Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a decent game, but it's certainly not for everyone.
The Adventure of Link was set only a matter of months after the first game, and follows the same Link as before. After he defeated Ganon he believed his influence would disappear, but some of his followers remained, one of them being an evil wizard who cast an eternal sleeping spell on Princess Zelda. The only way for Zelda to be awoken is if all three of the Triforce parts (Power, Wisdom and Courage) can be brought together to grant the holder its wish, meaning Link needs to find the Triforce of Courage to add to the two he already possesses. After Impa gives him six crystals and a scroll Link sets about returning the crystals to their points of origin in the six Temples of Hyrule, this'll prove his worth enough to be allowed to hold the Triforce of Courage. But if he fails Ganon's followers will use his blood to resurrect the King of Evil.
The Adventure of Link is one of the oddest titles in the Zelda series to date, but it is also one of the most significant. The game is generally regarded as the 'black sheep' of the franchise by many, but most newer Zelda fans haven't even played it. First I'll start of by talking about the important things the game did.
The Adventure of Link was the first game in the entire series to use a magic system, which latter games like A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time also used, but the magic system was handled a lot differently in The Adventure of Link. While magic in later games isn't a must, you'll be required to use magic a lot in The Adventure of Link. There are some enemies that can only be damaged by magic, and there's even some that can only be damaged after you've activated certain magic spells. This made battles a lot more strategic compared to its predecessor. Also The Adventure of Link was the first game in the whole series to include towns and proper NPC's. There was some NPC's in The Legend of Zelda, but they weren't as fleshed out or as important as the ones found in The Adventure of Link. There's many times during the game when you'll be required to talk and get information from NPC's in towns, and this is one of the elements of the series that has been vastly important ever since. Also The Adventure of Link marked the introduction of the Triforce of Courage to the series.
Of course Zelda II is mostly remembered for the reasons why people didn't like it, and there's a lot not to like about the game. Firstly the game feels more like an RPG then an adventure game. While on the world map you'll encounter enemies (presented as little shadows on screen) and defeating the enemies gains you experience points. You don't get new armour or swords in The Adventure of Link, you can only get Link stronger by levelling his stats up. Each stat starts at level one and the highest each stat can reach level eight. You have three stats, Attack, Health and Magic. The higher your attack, the more powerful your attacks, the higher your magic the less magic points they cost to cast and the higher your defence the less damage you receive from enemies. While I am a big fan of RPG's, like Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star or Dragon Quest, I didn't think the RPG style system really suited the game that well, hence me naming it as one of the games flaws.
Another factor that I didn't really like about the game was that you played from a side perspective like you do in the 2D Mario titles. When you're on the World Map you play from an overhead perspective, but battles and everything else are handled in a side-scrolling perspective. This made Nintendo able to buff out the battle system and make it a lot more strategic, but it also made the game extremeley hard (Nintendo did allow Link to jump whenever you wanted him to though, with the press of a button, to make dodging enemy attacks a little easier). I've got nothing against hard games, I love them, but Zelda II felt cheap. While I respect the fact it is so hard, it didn't feel hard in a good way.
Another thing I didn't really like about Zelda II was that it offers nothing in terms of replay value. While the first Zelda title housed a super hard 'second quest' (which altered dungeons and item locations) The Adventure of Link didn't offer you anything after the main quest was over. During the main adventure you are required to collect everything in the game. Well when I say everything it's not technically everything, because you don't need to get all the Heart Containers, but you have to get all the Magic Containers and all the spells. While it'd benefit you to get all these anyway, to get the most powerful spell in the game you need to possess all Magic Containers and all the other spells. Now when I play a Zelda game usually I get as much as I can when I play through the game, and after I beat it I go back to get everything else to make the gaming experience last longer, but The Adventure of Link stops you doing this with the requirement to get all spells and Magic Containers.
Also despite the way you battle been different the way you actually work your way through the game is also vastly different compared to other games in the series. Zelda II introduced a lives system. Each time you start you have three lives, and when they all run out you game over. Truth be told I didn't really mind the lives system, but it was annoying sometimes. Whenever you game over you start again back at North Castle, where you started the game, and you have to work your way back to where you died. I didn't mind this too much at first, but as you explore more and more of Hyrule (which is huge) it gets annoying as you could be at the complete opposite end of the map and die, making you have to work your way all the way back to where you were. Because of the lives system The Adventure of Link is the only game in the series to include 1-UP Dolls.
Apart from the few things I've already mentioned The Adventure of Link is also a significant Zelda title for a few other reasons. As well from being the first game to include the Triforce of Courage and a magic system it was also the first Zelda game to include Dark Link, who since has gone on to be recognised as a fan favourite Zelda enemy (also appearing in several of the later games). It was also the first game to make reference to the fact that Ganon can returned or be revived after being defeated by the hand of Link. Also some of the town names (such as Darunia, Nabooru and Saria) were later re-used to name the Sages in Ocarina of Time (although in chronological order of the games the towns in Zelda II were actually names after the sages since Ocarina of Time is set prior to this adventure).
In the graphical department The Adventure of Link is a lot more detailed (as far as eight bit games go) then its predecessor. Because of the side scrolling perspective the sprites were bigger on screen this time around, allowing Nintendo to add more detail to them. Musically though Zelda II is an abortion. One of the biggest aspects of the Zelda series is its music, which is great in every game, but it was horrid this time around. For some odd reason Nintendo dropped Koji Kondo and replaced him with Akito Nakatsuka and despite his effort the music never really sounded great, and as a result none of the music from The Adventure of Link has ever been remixed for use in latter games in the series (although one of the music themes was remixed and used in Super Smash Bros. Melee).
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a decent game, but it's certainly not for everyone. If you get the chance to play it I'd definitely recommend giving it a try, but go with caution as the vast changes to the series, and extreme difficulty, may put off some gamers.
Review by: James Widdowson
Score: 7.5/10