Adventure of Link So I Just Beat Adventure of Link.

[Heros Temporis]

And it is an amazing game. This game gets a lot of hate for being different and difficult. But different isn't always a bad thing. It's only the second of a long series, and the series at that point hadn't really defined itself yet, and Nintendo wanted to experiment, so they made something different. If you think about it, it did a lot of new things that are still used in Zelda today, like sidequests. This game introduced sidequests (or more in depth ones than the original. Hunting rupees for the Blue Ring or Magical Shield or taking a note to the old woman doesn't really seem like a sidequest to me.) with rewards at the end. Spells and magic. Magic has (sadly) taken a decline in more recent Zelda games (such as Twilight Princess, where magic was nowhere to be found. Me and many others feel like this was one of the lacking parts to the masterpiece that was Twilight Princess) but has been around for quite some time and has appeared in many ways since Adventure of Link.

Spoiler

And the final boss. The whole dark side/reflection thing is everywhere nowadays, but Adventure of Link was probably one of the first games to do it.

Whether you like the game or not, you must admit that AoL helped shape the Zelda series as we know it today.

The game is difficult, yes. Certainly moreso than any Zelda game since. But the difficulty is part of what makes it so brilliant and fun. Unlike the first Zelda and many other Zelda games (unfortunately) enemies are not designed to be merely slashed at. Each enemy has a strategy that it is weak to. For example, ducking and slashing will defeat Stalfos, while Iron Knuckles usually require that you jump and slash, unless you get a lucky hit in. Bosses are also improved in this way. Most bosses in the original could be defeated by simply slashing like crazy, unleashing a hail of arrows, or standing back and shooting sword beams. Not so in Adventure of Link and subsequent Zelda games. Each boss has unique attacks and weaknesses. Again, they are not meant to be merely slashed at. It introduced strategy to boss fights, something that they've been improving on since to make more complex and ultimately better bosses.

In short, I like this game for being a fun and challenging experience and for helping to shape the Zelda series today. If you've been considering playing this game, but have been scared to because of all the nasty comments about it, I highly recommend you go ahead and play it if you're a hardcore Zelda fan.

 

[pacpix]

I agree completely. Not only was it a great game but it was one of the games that helped form what zelda is today

 

[Reignbow]

AoL is definitely a good game. It's harder than the castlevania games and the ninja gaiden games in my opinion, but it's still fun to play and the difficulty makes conquering it that much more desirable.

 

[Linknerd09]

Its is a cool game. But im not finish with it yet. But it's a great game!

 

[Godkarmachine]

Adventure of Link is a great game, horrendously underrated though...
It is challenging, granted, but so are Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden games on the NES, Megaman series are also challenging and they are awesome, some fans even ask for some challenges so there's no point in saying that a game is bad based solely on difficulty settings... And to be honest it's not that challenging
It was a more action based Zelda game, the criticism comes for the fact that it is a side scroller... the only one like that
Being different is not a bad thing, nowadays developers should really try to be different (please no more FPS... please.....)

AoL was also one of the first two games I had as a child so it holds a lot of memories for me