Aye, I got A Link to the Past on my GameBoy Advance, so I could pretty much carry it around anywhere. This was my second 2D title, the first being Legend of Zelda, which I own on the Wii's Virtual Console. Before I tell you my A Link to the Past death count, my death count in Legend of Zelda is quite high, and I'm not even done with the game yet. I have (in Legend of Zelda) all hearts, the white sword, a red potion, the magic shield, and the blue ring, yet I'm stuck on level 9 (Death Mountain Labyrinth) with a death count of 203.
Now, as for A Link to the Past, I don't have all hearts, yet I've got all bottles (4 because it's the GBA version), golden sword, mirror shield, and just about every item in that game besides heart containers, yet I have the glorious death count of *drum roll* 145. There were some hard bosses, a few puzzles that required you to exploit the game (Such as using the position you place yourself in before you do the spin attack position to avoid getting shot at), which took some time. I think on my first run, I screwed up in the water palace and had to restart because I let the river run before I could grab a key.
So, to give you a good idea as to how much I suck at the 3D titles, my death count in my first run of Ocarina of Time, which was my first Zelda, was 8.