Nintendo
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
| Graphics: Sound: Gameplay: Overall: |
8.74 8.94 8.57 8.74 |
| Votes: | 68 |
| Reviews: | 12 |
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| Reviewer: Thomas Gebert | Date: Sep 27, 2008 |
| This game is definitely a positive revision of the first game. The sound is better, game play, for the most part is enhanced, and it gets rid of a lot of the tedious work in the first game.
Graphics: 10 Much better than the first Zelda. Don't get me wrong, I love the first Zelda game, but this one does push the NES to its limit. The colors are a lot more vibrant, and the lines are considerably more crisp. Sound: 9 For the most part, the sound is an improvement "sound-quality-wise", but the music is not as good as the first one. The theme, while still being catchy, will never replace the first theme. Gameplay: 10 Very fun gameplay. This has the overhead look of the first game for traveling long distances, and a side view for dungeons and towns. It is better this way, since we get more detail. Overall: 10 It is simply a revision of the first game. The story hasn't changed much, but the graphics and gameplay has. I Really like this game, and wish I had played it while i was younger. This game has gotten a bit of a bad rep because it uses the side-scrollers. I don't know why everyone loves the overhead views, but I think this game does a decent job using both. |
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| Reviewer: Lanethan | Date: Aug 24, 2005 |
| Zelda 2, the oft overlooked game in the Zelda series, is perhaps my favorite of them. Why should you listen to my opinion, and not those below who rate it a '3' or something?
Look at their reviews. Their reviews basically state: "Side view sucks for Zelda!" It seems that they didn't even play the game. You should. It's quite possible that, if you don't immediately say 'Side view sucks for Zelda!' and go back to pretending you don't still live in your mother's basement, you will enjoy this game. Graphics: 8 Characters: Leaps and bounds better than Zelda 1, and enemies have a distinctive look about them. Some of the last enemies in the game, especially, start to look very off the wall and cool. Link himself is well animated, as well. Environments: While a little 'blocky,' perhaps, they tend to give a distinctive mood to all the areas of the game. Overworld: Unfortunately, the Overworld graphics really suffer. Though cute in a cartoony way, they are rather bland and repetitive. Special Effects: Also slightly lacking, except for the after-boss-fight explosion, which I thoroughly enjoy for its primitive lighting effect. Sound: 9 Sound effects are sparing in this game, but the music is quite good. I tend to enjoy the temple theme the best, with a close second being the 'action stage' theme (get into a fight right outside of the beginning palace to hear this one). Gameplay: 9 Definitely the best category for Zelda 2, its gameplay is fun and addictive, though hard to master. Fighting Dark Nuts (or Ironknuckles, as I tend to call them, though I suppose at this point in time they were called Dark Nuts) is about the funnest thing ever. Overall: 9 Of course, some people don't like it because of its difficulty curve. I respect that, as this game is quite difficult to master. Regardless, my recommendation: Play this game. -Lanethan |
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| Reviewer: Mike | Date: Aug 1, 2005 |
| Certainly not the highlight of the series, but worth a shot.
Graphics: 8 The graphics are certainly good for the time period. The overland view is the only sore point - it's way too wallpapered and repetitive. Sound: 6 The sound is decent, though lets be honest: the original music is the one that is remembered, not zelda 2. Gameplay: 6 The side scrolling thing was alright for that sort of game, but it was a poor move for the zelda series. They were smart to abandon it after this go. It is by far the most difficult zelda game ever made (I pride myself on having completed this one). The absence of Ganon is also sorely missed (regardless of the "ganon has returned" screen that you get every time you bite the dust). Overall: 7 As a Zelda series game it's poor, but on its own, not too bad. Consider it the "Phantom Menace" of the Zelda series. Try it out, and try not to get too frustrated with the learning curve. Enjoy, good luck! |
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| Reviewer: enlightenedgamer | Date: Aug 2, 2004 |
| This game is great! It puts my two favorite game styles into one, RPG and platform. I have been with the zelda series sence the begining and this is the only one that I find as much fun the next time through as the first. While it's a lot different from the others in the series it's still a great game by itself. Graphics: 9 The sprite animations in the side view portion of the game is perfect considering the limitations of the NES, I love how after you swing your sword link holds up his shield for a second and I can't think of anywhere in the game that you experiance slow down in the frame rate. The only thing keeping me from giving this section a perfect 10 is the repetative textures on the overworld map. Sound: 10 Again considering the NES limitations the sound is great and I never get bored with it, my two favorite songs are the title song and the temple song. It would be great to see these songs make it into a new Zelda. Gameplay: 10 This is where the game shines, the fast action battles and new moves you can learn never let this game get dull. Probably my favorite enemy to fight is the Knights who also have a sword and shield and are very good at blocking your attacks,(what are there names again?)you first see them as a light red colour in the first temple. Overall: 10 I'm going to ignore that comment I made about the repetative overworld map textures and give this game a perfect 10. While my rating may seem a little generous, I really do like this game that much. |
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| Reviewer: YoMamasMama | Date: Aug 19, 2003 |
| Zelda 2: The Adventures of Link. Like Super Mario Bros. 2 of the Mario series, Zelda 2 is the freak of the series. This is the only Zelda game not to show the trademark hearts as a life bar. It is also the only Zelda game where you earn experience points and level-up ala Final Fantasy. It is also the only Zelda game where the majority of the game is side-scrolling. Graphics: 9 Excellent sprite work on Link and his enemies, but the spell effects are seriously lacking. The environments look pretty good, but get repetative after a while (especially Death Mountain). Sound: 10 The overworld music is catchy and the dungeon music doesn't suffer like the first Zelda's. I can't find any flaws in the audio. Gameplay: 9 Slightly more fun than Zelda 1 in my opinion, if only because of the level up system. Would be a 10 if not for the occasional glitch and extreme difficulty curve. Overall: 9 Better than the first, and will keep you hooked till the end if you give it a chance. This game desperately needs a remake on GameBoy Advance. (complete with four-swords style linking, extra content, and enhanced graphics, anyone?) |
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| Reviewer: Wintermute | Date: Aug 14, 2003 |
| Despite being shunned by 'Zelda Enthusiasts' and the like, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, when taken as an entirely new experience (i.e. don't expect gameplay like any other Zelda game), is one of the best NES games to date. If you play the game with any expectations of Zelda-like elements (getting new swords, puzzle solving) it seems fairly bad, but if you take it in only as what it is meant to be, a sidescrolling action-RPG, it rocks. Graphics: 9 Sprites 3/3: The sprites in this game are fantastic. Simply put, the graphics are leaps and bounds better than the original Zelda game. Look at the title screen if you don't believe me. Environments 3/3: Each dungeon, while blocky in nature, has its own unique look, and the further you get in the game the cooler the environments get. Special Effects 3/4: The only thing lacking in the graphic department, as each of the spell effects is forgettable at best. However, when a boss is defeated and the lighting effect is created from the explosion, it is more than made up for. Sound: 8 Sound FX: 3/5 Not particularly memorable, as there are very few sound effects in general. The whirling boomerange, however, sounds really cool. Music: 5/5 Although there aren't many pieces of music, they all perfectly set the mood. The Zelda 2 Temple theme and action theme are both extremely good. Gameplay: 10 No question here. Once you look past the fact that, for the most part, the gameplay remains the same throughout the game, and it is nothing like other Zelda games, you start seeing how fun it is to develop strategies for fighting. Dark Nuts, especially, are fun and challenging to fight, even up until the very end of the game. Learning new special attacks and spells to enhance your fighting abilities seems a lot more like an RPG than a standard Zelda game, but they pulled it off extremely well. Same with the experience system, which allows for a player to grow in different directions at different paces (everybody ought to max out in levels before the end of the game, but in the early stages of the game it is possible and even encouraged to 'specialize' in either Attack Power, Health, or Magic. In fact, if one were so inclined, it is almost possible to play this game as a wizard. How's THAT for different from a Zelda game?) Overall: 9 I loved this game, and if you give it a chance I'm sure you will too. Don't listen to the naysayers - they're just dismissing the game before they even get into it. Thanks for reading this! |
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| Reviewer: dukenukethis | Date: May 29, 2003 |
| The first Zelda is the best Zelda game for the NES. You should totally skip over this one and pretend it never existed. Graphics: 6 To be fair, the graphics are pretty good, but a 2D side scroller was the worst idea possible for Zelda. The world map screens look weird, but the 2D areas look ok. Sound: 8 The sound was also good too, but nothing beats the original's main theme, the one that plays when you're wandering around the world. Gameplay: 1 This is where the game bites the dust. All other Zelda games (except for the modern ones for the N64 and GCN) have the same top-down camera view, there's a reason for that. 2D side-scroller Zelda was the dumbest idea Nintendo ever had. The world map looks and plays stupid. Plus enemies run around for a "Random Battle-esque" manner. Nothing in this version of Zelda is seen in any other Zelda games, once again, there is a reason, and the reason is: the game is terrible. Overall: 3 When I play this game it brings to mind Metal Gear 2: Snake's Revenge, you should never play it and if you do please find a local MIB agent and get them to wipe your memory of said event. Don't waste your time on this game, instead use it wisely on a great classic like Kirby, Megaman, or any of the Mario Games. Those are examples of what 2D side-scrollers should be like. |
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| Reviewer: Kirby | Date: Jun 15, 2002 |
| Zelda 2, simply put, is one of the greatest Nintendo games of all time. Not only is the story line great, the gameplay and graphics are sweet as well. I like this game because it is very large and takes an enormous amount of time to explore everything. The more time you take to explore, the more items you get, and the stronger you will be. This game is a must for adventure fanatics, and I am lucky enough to own one of the golden cartridges of the game. Graphics: 10 Sound: 10 Gameplay: 10 Overall: 10 One neat thing you can do is if you have a turbo controller plugged in, and you press both turbo buttons and move, and Link flies across the screen really fast. (This doesn't always work.) Anyone who plays against the last boss and wins will always remember the dramatic ending sequence. |
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| Reviewer: Max Brown | Date: Oct 14, 2001 |
| After defeating Ganon, Link continued to live his life in hyrule. I can go on but the main plot is that to complete the triforce, link must get an incantation (or some magic-type thing anyway) to revive the first princess Zelda, forever sleeping in a royal tomb. Wait, there's more! Ganon's followers decide to kill Link to spread his blood on Ganon's ashes to revive Ganon. (not the best of plots, but a plot nonetheless) This game is very hard to play if you don't have the manual (or a walkthru) Graphics: 9 Well, things were sorta disappointing in the side-scrolling areas Sound: 9 clear, but not good. main theme is a knock-off of the first Gameplay: 10 Very good Overall: 10 Not the best Zelda game, (the worst in fact) but it's Ok. |
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| Reviewer: PanterA | Date: Jul 22, 2001 |
| Ok I know two poeple that devote many hours a day to their Zelda gameplay. They even read every instruction booklet for all of the games (which they all own). And their room is filled from top to bottom of pictures that they drew, most of them are Zelda pictures. They have action figures and one of them even made himself a T-shirt of a Zola (it looks pretty real). So anyways they showed me alot about every Zelda game. Then I asked about the second Zelda for NES. They just said we dont want to talk about that, we barely even consider it a Zelda game. So I played it a few seconds and found out why. Side view is was a bad idea. Maybe I should have played it longer and give it a chance, but I could not stand it. | |
| Reviewer: Fafstrider | Date: Jun 23, 2001 |
| This is the game. This game started the RPG greatness. This game is fun to play for NES. This game has 8 dungeons in it; to find 8 peices of one part of the triforce. With many iteam to get for your arsenal and many heart container to get to add to your life. To also add once you defeat a boss in a dungeon you get a heart container. Once you get your full life and all other iteams; go to this rock by another rock ( I won't tell were) you put a bomb next to one of them and blows up an entrance. To your final Destination. This game also has a sequal for the NES. But Zelda 2 is not that great and is diffrent from all the other Zelda games. For The SNES thr is Zelda: A Link to the past. This is my favorite Zelda game. It has a good story theme and you just gotta play it. After that one there is two more for N64. The first one is Zelda: Orcana of time. This game does follow the zelda story type game but does change a lot to it. Then the newest one out is Zelda: Majora's Mask. This is the only Zelda game that follows up from a diffrent game. And this game is nothin like all the other's but is fun. The graphics in this game are pretty good for a NES game so i gave it a 8. The sound is not that great so i gave it a 7. Gamplay is wonderfull. It is set up so well and played great I gave it a 10. Overall I give this game a 8. I sugest you play this game. |
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| Reviewer: sirkakkarot | Date: Jun 16, 2001 |
| Zelda 2 wasn't as popular as the first game. The side scrolling gameplay just didn't have the appeal to most people that the overhead view of the original did. As for myself, I enjoyed Zelda 2 more than the original. As for story, Zelda 2 finds our hero Link on a quest to awaken the sleeping princess Zelda, and to prevent Gannon from being resurrected by his minions. To do this he must return 7 magic jewels to their respective palaces, and recover the Triforce of Wisdom. Graphics: 7 The graphics in Zelda 2, as in the original, aren't the best ever on the NES, but they do their job. The overhead scenes are even worse than the original game. In the side scrolling action levels the graphics are pretty good though, and thats where the meat of the game takes place. Sound: 9 The music and sound effects are pretty good, as in the first game. It has some remixed music from zelda 1, as well as some original music. Gameplay: 10 Very challenging. Just wait till you take on the Armos knights in the later palaces. This is the only zelda game (besides the 64 games) in which the enemies actually parry and block your attacks. You have to use strategy or you will get schooled. Overall: 8 Overall Zelda 2 is a fun and unique entry in the Zelda series. It has its flaws, but is worth a playthrough at least once by anyone who hasn't tried it yet. |
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