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Seth Michael Larson: Playing the “Second Quest” of Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures was released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2004 in Japan and America and 2005 globally, with the game split into eight areas with three levels per area. Data miners discovered eight cut levels that were mostly playable but removed late in development, which can be seen on The Cutting Room Floor. A game modding and localizing group called Eternal Dream Arabization and $$$Link created a mod that restored these cut levels, making them completable by fixing issues and adding Force Gems where necessary. The mod is a collection of map files and Action Replay codes that overwrite the map file loaded when entering the final level in each area. The cut levels include River Flow, Rainy Forest, Mountain Road, Graveyard, Four Descents into the Darkness, Oasis, Through the Blizzard, and Clouds Across the Wind. To play these cut levels, players need a legally obtained ROM of the game, an emulator like Dolphin, and the FSA Second Quest level files, which can be installed using pyisotools. The process involves extracting the ISO, copying the modded map files, and building a new ISO, after which Action Replay codes can be used to load the cut levels. Action Replay codes are provided for both US and JP versions of the game, and Swiss cheat codes are also available for use with the Swiss cheats config files. The game is one of the least played titles in the Legend of Zelda series, selling fewer than 500,000 copies globally, and the author plans to publish recordings of the cut levels being played on YouTube.