List of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link version differences

These are the version and regional differences featured in the different releases of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Gameplay differences
The spending of experience points is entirely different in the Famicom Disk System, as Link's three attributes cost the same, unlike the English release. The game is designed to promote balanced leveling, as the Famicom Disk System's saved game only allows the level attributes to go as high as whatever is set the lowest (e.g. if LIFE is at 5 and ATTACK is at 4, but MAGIC is at 1, then the saved game reflects all attributes as level 1), while still saving the data regarding crystals that have been placed and items that have been collected.

In the Famicom Disk System release, Link can collect items by stabbing them with his sword. In English releases, Link can automatically pick up one-time items, and two sprites were created to show him holding up the item.

Graphical changes
In English releases, Link's sprites were given a mouth. In the Famicom Disk System version, the sprite of Link riding a raft originally showed him facing the south, but in English releases, this was changed to have him face east, the direction in which the raft goes.

In the Famicom Disk System version, the water and lava tiles on the overworld are animated, but are static in English releases.

In the Famicom Disk System version, every dungeon has gray ceilings and walls, but in English releases, each of them are featured in a different color.

In the Famicom Disk system versions, blue Octoroks can be found in certain dungeons, while in the English releases, these are swapped for identically acting blue Ropes.

Two of the dungeon bosses, Carock and Barba, have different sprites. Carock's original sprite showed it facing the screen, but in the NES version, it instead faces Link. Barba's original Famicom Disk System sprite was not segmented, and it had a static mouth.

In the Famicom Disk System releases, the encounters for weak enemies, strong enemies, and fairies on the map are represented by white, blue, and red ghost-like blobs, respectively, and the River Devil has a brown troll-like appearance. In the English releases, weak enemy encounters are represented by a black-colored Bit or Bot, strong enemy encounters are represented as a black-colored humanoid monster, and fairy encounters are represented by a fairy, while the River Devil is a multiple-armed black creature.

The English releases add more sprites for the town folk. The river man and Swordsmen were also given different designs.

In the Famicom Disk System version, the Child is tied up by rope, which is not the case for English releases.

The sprite for both the Water of Life and Trophy is different between the Japanese and English versions.

The death animation removed the flashing colors to reduce the risk of seizures and replaced it with a solid red color. The text changes were not included in the Virtual Console ports, but the solid red death animation from the two earlier ports was retained.

The Game Over screen of the English release shows a silhouette of Ganon from the chest up, with the text "Game Over/Return of Ganon", and a brief sound effect of evil laughter plays. In the Famicom Disk System release, the Game Over screen is in plain black with the text "Return of Ganon/The End"; the message is accompanied by the same audio that plays in the Horsehead and Volvagia boss fights.

Layout differences
The interior of North Castle was redesigned to have add more pillars and purple drapes, besides those surrounding the resting place of Princess Zelda. The ceiling was raised, and two torches were added to the left and right of Zelda respectively.

In English releases, the Kings Tomb was made a single screen area. The large map used in the Famicom Disk System version was reused for a nearby grave in the English releases, just with the orange pillars removed.

Sound differences
Like the first game, Nintendo had to make some major changes to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link as they ported it to the Nintendo Entertainment System. As the Famicom Disk System has an additional sound chip from the Nintendo Entertainment System, some musical elements were eliminated, especially the title screen theme.

Text changes
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link received a few minor changes on both the The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition compilation and the Classic NES Series port. The "No.3 Triforce" from the title screen intro was changed to read "third Triforce". The copyright date was altered to read "1987–2003 Nintendo" and "1987–2004 Nintendo" for the GameCube and Game Boy Advance ports respectively.

Additions
The English release added an exclusive boss, Gooma, who is fought at the Palace on the Sea. In the Famicom Disk System release, Link instead fought Helmethead a second time.