Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987)
Family Computer Disk System · Nintendo 3DS · Nintendo Entertainment System · Wii · Wii U
2.92 from 1672 ratings
3907 members have it in their collection · 96 playing now · 1072 backlogged · 542 wish listed
How long? Main story 9h · with extras 13h · 100% 9h (from 18 logged playthroughs)
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the second major installment in The Legend of Zelda series and the direct sequel to the first game. Like its predecessor, it features dungeons that must be located in the overworld and searched for an item that will prove useful. However, the game presents many very important gameplay changes compared to the previous …
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Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the second major installment in The Legend of Zelda series and the direct sequel to the first game. Like its predecessor, it features dungeons that must be located in the overworld and searched for an item that will prove useful. However, the game presents many very important gameplay changes compared to the previous one, affecting especially the movements and the combat. Moving around the world map involves encounters with enemies that take place on a side-scrolling playfield rather than the top-down perspective for which the series became known.
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Details
- Developers
- Nintendo R&D4
- Publishers
- Nintendo, Playtronic
- Genres
- Adventure, Platform, Role-playing (RPG)
- Themes
- Action, Fantasy
- Franchises
- The Legend of Zelda
- Series
- The Legend of Zelda
Release dates
- Jan 14, 1987 (Full Release) (Japan) Family Computer Disk System
- Sep 26, 1988 (Full Release) (Europe) Nintendo Entertainment System
- Dec 01, 1988 (Full Release) (North_America) Nintendo Entertainment System
- Jan 23, 2007 (Full Release) (Japan) Wii
- Feb 09, 2007 (Full Release) (Europe) Wii
- Feb 09, 2007 (Full Release) (Australia) Wii
- Jun 04, 2007 (Full Release) (North_America) Wii
- Jun 06, 2012 (Full Release) (Japan) Nintendo 3DS
- Sep 13, 2012 (Full Release) (Europe) Nintendo 3DS
- Nov 22, 2012 (Full Release) (North_America) Nintendo 3DS
- Sep 11, 2013 (Full Release) (Japan) Wii U
- Sep 12, 2013 (Full Release) (North_America) Wii U
- Sep 26, 2013 (Full Release) (Europe) Wii U
- May 04, 2016 (Full Release) (Korea) Nintendo 3DS
- TBD (Full Release) (Brazil) Nintendo Entertainment System
Also available on
- Classic NES Series: Zelda II - The Adventure of Link (2004) · GBA
Related
Bundled in
- The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition (Nov 2003) · GCN
- NES Classic Edition (Nov 2016) · Plug & Play
- Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer (Nov 2016) · Plug & Play
- Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda (Nov 2021) · G&W
Featured in lists
Rating distribution
5 stars
143
4 stars
352
3 stars
576
2 stars
432
1 star
169
Community All Reviews Statuses
Status internpepper Nov 12, 2020
My least favorite Zelda game, but I still like it enough.
Status GigaDeathNullGolem Aug 30, 2020
thought I'd try and make a Zelda meme
(source)
Status plasmasnake Jun 21, 2020
Beat the game on the NES, made it to final section on gba but then stopped.
Status GigaDeathNullGolem Jan 7, 2020
Some guides have it as the first chapter. And some include it as the last. But Zelda II is in every guide I have.
Dark Link is a Dark Soul indeed
Status MarioPrime Oct 4, 2017
Played this recently, and was surprised at how GOOD it was. I feel like this gets ignored a lot because it's such a departure for the franchise, but I like how weirdly modern it feels. Like the slight open world vibe and minor RPG elements feel like a precursor to today's big gaming trends. Kind of fascinating considering how under …
Played this recently, and was surprised at how GOOD it was. I feel like this gets ignored a lot because it's such a departure for the franchise, but I like how weirdly modern it feels. Like the slight open world vibe and minor RPG elements feel like a precursor to today's big gaming trends. Kind of fascinating considering how under discussed it is.
Status Westane Apr 7, 2015
Day 2:
So I picked the game back up tonight and, after realizing the Candle wasn't the only thing to get in the Parapa Temple, returned there to finish things out.
This game is hard. Not just in the frustrating, I don't know where to go kind of way, but like it's legitimately challenging. I want to complain about this, …
Day 2:
So I picked the game back up tonight and, after realizing the Candle wasn't the only thing to get in the Parapa Temple, returned there to finish things out.
This game is hard. Not just in the frustrating, I don't know where to go kind of way, but like it's legitimately challenging. I want to complain about this, but every time I die I find myself immediately rushing back to where it happened and trying again. Not only that, but after trying again and again I can actually see myself improving, which only makes the need to succeed that much greater.
The more difficult enemies have alternating high/low attack patterns. At first I found these enemies to be infuriating, especially the ones that throw those boomerangs. Imagine my great surprise where, after some time, I was actually able to not only start tracking and anticipating their attacks, but also react to them.
That's not to say the game isn't crushing.
I've seen this damn starting area more times than I can count.
I was eventually able to beat the boss in Temple 1 and explore further south on my way to Death Mountain, a location I've hated in every Zelda I've ever played... Not that that matters though, I'm lost again!
Even so, I was ready to start giving up on this game until tonight. Now I'm not so sure.
Status Westane Apr 6, 2015
Day 1:
Ehhhhh.....
So I fired up the game and started exploring. Aside from some hilarious innuendos...
...the townsfolk are mostly...
...useless.
I gathered that in order to progress through the game I'll need a candle. This becomes obvious when I walk into my first cave and find that I can't see anything that's trying to kill me. I pick …
Day 1:
Ehhhhh.....
So I fired up the game and started exploring. Aside from some hilarious innuendos...
...the townsfolk are mostly...
...useless.
I gathered that in order to progress through the game I'll need a candle. This becomes obvious when I walk into my first cave and find that I can't see anything that's trying to kill me. I pick the cave that I think might be the right one based solely on intuition and hope and rush through it.
On the other side is Parapa Temple (Ha!) where I manage to both level up and get my third game over.
I'm already not feeling this game. I don't care that it's supposed to be a Zelda game, that doesn't really matter to me, and I'll be judging this one on it's own merits. The combat is "okay" and nothing feels particularly counter-intuitive, I think it's just not my genre. I never liked the first Zelda due to complete lack of direction. I'm also not a fan of Metroid adventure games, and this game is all that PLUS RPG elements. Even after playing for just 30 minutes the tedium is setting in.
I'm not done playing yet though.
Later...
Picked it up again with a bit more direction and worked my way through the first temple.
After defeating Bowser, the Candle was at last mine!
The first temple was fun enough, though nothing too memorable. Combat "feels" tight but truthfully it's a bit off somehow. Candle in hand I was able to navigate caves without getting ganked by little ankle biters. With this new found ability, as well as learning high jump magic, I set out into the world!
...and got lost and died.