In defense of Zelda II

[DeathMagnetic780]

So, for decades now, Zelda II has been kind of the "black sheep" of the Zelda family, mostly because "A Link to the Past" returned to the formula of the original game, and games after basically followed the ALttP formula. Now for me, Zelda II was actually the first Zelda game I ever played, so I didn't have any preconceptions about what the games were "supposed" to be. (plus I was like, 8, so I wasn't exactly a critic) Is the game difficult? Sure, but it's more manageable than other NES games like Ninja Gaiden, (and honestly, I feel like the 2nd quest on Zelda I is harder) especially when you learn how to utilize your abilities best to defeat enemies. The game isn't perfect by any means, but for an action adventure game of it's era, I find it much more playable than things like the original Metroid or Castlevania II.

 

[DJ Twitch]

The game is difficult, but that's literally the reason some people hate it. I played Zelda II for the first time in 2017 or thereabouts, with plenty of experience in other Zelda games, and my only real problem was how tedious it could be to travel the overworld.

 

[MW7]

I played Zelda II a little later in my Zelda experience. I first played it on the Zelda Collector's Edition so I had played Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Legend of Zelda first in that order. It is extremely difficult at first but actually has a fair learning curve once you play the game enough. Now I find it a very enjoyable game that is easy to pick up and play. I love shorter games that don't take huge time investments, and it's a game that I can play for short bursts on my NES Classic. It remains challenging even after beating it several times and is a solid game. I agree with the sentiment that it's more enjoyable than the original Metroid, and I say that as someone who played Super Metroid for the first time in 2018 and think it's one of the greatest games of all time. I still need to play Castlevania II. Also I'd say I'd rather play Zelda II than Super Mario Bros 1 or 2.

 

[DeathMagnetic780]

I played Zelda II a little later in my Zelda experience. I first played it on the Zelda Collector's Edition so I had played Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Legend of Zelda first in that order. It is extremely difficult at first but actually has a fair learning curve once you play the game enough. Now I find it a very enjoyable game that is easy to pick up and play. I love shorter games that don't take huge time investments, and it's a game that I can play for short bursts on my NES Classic. It remains challenging even after beating it several times and is a solid game. I agree with the sentiment that it's more enjoyable than the original Metroid, and I say that as someone who played Super Metroid for the first time in 2018 and think it's one of the greatest games of all time. I still need to play Castlevania II. Also I'd say I'd rather play Zelda II than Super Mario Bros 1 or 2.

I do think a lot of people have a problem with the sudden spike in difficulty with Death Mountain. I always tell people to focus on your attack power a bit and get it to 4 or 5 before you hit DM (it does take some grinding) but that area becomes a LOT more manageable then. Part of the reason I think folks don't like Zelda II is it DOES play like an NES era rpg in that aspect: grinding is kind of necessary at times.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

I really like zelda 2, it's among my favorite NES games, the difficulty can get brutal at times and it has plenty of those cryptic "where am I supposed to go?" kind of moments, but the base gameplay I just found fun to play, more fun than the original anyway
the music is fantastic too

 

[DeathMagnetic780]

I really like zelda 2, it's among my favorite NES games, the difficulty can get brutal at times and it has plenty of those cryptic "where am I supposed to go?" kind of moments, but the base gameplay I just found fun to play, more fun than the original anyway
the music is fantastic too

I will say, there are a few "wtf am I supposed to do?" moments, the worst offender is the fact that nothing in the game says you can use the hammer to clear trees, and then you have to do it to find a town late in the game. That being said, I can't recall if the manual mentions it or not.

Edit: I googled the manual for Zelda II, and sure enough, it mentions cutting down trees with it. You really gotta put yourself in the mindset of a kid in 1988 and actually using the instruction manual extensively for this game.

 

[MapelSerup]

I played through Zelda II using save states in the NES Classic and I honestly think it’s one of the best NES games. It just gets a bad rap based on the quality of the other games in the series. Any Zelda fan should give it a whirl sometime.

 

[Rubik]

I've been playing it with my gf and we've been enjoying it.

Not only does it feature perhaps the most interesting character in the franchise (Horsehead), but it's got a nice soundtrack and decently fun gameplay. The difficulty is maybe a bit much, but it's still manageable.

 

[Jimmu]

I recently finished it for the first time (with some help from save states at times) and honestly while it was hard I can certainly appreciate it as a decent game. For its time it would have been super difficult to figure out the path to finishing the game without the internet and super hard to beat the often unforgiving consecutive hordes of enemies without the help of save states but I think they really worked well with the limitations of the NES to come up with an experience that could last players quite a long time and give them a huge feeling of accomplishment should they ever reach the end. I'm not so sure I'd be one of those players who would put in the time required nowadays to beat it on a NES cartridge, but with save states I can appreciate the game and actaully enjoyed it a lot.

I particularly enjoyed the soundtrack compared to the first game, it really fit the mood of the game well and kept my energy up while playing.

 

[Princess Niki]

I tried to play it randomly different years but could never beat the first palace cuz this game loves to troll. The SP version finally made it possible for me to beat it between save states and the rewind feature as well. The extra power ups only helped till around the 4th palace and then the game went back to trolling again.

 

[AncientPoe]

Honestly I think it's one of the rare games that truly gets much better in its modern iterations, with save states that make it slightly more approachable and forgiving. There were a few aspects of the difficulty that even someone like me, who enjoyed playing and beating the "original" version (technically on the Wii), a great deal. Also, guides to look up some of the incredibly obscure bits like that infamous invisible wall that is never indicated in any way.