Review — Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Zelda II: Electric Boogaloo

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is… an interesting case of a game. The sequel to one of the more successful games on the Nintendo Entertainment System at the time in The Legend of Zelda, it’s pretty Safe to say Zelda II had some big shoes to fill.

The original Legend of Zelda is a game that doesn’t need much introduction for just about any gaming audience. I reviewed the first Zelda game so click here if you want to read up on that. Might be worth doing since I’ll be doing a ton of compare and contrast, or at least as much as I can because to day Zelda II is a beast in its own right is an understatement, we’re going to pretty much be comparing apples and oranges here.

For readers who might have a history with Zelda II already already know how different it is to its predecessor. Because of it’s fascinating differences and choices of game design, this game to many is seen as a massive disappointment despite selling well, and that would be correct.

However, I think Zelda II is a game that kind of gets an unfair wrap and time has not been nice to it either. I will go off and say that no it’s not as good as the original Legend of Zelda, but keep in mind disappointment doesn’t always mean failure. I think you can still come up short of expectations. So yeah Zelda II is not as good as the first game, but does that make it bad? I think there’s a few things Zelda II does that’s really good. There’s also a few missing moments here and there too. Let me deeper dive into this.

The story starts as Princess Zelda has fall into a sleeping spell, and only gaining the Triforce, the Zelda series’ McGuffin, can break the spell. So it’s up to Link to go on an adventure quests. However, evil are trying their best to delete Link and resurrect the dark evil Ganon, the series’ antagonist. When you game over, you’ll get meet with the screen “Game Over Return of Ganon”. With him laughing at you. Mocking your failure. Oddly enough sounds like Bald Bull in Punch Out!! (It’s the same laugh).

A laugh you will grow to hate

So what makes Zelda II so different than the original masterpiece that was the first Legend of Zelda, well… just about everything! As the first Zelda was a top down prospective going from square to square, room to room to try to battle with your sword and shield, all while solving brain teasing puzzles, Zelda II is a side scrolling fantasy RPG (Role Playing Game). When you start a new file, this is the first screen you are met with this…

This is not the Zelda I was expecting

Going from Zelda 1 to this is quite the change that it could be jarring, especially going into Zelda II with no idea what kind of game it is. There’s a ton to look here. Link instead of having hearts like the first game now has a life bar, he also has a magic bar and an experience counter on the top of the screen. When you hit the number needed in experience that you gain by beating enemies or doing tasks throughout the land of Hyrule. When you level up, you can choose between increasing health or increasing magic a point. This gives the player choices on how they want to build up Link. There is a defense spell later so do you want to load up on magic to be able to use spells that will be needed or do you want to buff Link’s health when he takes a hit? Stocking up on magic might be the way to go as you’ll need it A LOT such as using a spell that turns you into a fairy that can help you platform into later areas of the game in tight spaces, or a jump spell that makes Link jump higher, again a skill needed to progress in the game. Finding that item or spell to progress farther into the world is something that was carried over from the first Zelda and it works well here too.

Another big difference is the game have a number of lives. You will get hit, and you will die a lot. The annoying part is when you get a game over and Ganon laughs at you again, you start back from the starting spot of the game. This can get really annoying when you are adventuring deep in the over world, or even a dungeon and end up running out of lives and at times have to walk all the way back. Luckily you do get an item that helps Link quick travel to a dungeon. Once you get this, the walk back is not so bad and is more of a little inconvenience than a big one.

Link really doesn’t have much in his selection of moves at the start. You can stab with your sword, block projectiles with your shield, or duck and stab down low, this will be needed for enemies later on where how you attack will be key. The ability to shoot a laser from your sword returns in Zelda IIand becomes likely your best course of attack early game, so if you can take as little damage as possible to keep that attack, it will help you greatly. You will also get more abilities like the jumping downward sword strike, that I think you had at the start of the game, would make the early stages of the game much more enjoyable and give Link a little more ability, but that’s just me. There are also villages you can find on your journey.

Link can kill enemies to gain experience points to level up his health or magic bar on the top

This game is hard and at time unforgiving, like I said you will die a lot in this and will have to do a ton of back tracking. It’s another old game case where the start of the game feels harder than later on because in the early game there’s no room for error. Later on you can take a few hits and mistakes and still get by. To say this game gets ruthless especially with having to start back from the starting area of the game in an understatement. Heck only in the game’s final dungeon the game shows a little mercy where you can save and start on the start of the final temple rather than having to start all the way back. Just getting to this place is a nightmare in itself, so glad they throw you a bone here. I kind of wish if you can just restart from any dungeon it would make the game a little less ruthless and beat having to walk all the way back from square one.

The combat in the game start very rough but because much more fun once Link gets a few abilities and is able to defend himself much better. There’s a sense of growth and progress here, I personally thing starting from say 2 rather than 0 would help the early game. I think most people who tried Zelda II and walked away from it were likely because of the rough start of the game. If you stick with it, it does get much better.

The Temples in this game are something I think kind of take a step back from the first game. As the game is a side scrolling action RPG, you can’t be as creative with puzzles as you could in a top down view grid like system such as Zelda 1. Most puzzles are “use item/spell here” or “Get past this room”. There are also hidden walls that could lead to some hidden areas that could be the difference of beating the temple, or another game over with Ganon laughing at you, you keep laughing buddy…

Temples feel more combat focused rather than puzzle solving, that’s not an awful thing but I think the way Zelda II is built kind of hinders the possible creativity in these temples, so yeah that’s something I can say the first game got much better.

In the end my main argument and statement here is this. There’s one major flaw with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and it’s that it’s Zelda: II The Adventure of Link… Let me explain.

It had to fill the shoes of one of the most impact and greatest games on the system in The Legend of Zelda. I do wonder if this was a new Nintendo series of games how much better it would do. It is one of the better NES games out there and I think it’s a top 10 game on the system, not as high as the original Zelda and maybe low on the list, but still top 10. I think people disliked Zelda II because for how much they loved Zelda 1, and Zelda II is no doubt a whole different animal from the first game. Kind of a shame too because I think as it is rough around the edges Zelda II has some moments of brilliance.

There would be two more Zelda games out a little after Zelda II: One being for the game boy in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and the other mainline game on the more powerful Super Nintendo in The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past. Both of these games would return to the top down prospective much like Zelda 1 and become much more creative with their world building and temple structures and overall become much more successful and better games than Zelda II. The Super Nintendo’s A Link To The Past feels much more like a Zelda 1 sequel than Zelda II ever did, and that I think hurts Zelda II’s legacy even more in the long run. I don’t think Zelda II is bad at all, challenging and a little rough at the start, but it’s not a bad game at all. Nintendo tried something different and it was kind of a miss, it happens. If you don’t like Zelda II, that’s 100% ok, the game has quite a bit of flaws.

Zelda II The Adventure of Link is not Zelda 1 by any means, but I think it’s worth trying and if you can get into it a bit after the shaky start, you might find a new classic in your collection that you otherwise would have not discovered.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link gets 3 out of 5 stars.