Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

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Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: NES Released in JP: January 14, 1987 Released in US: December 1, 1988 Released in EU: September 26, 1988 This game has unused areas. This game has unused graphics. This game has regional differences.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is commonly considered the black sheep of the Zelda series, due to it being a sidescroller and having many RPG-style elements in its gameplay. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a successful game.

Unused windows of the palaces

Almost all of the palaces in the game have windows, except palaces 4 and 6. Using a glitch with the "Fairy" spell, it is possible to see them. They're both unique and not used anywhere else.

Island Palace

Hidden Palace

Regional differences

To do: there's lots more where that came from

Title Screen

Japanese	American

The Japanese title screen has a "PUSH START" notice, which was removed from the American version.

Intro

Japanese	American
SEVERAL YEARS AFTER GANNON WAS DESTROYED,LINK LEARNS FROM IMPA ABOUT THE ANOTH- ER SLEEPING PRINCESS ZELDA. HE IS TOLD SHE CAN ONLY AWAKEN WITH THE NO.3 TRY- FORCE SEALED IN THE GREAT SANCTUARY AT DISVALLEY. TO REMOVE THE SEAL, CRYSTALS MUST BE EMBEDDED INTO A STONE STATUE STANDING IN 6 SANCTUARIS. LINK SETS OUT ON AN ADVENTUROUS QUEST… ©1987 NINTENDO	AFTER GANON WAS DESTROYED, IMPA TOLD LINK A SLEEPING SPELL WAS CAST ON PRINCESS ZELDA. SHE WILL WAKE ONLY WITH THE POWER OF NO.3 TRIFORCE SEALED IN A PALACE IN HYRULE. TO BREAK THE SEAL,CRYSTALS MUST BE PLACED IN STATUES IN 6 WELL GUARDED PALACES. LINK SET OUT ON HIS MOST ADVENTURESOME QUEST YET… ©1987 NINTENDO

The intro in the Japanese version features some pretty severe Engrish, which was corrected for the American release.

Link

Japanese	American

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

Zelda's Chamber

Japanese	American
File:TAOL JP3.png	File:AOLZeldaChamber.png

Zelda's Chamber looks vastly different in the Japanese version. The pillars continue all the way to the exit in the American version, while they stop after the stairs as the ceiling gets lower in the Japanese version, giving this area more of a "cave" feeling. In addition, the torches beside Zelda didn't exist in the Japanese version.

Overworld Monsters

Japanese	American

In the Japanese version, the monsters which appear on the overworld randomly are just some nondescript blobs of various colors. These were changed in the American version, possibly to make the difficulty of the monsters more obvious to the player.

Tomb of the King of Hyrule

The Japanese version of the tomb of the King of Hyrule is a place where you can pick up a bottle of red magic, but it's in a different location, in European and American releases, and is a lot harder to find.

The place is now in the American and European version, but it is not used.

Water movement

This is one of the few differences that looks better in the Japanese version. On the map of the kingdom of Hyrule, the waters of rivers and seas are moving.

Link on the raft

When Link uses the raft on the sea, he starts facing the screen. This is not the case of U.S. and European versions.

The monster that blocks the path

The famous spider that blocks the path to the sixth palace and two cities is a monster in the Japanese version.

The large building secret Kasuto

Japanese version of the large building that comes out of the ground in the Hidden Village of Kasuto is slightly different, and looks less pretty.

The villagers of towns and villages

In the Japanese version, there are very few kinds of characters. The two kinds of women and bearded man. Three new kinds of villagers will be created in American and European versions.

The two soldiers

The two soldiers who are learning to link some sword attacks are quite different in the Japanese version. This is a man with a large body like the bearded man and a small head with a helmet.

Differences palaces

There are two kinds of palaces, 1, 2, 5 and 3, 4, 6. This difference is even more visible in the Japanese version. The Palace 1, 2 and 5 have the color of the first palace and the bricks are the same. For Palace 3, 4 and 6, they also have the same brick, but with the color of the second palace of the American and European versions.

Boss and mini-boss of the palaces

This is one of the big differences in the Japanese version. Some boss and mini-boss of the palaces are different or come back a second time.

Mazura, the boss of the first palace, returns as the mini-boss in the fifth palace. It guards the famous false wall. This boss a cry like the boss of The Legend of Zelda.

Jermafenser, the boss of the second palace back again in a much stronger version as boss of the fifth palace. He is replaced by Gooma in American and European versions.

Carock, the fourth boss of the palace is a little different. In the Japanese version, he faces toward the player instead of toward Link.

Barba, the boss of the sixth palace is quite different in the Japanese version. His attacks are faster and there is not in place to spit flames. This boss cry is shared with Mazura.

Some differences in the palaces

The collapsing bridges in the palaces have different colors.

In the fourth dungeon, one of the rooms have more enemies in the Japanese version. Goom a Hell and a high of pillar creating Bots are present along with the Iron Knuckles.

Level system

The level system works vastly differently in the Japanese version. All upgrades (Attack, Life and Magic) are worth the same EXP values here, while in the American version, they have different EXP requirements, with Life being the cheapest and Attack the most expensive.

Now, there's a catch to this. In the Japanese version, when you save and continue, all three levels are reduced the lowest one you had of any of the three upgrades. So if you had Lv. 8 Attack, Lv. 5 Magic and Lv. 3 Life, they would all be reset to Level 3 when you saved and reloaded the game. This was changed in the American version, all levels are retained upon saving and reloading.

Items

Items, like the candle or the heart container, need to be hit using the sword to pick them up in the Japanese version, just like other things such as point bags or potions. Therefore, Link won't hold the item over his head after collecting it. In the American version, Link collects items automatically just by touching them.