Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

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 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
Console(s)	Family Computer Disk System, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy Advance, Virtual Console (Wii, Nintendo 3DS)
Mode(s)	Single player

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Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, often shortened to Zelda II, 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.

The gameplay of Zelda II is vastly different from its predecessor, as it primarily features role-playing elements and side-scrolling areas. Zelda II was less influential on the series than the first game, as its style was not reused into subsequent installments of the series (not including the Philips CD-i spinoff titles, Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon). This is comparable to Super Mario Bros. 2, the second installment of the Super Mario series.

While not as popular as the first game, Zelda II still introduced a few recurring elements, such as Shadow Link, villages and towns, the Magic Meter, and one of its bosses, Barba (who was renamed to "Volvagia" in subsequent installments).

Story

File:ZII intro story.jpg

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, tue 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

Link attacking a Bot in a side-scrolling battle area

While not an RPG, a few staples of the genre appeared in Zelda II, including strategic combat against enemies, an experience points feature (EXP), magic spells, and more dialogue from non-playable characters, more specifically, the town folk. Not including the Philips CD-i titles, Zelda II 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 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.

Zelda II has a more complex combat system than its predecessor. Armed with a sword and shield, Link must alternate between standing and crouching positions to attack enemies and defend himself. For example, Link can only defeat Stalfos by crouching, 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 techniques for midair downward and upward stabs.

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 attributes can be upgraded to a maximum of eight levels. Each attribute requires a different number of experience points for leveling up, and if the player does not have sufficient experience points toward the desire attribute, they can exit from the menu and continue obtaining more points to later spend toward another attribute. Selecting the Attack attribute increases Link's sword power, the Magic attribute decreases the number of magic points that he uses on spells, and increasing the Life attribute 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 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 the Old Man to teach their spells to him. Some spells and items are necessary for advancing in the game.

Characters

Main characters

Sprite	Name	Description
	Link
	Princess Zelda
	Ganon

Supporting characters

Sprite	Name	Description
	Bagu
	Child
	Error
	Medicine woman
	River man
File:River Devil ZII sprite.png	River devil
	Swordsmen
	Town folk	(Some designs are Western-exclusive)
	Triforce Keeper
	Wise men

Mentioned

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

Name	Description
Impa
The king
The prince
The 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, in the Western release, some enemies can steal experience points, while rewarding non upon defeat.

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.
	Āneru	Large-headed creatures that spit fire. The blue one is unique to Western releases, replacing dungeon-based Octoroks.
	Arurōda	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.
	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.
	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.
	Fiery Moa	A Moa that flies along the top of the screen, dropping fireballs.
	Fire Bago-Bago	A type of Bago-Bago that can spit fire.
File:Fokka red ZII sprite.png File:Fokka blue ZII sprite.png	Fokkā	A leaping bird warrior found in the Great Palace.
File:Fokkeru ZII sprite.png	Fokkeru	A fire-spitting harpy in the Great Palace.
	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.
	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.
	Iron Knuckle	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.
	Molblin	Spear-wielding bulldogs common in forests. One type of orange Molblin charges at Link in endless amounts, while other Molblins, orange and otherwise throw their spears before withdrawing instead.
	Moby	Birds that fly slowly downwards, charging forward when on Link's level.
	Myu	Spiky blue slimes that require the Down Thrust to defeat.
	Octorok	Rock-spitting octopuses. The blue ones can jump.
	Parutamu	Stalfos with armor on their upper bodies, protecting them from the Down Thrust.
	Rā	Dragon gargoyles that fly forward in a swooping pattern, typically around ledges.
	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 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	(Western releases only)
	Barba
	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 energy in his Magic Meter.

These are items that can only be obtained once.

Sprite	Name	Description
	Boots
	Candle
	Child
	Cross
	Flute
	Hammer
	Handy Glove
	Magical Key
	Raft
	Trophy
	Water of life

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

Sprite	Name	Description
	Doll
	Heart Container
	Key
	Magic Container
	Magic Jar
	Treasure Bag

External links

• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link on Wikipedia