Retro Corner: The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES) Review · 12:34pm Aug 12th, 2021
I have an old edition of Retro Corner Reviews to show, and we take another look at my Zelda II review from 2016. Now onto other things, much like the first game the sequel didn't go into any backstory of the world and the Triforce again. Nintendo would explain several historical events of Hyrule and why the Triforce's power is sought by many after Zelda II. There wasn't any backstory or history on Hyrule and the holy relic until ALTTP on Super NES. This game would go over everything that wasn't explained in the first two entries and went further into the lore. Another thing about Zelda II that is interesting is how a true sequel was never made from the second game. Even till this day no Zelda III was ever developed or considered by Miyamoto. I doubt it has anything to do with Zelda II's gameplay structure or features. If that was the case, many of its features would’ve never been used in future installments.
Now, Zelda II has for years been the black sheep of the series due to its infamous difficulty. Other than Twilight Princess—the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion of the series—Zelda II often takes the most criticism. It’s no doubt the game has aged terribly since the late 80s as most 8-bit titles never hold up. There have only been a handful across both the NES and Master System to age well between visuals and gameplay. The thing that made the second title interesting is the backstory elements which were rather dark for an NES game. As mentioned, Valiant Comic took the ideas from the sequel and used it to tell the comic series’ plot. In fact, they did an amazing job using pre-A Link to the Past lore to tell a darker version compared to Nintendo’s lighthearted vision.
