This game is one in a series of "4 weeks" in which there is an auto-save feature that allows for the items and progress you obtain in the previous 'week' to be carried over to the next game in the series. To do this you will have to rename your save file to match the title of the game. This is done by going to your Windows Start Menu; then All Programs; Vizzed Retro Game Room; then Open Plugin Data Folder. Double click the folder with the name "User-'Your User ID'"; then the folder for ZSNES; then Saves. If you have played "BS Zelda - Ancient Stone Tablets (week 1), you will see a file with the name 'BS_Zelda_-_Ancient_Stone_Tablets_(week_1).srm', you'll right-click on that file then select Rename. Simply replace the 1 in 'week 1' with 2, and then click on an empty space in that folder to finalize the rename. Now you can play BS Zelda - Ancient Stone Tablets (week 2) with the items and progress you obtained from the previous game in the series.

This can be done for each of the games, just rename the save file to match the game title. This makes for an interesting way of playing it - however, if you have played one of the other games in the series before you have played (week 1) and would like to play them in order, you'll have to delete the save file which will have week 2, 3, or 4 in the name.

I will append a bit of something here;
You can play each week without having save data, -but- you will be locked out of getting certain bonuses, including certain heart containers and hidden rupee rooms, that may make the game easier for you. You'll probably also be lost in terms of what's going on in the narrative.

Also, "Ancient Stone Tablets" and "Ancient Stone Tablets Master Quest" have more or less the same SRAM code, so I believe you'll be fine if you play one of them, and decide that you want to play the next chapter in the other one.

If you have any further questions about this or other Satellaview games/ROM Hacks/fan translations, feel free to send them my way.

Sounds like an interesting game. I don't usually play too many "Hacked" games, but this one sounds like something I would enjoy.

Thanks for the information about the save files.

KiddoCabbuses : I haven't played through each chapter myself but what I noticed was if you obtained the sword and the other weapons in week 1 then you could start week 2 with those weapons, otherwise starting without the save file you won't have that stuff.

So by renaming the Ancient Stone Tablet save from week 4 you could start out with the weapons from that week on AST Master Quest week 1?

Also in Mater Quest from what I understand there's something about obtaining the Magic Cape and keeping the shovel only with transferring your save?

tRIUNE : Assuming I can understand your question - Yeah, any items on your person in a save file is kept in all the weeks. This includes sword level, items, upgrades, etc.

If you start a week without any required items from the previous weeks, you'll be told to use the Ocarina to warp to the previous dungeon locations and retrieve the necessary items from the thieves at the entrance. You'll be handicapped and basically stripped of 100% completion but the game's still fairly easy to me, so I tend to just go through it like this when debugging and whatnot.

"So by renaming the Ancient Stone Tablet save from week 4 you could start out with the weapons from that week on AST Master Quest week 1?"

I wouldn't recommend going from a "clear" save game back to part 1.  You might end up doing this. Also, there isn't really a proper "New Game +" mode of sorts so you'd have a lot of cleared/emptied rooms and no bosses if you did this, IIRC.

The inverse would probably be A-Ok, though.

"Also in Mater Quest from what I understand there's something about obtaining the Magic Cape and keeping the shovel only with transferring your save?"

If you need any help in anything specific to MQ, I'd suggest seeing the walkthrough on the site, except... they just tell you they're there, but don't tell you how to get them, huh? Well, good luck!

Jordanv78 : This is kind of complicated to explain; BS Zelda no Densetsu: Inishie no Sekiban originated as a Satellaview broadcast.
Unlike most other "ROM hacks" which are designed to alter a game, the "BS Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets" series is designed with more a preservationist and restorationist mindset (At least, as far as I'm concerned.), because the original ROM dumps floating around of the game have large chunks of data missing from them, presumably due to the way the Satellaview stored the game vs. how it stored other games.

The goal of the "hack" is to render a version of the game that is easily playable and enjoyable by all the folks who lacked access to the Satellaview. If you want a good idea of how the game originally played, there were some videos of it uploaded to NicoNicoDouga which I have archived.