I gave up on Zelda II. I suck at 2D side scrollers in general, so I'm sure you can imagine that this game gave me a hell of a lot of trouble. After months and months of reviving Ganon, I finally beat the first palace. I then got to Death Mountain and just said **** it. I don't usually crush games based on their difficulty, but if I have so much trouble with a game that it causes severe frustration before even getting to the second dungeon, then it's not at all fun for me and I just can't get myself to like it because of that.
I will admit, though, that I can see why some might like it, and as such, I must give praise where praise is due. So first off, the game is unique among Zelda games in that it's the only one that is played entirely in a side scrolling format (aside from the Overworld sections, but all you're doing is walking so I don't count them). Miyamoto took a few liberties, did some experimentation, and it worked. Second of all, I can't help but love the soundtrack. From the Overworld theme to the highly acclaimed Palace theme, the music in this game is just fantastic, and it's a shame it hasn't been used in any Zelda games since. Thirdly, when I'm actually able to play a little bit of it, I can tell that it is a fun game, even if I can't do **** in it, because I did admittedly enjoy the many times I went through the Parapa Palace.
Ultimately, though, I just can't bring myself to enjoy this game simply because it really is too excessively difficult.