Editing Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

{{Game
| name=The Adventure of Link
| image=[[Image:Adventureoflink.jpg|150px]]
| bgcolor=silver
| fgcolor=black
| developer=[[Nintendo]]
| publisher=[[Nintendo]]
| genre=[[Adventure]]/[[RPG]]
| system=[[NES]], [[Game Boy Advance]], [[Virtual Console]] ([[Wii Virtual Console|Wii]], [[3DS Virtual Console|3DS]], [[Wii U Virtual Console|Wii U]])
|release='''NES'''<br />JP January 14, 1987<br />EU November 26, 1988<br />US December 1988<br>'''GBA'''<br />JP August 10, 2004<br />US October 25, 2004<br />EU January 7, 2005<br />'''Wii Virtual Console'''<br />JP January 23, 2007<br />EU February 9, 2007<br />US June 4, 2007<br />'''3DS Virtual Console'''<br />August 31, 2011 (''Ambassador'')<br />JP June 6, 2012<br />EU September 13, 2012<br />US November 22, 2012<br />SK May 4, 2016<br />'''Wii U Virtual Console'''<br />JP September 11, 2012<br />US September 12, 2012<br />EU September 26, 2012
| gallery=[http://www.gamehiker.com/gallery/index.php?cat=5 GH Gallery]
| rating= ESRB: E
|}}

'''Zelda II: The Adventure of Link''' is the sequel to ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''. It is the last ''Zelda'' game for the NES and is known for its very different gameplay style and for being harshly difficult. It takes on the form of a side-scrolling adventure.

=Story=

Long ago the King of [[Hyrule]] ruled the land wisely with the [[Triforce]]. After he died, he gave part of the Triforce to the prince, but not all. of it. When the prince found out his sister, [[Zelda]], knew of it, he demanded her to tell him. When that did not work, the king's magician grew angry and cast a spell of eternal sleep on her. Though the prince banished the evil fiend, he was unable to help the princess.

It is now nearly Link's sixteen birthday and he is living happily in North Castle, after defeating [[Ganon]] in ''The Legend of Zelda''. One day a strange mark appears on his hand. He shows it to [[Impa]], and she tells him the Prince and the sleeping Princess. Since Link has both the Triforce of Power and Wisdom, she tells him of the Triforce of Courage's resting place. But the place where it rests, the Great Palace, is protected by a seal. In order to break the seal, Link has to return six crystals to the different palaces across the land. However, this quest will not be easy. Not only at the palaces protected by guardian creatures, but Ganon's minions are searching for Link and planning to use his blood to resurrect Ganon.

=Gameplay=

This game takes on a new style with elements from sidescrollers and traditional RPGs. Link navigates the overworld, and after entering certain areas or touching a monster that appears on the overworld map, he is transferred to a side-scrolling area where the player usually must fight off monsters and/or navigate an environment.. Instead of the traditional inventory of items and weapons, Link only fights with a sword in battles. Link can also jump, and there are a limited amount of items found within the game, most of which affect the overworld (such as the hammer, which can break rocks blocking paths). 

This game also adds a variety of magic skills that Link can learn from the wise old men living in the various villages, which are monitored by his amount of magic points. Link can gain experience and level up, at which point the player can choose to increase his health, his magic meter or his strength. This is also the only ''Zelda'' game where Link has extra lives.

=Continuity Notes=

*This game specifically takes place several years after ''The Legend of Zelda'' with the same Link and Impa (although the ancient Zelda appears in pace of the Zelda of the previous game). Ganon's minions also seek to revive him due to his destruction at Link's hands in the previous game's ending. At the end of the game Link is also shown to still have the Triforces of Wisdom and Power from the previous game. The [[Hyrule Historia]] clarifies that takes place six years after ''The Legend of Zelda'' and is part of the alternate timeline which follows a hypothetical version of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]]'' where the Hero of Time failed to defeat Ganon. ''Zelda II'' is the last title set in this branch of the timeline.
*A small portion of the overworld resembles a reduced version of the overworld from ''The Legend of Zelda'', including [[Death Mountain]]. This has caused the expansive overworld that is exclusive to this game to be referred to as North Hyrule.
*This game sets several story precedents for the ''Zelda'' series, as it introduced the whole Triforce (with its last piece, the Triforce of Courage) and establishes multiple generations of Princess Zeldas. This has also caused confusion about the timeline placement of ''Zelda II'''s backstory, as the story of the sleeping Zelda is implied to have taken place at an early point in Hyrule's history, which made it difficult to match up with other games associated with the "early" canon such as ''Ocarina of Time''. It has since been established that the sleeping princess backstory instead took place in the era just prior to ''The Legend of Zelda'' and ''Zelda II''.

=Legacy=

''Zelda II'' has gained a notorious reputation, as many players were alienated by the radically different gameplay style and the game's high difficulty. The game has still left an impact on the series. The next ''Zelda'' game returned to what become the traditional ''Zelda'' formula but used a magic meter based on the magic system from this game. The focus on sword combat in this game also helped to inspire the prominent swordplay that would be used in the 3-D games starting with ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]]''.

Some of the other handheld ''Zelda'' games have also featured selective side-scrolling areas. Outside of the ''Zelda'' series, music from the game has appeared in the ''[[Portal: Super Smash Bros.|Super Smash Bros.]]'' series, and ''Zelda II'' has also been one of the games featured in both ''[[NES Remix 2]]'' and ''[[Ultimate NES Remix]]'', which use segments of classic games for challenges, often combining them with elements of other classic games.

==Ports and Remakes==

*In 2003 it was released as part of ''[[The Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition]]'', a promotional disc for the Nintendo Gamecube.
*In 2004, it was ported to the [[Game Boy Advance]] as part of the [[Classic NES Series]]. These first ports were only slightly altered: The flashing death scene was removed, Barba was renamed to [[Volvagia]] for series consistency (as well as a more accurate translation), and some other audio effects were changed. 
*The original NES version has been released for download on the [[Wii]], [[Nintendo 3DS]] and [[Wii U]] as part of every iteration of the [[Virtual Console]]: for the [[Wii Virtual Console]] in 20017, the [[3DS Virtual Console]] in 2012 and the [[Wii U Virtual Console]] in 2013. On the 3DS, it was also among the games offered as a free download in 2011 for participants of the [[3DS Virtual Console#Ambassador_Program|Ambassador Program]].
*In 2016, it was among the games included in the [[NES Classic Edition]].
*In January 2019, it was among the NES games made available to play as part of the [[Nintendo Switch Online]] service. This version included cooperative and competitive online multiplayer options. Two months later, an SP version was made available in which the player can start the game with all of the stats (Attack, Magic and Life) maxed out at eight.

==Sequels==

It was not followed by a direct sequel, but the next ''Zelda'' game to be made was ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]''.

=See Also=

*[[Enemies in The Adventure of Link]]

{{Zelda Series}}

[[Category: NES Games]] [[Category: Game Boy Advance Games]] [[Category: Virtual Console Games]] [[Category: Zelda Games]] [[Category:Classic NES series]][[Category: 3DS Virtual Console Games]][[Category: Ambassador Program]]