Zelda II: The Adventure of Link/Regional Differences

Title Screen
The Japanese FDS version's title screen has a "PUSH START" notice, which was removed from the international NES cartridge.

Intro
The intro in the FDS version features some strange English, and maintains the "Gannon" spelling from the the first game. It also refers to "another sleeping Princess Zelda", implying that this is not the same Zelda that appeared in the first game.

The NES version's intro was completely rewritten, changing "Gannon" to "Ganon" (a spelling which would be retained in future Zelda games) and removing the "another" Zelda reference.

Game Over
In the FDS version, the message is accompanied by the same audio heard in the Mazura and Volvagia boss fights. A new Game Over screen featuring a laughing Ganon was created for the NES version, and these bosses no longer roar.

Link
Link's sprite was given a visible mouth in the NES version.



In the FDS version, you collected items by stabbing them with your sword. In the NES version, you touch it and go through the now-standard mini-cutscene, so two new sprite variations of Link were created. A somewhat cruder version of the sprite for Link holding items already exists in all versions, intended primarily for the ending sequence when Link is holding up the Triforce.

Zelda's Chamber
Zelda's chamber looks vastly different in the NES version: the pillars continue all the way to the exit here, while they originally stopped after the stairs as the ceiling gets lower (giving this area more of a "cave" feeling). In addition, torches near Zelda were added.

Overworld Monsters
In the original, the "roaming monsters" are just nondescript blobs of various colors. These were changed in the NES version, possibly to make the difficulty of the encounters more obvious to the player. Some encounters were also changed, such as the NES version having less Bits that give more experience.



Trophy
Not only was the Megami Zou ("goddess statue") rechristened a "Trophy", it was given a different sprite.

Water of Life
Same case here; the Seinaru Mizu ("holy water") is now known as the "Water of Life" (no relation to potions) and has a new sprite.

Kidnapped Child
The Kidnapped Child is an item, and since items in the original version are collected by attacking them, the Child was sensibly bound by rope. In the NES release, you simply pick him up, hoist the poor thing over your head, and add to your collection.

Dragon Quest Reference


The FDS release contained a reference to Dragon Quest hidden in Saria: one of the graves reads "The hero Loto rests here" when translated, with Loto (Erdrick in the English Dragon Warrior translation) being a famous hero within the series. Square even joined in on this little gag: Final Fantasy has text translated to "Here lies Link" in the original Japanese version, and "Here lies Erdrick" in the English release (though reverted at some point in the boundless sea of re-releases).

Church
The cross on top of the Church in Mido was changed in the NES version to have a unique appearance, instead of reusing the grave marker graphic. Also, the graphic seen above the doors is slightly different in all the towns.

The King's Tomb
In the FDS version, the tomb of the ancient King of Hyrule is a large area with a few enemies and a red bottle of magic. While this same area does exist in the NES release, it was moved to a grave southwest of the area. Instead, the main tomb of the NES version is instead a single enemy-free screen with an old lady NPC.

Also in the NES version's data is an unused second copy of the larger area that was probably meant to be "East Hyrule". This area contains several blue Moas. To enter this unused area, use the code and.

Water Movement


In the FDS version, every body of water on the world map is animated, as well as the lava at the Valley of Death. This was done by modifying the graphics in the FDS VRAM in real-time. As the cartridge uses CHR ROM and a somewhat primitive mapper instead, they remain motionless.

Raft
Originally, the Link sprite always faced forward when riding the raft.

River Devil
Originally, the spider-like creature that blocks the path to the sixth palace and Kasuto is represented by an ogre-like monster. Presumably, the spider sprite was added with the new random encounter sprites.

Kasuto Secret Building
In the NES version, the tall building that emerges from the ground in the Hidden Village of Kasuto has a different texture for its "blocks".

Villagers


For the NES version, three new characters were created, adding a bit more variation.

Magicians


The magicians were given an animation for the NES version.

River Guards
The original sprite for the River Guards looks a lot like the "bearded man" villager, which may have been why it was changed.

Swordsmen
The Swordsmen originally just used a palette swap of the original River Guards, but the NES version received a palette swap of the new River Guards for one and a brand-new sprite for the other. Of course, the one holding a spear was probably specifically meant for the River Guards.

Palaces
In the FDS version, every single palace uses the same brick graphic, making them quite repetitive! Of these, the first, second, and fifth palaces used the gray palette, and the third, fourth, and sixth palaces used the blue palette which later ended up being used for the NES version's second palace, and the final palace's gold was retained. Specifically, the NES release features totally unique wall patterns for each palace, plus three different column tiles (distribution: 1/4/7, 2/5, 3/6).

Aside from this, there are also some unused spike tiles and "broken wall" tiles in all tile sets.









Enemy Properties
The FDS version did not have monsters that drained Link's experience, or those that could only be harmed by fire. These attributes were added to certain enemies for the NES version, as well as different experience point values for some monsters.

Iron Knuckle Attacks
Furthermore, Iron Knuckles in the FDS version will shoot a proper sword beam at Link, flashing and disappearing upon shield impact just like his own. Unlike Link, this is unaffected by vitality. For the NES version, this was changed to a throwing knife (which may be why Iron Knuckles use axes in later games), which mostly functions the same except it (obviously) does not flash and there is a light bounce off Link's shield.

Bosses and Mini-Bosses
In the FDS version, some bosses have a harsh and evil-sounding roar (also used for the Game Over screen in that version), similar to the bosses in The Legend of Zelda.

The boss of the fourth palace, Carock, originally used a single symmetrical sprite that faced the screen. He was redrawn, given an animation frame, and given the ability to face left or right in the NES version.



Mazura (Horsehead) originally returned as a mini-boss in the fifth palace, just before the fake wall; in the NES, this fight is against a blue Iron Knuckle instead.

Originally, you just fought a stronger version of Jermafencer (Helmethead) as the boss of the fifth palace; in the NES version, this boss is only fought in the second palace (where it replaced the weaker variation), and a completely new creation called Gooma was added to the fifth palace of the NES version. Gooma is a sort of "boss version" of the similarly named "Guuma" enemies (whose artwork was mixed up, so the name may not be correct), which were never named in English sources, as well as the Hell Guumas (called Doomknockers in said sources).

Volvagia, who became "Barba" in English guides, received quite the facelift for his NES showing. His attacks became somewhat slower and he no longer roars (like Horsehead from earlier). However, his original sprites were fleshed out a bit, and he's gained some animation as well. The boss room has a somewhat different layout, as well.

Palace Differences
Collapsing bridges in palaces use their own palette in the FDS version. In the NES version, they adhere to the palace's palette.

The original has blue Octoroks throughout the second palace; the NES release replaced these with blue Anerus.



The hallway which leads to the boss in the fourth palace had some enemies removed for the NES version.

The entrance to the Great Sanctuary / Palace looks a little different between versions; the barrier and the color of the ground were changed for the NES version.

Ending
The end credits are different between versions, both in colors and in animation.

Magic Menu
For some reason, the Reflect spell was originally known as "Reflex". This doesn't seem to be a translation error, as the Japanese spelling reflects this.

Level System
The level system was changed a lot: in the FDS version, all upgrades (Attack, Life and Magic) are worth the same EXP values; in the NES version, they have different EXP requirements, with Life being the cheapest and Attack the most expensive.

Further, the disk has it so that when you save and quit, all three levels are reduced to the lowest one you had of any of the three upgrades (for example, if you had Lv. 8 Attack, Lv. 5 Magic, and Lv. 3 Life, they would all be reset to Level 3). In the NES version, all levels are always retained between sessions.

Elevators
Elevators in palaces seem to have been sped up for the NES version.

Music/Sound
The FDS version makes extensive use of the hardware's extra sound channel, which means some music and sound effects had to be changed when porting to the NES (aside from the creative-based changes). The biggest song example is the title theme, while sound effects include finding a fairy, unlocking a door, using a spell, etc.

A few songs and sound effects were also changed entirely.

Battle Theme
The FDS card and NES cart have completely different tracks for the battle theme. The FDS version would later be remixed for The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap as a mini-boss theme.

Ganon's Game Over Laugh
As mentioned previously, the FDS version has the "roar" sound effect for the Game Over screen, while the NES release has a unique laugh for Ganon borrowed from Soda Popinski in Punch-Out!!

Dark Link Trick
The NES version has an infamous trick where Link can stand all the way to the left side of the screen, wait for Dark Link to walk to him, and attack Dark Link without getting hit at all. The shadow is too smart for that in the FDS original; either he was dumbed down for the cartridge, or an error slipped through.

Fairy Warp Glitch
Another error exclusive to the NES cartridge: if Link is on top of the screen and uses the Fairy spell, a glitch causes Link to warp as if he is falling down a pit, which sometimes takes Link to completely random places and can even result in him becoming trapped in the scenery. This is impossible in the FDS version.