At Christmas, 1988, Grandma and Grandpa gave James and me the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The system came with 2 controllers, the NES Zapper, and one game; the combination game of Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. After 2 or 3 weeks of playing that game non-stop, Dad finally got fed up and took us to Toys R Us to buy one new game each (I think it was the Mario soundtrack that was annoying him). I remember seeing a friend of mine play Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and I knew that it would be a fantastic game. I also knew that Super Mario Bros. 3 was an amazing game, mostly due to The Wizard movie. I had a huge dilemma, which of these two amazing games should I get? James, on the other hand, was holding California Games, a game featuring a girl wearing a yellow bikini on roller skates and a young man on a BMX bike wearing a GT Dyno shirt. There was no convincing James to pick Mario 3, his mind was made up. So, as it turned out, Dad bought me Zelda II, and there began my Zelda obsession.
I did not “beat” Zelda II until years after we bought it. It was VERY difficult for a 7 year old and other games drew my attention (admittedly California Games was one of them). I remember only getting to the 2nd palace and not knowing how to cross the river in the Town of Saria. When I finally did beat it, it was mainly due to using the NES Game Atlas, which provided maps, walk-throughs, and tips for certain areas of the game.
Turns out, I’m a real hero.
Alas, playing the game again brought back many fond memories
of my childhood. Lindsay let me play
this one exclusively, due to the odd side scrolling nature of this sequel. She
watched as I played on the big screen or on the Wii U game pad (which has a
small screen). I have to admit I didn’t
remember the game quite as well as I had hoped.
The palace layouts had been erased from my memory, so I had to use trial
and error to help me find where I was going. The final palace was particularly difficult to
find my way through, but after a few tries, I learned the correct path. Lindsay watched as I fought the last two
bosses, Thunderbird and Dark Link. After
a satisfying cut scene, we finished the game.
Since finishing the game and writing this blog, I've continually heard
Lindsay say, “Can we start A Link to the Past yet?!?”
Thunderbird
Dark Link
Receiving the Triforce of Courage
Waking up Zelda (I need to try this with Lindsay on the weekends)
Some privacy, please!
My review of the game:
Very challenging, yet very engaging.
The monsters in the game required quick reflexes and knowledge of their
abilities and weaknesses. Some of the
puzzles of the game seemed unbeatable if you didn't know where to look. For instance, finding Bagu in the forest;
nearly impossible. Lindsay often said, “How
did you know to look there?” for many of the secrets throughout the game. Some I found on my own, some were passed to
me from friends, and the others were supplied via the NES Game Atlas. One of the most important things to know
about the game was when to fight monsters, or when to skip them. Also, some of Link’s spells were barely used;
Fire, Reflect, Spell, and Thunder had very little utility in the game. On the other hand, some spells were used very
frequently; Shield (damage reduction), and Life (healing) were used during
difficult times.
Since this is the second game on our quest, I want to start
ranking the games as we play them. The
lists will get longer and start showing differences soon, I promise.
Blake’s Picks:
1st – The Legend of Zelda
2nd – Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Lindsay’s Picks:
1st – The Legend of Zelda
2nd – Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Next up, A Link to the Past, originally released on the
Super Nintendo. We will be playing it on
the Wii/Wii U because our SNES is experiencing some technical difficulties.
Stay tuned for more posts and follow our day-to-day
adventures on our Facebook Group.
Love the idea of ranking the games. I agree on the order too.
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