The Satellaview was a modem add-on for Nintendo's Super Famicom system in Japan. The system would connect to the St. Giga satellite radio station, and during a limited time (between 4:00 and 7:00 PM), one could download video games and receive news about the gaming world, and save it on a memory cart that plugged into the Satellaview.

The BS-X titles fell into several categories:

• exclusive releases, new entries in established series available only on the BS-X; indeed they are still exclusive, as none have ever been rereleased as yet. These include such titles as Earthbound Zero.
• rereleases, exact replicas of the cartridge data of normal Super Famicom games, except broadcast over the satellite
• remakes of previous Famicom games, as in the case of BS Zelda and BS ExciteBike
• occasionally Super Famicom titles were remixed, as in the case of BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban
• original creations; there were one or two BS-X games that were not part of any established series.

No matter what the game was, it was released in weekly installments, usually a total of four parts. Some games went on to have multiple stages beyond the scope of the original game, such as BS Zelda "~Map2~" (the only known name), which included nine entirely new dungeons beyond the nine already featured in the first BS Zelda broadcast. However the player data could not be transferred onto the new maps, and just like The Legend of Zelda's "Second Quest" the player had to start over.

The basic system contains :

• Satellaview adapter - (adapted to the bottom of Super Famicom)
• Application cartridge "BS-X : Soreha namae o nusumareta machi no monogatari" (translates as The Story of The Town Whose Name Has Been Stolen)("BS" was named from broadcast satellite and "X" means nameless)

This application was like a game in itself. The player entered their name and chose their gender, and then moved their player character around the town. Each house or shop in the town was a direct link to a particular game, which would load and be ready for play if the player chose to enter that building.

The deluxe system contains all the above, plus :

• 8 Mega-bits Memory Pak - (downloaded games are saved on this memory cart)

The BS-X base unit contained some memory of its own, but not much (about 512KB) so for larger games, or, it is to be assumed, for mulitple games to be saved at the same time, the player needed to purchase this Memory Pak.

The BS-X was developed and released by Nintendo, and St. Giga was responsible for the file servers and the maintenance side of things after each game had been added.

Live Voice

Some games, such as the two BS Zeldas, featured "Live Voice" (streaming voice data), where a "narrator" would guide the players through the game and give helpful hints and advice.

Sources indicate that the same narrator was used for both BS Zeldas. In BS Zelda he was the voice of the Old Man (a well-known character from the original The Legend of Zelda), while in BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban he was the voice of Sahasrahla (a well-known character from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past). In this second game he also voiced Sahasrahla's character in the cutscenes.

As almost a gaming first, or certainly a Nintendo-console first, in BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban all cutscenes were fully voice acted, live, much like a radio play.

Because of the inclusion of Live Voice, and becuase it had to be, well, live(!), the BS Zeldas could not be played at any time like some of the other BS-X games, but only during the set hours.

broadcast dates

Satellaview was broadcast from April 23, 1995 to June 30, 2000. It continued receiving new games up until March 1999. The first game on the system was BS Zelda, a remake of the Famicom game Zelda no Densetsu (aka. The Legend of Zelda). It was followed closely after by BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban (which translates as Ancient Stone Tablets), a kind of "second quest" or "master quest" for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.