Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

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Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Release date	Family Computer Disk System: January 17, 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System October 11, 1988 / December 1, 1988 1988 Game Boy Advance August 10, 2004 October 25, 2004 January 7, 2005 Virtual Console (Wii) January 23, 2007 February 9, 2007 February 9, 2007 June 4, 2007 March 31, 2009 Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program: August 31, 2011 August 31, 2011 September 1, 2011 September 1, 2011 Virtual Console (Nintendo 3DS): June 6, 2012 September 13, 2012 September 13, 2012 November 22, 2012 May 4, 2016 Virtual Console (Wii U): September 11, 2013 September 12, 2013 September 26, 2013 September 26, 2013
Genre(s)	Action role-playing, platform
Console(s)	Family Computer Disk System Nintendo Entertainment System Game Boy Advance Virtual Console (Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U)
Mode(s)	Single player

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the second installment of The Legend of Zelda series and a direct follow-up of The Legend of Zelda. It was first released in Japan for the Family Computer Disk System in 1987, and about one year later, in 1988, saw an overseas release on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Unlike the previous game, it was not re-released for Family Computer in Japan. It is the only game of the main series whose title does not start with The Legend of Zelda, although it is referred to as The Legend of Zelda 2 in Japan.

The gameplay of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is vastly different from its predecessor, as it primarily features role-playing elements and side-scrolling areas. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link had less of an influence on the series than the first game, as its gameplay style and features such as experience points and lives were not reused in subsequent installments of the main series. This is comparable to the Western Super Mario Bros. 2 of the Super Mario series.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link introduced some recurring elements, such as Shadow Link, villages and towns, and MAGIC points. Two of the Philips CD-i spinoffs, Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, are more based on Zelda II: The Adventure of Link than the first The Legend of Zelda.

Story

The story as told from the title screen

Several years after Ganon's defeat, the now-16-year-old Link discovers a strange mark on the back of his left hand, in the exact shape of the crest of Hyrule. Link seeks out Impa, who takes him to the North Castle, where a door has been magically sealed for generations. Impa places the back of Link's left hand on the door, and it opens. Inside the room is a sleeping maiden, whom Impa tells Link is Princess Zelda; she is different from the Zelda that Link rescued in his previous adventure.

This Princess Zelda was the princess of Hyrule from long ago and the origin behind the "Legend of Zelda". Long ago, Zelda's brother, the prince, attempted to force her to reveal their recently deceased father's secrets concerning the Triforce. Zelda refused to reveal the Triforce's location, and in an act of retaliation, the prince's confidant, the magician, angrily used a spell to strike Zelda down. She fell under a powerful sleeping spell; with an inability to control the magic, the magician got killed. The prince, unable to reverse the spell, felt a lot of remorse and placed Zelda in the castle tower, hoping that one day she would be awakened. In remembrance of the tragedy, the prince decreed that every subsequent princess born into the royal family would bear the name, Zelda.

Impa explains to Link that the mark on his hand means that he is the hero chosen to awaken Zelda. She provides Link with a chest containing six crystals and ancient writings that only a great future king of Hyrule can read. Link finds that he can read the document, even though he has never seen the language before; it indicates that the crystals must be set into statues within six palaces scattered across Hyrule. By doing so, a path will open to the Great Palace, which contains the Triforce of Courage. Zelda can only be awakened by combining the three Triforce parts. Meanwhile, as Link goes on his adventure, Ganon's followers seek to kill Link, as sprinkling his blood on Ganon's ashes will revive him.

Ultimately, Link restores the crystals to the six palaces and enters the Great Palace. After venturing deep inside, Link battles a flying creature known as Thunderbird, followed by his shadow doppelgänger. After defeating both bosses, Link claims the Triforce of Courage and returns to Zelda. The three triangles unite into the collective Triforce, and Link successfully wishes to awaken Zelda. The game ends as they (presumably) kiss behind a falling curtain.

Gameplay

Link exploring the land map, the only area with the original game's top-down perspective

While not an RPG, a few staples of the genre appeared in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, including strategic combat against enemies, an experience points feature, magic spells, and more dialogue from non-playable characters, more specifically, the town folk. Not including the Philips CD-i titles, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the first and only game of The Legend of Zelda series to feature lives, and Link starts his adventure with three lives. Link starts his adventure at the North Castle, and by losing all three lives, the Game Over screen is displayed, and Link must restart at the palace.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link plays out in a two-mode dynamic. The overworld (known as the "land map") is still shown from a top-down perspective, but it now serves as a hub to the other areas. Whenever Link enters an area such as a town or dungeon, the game switches to a side-scrolling perspective, which is used for most of the game. As Link traverses around the various environments of the land map, a few enemy silhouettes randomly appear on-screen. The small blobs denote easier enemies (such as Bots) and the monsters denote harder enemies, such as Geldarm. By walking into an enemy, Link appears in a side-scrolling area where he can battle enemies in exchange for experience points. He can exit back into the land map from either side of the screen. Link may sometimes encounter a fairy, which directs him to a single-screen location where a fairy refills his health.

With the exception of traveling across lava and water, the side-scrolling view is the only mode where Link can take damage from enemies and hazards. The environment and its enemies that Link encounters correspond to his current location on the land map.

Link attacking a Bot in a side-scrolling battle area

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link has a more complex combat system than its predecessor. Armed with a Magical Sword and Magical Shield, Link must alternate between standing and kneeling positions to attack enemies and defend himself. For example, Link can only defeat Stalfos by kneeling, because Stalfos holds a shield to protect its upper half. Link also has the ability to jump, allowing him to attack tall and airborne enemies and to avoid some attacks. Link can eventually learn the Downward Thrust and Jump Thrust techniques from swordsmen.

Link can obtain experience points by defeating enemies. When Link reaches a certain number of points, a window appears on-screen, giving the player the option to upgrade either his ATTACK, MAGIC, or LIFE. All three elements of power can be upgraded to a maximum of eight levels. Each element requires a different number of experience points for leveling up, and if the player does not have sufficient experience points toward the desire element, they can exit from the menu and continue obtaining more points to later spend toward another element. Selecting the ATTACK element increases Link's sword power, the MAGIC element decreases the number of points that he uses on spells, and increasing the LIFE element decreases how much damage Link receives when hit.

Link begins the game with four Heart Containers and four Magic Containers and can acquire up to four more of each item. When the player ends or saves a game, the cartridge records Link's current ability levels and the number of experience points required for the next increase, but his accumulated points are reset to zero.

Like other games in The Legend of Zelda series, Link must still collect several items in order to progress. These special items grant abilities which either remain in permanent use for the rest of the game or can only be activated from the land map. In place of actively used items, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link features eight types of magic that Link can use in battle against enemies. Each spell is learned from a different wise man in one of the eight towns within Hyrule. Link often has to complete side-quests, such as retrieving lost items, in order to get a wise man to teach spells to him. Some spells and items are necessary for advancing in the game.

After completing the game, the player can start a second quest from the same file, which is marked with a Triforce when completed. The second quest is mostly the same as the first one except Link retains his skill level, sword techniques, and experience points from the first quest.

Characters

Main characters

Sprite	Name	Description
	Link	He is the main character, and he goes on an adventure to find the Triforce of Courage and awaken Zelda.
	Princess Zelda	Hyrule's princess from long ago, Zelda was cast into eternal slumber by a magician.

Supporting characters

Sprite	Name	Description
	Acheman
	Bagu
	Bot
	Child
	Error
	Old woman
	River man
	River Devil
	Sage
	Swordsmen
	Town folk	As their name implies, town folk can be found in towns and villages, where they would usually provide advice to Link for his journey.
	Wise men

Mentioned

These characters are mentioned in the backstory from the game's instruction manual.

Name	Description
Ganon
Impa
King
Prince
Magician

Enemies

Some of the enemies in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link take advantage of the four palette slots available on the sprite layer to give them up to three different color variations, as the fourth is Link's palette. The remaining palettes are an orange palette for the weakest enemies, a red palette for medium-strength enemies, and a blue palette for the stronger enemies. In towns, the white values in the red and blue palettes are changed to tan, with the blue instead being purple to work for the townspeople. The few enemies that appear in towns also have these color changes, but are otherwise the same entities. The red and blue palettes also have minor value changes between other locations, notably whether the darkest shade is black (for light-backgrounded areas) or a dark red/blue (for dark backgrounded areas). The middle shade of blue varies, with palaces typically having a deep blue and other areas usually having a light cyan. Before Link has the Candle, enemies with the red or blue palettes appear fully black when in caves, with the orange palette being unaffected. The orange palette is the only palette to stay the same throughout the game. Additionally, artwork for the orange enemies generally depicts them as yellow, indicating they were intended as yellow but shown as orange due to the NES's inability to display a "true" yellow.

Additionally, in the NES release, some weak enemies can steal experience points; these are usually infinitely respawning defensively weak enemies.

Sprite	Name	Description
	Ache	Blue bats that swoop down from ceilings, like Keese. Some disguise themselves as town folk, and will change back and attack if spoken to.
	Acheman	Red Aches that turn into a fire-spitting demon when they hit the ground.
	Aruroda	Scorpions with fireball-shooting stingers that can only be attacked when their one eye is open.
	Bago-Bago	Fish skeletons that leap out from under bridges and then slide along them. The ones in the Great Palace spit fireballs instead of rocks.
	Bit	Simple slimes with a single hit point.
	Boon	Rock-dropping flies.
	Boss Bot	A large Bot in the Great Palace that splits into five normal-sized ones.
Palace alternate (FCDS-only)	Bot	Tougher versions of Bits. In the Great Palace, ones with even more health can be found.
	Bubble	Burning skulls that fly around the room.
	Daira	Axe-wielding crocodiles. The red ones can throw theirs.
	Deeler	Small spiders that live in treetops. The red ones will simply dangle from webs, while the blue ones will land and jump along the ground.
	Doomknocker	An armored enemy who throws a mace like a boomerang.
	Eagle Knight	A leaping bird warrior found in the Great Palace.
	Fiery Moa	A Moa that flies along the top of the screen, dropping fireballs.
	Geldarm	A tall centipede that shrinks down when attacked.
	Gēru	Various strong humanoid lizards. Orange ones wield spears, while red and blue ones wield maces, with the latter throwing theirs. Red ones can also hide behind tall walls and throw rocks.
	Giant Bubble	A large counterpart to Bubbles that splits into two normal-sized bubbles when attacked enough.
	Girubokku	A floating eye that can only be damaged when it opens.
	Goriya	Mustachioed wolves who throw boomerangs in various ways.
	Gūma	A bull that tosses an endless amount of flails, and is also able to jump.
	Ironknuckle	Strong, knife-wielding knights found in palaces. The blue ones can throw theirs.
	Leever	A spinning plant that burrows out from the sand.
	Lowder	Aggressive pill bugs that charge at Link on sight.
	Māgo	Witches that cast fire magic in front of them.
	Mau	Flying, fire-spitting wolf gargoyles.
	Megmat	Small, leaping armadillos.
	Moa	Ghostly eyes that fly around erratically. The blue ones are invisible without the aide of a cross.
	Moby	Birds that fly slowly downwards, charging forward when on Link's level.
	Molblin	Spear-wielding bulldog-like devils common in forests. One type of orange Molblin charges at Link in endless amounts, while other Molblins, orange and otherwise attack in more sophisticated ways with their spears.
	Myu	Spiky blue slimes that require the Downward Thrust to defeat.
	Octorok	Jumping, rock-spitting octopuses, some of which walk forward.
	Parutamu	Stalfos with armor on their upper bodies, protecting them from the Downward Thrust.
	Rā	Dragon gargoyles that fly forward in a swooping pattern, typically around ledges. Orange ones are unique to the Great Palace.
	Rope	Large-headed snakes that spit fire or rocks. The rock-spitting blue one is unique to NES releases, replacing dungeon-based Octoroks.
	Soprano	A fire-spitting harpy in the Great Palace.
	Stalfos	A version of the Stalfos from the previous game that uses a shield, but does not protect its head or feet.
	Tektite	A hopping spider enemy.
	Wizard	Wizzrobe-like spellcasters that cannot be damaged by the Magical Sword.
	Wōsu	Weak wolf-like creatures that simply run forward.
	Zola	Crawling fish people that occasionally get on their hind legs to breath a fireball.

Bosses

Sprite	Name	Description
	Horsehead
	Helmethead
	Rebonack
	Carock
	Gooma	A boss that only appears in western releases of the game.
	Barba
Phase 2	Thunderbird
	Link's Shadow

Items

Many of the items are not used as weapons, and rather are used to directly assist Link during his adventure; a handful of the items are used from the land map. The Magical Sword and Magical Shield is Link's main and only tangible weapon. However, the game introduces magic, which consists of some spells that Link can use to attack or defeat enemies, if he has enough MAGIC points.

These are items that can only be obtained once.

Sprite	Name	Description
	Boots	This item allows Link to walk across certain bodies of water in the overworld.
	Candle	The candle illuminates dark areas, such as caves, allowing Link to see in them.
	Child	A kidnapped child who Link must rescue and return to a town folk in the Mountain Town of Darunia.
	Cross	Allows Link to see invisible enemies.
	Flute	Link must use the flute to defeat the River Devil and again later to enter Three-Eye Rock Palace.
	Hammer	Destroys boulders and cuts down trees.
	Handy Glove	Increases the strength of the Magical Sword, allowing it to break certain blocks found in the palaces.
	Magic Key	A key that can unlock any door.
	Raft	The raft allows Link to sail across the water dividing west and east Hyrule.
	Trophy	A missing item that Link must obtain in a cave at Tantari and then give to a woman in the Town of Ruto.
	Water of Life	Found in a cave west of Midoro Palace, Link must give the Water of Life to an elderly woman so that her sick daughter can be healed.

These are items that Link can obtain more than once during his adventure.

Sprite	Name	Description
	Doll	These items give an extra life to Link.
	Heart Container	When Link collects a Heart Container, it adds another bar to his health meter.
	Key	Each key opens a locked door in a palace.
	Magic Container	When Link collects a Magic Container, it adds another square to his MAGIC.
	Magic Jar	Magic Jars replenish Link's MAGIC. Blue ones only restore a portion, while red ones replenish MAGIC entirely.
	Treasure Bag	Link can collect Treasure Bags to obtain more experience points. Sometimes an enemy jumps out of a Treasure Bag.

Locations

Like the first game, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link features a land map. It has a different purpose from that of The Legend of Zelda's because Link uses it to travel between towns and landmark areas. The land map is divided into Western Hyrule and Eastern Hyrule, and the map has six different landscapes where Link fights enemies: Plains, Cave, Desert, Forest, Swamp, and Graveyard.

Link always starts the game in the North Castle, which is where Princess Zelda lays asleep.

Towns

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the first game in the series to have towns. With the exception of Kasuto, the six Sages in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are each named after a town.

• Harbor Town of Mido
• Hidden Town of Kasuto
• Nabooru
• Mountain Town of Darunia
• Rauru
• Town of Ruto
• Water Town of Saria

Palaces

Palaces are the successor and equivalent to labyrinths from The Legend of Zelda. After defeating the boss, Link places one of the crystals on a statue. The crystals weaken the force preventing Link from entering the Great Palace. Each palace has a unique item.

Name	Description
Parapa Palace	The first palace and the location of the candle. At the end, Link fights a tall, inverse centaur named Horsehead.
Midoro Palace	The second palace and the location of the Handy Glove. At the end, Link fights a knight named Helmethead.
Island Palace	The third palace and the location of the raft. At the end, Link fights a knight riding a horse, Rebonack.
Maze Palace	The fourth palace and the location of the boots. At the end, Link fights a spellcaster, Carock.
Palace on the Sea	The fifth palace and the location of the flute. At the end, Link fights a giant named Gooma, or in the Japanese version, a fight against Helmethead.
Three-Eye Rock Palace	The sixth palace and the location of the cross. At the end, Link fights a long dragon, Barba.
Great Palace	The seventh and final palace as well as the final area that Link explores. There is no hidden item and there are two bosses unlike the previous palaces. Link first battles a phoenix named Thunderbird, and the second boss that he fights is a shadow version of himself.

Development

Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to make Zelda II: The Adventure of Link fundamentally different from the first game, The Legend of Zelda. Miyamoto wanted to make a sidescrolling action game that allowed more control over Link's movements, such as up and down attacks and defense. A different team from the first The Legend of Zelda's was recruited to work on Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The team experimented as they produced the game and did not have the first The Legend of Zelda as much in mind. A story for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was made at the end of the game's development.

In a brief retrospective, Miyamoto says that he wishes he did more with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, as a few features could not be implemented due to hardware limitations. Miyamoto wanted to further utilize the transition from an overhead perspective to a sidescrolling view and add larger enemies in the game.

Alternate versions and re-releases

Gameplay screenshot of Link battling enemies in the Game Boy Advance port

• 1987 - Original release on the Famicom Disk System (Japan)
• 1988 - Original release on the Nintendo Entertainment System (North America/Europe/Australia)
• 1992 - Re-released on the NES as part of the "Classic Series", included on a gray cartridge
• 2003 - One of the four full games included on the Nintendo GameCube compilation, The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition
• 2004 - Ported to the Game Boy Advance as a Classic NES Series installment
• 2007 - Ported to the Virtual Console for the Wii
• 2011/2012 - Ported on select Nintendo 3DS units as an Ambassador Program title. In 2012, it was widely released as a 3DS Virtual Console title.
• 2013 - Ported to the Virtual Console for the Wii U
• 2014 - Included as a Masterpiece in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
• 2016 - Released as one of the 30 games included on the NES Classic Edition and its Japanese counterpart, Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer.
• 2019 - Included as a playable title on the Nintendo Switch Online service. A "special save" was also released where Link starts his adventure with his ATTACK, MAGIC, and LIFE at level 8.
• 2021 - Included on Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda as a playable title

Version differences

Main article: List of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link version differences

The NES version (pictured right) features an exclusive boss, Gooma, at the Palace on the Sea. In the Famicom Disk System version (pictured left), Link instead fights a stronger version of Helmethead at the location.

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.

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. 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.

Some other notable differences between the Famicom Disk System and Nintendo Entertainment System releases include:

• In the English release, the dungeons each have different colors, whereas in the Famicom Disk System version they are all gray.
• The two dungeon bosses Carock and Barba have different sprites.
• 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.
• 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, 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.
• There are some slight additions to the dungeons, as well as a handful of differences on the dungeons themselves.
• The overworld icons denoting monsters look different between the Famicom Disk System and Nintendo Entertainment System releases. In the Famicom Disk System release, the overworld monsters are represented by white and blue blobs, whose color denotes the difficulty of the encounter. The white and blue blobs were changed into a black Bit-like icon and a bipedal monster icon respectively.
  • In the Famicom Disk System release, the red blobs represent an encounter with a Fairy. In the Nintendo Entertainment System release, its icon is replaced by a fairy itself.
• 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.

Staff

The staff credits, as seen during the ending

Like the first The Legend of Zelda, every person except Hiroshi Yamauchi is listed under a pseudonym. Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka are the only original The Legend of Zelda team members who also developed Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, retaining their role as the producer and the story writer respectively. The music was composed by Akito Nakatsuka instead of Koji Kondo.

Executive Producer:

• H. Yamauchi

Producer:

• Miyahon

Director:

• Sugiyen
• Yamahen

Designer:

• Isshin

Sound Composer:

• Tsukasan

Programmer: (misspelled as "Programer" in the end credits)

• Morikazu
• Marumaru
• Shigechan
• Nishiyan
• Nakazoo

Gallery

For this game's image gallery, see Gallery:Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	リンクの冒険 Rinku no Bōken	The Adventure of Link (subtitled "The Legend of Zelda 2" on the logo)

Trivia

• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the 100th game released for the Wii Virtual Console in Japan.