is sort of the black sheep of the Zelda family, the weird uncle who has to sit by himself at family reunions. That still puts it ahead of the terrible CDi adventures, which don't even get invitations, but it's still very much the odd one out. And in retrospect, the game really doesn't hold up as well as the rest of the series. But as long as you can look beyond its basic un-Zelda-ness, it's still an entertaining adventure... albeit one with a few flaws.
But Zelda II strayed from its roots in other, more significant ways. It remains the only chapter of the series to include an RPG-style experience and leveling system, and it also featured a massive overworld map which led to random enemy encounters as well as caves and towns and palaces. But despite its quirks, it also served as the basis for a number of future Zelda standards: it introduced a more active sense of storytelling to the series, as well as chain-of-event subquests to acquire vital items and skills. So regardless of your feelings of this particular episode of Nintendo's flagship franchise, there's no question it was an important game that helped define what the Zelda games would ultimately be... and what they wouldn't be.
The important question, of course, is how well the game holds up in this release. And the answer is: not too badly. Zelda II lacks the timelessness of its peers, but it's still perfectly entertaining -- provided you're cool with its flaws. Unfortunately, those flaws have become more obvious with the passing of time and the maturation of the medium in general. The game has its share of head-slapping design elements that really stand out.
The NES Classics series is of course all about presenting these classic games with perfect fidelity to the original 8-bit adventures (minus the gold cartridges -- boo!). That's certainly a noble cause, but Zelda II definitely would have been much more playable if this version offered some sort of optional remixed mode that ironed out the archaic wrinkles.
Perhaps the biggest frustration with Zelda II is its continue system -- this is a hard, hard game, and few gamers (even veterans) will be able to complete it without seeing "The Return of Ganon" a few times. But when you choose to continue, the game sends you all the way back to the start. Not the start of the level you were conquering, or the area you were exploring. The start of the entire game. That's not too bad if you're in the opening areas of the game, but you'll definitely be feeling the pain when you're wiped out in the lower chambers of the final palace and have to traverse the massive overworld and fight your way back through a vicious gauntlet of bad guys just to have another stab at the palace. The original Zelda -- and every single sequel since -- sent you back to the opening area of the current dungeon when you lose. And after a few frustrating treks across Hyrule, you'll be longing for a similar showing of mercy here as well. The addition of extra lives doesn't really help too much, and only deepens the game's sense of not fitting in with its siblings.
There are a number of other little minor trifles that wouldn't have hurt to have seen fixed up as well. For instance, the Japanese version of the game had a more forgiving level-up system as well as vastly better music -- elements which weren't in the U.S. edition of the game, sure, but would have been so hard to make them optional elements regardless? Truthfully, though, it seems unlikely that a mere reshuffling of a few of the game's superficial elements could correct the bigger problem, which is that Zelda II simply isn't very Zelda-like. It's an issue that extends beyond the visual perspective and control scheme. The dungeons are much simpler, enemies require less strategy, and perhaps most crucial is the complete lack of anything resembling puzzles. Walk, hack, slash, get item, kill boss, find next dungeon by performing task for townsperson. And be sure to cover every inch of the overworld, because certain vital items are hidden in unmarked areas! The novelty wears off pretty quickly, and we can only thank the stars that there was no Second Quest in this one.
Even with its irregularities and flaws, Zelda II is still a good old-fashioned Nintendo adventure, and as such still comes off as a quality piece of work. It's certainly the least classic chapter of its series, but a lacking Zelda game is still pretty entertaining. Adventure of Link might be more for completists than its predecessor was, but you can certainly find plenty here to keep you busy for some time.
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