Hello everyone, welcome to my classic game review of, Zelda 2 - The Adventure of Link! This is a game that doesn't get a lot of attention. It's the only other Zelda game to come out on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and although the first game was a huge success this sequel didn't quite resonate with people the same way the original did. Zelda 2 came out way back in 1987, less than a year after the first one did. You would think with how popular the original was, that Nintendo would just make another with the same style of game play, except they didn't. I remember being a kid and playing the first one and loving everything about it. Then my brother came home with the second one and I couldn't wait to get started, but when I put it in I was confused by how drastically different this one was and honestly didn't enjoy it very much. In fact I don't think I ever beat it back then, I eventually just gave up on it.
That's not to say that Zelda 2 is a bad game, it's not by any means, but as a kid it just wasn't what I was expecting. As you can see from the photos above, Nintendo changed the game play from top down to side scrolling. This changes things up quite a bit, so instead of having four directions to move in, now you only have left or right. This was also the first Zelda to have a magic meter and various spells to use. So on top of your sword and all the items you collect, you can also kill enemies or open passages with magic. I guess they were trying to make it more of an RPG because in addition to magic you also level up by gaining experience. Those aren't the only changes in Zelda 2, this one is also the first in the series to feature towns. They didn't keep any of the changes for any later Zelda games, except for the towns, this actually became a regular thing that is in all the later games. All these new features make this game unique and although I didn't like it as a kid, now I do.
You start off in a temple and you can see Zelda sleeping right up above you. As you walk out of the temple you are now in the world map. Once you're outside the view changes to a top down, kind of like the original game, but as soon as you step onto a location it changes back to side scrolling. You're free to go anywhere you want but a lot of places require an item or spell to access them. To get the item or spell you need, you have to enter a town and find the secret wizard who hides in the basement of one of the houses. There are also dungeons, much like the first game, each with secrets to find and a boss to kill at the end. They're very difficult if you don't know what you're doing and can be pretty frustrating. You get three lives and if you lose all of them you are placed back at the temple from the beginning.
If you don't have some kind of instruction on what to do, this game can be very confusing. This is why as a kid I didn't like it very much, but playing it recently with the help of the internet, I found it to be very fun. Still very difficult though even with the help of an online guide. I can totally see why this one doesn't get much attention, it's confusing, it's very difficult, and it has a lot of changes that none of the other entries in the Zelda series have. That doesn't mean it's not any good or not fun to play, it just doesn't have that same feel as the others. If you haven't played this one and you're a fan of the series you should definitely check it out. It's a classic game and a part of the legacy of Zelda when Nintendo was still figuring out the perfect formula, just use a guide or you might miss something. I give Zelda 2, The Adventure of Link a ...................
85
