Random Retro Review: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Zelda 2 Cover Art

Welcome back to my Random Retro Reviews.  This time I will be reviewing, you guessed it, Zelda 2.  This game was released on the NES and Famicom in January 1987.  This was the first direct sequel in the Legend of Zelda series, coming after the only other game at the time, The Legend of Zelda NES.  This game follows Link in his adventures directly after the events in the first.  So lets get started.

Visuals                                                

The visuals of this game were a lot more varied than the first game, but many visuals looked disappointing.  There were two different styles designed.  There is the overworld sprites and the side-scrolling sprites.  The overworld sprites were the most depressing looking.  The world, although colorful than the first if the series, was still very barren.  All the rocks and paths and everything in between was very block shaped.  This made everything look too pixelated.  Link himself was made very small, allowing very little sight of him.  Even the towns, are designed to look extremely small.  In fact, the town was made even smaller than Link, which made the world seem very unbelievable.  Next is the side-scrolling sprites.  This is where everything looked a lot better.  Link was nicely designed, allowing you to see his sword and shield, tunic, and even his pointed ears.  The areas also looked nice, except they also suffered of the same blocked look.  This was forgivable due to the nice enemy sprites.  

Zelda 2's Overworld

Music                                                            

The music in this game was also great.  The overworld theme is simply a remixed version of the original Zelda theme.  Although it was a nice remix, it doesn't sound as nice as the original but it is still good.  There was a weird wavy sound that was applied to most of the instruments.  Though this made the songs a little annoying, in the end, the music is very memorable.  The great music in this game is found in the palaces.  It is difficult for me to decide between the palace them and the great palace.  Either way, these are two great tracks that will keep the 

Gameplay                                                     

Link fighting a Darknut

This is where the game made a drastic change from the original.  The original Zelda game was entirely overhead view.  This game, as mentioned previously, was made with overview and side-scrolling gameplay.  Link will walk around the overworld, and enemy sprites will appear around him after a few steps.  This allows you to either try and fight the enemies or try to avoid.  Once you run into the enemy sprites, the perspective will go into the side-scrolling parts.  Instead of just attacking with your sword, you must jump over enemy attacks, or protect yourself by with your shield.  The short range of the sword makes for some difficult but interesting gameplay.   This also makes the game very action based, and in my opinion, very very enjoyable.  This is also where you encounter the next big change made in this game.  There were RPG elements thrown in.  In the upper right hand corner, you will have the experience you gain during your play.  Some enemies will give you no "XP" and others will give you plenty of it.  XP can also be acquired by finding "P Bags" or point bags on the overworld or from enemy drops.  As you reach your goal of XP, you can level up either your health, magic or attack power.  This makes your health/magic worth more per bar, or makes your sword kill enemies much faster.  The only problem is that if you gain a lot of XP, and save and reset your game, you will return to 0 which will make you have to grind to get it all back.  
  

Link's many different attacks

  As you travel from town to town, you must go collect items to increase your number of bars for your health or magic or items which can either be traded to allow you to learn new spells, which allow you to survive in a palace to get an item to get to the next town.  This is where Zelda 2 made its mark on this franchise.  Zelda 2 was the first game to heavily rely on NPC communication.  To learn the new spells, you must help citizens of the towns and proceed.  Next is a very big change from the first.  The items have been completely removed and replaced with spells and magic, in which this game was the first to introduce.  These spells are things like shield, which gives you a better physical defense, and life which allows you to regain health.  There are also more eccentric spells such as the fairy spell which transforms you into a fairy and allows you to fly across platforms at the cost of a large amount of magic. 

Story                                                            

Impa telling Link about the triforce symbol on his hand

The story from this game was actually pretty entertaining.  The story is following the same Link, after he saved Zelda.  The now-sixteen-year-old Link notices a strange mark on the back of his left hand, exactly like the crest of Hyrule. He seeks out Impa (Zelda's nursemaid), who responds by taking Link to the North Castle, where a door has been magically sealed for generations. Impa places the back of Link's left hand on the door, and it opens, revealing a sleeping maiden. Impa tells Link that the maiden is Zelda (not the Zelda from the first game), the princess of Hyrule from long ago.  It was revealed that Zelda's brother had tried to force her into telling their recently deceased father's secrets concerning the last of three sacred golden triangle treasures of his kingdom, known collectively as the Triforce. Princess Zelda refused to reveal its location, and the prince's wizard friend, in anger, tried to strike her down with a spell. Zelda fell under a powerful sleeping spell, but it also resulted in the wizard's own death. The prince, unable to reverse the spell, had his sister placed in the castle tower, in the hope that she would one day be awakened. He decreed that princesses born to the royal family from that point on would be named Zelda, in remembrance of this tragedy.  Impa says that the mark on Link's hand means that he is the hero chosen to awaken Zelda. She gives Link a chest containing six crystals and ancient writings that only a great future king of Hyrule can read. Link can read it and it indicates that each crystal needs to be placed in a different palace in Hyrule. This will open the way to the Great Palace, which contains the Triforce of Courage. This, combined with the other two parts, has the power to awaken the enchanted Zelda. Taking the crystals, Link sets out to restore them to their palaces. Meanwhile, the followers of Ganon are seeking to kill Link; to sprinkle his blood on Ganon’s ashes to bring Ganon back to life.

Overview                                                     

Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link is a great game with too many flaws.  In my opinion, the biggest problem the game has is the name.  Zelda 2, had to follow up the masterpiece that was the Legend of Zelda NES.  This gave everyone so much to expectations for the game, which it did not reach due to the gameplay difference.  Next was the difficulty.  This game was pretty easy until about 2 palaces in.  This is around Death Mountain where the game got extremely difficult.  And finally, the game was designed so blocky.  This made the game look like horrible to see.  Although it wasn't the best, the gameplay made me feel a little more excited for fighting these evil creatures, even if it was difficult.  This is mainly due to the game not being cheap, but difficult.  That made me feel that every time I died, it was my fault (unless I fell in lava due to knockback).

Link with the Triforce of Courage

I rate this a 5.5 out of 10 

   



Notes:  Sorry if anything looks a little weird. I was having some technical difficulties