I can have a B button!

Thanks, Ohmster.