How ‘Zelda II: The Adventure of Link’ Is Better (and Worse) Than You Remember

Thirty-five years ago, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link reached the NES, bringing fans the highly anticipated sequel to 1986’s magnificent The Legend of Zelda. However, shortly after its launch, Zelda II was quickly deemed the worst game of the series, a title it still carries umpteen sequels later, even though most The Legend of Zelda fans have never played it. The game is heavily criticized for its excessive grinding, unfair difficulty, cryptic solutions to mandatory puzzles, and shift from top-down exploration to sidescroller action-platform. While these aspects of the game can be frustrating to players expecting just an improved copy of the first game, Zelda II hasn’t aged as badly as its reputation suggests, and it might be a much better game than you remember or have heard about.

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To celebrate The Adventure of Link’s 35th anniversary, we are going to look back at the game’s most despised mechanics and see if they deserve all the hate they get. We’ll also explain how a remake could easily fix Zelda II’s flaws and give it a well-deserved chance at redemption. After all, loathing The Adventure of Link feels much more like a trend than a reasonable stance, and this game deserves praise for what it achieved with so little.

Get Off the Hating Wagon

The first criticism often made against Zelda II is how it supposedly changed the franchise’s formula. In The Legend of Zelda, Link explores Hyrule from a top-down perspective, focusing on exploration and basic combat mechanics. Zelda II actually does have a top-down world map that you use to navigate the game’s world, but as the player explores levels or fights enemies, they get teleported to a sidescroller screen that works just like any action-platformer.

While the idea of a The Legend of Zelda game that’s a platformer might sound weird nowadays, it’s worth remembering there was no “Zelda formula” back then. Both games are filled with secrets, collectibles, temples, magical tools, and boss battles, so there’s actually much that Zelda II takes from the first game. Considering how the two games’ releases were a year apart, we cannot say that Zelda II deviates all that much from the first game. The Adventure of Link was just copying the elements the first game was praised for while trying to improve what it didn’t do so well, like the combat.

While the technical limitations of the NES prevent The Adventure of Link combat from genuinely shining, a closer look at the game’s core mechanics allows us to realize how Zelda II has one of the best combat systems in the franchise. Instead of mashing the attack button and crushing every enemy on their way, players need to think carefully about their next move and respond to the enemy’s attacks in the right way.

First, Link’s shield can block almost anything, but attacking breaks this defense, so timing is of the essence. Link can also crouch before attacking, which allows him to bypass the enemies’ defenses with high and low thrusts. And as the game advances, Link learns how to attack upwards and make a plunging attack while jumping. Ultimately, the core combat tools of Zelda II are more diverse than most modern The Legend Zelda games and allow for creative enemy designs that demand the player to adapt their strategy all the time.

While Zelda II’s combat system is excellent, more thoughtful battles mean the game is more demanding than average. However, other games with thoughtful combat, such as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Dark Souls, are praised for forcing the player to act in a meaningful way instead of pressing the same attack button to achieve victory. Many years before “Souls-like” was a thing, Zelda II used the NES to create a meaningful combat system. So, the hate the game gets seems to be more fruit of the player’s wrong expectations. And because button-mashing leads to the player’s death, the game is wrongly considered unfair.

The same principle applies to The Adventure of Link’s experience system. Many players curse the game for forcing them to grind experience, but it’s actually easy to get close to max level by only following the story and exploring the map for secrets. For instance, beating a temple fills the experience bar. So, if players know this beforehand, they can plan only to finish temples with an empty experience bar, getting one free level. However, most players won’t know this without looking for guides on the internet. That means the issue with The Adventure of Link lies elsewhere, in the game’s lack of instructions. That’s because due to the technical limitation of the NES, a lot of essential information remains hidden in the game’s paper manual.

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Remake Could Fix ‘Zelda 2’

The Adventure of Link is often criticized for its cryptic puzzles and barren-bones storyline. This criticism is somewhat justifiable since clues for secret challenges and the overall story of Zelda II were printed in the original game’s manual. Unfortunately, due to the game’s initial bad reception, most players got in touch with The Adventure of Link through legal (and illegal) emulation, which obviously doesn’t come with a manual. Right now, players with a Nintendo Switch and the Online Subscription can play The Adventure of Link, but they won’t have access to the manual either. As a result, these players will never fully understand the game story, which is mainly told outside the game. Some clues for cryptic secrets, such as the location of a hidden village in the woods, were also included in the manual. As a result, those without access to one might get stuck at specific points in the game. Their best option is to look for a guide online, which could feel like cheating but might actually be the only way to solve a puzzle that’s impossible to figure out alone.

Even if the manual were available with emulated versions of The Adventure of Link, that wouldn’t entirely solve the issue. Today, we’re used to finding every piece of information relevant for a game inside the game itself. When players get stuck in a game, they will explore more, talk to NPCs, and try to find clues in the surrounding environment. While printing information in a manual was helpful when consoles had very limited storage space, it’s no longer acceptable for modern gaming culture. That’s why The Adventure of Link, more than any other The Legend of Zelda game, deserves a complete remake. Nintendo could include every relevant story bit and puzzle clue inside the game with the proper care, preventing players from getting lost. A remake could also refine The Adventure of Link’s combat by making the core gameplay more responsive than in the NES. Finally, a fresh coat of paint could also significantly improve the look of the game since the 8-bit graphics are a little outdated.

Now that Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is 35 years old, it’s time for the fan base to stop hating it for no reason and realize how much innovation the game brought to the franchise. It’s also the perfect opportunity to remake it, giving new generations the chance to experience the fantastic game The Adventure of Link can be when its technical limitations are removed.

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