This is the most underrated Zelda in the series.
User Rating: 8.3 | Zelda II: The Adventure of Link NES
Zelda II The Adventure of Link is the black sheep in the Zelda series. It is often overlooked and it is very different, no other Zelda plays like this one. When the first Zelda came out for the NES. It offered a simple combat system, a birds eye view, and some puzzle solving. This second Zelda offered something very different. It offered a deeper combat system, and it played like a side-scroller game like Super Mario Bros. Now I'm going to explain everything Zelda II The Adventure of Link offers. This game is a sidescroller that offers a solid combat system and it still offered a lot of exploring. Unlike the first Zelda that had such a simple combat system. The combat in Zelda II is much deeper. Link can stab enemies forward and downward. Those are Link's two basic attacks he starts with but he will learn more moves as the games progresses. Like sidescrollers, this game will offer a good amount of jumping and Link will even be able to learn attacks during his jumps like the Up thrust and and Down Thrust. Overall while Link's sword combat is rather complexed for an NES game, it's simple and easy to learn. Now the best thing about Zelda II in my opinion is while it's a game that has rather simple controls to learn its a very challenging game and I mean hard. The enemies are very tough and they can knock Link's health down to zero very quickly. In Zelda II, Link also only has 3 lives so once he loses them it's game over and you'll have to start all over again at the start point. That's the only thing I found a little frustrating in this game. Also the enemies shoot a lot of projectile attacks and there are a lot of attacks from enemies that will take a good amount of skill to avoid. Link however has a shield so it can block some projectile attacks but it won't be able to defend Link from enemies physical attacks like in the 3-D Zeldas. Now there are a lot of people who hated Zelda II and one reason why it is hated by so many is because when you first sit down and play the game, it's difficultly is alarming. Zelda II is one of those games that starts out very hard but get a little easier as the game continues. Of course in my opinion, this game was never easy. But there is a way in which the game will become easier and I will explain how soon. What makes Zelda II easier is while Link starts out weak he can become stronger by leveling up. This is the only Zelda in the series that is an RPG because it has a in depth stat system that will make Link stronger. When you play the game you notice that when Link defeats enemies he will get some points. The tougher the enemy is, the more points you will earn when you defeat it. As an example at the beginning of the game, Link will need to earn 50 points to level up. Once he does, he will be able to have either his attack power, magic or health go up by one. Link's power will make him be able to defeat enemies fast, his magic will let Link use more magic spells and each spell will take less amount of magic. Finally Link's health will make Link's stamina higher. All of Link's stats will start at one. Everytime Link levels up the number of points you will need to earn will become higher each time. Now Zelda II's stat system is pretty simple and straight forward. The maximum amount Link stats can go up to is 8 and after all of Link's stats are at level 8, the next time you level up you can earn more lives. 9,000 is the maximum amount of points Link will need to earn. Now after Link levels up he will obviously be stronger then before and the enemies will not level up with Link, they will stay the same so the game will be easier. One example is when your attack level is at 1, it will take Link a lot of attacks to defeat the first boss in the first Palace. If Link fights that boss when his attack is at level 8 he can beat the boss in two hits so if you are having trouble beating a palace all you have to do is level up until you can beat a palace. Another element that makes this game an RPG is it has random battles. While in the caves and palaces, everything is 2-D, when you are out of the overworld, it does have the birds eye above view like the first Zelda has but instead, in the overworld, there will be enemies walking around and most of them are hard to avoid. Once you hit an enemy, you will go into a battle sequence and the battles system will go into the 2-D sidescrolling area. You can leave the battle sequence anytime and once you leave the battle area, you will go back out into the field with the usual birds eye view. Now, speaking of Palaces, that is the main goal of the game, to travel to different Palaces and defeat the bosses so Link can get all the crystal to wake Zelda up from her sleep. This game's palaces are like dungeons in the first Zelda. They all have a host of enemies, Link will have to find keys to access locked doors and finally he will need to make it to the end so he can fight the boss. This game has a good amount of palaces to beat so it will take some time, especially the time it will take you to level up so you can beat the game. That's also another thing I would like to talk about. The first Zelda simply had you buy a stronger sword to increase Link's power and beat a dungeon boss to get a Heart piece to increase your health by one. That's how Link got stronger. In this game Link not only needs to beat bosses to become stronger but he will have to fight a lot of enemies to get stronger, not just beat a dungeon boss like in the 1st Zelda. Earning all those points will take quite sometime to earn and this easily makes this Zelda longer then the 1st one. What elements does this Zelda have that no other in the series has? That's another good question. The first Legend of Zelda for the NES was the start of the franchise. Zelda II took the different path but after that, no other Zelda followed it's side scrolling, action/RPG path. When the 3rd Zelda, A Link to the Past came out for the SNES, it went back to the 1st Zeldas roots, and so did every other 2-D Zelda after. This Zelda for one thing does not have the classic weapons the others have, if you notice, items like the arrows and bombs are missing. So is rupees, that's right Link doesn't even have any money, so there are no items to buy like in the other Zeldas. This game does have towns to visit but the only point of them is to have Link's health or magic recover. Now I would like to talk about this game's magic system, it's something I didn't tell about yet. Link's combat isn't only sword use but magic as well. What replaces the bombs, arrows, ect. is magic. Link will not start out with any magic spells but in order to find them he will have to solve a riddle in a town to find one. As an example, one women has a child missing, when you talk to her go find the child by leaving the town and go into a secret cave to find him, then return him to the women and you will be able to enter a house and you will get the magic spell given to you. In every town there is a riddle you will need to solve and each town has a spell you can get. The riddles most of the times will be found outside in caves. Now while there are almost no things from this Zelda that was passed on, there was one thing that was, the magic system. This is the only element from Zelda II that was passed on and now used in the Zelda series. As for the magic spells, how they work are simple, when Link gets a spell it will take a number of magic points and he will be able to use it for as long as he's on one screen, once Link leaves and goes to the next section of the screen the spell will lose it's power and you will need to use it again. Some spells Link can get include, health recovery, making Link able to jump higher, increase his defense, and even turning him into a fairy to reach an unreachable area. Most of the magic spells are a requirement to beat the game so you will need to find most of them. Well it took me over an hour to write this review and I never realised how much stuff this game has. When you first see Zelda II it's nothing but an NES game but once you get into it, you will see this is a pretty deep game for an NES one. Zelda II in my opinion is the most underrated game in the series. While this Zelda is easily very different, it took a path that I liked. Back in 1988 it brought a lot of new things to the table. This game offers a lot of solid gameplay and fights. It offers exploring, and best of all it's challenging. This game has a lot of replay value too. Zelda II is a either you love or hate kind of game, there is no middle ground here. When I first played this Zelda, I hated it because I had such a hard time with it and I quit playing for a while. Once I got back into it I gave it another chance and once I learned to understand more about this game, I had a much better time. I think that Zelda II The Adventure of Link is a great game overall. If you are one of those gamers who quit playing this game early, I suggest you give it another try. If you can fully get into Zelda II your opinion on the game might just change, you never know. 
