Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

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.

Game Over

Japanese	American

A new Game Over screen featuring a laughing Ganon was made for the NES version. In the Japanese version, the Engrish message is accompanied by a roar, the same audio heard in some of the boss fights in the FDS version.

Link

Japanese	American

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

Due to having changed the way in how you collected items in the NES version, two new sprite variations of Link were made for the NES version. A more crude version of the sprite for Link holding items exist in the game, made for the ending sequence when Link is holding up the Triforce in both the FDS and NES version, but these two in-game sprites wasn't in the Japanese version where you instead stabbed the items with your sword.

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.

Goddess Statue

Japanese	American

The sprite for the stolen Goddess Statue, or Trophy as it was called in the NES version, was given a different look.

Sacred Water

Japanese	American

The sprite for the Sacred Water, or Water of Life as it was named in the NES game, is different.

Kidnapped Child

Japanese	American

The kidnapped child is tied with ropes in the Japanese version, in order to set him free you'll need to stab "him" with the sword. In the NES version, you instead collect him more like an item by simply touching him.

Dragon Quest reference

In the Water Town of Saria there's a little reference to Dragon Quest in the Japanese version not included in the NES version. On one of the graves there, it reads, "The hero, Loto, rests here." Loto, also known as Erdrick in the Dragon Warrior translation, is a longstanding hero of the games. It seems that putting characters from competing series in graves was a common gag back then, for example, the first Final Fantasy has "Here lies Erdrick" in its English version and "Here lies Link" in its Japanese version.

Church

Japanese	American

The Church in Mido was changed for the NES. Also, the graphic seen above the doors is slightly different in all the towns.

King's Tomb

Japanese	American

In the Japanese version, the tomb of the King of Hyrule is a larger area with a few enemies and a red bottle of magic, this same area do exist in the NES version, but was instead moved to a grave south-west of the King's tomb. The King's tomb in the NES version was instead a single frame where you could talk to an old lady.

Water movement

In the Japanese version, all the bodies of water on the world map are animated. In the American version they stand still.

Raft

Japanese	American

When Link uses the raft, he automatically turns to face the screen in the Japanese version. He doesn't do this in the American version.

Spider

Japanese	American

The spider that blocks the path to the sixth palace and the Kasuto villages is a monster in the Japanese version. This was changed probably due to the new random encounter sprites in the American version.

The tall building in secret Kasuto

Japanese	American

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

Villagers

The Japanese version has very few villager sprites. These three new characters was added for the NES version to bring more variation in the population.

Magicians

The Magicians were given an animation in the NES version.

River Guards

Japanese	American

The sprite for the two River Guards looks very different in the Japanese version - it is rather similar to the bearded man sprite. It's easy to see why it was changed.

Swordsmen

Japanese	American

The two Swordsmen used the same sprite in the Japanese version with a slightly different palette than the River Guards, the Nes version got two unique ones, though it does look like the one holding a spear was meant for the River Guards instead, he is teaching you a sword-technique afterall.

Palaces

In the Japanese version, all six palaces use the very same brick graphic used for the first palace in the American version, making them look very monotonous and repetitive. Of these, palace 1, 2 and 5 used the gray palette, while palaces 3, 4 and 6 used a blue palette which later ended up being used for the second palace in the American version.

Bosses and mini-bosses

Horsehead, the boss of the first palace, returns as a mini-boss in the fifth palace in the Japanese version, just before the fake wall. There is no mini-boss here in the American version.

In addition, Horsehead has a "roar" similar to the bosses in the original The Legend of Zelda. This roar was removed in the American version as well.

Japanese	American

Gooma, the boss of the fifth palace, is an addition to the American version. He didn't exist in any form in the Japanese version, instead of him you fought a stronger rendition of Helmethead from the second palace.

Japanese	American

In the fourth palace, Carrock's sprite is different. He faces the screen in the Japanese version, instead of looking to the side.

Japanese	American

The Barba sprite looks quite different in the Japanese version. As well, his attacks are faster and there is not in place to spit flames. Like Horsehead, he roars in the Japanese version.

Palace Differences

Japanese	American

The collapsing bridges in the palaces use their own palette in the Japanese version. In the American version, they adhere to the dungeon's palette.

This room in the fourth palace is filled with enemies in the Japanese version. All of them were removed for the American release.

Japanese	American

The entrance to the Great Temple looks a little different between versions, the barrier and the color of the ground was changed for the NES version.

Ending

Japanese	American

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

The Magic Menu

Japanese	American
REFLEX	REFLECT

In the magic menu in the Japanese version, we have another case of Engrish.

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.

Elevators

The elevators in dungeons move more slowly in the FDS version than in the NES version.

Music/sound

Due to the Famicom Disk System having better sound hardware, the FDS version of Zelda II generally sounds different than the NES version. Many sound effects are different, such as finding a fairy, unlocking a door, using a spell, etc. The title screen in the FDS version also has richer sound than the NES version.

The music when entering random encounters is also entirely different between versions.

Dark Link trick

In the NES version, there is an infamous trick to beat Dark Link: 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. In the FDS version, however, Dark Link is smarter, so this trick does not work. Therefore, he is much harder to beat.

Fairy warp glitch

In the NES version, 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 get stuck. In the FDS version, nothing happens when trying to use the Fairy spell on top of the screen, so the glitch does not work.

Revision differences

Zelda II was re-released for the GameCube in 2003, the Game Boy Advance in 2004, and the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, with a few minor changes.

Intro

NES	GCN/GBA/Wii
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	AFTER GANON WAS DESTROYED, IMPA TOLD LINK A SLEEPING SPELL WAS CAST ON PRINCESS ZELDA. SHE WILL WAKE ONLY WITH THE POWER OF THE THIRD 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... ©1987-2004 NINTENDO

Like the conversion from FDS to NES, the GCN, GBA, and Wii versions have slightly better grammar in the intro text than the NES version does. The copyright date was updated as well.

Seizure effect

When losing a life in the FDS or NES versions, the screen flashes rapidly with a rainbow of colors, potentially causing seizures. In the updated versions, the screen just flashes between similar shades of red, reducing the possibility of seizures.

PAUSE text

To do: Does this occur in the Wii version, too?

In the GBA and GameCube versions, when the game is paused on the map screen, a small, black box that says "PAUSE" appears. This does not occur in the NES or FDS versions.