Opening thoughts on Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
This game is forever linked with Super Mario Bros. 2 in my mind. They both came out in late 1988, but weren’t widely available until ’89. I got both around my birthday that year. Both are sequels to games that are synonymous with the NES, and drastic gameplay departures from their predecessors. As I recall, both were immediately regarded as better than their predecessors but now are remembered for being weird, due to the next games in both series returning to more familiar gameplay.
I think Zelda II has held up a bit better than SMB 2, although it’s hard enough that it starts counting against the game in my opinion. I didn’t finish this one until I came back in the summer of 1998 and, after moving, decided to hook up the old NES and take another crack at some of the old games. The battery in the cartridge was dead, so I couldn’t turn the game off lest I lose all my data, but I managed to push through, make it to the Great Palace, and finally got through it.
The Story
After Ganon was destroyed, Impa told Link a sleeping spell was cast on Princess Zelda. She will wake only with the power of No. 3 Triforce sealed in a palace in Hyrule. To break the seal, crystals must be placed in statues in 6 well guarded palaces.
Link set out on his most adventuresome quest yet…
Unlike the first game, this was actually changed from the Japanese version (still in English):
Several years after Gannon was destroyed, Link learns from Impa about the another sleeping Princess Zelda. He is told she can only awaken with the No. 3 Tryforce sealed in the Great Sanctuary in Disvalley. To remove the seal, crystals must be embedded into a stone statue standing in 6 sanctuaris.
Link sets out on an adventurous quest…
[sic].
Actually, retranslating it made it more confusing because it removed the reference to “another” Zelda, the only indication in the game that Sleeping Zelda isn’t the same one Link rescued in the previous game. The manual goes into a lot more detail, telling the story of Sleeping Zelda: her father hid the Triforce of Courage from her brother because he didn’t trust him, and only told her where it was. A wizard, frustrated with her unwillingness to talk, put a sleeping curse on her; her brother then got hit by remorse, but too late to save her himself. And it’s clear this happened long, long ago, and the first game’s Zelda is named after Sleeping Zelda.
Well, all that is clear now, and reading the manual I can’t see how I ever thought Sleeping Zelda and first game’s Zelda were the same, because it was incredibly confusing trying to figure out how things all fit together1.
Once again, the manual goes into more detail, about how despite Ganon’s defeat, his minions are still out there, and Hyrule isn’t doing very well these days. Ganon’s minions are hoping to use Link’s blood to restore him to life, which explains the “Game Over / Return of Ganon” screen. So, that’s the quest: Visit six palaces throughout Hyrule to break the seal, then go to the Great Palace and retrieve the Triforce of Courage to wake Sleeping Zelda and save Hyrule from Ganon’s minions.
Some Quick Thoughts
Translation – Unlike the first game, which expanded the space for text to appear, most of the popup text in this game has to fit into a smallish box. And so, you get things like a woman telling Link where to find the hammer being boiled down to its most essential elements (“Hammer… Spectacle Rock… Death Mtn.”) and it still barely fits while making her sound like… I’m picturing a fortune teller yelling key words from her prophecy at Link as he leaves her shop.
Gameplay – The overhead exploration segments are reminiscent of Dragon Quest2 and Final Fantasy3, while the side-scrolling combat/platforming sequences (that make up most of the actual gameplay) are more like… Castlevania, I guess. It’s an interesting mix, and an odd departure from the first game, but it makes for good fun. Iron Knuckle duels are much better than trying to get behind Darknuts and stab them in the back, and well worth the thrill when you manage to beat a blue one without making a single mistake in your shieldwork. (Fokkas can fokka right off, though.)
E-I-E-I-O – Okay, I’ll be blunt. The experience rewards from trying to play the game straight aren’t enough. Death Mountain is a killer area because it’s really easy to stumble in underleveled, and if you don’t spend time farming, you’ll be lucky to make it to the Great Palace, let alone complete the bastard. The three ways I farmed for this playthrough were bits and bots in the beginning, Goriyas around Saria before tackling Death Mountain, and Iron Knuckles from statues at the start of palaces 3, 4, and 6.
Next: His most adventuresome quest yet.