The Legend Continues: A Look At Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 35 Years Later

The Legend Continues: A Look At Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 35 Years Later
August 27, 2022
By Ryan Porzl

In 1986, the world was first introduced to The Legend of Zelda, one of the greatest video games ever created. Telling the story of an elf boy named Link who journeys to save Hyrule from an evil being named Ganon. In the end, the game was fun and innovative as well as successful. So, with the game being a success, that would obviously result in a sequel made. Sure enough, in 1987, Nintendo would release the second game of the Zelda franchise called Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Somewhat deviating from the successful formula of The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II sees the player take control of Link as he journeys through Hyrule in order to cure the original Princess Zelda of a sleeping spell. Taking a more side-scrolling/RPG position, the game would have it's supporters as well as detractors. With the 35th Anniversary having happened back in January 2022, let's take a look at perhaps the most unique Zelda game in history. This article does contain spoilers.

Note: I don't own the graphic.

Characters-

Link (Rinku in Japan)- The protagonist. An elf boy who previously saved Hyrule and Princess Zelda from Ganon in the first game, Link now finds himself on a new journey to awaken another Princess Zelda who has been under a sleeping spell long ago. Link travels through Hyrule and specifically six dungeons in order to enter the Great Palace and collect the Triforce of Courage as it's the only thing to break the spell. As is usually the case, Link is equipped with a sword and shield with the sword being able to shoot projectiles if Link has full health and a shield that can block certain attacks and projectiles. Link can also learn magic spells which help make his quest a little easier.

Princess Zelda (Zaruda-Hime in Japan)- Another Zelda from long ago. This Zelda was the princess of Hyrule at a time when her father the King ruled but when he passed away, her brother, an unnamed Prince, inherited the kingdom and frantically looked for the missing piece of the Triforce when he wasn't given it in full. A Magician who was an advisor to the King told him Zelda knew where it was only to put her to sleep after she refused to tell. The prince had her sealed away due to grief. It's said, a chosen one would be able to reclaim the lost piece of the Triforce sealed in the Great Palace and only with a complete Triforce can Zelda be cured which sets Link on his quest.

Impa- An old nursemaid of the first game's Zelda, Impa is visited by Link when he notices a symbol on his hand. From there, Impa tells him the story of the original Princess Zelda and realizes he's the chosen one to save her. She hands Link six crystals and a scroll which would be needed in his quest that have been handed down by her family.

Prince of Hyrule- Zelda's brother from long ago. He inherited the kingdom of Hyrule following the passing of their father. However, when he was to be inherited the Triforce, he was missing the Triforce of Courage. His obsession led to the arrival of a Magician who later casted a sleeping spell on Zelda before dying. Overcome with grief, he sealed Zelda away and made a order that all descending females of the Hylian monarchy be named "Zelda". His name is not known.

Magician- A mysterious magician from long ago who came to Hyrule and was an advisor to the King. After Zelda's brother inherited the kingdom, he assumed he inherited everything including the Triforce but when he was missing a piece, the Magician told the Prince that Zelda knew where it was. After the Prince demanded to know, Zelda refused to tell. The Magician threatened to cast a sleep spell if she didn't tell but when she didn't, he casted the spell and dropped dead. Not much is known about the Magician or who he was or where he came from. The theory is he was either working for Ganon or a possible alter ego of Ganon like Agahnim in A Link To The Past or even Ganon himself. 

Sage- A powerful sage who had the Triforce of Courage at the Great Palace. When Link arrives, the Sage forces him to undergo one more fight as he summons Link's shadow to fight Link. When Link is successful, he gives the Triforce to him. Like some of the characters in this story, his name isn't known.

Ganon- The antagonist in the first Legend of Zelda. In Zelda II, Ganon is still dead having been killed by Link years before. However, his minions look to hunt down and kill Link during his quest as his blood could be used to revive Ganon should they pour it on his ashes. Ganon only appears in the Game Over screen as a Game Over signals his minions were successful in reviving him.

Plot-

Several years after the events of the Legend of Zelda, Link begins to notice a symbol appearing on his hand which resembles the crest of Hyrule. He seeks out Impa for advice on what it could mean and upon showing it to her, she takes him to the North Castle where there is a seal which she opens with Link's hand. There they find a sleeping woman who turns out to be the original Princess Zelda. Long ago, Zelda was the princess of the King of Hyrule and upon his death, the kingdom was inherited to her brother. When the brother assumed he inherit the Triforce, only to be missing the Triforce of Courage, he demanded to know from Zelda where it was but she refused after he was told by a mysterious magician who was once an advisor to the King. Eventually, the Magician also demanded where the piece was to the point where he threatened her with a sleeping spell. When Zelda refused again, the Magician cast the spell and put Zelda into a deep sleep before dying. Overcome with grief, the Prince set Zelda to the North Castle with the hope she would one day awaken. As a result of the incident, the Prince made a decree that from then on, all females related to the Hyrule monarchy would be named "Zelda".

Impa believes that the symbol on Link's hand means he's the chosen one to lift the spell and save Zelda. Impa then hands Link a scroll, which he is able to read despite not being familiar with the language and six crystals. Link's mission is to venture into six palaces, defeat the guardians, and place a crystal in a statue they're guarding. After doing this, Link must then travel to the Great Palace and retrieve the Triforce of Courage as only with the completed Triforce can the spell be broken. Link sets out on his journey but things get more challenging as minions of Ganon decide to hunt him during his quest as they realize that by killing him and pouring his blood on Ganon's ashes can resurrect Ganon. Link travels through Hyrule and the six palaces, fighting Ganon's minions as well as the guardians all the while acquiring items and spells to help him along the way while he also continued to get stronger in battle. Finally, Link makes it the Great Palace, fights his way, and defeats the Thunderbird. It appears Link has been successful but as he ventures to the next room to collect the Triforce of Courage, a sage who has it forces him to undergo one more test and summons Link's shadow to fight him but Link wins out and is awarded the Triforce of Courage. With the completed Triforce, Link returns to the North Castle and uses it to awaken Princess Zelda.

Gameplay-

Like other second games in a series like the American Super Mario Bros. 2 or Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories or Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Zelda II deviants from the first game and largely plays differently then the typical Zelda game. While there's still platforming, side-scrolling, and adventure, the game mostly plays like an RPG. Like classic RPGs, there's dungeons/palaces, villages, caves, etc. to explore along with an overworld. In Zelda II, the player controls Link through an overworld which has palaces, villages, bridges, and access to caves while enemies try to jump him providing he's not walking on a gold trail. If he touches an enemy, the player and Link are sent to an environment like grassland, desert, swamp, etc. where the player fights their way until leaving the screen and returning to the overworld. If Link touches an enemy while walking the gold trail, then no enemies or obstacles will appear and Link will freely be able to leave the screen, no problem. Like RPGs, Zelda II also has levels and experience points. Link acquires experience points either by killing enemies, bosses, getting certain items like pouches with a "P" on it, or placing a crystal in the end of a palace. If Link gets enough, he gains a level at which point, the player will either have a choice of upgrading Link's life bar, magic bar, or attack power. Each stat can go up to level 9 each. However, you can only upgrade one per level and if you don't want to upgrade a certain stat, then you can cancel, keep your experience points, and keep going until you get enough to upgrade the stat you want. Though you mostly get experience points from killing enemies either regular experience points to a P pouch dropping which gives Link either 50 to 200 experience points, enemies can also drop magic bottles which replenish Link's magic bar.

Like RPGs, there's places like caverns to explore which usually sees Link either find some type of item possibly missing from the nearby village or a magic flask to increase his magic bar or a heart to increase his life bar. The game also has villages in which Link can talk to people to possibly get information as well as houses where someone will either fill Link's magic bar or life bar. Each village also has someone, usually a sage, who will teach Link a new technique like stabbing downward while jumping to teaching him magic spells that increase his defense, jump higher, turn into a fairy, healing, etc. However, the spells wear off when ever Link leaves the screen and either goes in another room or returns to the overworld.

The player has three lives though they can occasionally find more in secret areas. If they lose all their lives, either by losing all the energy in their life bar or falling down a pit, then the player gets game over and are given the choice of playing again or saving and trying again later. The game has three save files which allow the player to save their game and continue anytime. However, regardless of what they choose, they must always begin where the game first begins at the palace with the sleeping Princess Zelda.

While the game is different then most Zelda games, it does retain a lot of classic elements such as Link being able to shoot projectiles from his sword if he has full health to faeries filling Link to full health to the fact there's around seven to eight palaces (counting the Great Palace) to a special item appearing in all the palaces that help Link advance in his quest to being restored to full health after beating a boss.

Behind the Scenes-
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link saw the return of Zelda co-creators Shigeru Miyamoto, who returned as producer, and Takashi Tezuka, who returned as writer. Tadashi Sugiyama served as director. Sugiyama previously served as a graphic designer for Ice Climbers and later went on to direct Pilotwings, Super Mario Kart, and F-Zero X while also serving as an assistant director for the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 and art director for Super Mario 64. He also would serve as a producer for various games, mostly for the Star Fox franchise. Akito Nakatsuka served as the composer. Nakatsuka previously composed for Ice Climbers and later for Punch-Out!!!. He later served as a coordinator for Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, with sound support on Mario Super Sluggers, a sound supervisor on Wario Land: Shake It!, and a supervisor for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Kazunobu Shimizu served as a designer. Shimizu would later serve as the title designer for Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic, the director and graphic designer for F-Zero, and served in various capacities for F-Zero: Maximum Velocity. Nintendo would serve as the publisher while Nintendo R&D4 served as developers.

When work began for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Miyamoto wanted the game to play differently than the first game and as a result, was only one of the few to return for this one, along with Tezuka while a whole new team would be used to create the game. Miyamoto wanted to create a side-scrolling game that used the up and down buttons for attack and defense. The idea of adding a leveling up system was decided so that players can battle enemies multiple times while encounters would add a luck factor to the narrow map. The game was given a high difficulty in order for gamers to play longer due to the fact that games at the time didn't have as much content. 

Originally, Zelda II was released in disk form on the Famicom Disk System before being turned into cartridge form for international releases on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Before the game's international release in 1988, Nintendo suffered through a shortage of ROM chips which resulted in several games, including Zelda II, to be delayed. During this time, Nintendo decided to release the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 while delaying Super Mario Bros. 3 till 1990. The Famicom Disk System and Nintendo Entertainment System had several differences. Among them include the leveling up system which worked differently in the Japanese Famicom version then it did in the International NES version. The NES version had some different boss battles exclusive to it as opposed to the Famicom version which occasionally used the same boss twice. The NES version had some glitches with the most famous one being a glitch which made it much easier to defeat Dark Link simply by standing the corner and constantly pressing the attack button while Dark Link would usually jump into the player's attack. The Iron Knuckle enemies had different attacks as they shot a projectile in the Famicom version while they threw knives in the NES version. The elevators in the palaces were faster in the NES version while certain enemies were added or subtracted in the NES version. The NES version sees enemies deal more damage than the Famicom version and some can take away experience points Link earned while they also may give more experience points than in the Famicom. The palaces were usually either gray or green in the Famicom version while each had a different color in the NES version.

Release-

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was released in Japan on the Famicom Disk System as "Zelda no Densetsu - Part 2: Link no Boken" on January 14, 1987, then in PAL regions on the Nintendo Entertainment System on September 26, 1988, and finally, in North America on the Nintendo Entertainment System on December 1, 1988. The game received positive reviews with Gamerankings scoring it a 78.14%. AllGame scored it 4.5/5 stars. Dragon scored it 3/5 stars. Famitsu scored it 36/40. Play scored it 91%. Upon it's release in North America, Zelda II became one of the most popular games of the year as retailers reported the game sold out very quickly. It eventually sold 4.38 million units worldwide making it the fifth highest selling NES game of all time but sold less than the Legend of Zelda which sold 6.51 million units. In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly placed it at #72 of their "100 Best Games of All Time" list and considered it a masterpiece despite other Zelda games like the first one and follow ups like A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening placing higher on the list. In August 2008, Nintendo Power listed it at #12 on their list of the best Nintendo Entertainment System games calling both a radical but refreshing departure from it's predecessor. In 2006, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was ranked #110 on games made on a Nintendo system for Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games List. Play Magazine loved the game's unique gameplay and that it's "combination of unique elements that creates an action-RPG experience unlike any other". Famitsu's 36/40 rating made Zelda II the second highest game rated by them in 1987 with the highest being Dragon Quest II. Zelda II and Dragon Quest were also the only games rated a 35/40 or higher until 1987.

The GBA version also scored well and reviews over the years have been positive while other were more critical. Kotaku enjoyed the darker spin on the original Zelda while praising the graphics, sprites, and combat system. IGN recommended it but did warn it played differently than other Zelda titles. The biggest criticism came from GameSpot who questioned the game's designs and the fact players can get lost without a walkthrough. Meanwhile, the Game Boy Advance version has a 73 score on Metacritic, which, while good, makes it the lowest score of a Zelda game. Miyamoto, himself, considered the game a "failure" which he blamed on the limitations of the hardware at the time.

Aftermath-

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link would be the second and last Zelda game released on the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom Disk System as the follow up game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past would be released four years later on the Super Nintendo. As of 2022, Zelda II is largely the only game like it in the Zelda franchise as the franchise returned to the more familiar format that began with the first game with A Link to the Past and has largely continued it ever since. Zelda II also marked the first (and last until 2017) sequel in the Zelda series as every game onward for the next 30 years were either prequels or took place in an alternate world. It wouldn't be until 2017's the Legend of Zelda; Breath of the Wild that the series got a new sequel. Despite this, certain elements of Zelda II have found their way into future games such as a magic meter, the Dark Link character, and the Triforce of Courage. Meanwhile, two of the Zelda games on the CD-i (Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Link: The Faces of Evil) would also incorporate the multiple lives format into their games. Zelda II also was the first Zelda game in which Ganon was not the antagonist which would also be the case in the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Several of the characters in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link would also appear in the cartoon Captain N: The Game Master such as Horsehead (Mazura in Japan), Helmethead (Jermafenser in Japan), and Robonack in certain episodes along with Link and Princess Zelda. Since it's initial release, Zelda II has been re-released many times over the next 35 years. In 2003/2004 (depending on the region), it would ported to the Gamecube as part of the Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition disc followed by a port to the Game Boy Advance in 2004/2005. For the GBA release. Certain things were altered such as the beginning where "No 3 Triforce" was replaced with "Third Triforce", the copyright date was now "1987-2004 Nintendo" and the death animation was changed to a solid red color instead of flashing ones which was done to avoid giving gamers seizures. The game was then re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 making it the 100th released on the Virtual Console. More re-releases followed on the Nintendo 3DS in 2011 and the Wii U Virtual Console in 2013. It was then re-released on the NES Classic Edition in 2016 and most recently, on the Nintendo Switch Online in 2019.