Legend of Zelda II: Adventure of Link

NES

1988 - Nintendo

Ah, the much anticipated sequel to Legend of Zelda (I). This game was just as good as the first, but in very different ways. AoL was one of the first Adventure/RPGs ever. Also a great oldschool game. This time around we've got a sidescrolling action game and an overworld map with sidequests, and leveling up. Additionally, you can perform fantastic feats, like defending yourself, getting high (amazing jumps), shooting fire and... being a Fairy... I always thought Link was a bit light in the loafers... Guess this proves it.*

This time Gannon is gone, but he's put a sleeping spell on Zelda and Link can't wake her (you'd think that would be an opportunity that Link wouldn't want to pass up... but then again he turns into a Fairy later on), but Impa (the ever faithful servent of the Zelda family) tells Link he needs to travel around the world finding special temples, and pass their trials to uncover the final Triforce piece, The Triforce of Wisdom (needed to finish Gannon "forever" and heal the princess). And off you are. Oh, also, Gannon's evil minions (who live fucking everywhere you could go) are trying to kill you, nevermind the dangers of the 6 temples. See if you die, they can revive Gannon to power with your blood. If I was Link, I would have taken his ashes, pissed on them, and thrown them into a fairy lake. Sentimental sonuvabitch probably gave the guy a proper funeral.

This game is pretty hard, in fact I only got about 2/3 of the way through before I put my NES away for a few years. That was the farthest I'd ever gotten. My NES controllers are gone, though I'm going to go to Ebay and buy a pair for $.18, and maybe I'll be able to add more to this review.

What liked: RPG-esque feel, all sorts of special techniques and spellcasting

What disliked: Leveling up, falling to my death in pits

What to expect: Adventure, Challenge

What not to expect: Legend of Zelda 1

Ratings on:

Control: 8 - Very nice, jumping is slightly awkward, and brushbacks are very annoying.

Graphics: 6 - Not real special, but some of the spells are neat.

Sound: 3 - Legend of Zelda 1 had some really catchy tunes, this just didn't... more like mutated songs from the first.

Style: 8 - This was one of the first Action/Adventure/RPGs, right up there with Simon's Quest (a better game though).

Ratings on:

1st hour: 6 - Very interesting, not into the game quite yet.

5th hour: 9 - This is fun and exciting, a totally fresh taste that I wasn't expecting, and an RPG flavor. Yummy!

1st week: 4 - This is not the land of Hyrule I came to love and respect.

2nd week: 5 - This game is stupidly hard, mostly because of the god damn pits and brushbacks.

#1 reason why I hate this game: If you die you gotta start ALL THE WAY back at the starting point. This really starts to suck when you've gotten to the second continent or you're travelling around the islands.

-NinJew wasn't joking about Link being a fairy... he's a big flaming one. At least he can be a fairy that shoots fireballs... that's gotta be something, right?