Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

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Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
NES (NSO)
Nintendo
Nintendo EAD

+ Intense combat
- More linear than the original

Princess Zelda has fallen under a sleeping spell, Ganon's followers are after Link's blood, and only the TriForce of Courage can wake her. The best game the internet ever told you was bad is actually a pretty important piece of not just Nintendo history, but the entire medium's. This more action oriented sequel to Nintendo's original "never-ending" adventure eschews it's bird's eye view and non-linear progression for side-scrolling platforming, straightforward level design, and a more complex combat system. It was pretty refreshing at the time and, after accepting the curveball Nintendo threw the US as Super Mario Bros. 2, wasn't as far off from our expectations as modern audiences might think. This was a time of great experimentation when the definition of "video game" wasn't yet entirely clear, decades before the era of sequels-as-expansion-packs, so this seems more to me not so much as an evolution of an original concept, but an alternate take on an existing idea. It helped teach me to be open-minded to radical new ideas in my favorite franchises in the future, yet another reason I feel the NES was the best console to have grown up with. Notorious for it's difficulty spike, the challenge here is in managing the new magic meter and experience system and to know when to run. Puzzles are light and mostly seen in towns and villages, each acting as a sort of "level" gating progress to the next, but the meat of the game is in it's unique combat system. Link can attack high and low, vital against shielded foes, and eventually above and below during a jump. It may not seem like much today, but back in the mid-80s this combo of platforming and intensive fighting was highly original. In fact, it's only contemporary I can think of is "The Battle of Olympus", but today it's influence can be felt in such smaller titles as Shovel Knight, Elliot Quest, and Chronicles of Teddy.

Verdict: 9/10
Overall, this was and is still a fantastic and very unique game that I don't think feels it's age. It's high degree of physical challenge doesn't quite make up for the more rounded experience of it's predecessor, but this is a classic representative of an era when even the biggest name publishers had today's indie spirit.

- Lux Anatis