• Welcome to ZD Forums! You must create an account and log in to see and participate in the Shoutbox chat on this main index page.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Joined
Feb 25, 2015
I think it is a great game, but I believe it was limited for being on the NES.

What did you think of the map change? Official text said something about where Zelda sleeps is the North castle. I believe the place you are in is north of current Hyrule(where LoZ took place) and in where old Hyrule used to reach in the golden era.
 

Curmudgeon

default setting: sarcastic prick
Joined
Dec 17, 2012
Gender
grumpy
You don't need a guide. I beat it without one when I was eleven. before the internet. and damn, I was a stupid ****ing kid. The towns people tell you where to go. There are literally fewer than 100 lines of dialogue in the entire game and they give you hints about the location of almost every item and location. You can also find bits of helpful information in the manual.

You'll have to excuse Nintendo for not having the foresight to anticipate gaming sensibilities two decades ahead and futureproof their products.

Miyamoto took some gambles in Zelda II's design. You can see that by LttP in '91, they decided most of the choices they made didn't really fit the series. By making their mistakes early, the franchise survived and ended up stronger from a design standpoint.
 
Joined
May 4, 2014
Location
California
You don't need a guide. I beat it without one when I was eleven. before the internet. and damn, I was a stupid ****ing kid. The towns people tell you where to go. There are literally fewer than 100 lines of dialogue in the entire game and they give you hints about the location of almost every item and location. You can also find bits of helpful information in the manual.

You'll have to excuse Nintendo for not having the foresight to anticipate gaming sensibilities two decades ahead and futureproof their products.

Miyamoto took some gambles in Zelda II's design. You can see that by LttP in '91, they decided most of the choices they made didn't really fit the series. By making their mistakes early, the franchise survived and ended up stronger from a design standpoint.


I think the only reason some people might need a guide/map is when they're going through death mountain for the first couple times and the Great Palace has a very confusing and frustrating layout. Other then that no, you don't need a guide
 

Mellow Ezlo

Spoony Bard
Joined
Dec 2, 2012
Location
eh?
Gender
Slothkin
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.
 

Curmudgeon

default setting: sarcastic prick
Joined
Dec 17, 2012
Gender
grumpy
people often comment on zelda II's difficulty. it was about the 12th hardest game released on the NES. In 1988. (this was the same year we got Contra, Ikari Warriors II, Rambo, Double Dragon, Metal Gear, Iron Tank, Life Force, Adventure Island, Milon's Secret Castle, 1943, Blaster Master, Bubble Bobble, Blaster Master, Castlevania II, and some other obscure, ridiculously tough games).

the first time i cleared death mountain, i drew a map... and was rather annoyed when the solution through is to always take the east cave when presented with the option (sort of like a true/false test having 12 'true' in a row). The big mistake people often make is to try to tackle Death Mountain before the second palace (usually because guides tell them to :right:). Having 4 attack makes it much easier when you don't know where you're going.

here is the AoL playthrough i recorded about a year ago. you can see that you don't have to play exceptionally well to get through it. part 1 could best be described as sloppy, if anything.

 
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Australia
The game is not an RPG in my opinion. Borderline though.

I quite like the game. And I often do a dark death mountain run. As in get the hammer before you get the candle. It's fun. I will agree with Miyamoto that Zelda 2 is a failure because it took the series in the wrong direction. The game itself is great, one of the best on the NES, just the total wrong direction for the series. Zelda 3 fixed this direction though.

I also liked to abuse the no key fairy glitch to get the unlimited key without picking up any regular keys before hand. Then I went back and collected all the normal keys in the game and it goes up to 1-9 then A. B. C, D etc etc all the way to V keys if I remember correctly.

The other good trick to know about this game is to leave all the one up dolls and beat the palaces but do not set the stone in them. Just jump over the spot. Once you're 8/8/8 and done palace 6 go back and run through all the palaces and set the stones. That's 6 extra lives. The there is 4 if I remember correctly extra life dolls. That's 10 lives at Least to get to palace 7 and beat it.
How I beat Thunderbird - suicide if you don't have full magic then get to the boss and thunder it then cast shield and reflect. Jump is optional. And then go kill it and with a little luck and you'll win. Reflect is better than life as beibg able to block a few fireballs really helps a lot.
And for shadow Link, just abuse the AI glitch if fighting it normally isa too hard (and it is very hard normally).

Some of the games harder than Zelda 2 (that I have played):
  • 8 Eyes
  • Battle Toads
  • Captain Comic
  • Clu Clu Land
  • Blaster Master
  • Burai Fighter
  • Castlevania 1-3
  • Contra (famous for the Kanomi code)
  • Digger T Rock
  • Faxanadu (If you like Zelda 2, you should try this game, it's great)
  • Ghosts and Goblins
  • Ice Climbers (only cause they can't jump for ****ing ****)
  • Joe and Mac
  • Kid Icarus
  • Marble Madness
  • Monster Party (Someone in these forums has a signature from this game)
  • Ninja Gaiden 1-3
  • Snake Rattle and Roll
  • Sword Master
  • Star Tropics 1-2
  • Warewolf
  • Wizards and Warriors 1-3
 
Joined
May 24, 2013
Location
edmond,OK
Gender
male
I happen to be a big fan of Zelda 2 for pretty much all of the reasons above. It is hard to come across truly genuinely difficult games these days that are difficult by structure and not by just making enemies do more damage. Zelda 2 was frustrating at times but never overbearing, it just made beating a temple, ahem, excuse me, Palace all the more satisfying. You might be stuck at a boss for a while but oh man that feeling you get upon beating it, priceless.
 

Sheik

:the:
Joined
Sep 21, 2013
Location
The Expansion
Gender
Male
I've never given Zelda II a real attempt. In my first (and most recent) playthrough, I barely completed the first dungeon, and then after that, I had no clue where to go. Then I kind of gave up.

Anyways, someday I'm going to sit down and play Zelda II to the best of my abilities. And maybe even beat it.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom