This Adventure of Link Retrospective Takes an In-Depth Look at the Black Sheep Zelda Game

I grew up with an NES and both original Zelda gold cartridge games. The scope and challenge of these games kept me occupied for hours on end, not to mention the years that followed. Reducing Ganon to a pile of ash felt like a rite of passage between my friends and myself. Yet, even with all the time I spent playing, I couldn’t best Adventure of Link. It wasn’t until my later teenage years when I revisited the game that I finally finished it. It carries the reputation of being abstruse and tough as nails. Truly, despite its challenging and cryptic nature, I revere it as one of the great NES titles. In a follow-up to a 2019 The Legend of Zelda retrospective, Source Gaming on YouTube offers us an in-depth look at Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Source Gaming sets out to offer an in-depth look and review in the context of 1988, when the game released in the US. Released one year after the original adventure, the sequel is different in nearly every possible way. While the top down perspective remains, it serves merely for travel on an overworld map. Combat is now side-scrolling, like many other action titles of the day. Link’s hearts are now replaced with a life bar, in addition to a magic bar. The game even carried a large RPG influence, adding in experience points and a leveling system. It was a radical departure from the game that came before and has left the game with a murky legacy.

Where this retrospective shines is in highlighting the exploration and problem solving required to complete this game. Towns are full of NPC’s that are quite helpful in your quest. Whether you need to heal, need to gain a new spell or ability, or need a hint on where to go, there is likely an NPC that can help. The hints are cryptic, sure, and there are a few fetch quests you’ll need to complete. The townspeople are frightened and want to live in peace. Link is living off the rumors and hearsay the town has to offer to complete his journey. It’s in this aspect that the game feels alive and real. You’re being offered a suggestion and a way to deal with it instead of your hand being held.

In fairness, there are a few puzzles and sequences that are not so straightforward. As the video points out, there’s little information that tells you to use the “Spell” spell in east Kasuto. Much like the infamous kneel in Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, word of mouth or a strategy guide seems required in this area. For a required item, it seems like a little information would’ve been useful from the developers. That said, games of this era required a great deal of trial and error. This spell is acquired withing the same town, so I can understand someone experimenting with it at a dead end. It’s an imperfect system, but not a broken system.

Where my issues with the retrospective arise is in the criticisms of certain enemies. Specifically, Source Gaming mentions several times that Iron Knuckles fights are terrible. I concede that these enemies are not easy, nor should they be. Link is a warrior fighting warriors. These enemies should be challenging. It seemed, through the course of the video, that the player never approached the Iron Knuckles properly. Wildly flailing with your sword without adjusting for defense will lead to death nine times out of ten. This may sound like a nitpick, but it seems to me that there is a lack of understanding with the combat. Adventure of Link has flaws, but the control of combat is simply not one of them. It’s a game of patience and planning. This point seemed lost within the video, and I felt disappointed at the resulting viewpoint.

Adventure of Link, in contradiction to this video’s final assessment, is not a bad game, and is certainly not a “train wreck.” It is a change of direction for a game series that did not have direction at the time. There was experimentation and a fresh take on a new idea. Not everything worked, as is evidenced by A Link to the Past returning to the Legend of Zelda model. What did last was some major groundwork for games to come, such as a magic system, towns with NPC’s, and new sword skills. This sequel broke the mold, for better or worse, and tried something new. Adventure of Link is dark, gritty, and at times maddeningly difficult. It was also not afraid to try something new. This is a game I return to frequently, and, if you approach it properly, is truly a highlight of the series.

What are your thoughts on Adventure of Link? Do you find yourself agreeing with the retrospective, or find yourself more in line with my take? Let us know in the comments below!