Have You Beaten AoL

[zeldatwilight]

Have you beat the game Adventure of Link? I have, and it only took me about 5 days dying only 30-40 times. Thats really good for this game i think. It isnt actually a bad game if you take the time, and have patience with the game.

[Shnappy]

Well, I've definitely had my adventures with this game. First time I played it, I got nowhere. The game was just plain too hard for me. A few years later, after going back to the game a few times in those years, I decided to start playing it on an emulator. I used save states, got through a good portion of it, and decided to try playing through it without using save states, rather, without any cheating at all. I got to the penultimate palace (the 6th one?), when either my ROM or emulator got screwed up, repressing me from continuing the game. Just recently I started playing through the game again, this time on collectors edition, and I am now in the Maze Island/Palace part of the game, and have only died about 10 or so times.

So, in short, no, I haven't beaten it. But it's definitely within reach, and I might achieve this goal in the near future.

Edit: Now is the near future, and I have beaten the game. It's quite a good feeling to accomplish quite a goal.

[Caleb, Of Asui]

Adventure of Link is the ONLY Zelda game that I have NOT beaten. It's a little bit maddening. I'm able to get through the entire game, until Thunderbird, which is right were I fail epicly. I tried to beat Thunderburd for FIVE HOURS the first time I got to that point, and I simply cannot. I think it might have to do with the fact that I've only played it Collector's Edition bonus disc for GameCube, where you have to use a GameCube controller. Around Christmas when I play Spirit Tracks, I'll be more focused on Zelda games, so I'm probably going to try and get The Adventure of Link for Game Boy Advance, since that will be so much easier to control, and I might just be able to finally beat it. I'll probably replay Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on Virtual Console around that time, too, but that's beside that point.

I've beaten a lot of Nintendo's other series completely, but I'm still missing about 3 minutes of Zelda. It's a little bit ridiculous.

[basement24]

I never beat it on the original NES, even though it was the first game I owned for it (along with SMB2). My father and I played it for hours on end and got to Dark Link only to be beaten. We decided to try again another day.

Unfortunately, some friends of the family and their kids came over when I wasn't around before we could play again. I say unfortunately because one of those kids decided to play AoL on the NES that was offered up for entertainment. The problem was they didn't hold RESET while they hit POWER, the old way to make sure your game was saved.

The next time my dad and I booted up AoL to finish it, the save game we spend hours on was nowhere to be found. Defeated, we never played it again on the NES.

Just over 20 years later, I decided to give it another go and downloaded it on the Wii VC (mainly so it could be a part of my Wii's main use - a virtual arcade). I powered through it, still dying a lot but probably only half a much as before. I got upto Dark Link, so I saved it. Next time my father was around, I booted up and we finally finished it. Funny part was, after the credits, my dad said "I waited 20 years for that?" referring to the VERY short ending.

So, it may have taken me longer to beat than some of you are old (yeesh, I'm old) but I eventually got it done!

[Zeruda]

I beat it way back when I was very, very young. In recent replays, I've found that I suck horribly now that I've been spoiled with today's smoothe controls. It's still a lot of fun, though. When I first played it, I was really thrown off by the whole side-scrolling and RPG-ish bit, but I actually enjoyed it. I refuse to play it on anything other than the NES, though.

[Kybyrian]

I've beaten the game once or twice myself, but it wasn't fully enjoyable. It's a pretty hard game, and I used to be in a state where when a game was hard I didn't want to play it, and that's the state I was in when I played through the game. Nevertheless, I still played it through to the end. It's not really a bad game and can be sort of enjoyable when you can get around it.

[dumb180]

I've played AoL tons of times on NES. Though the aging hardware of my system made finishing it an impossibility. Replacing the pin connector, oddly enough, didn't even help! I'd get through two or three dungeons, and then that resetting stuff would start, erasing my data. >.<

Sometime last week, I decided to download AoL on VC and give it a shot. Spent about a week here and there on it. I died quite a bit. Not sure on the number right off hand, but I'd say at least seventy times.

I had more trouble with the sidequests than I did the dungeons. Almost never found upward thrust. In the dungeon with the flute, I spent all my time looking for a 'false wall' that was actually in the next dungeon. There's a room with keys and several blocks you need to upward thrust. I was thinking: "Yeah, this is -definitely- where that false wall is! Find that wall, get the key, and downward thrust out!"

Aside from that little quagmire, AoL was really enjoyable. I really had a lot more fun with it than I did some newer Zelda games. Nothing quite like that quick shift from intense frustration to utter glee when you finish a dungeon. :D

[Shadsie]

I've beaten it a few times.

Fairly recently - on the GameCube emulation. Years ago, I used to play it on NES and know I've beaten it at least 2 or 3 times, there. People act like it's an impossible game, but it's not. (Personally, I found Majora's Mask more difficult).

There are tricks to beating it.

First - PAITIENCE and DETERMINATION. Just keep working at it until you figure out how to best that enemy or what hole you're supposed to jump into at the palace. You'll get it if you're paitent.

Second - Level-grind. Increase your life/magic/attack by just going out in the field and finding enemies that will give you a good amount of points, but are fairly easy to kill at your current levels. Adjust as you rise in levels, and eventually you'll be at the strongest the game will allow you to go. I call doing this "going hunting."

Third - Know your spells and when to use them. The most valuable spells to me when fighting a difficult enemy (such as Dark Link!) are the Shield spell on the Life spell. I typically try to use Shield to get my damage reduced, then try to reserve enough magic to use Life twice (towards the end of the game, when I'm at max levels).

[Zarom]

I beat this game for the first time about a year ago. I first had AOL 5 years ago with the Collector's Edition that was include with the Gamecube.

I had a really hard time during my first playtrought. I was always dying. I tought I was never gonna beat this game... Then one day, I told myself I HAD to beat this game once and for all. It took me some time, but I was finally able to beat it. :) The Great Palace was so confusing and hard. The two final bosses, Thunderbird and Dark Link were really tough. I died more than an 50 times. -.-

Anyway, since then, I have beaten the game 3 times. :) Now, I found it pretty easy.

[Link Master]

No I have not beaten Adventure of Link to me the first I think 4 Zelda games are hard I really only got to the Death Mountain Maze and lost I am still trying.

[Sal757]

I am doing a playthrough of it atm, its my first time and i've died like 15 times on the palace lol

[NoRush]

Oh I beat it allright...once is enough. And enough said.

[NorthApple]

Sadly, I missed out on playing the two original ones when they came out (my parents decided to wait get a SNES instead :C). But around last christmas I picked up a copy of the Collector's Edition on GCN, and I'm still in the process of finishing the first two >>; (the gamecube handset is really annoying to play them with). I'll probably get back into them if I can get the GBA versions for chrismas ^^

Not long into starting AoL, I realised I wouldn't stand a chance unless I was more powerful, so I spent ages levelling up and stuff. Now I just have to figure out what to do next xDD
I remember one time I got bored of what I was doing, and just fumbled in through a cave without a light, looking at the patterns on the floor to see if there was an enemy nearby xDDD I died not long after.
Man, I didn't even get to the first temple, I really need to try again sometime >>

[zeldusfanaticus]

the first time i played i got all the way to the lava path, then after dying so many times, i quit and deleted the file. then i started a new file, just "going hunting" as shadsie puts it. i got my levels up decently, went through the first few dungeons, not killng the boss, cause i need the extra lives. but i stopped playing and haven't touched it in over a year, so :cry:

[quillmert]

This was one of my favorite zelda games, and although I was a bit turned off by the difficulty at first, I warmed up to it after the first couple hours and had a lot of fun with it. It took me about three months to beat, and I enjoyed myself greatly. It's a bit hard to get into because it's probably one of if not the hardest zelda game ever made, but once you get into the game itself it becomes a great deal of fun to play.

[Chrono]

Yeah I can beat it in a few hours now. And once aint enough, I'll never get sick of this game.

[MrMosley]

Yeah I can beat it in a few hours now. And once aint enough, I'll never get sick of this game.

Agreed. I've beaten it a few times all the way through, but played it countless times just to do so. The game is pretty fun IMO. The fact that its so different kind of attracts me to it. I'm also a fan of the side-scrolling gameplay; going through and down-stabbing enemies never gets old. The music for the game is also really good. Other games like OoT and ALttP are better in most aspects, but I would honestly find myself playing AoL over either of those most of the time.

[Halo siera 117]

Nope, I didn't ever beat it. That doesn't mean I'm not trying though. Aol is a very difficult game that I sure hope that I one day beat, as it is on most "Top 10 Hardest Video Games Of All Time" lists.

[cubeface21]

I know Dark Link isn't very hard, but for some reason I can't pass him. I've seen people beat him pretty easily, but I cannot beat him for the life of me. I've tried probably 30 times, and I replayed the game multiple times and always stop at him. I'll do it someday...

[Qwerty0805]

Almost, I got up to the 6th palace. I'm almost through it, but I'm having trouble with Barba.

[Brandon]

Yes, I beat it. Even though I play LoZ on the original NES, I didn't own AoL until it was rereleased for the GBA. I had a hard time with the combat at first, so I watched a little bit of a walkthrough to get a feel for the strategy in combat. Then I was good until the last dungeon when I just found a map online b/c I felt it was a waste of time to stumble through hallways until I happened on the games final boss. I thought it was a really good game except that the final dungeon design seemed like a cheap way to make the end challenging. I like it when I can be smart and figure out a way through, but the final dungeon in AoL had no pattern or strategy. It was just a maze. Having said that, I still plan on replaying AoL soon.
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