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[low-G]

Zelda 2 is one of the most fun to pick up and play, I think. If you don't know the routes I imagine it'd be really frustrating though.

Zelda 2 was my first Zelda. I didn't even know about on-cart saves when I first played it...

 

[gromcal]

Hard for a kid, challenging and fun for an adult. It does not hold your hand much at all, and is not forgiving. Kinda like Dark Souls.

 

[atbigelow]

Zelda 2, personally, feels like it's almost fantastic. It's a little too unforgiving and has some odd mechanics in it (lives???) that I feel hampers the RPG experience.

Would be great if there was a ROM hack to make it more of a complete RPG. And to fix some of the really weird combat, like how Link's sword is tiny.

 

[Hilbert]

Zelda 2, personally, feels like it's almost fantastic. It's a little too unforgiving and has some odd mechanics in it (lives???) that I feel hampers the RPG experience.

Would be great if there was a ROM hack to make it more of a complete RPG. And to fix some of the really weird combat, like how Link's sword is tiny.

Once you get the stab move, the combat is AWESOME

 

[Katsuragi]

It may be regarded as the black sheep of the series, but I've always had a soft spot for Zelda II. I really like its engaging combat system! Fighting Iron Knuckles is a lot of fun - even though it can get pretty unnerving at times. I'm also a big fan of the game's world.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

It's some of the most fun I've ever had with a game.

 

[Pejo]

I loved Zelda 2, and I also loved Battle of Olympus, which is pretty much Zelda 2 reskinned.

It's a shame this never broke off into a different series. I bet with some modern enhancements, this could have been a big success.

 

[DSix]

Zelda 2 is like the original Dark Souls.

 

[Art Vandilay]

I'd definitely play Link's Awakening and Minish Cap. Not a big fan of the others you listed, personally.

 

[Regiruler]

Zelda 2 has incredible combat and is easily one of the best Zeldas if you play it with a guide.

 

[Ogodei]

Savestates are more an anti-frustration-feature because the game saves every time you game-over, but except for the final dungeon the game over puts you all the way back at the start point, which for late game stuff before the final dungeon basically adds 15-20 minutes of getting back to where you were before.

 

[Nosgotham]

zelda 2 is great! play it for more than 30 minutes.

 

[Dremark]

It's the best game in the series.

 

[cartman414]

I can see why people appreciate it for trying something different, but for me it does too bad of a job communicating what your goals in the game even are and how to go about accomplishing them. Plus, the combat (on top of being hard) just doesn't feel good, so unraveling the obtuseness of the game doesn't even feel that rewarding because I legitimately don't want to continue on to the next sections of the game.

It's an interesting follow-up to the first game, but there's a reason it didn't really inspire the direction the series would take.

Only reason was because it was a divergent followup. If what we got as Metroid were a sequel to another NES trailblazer, only in a different genre, the exploration platformer genre would be looking very, very different right now. Metroid itself was very rough and repetitious, and as a series didn't find its footing until its third game.

And yeah, Zelda 1, in spite of the freedom it offered over subsequent games, was somewhat rigid in its controls and itself lacked in variety and the action department.

But then, I personally find the Diablo series a little monotonous at times. (Not enough action to overcome the streamlined RPG mechanics, and not enough tactics to overcome the simplistic action. Give me the recent Ys games.)

 

[Asiratlan]

Zelda II was my childhood game, once you understand how it works properly the game is really fun. You just need to play it and learn with each death like a Roguelike. If you can enjoy die and retry games you will like Zelda II.

About Minish Cap and Awakening, those Capcom made Zelda are really good, I hope one day Capcom will get a new Zelda title.

 

[jwhit28]

Jumping and combat in Zelda II is so satisfying but I can't quite put my finger on why.

 

[ForkNetwork]

PH is the worst

Minish Cap is fun and an enjoyable ride, so is Spirit Tracks

Also, play Link's Awakening as soon as possible

 

[Maxim726X]

Ridiculously underrated.

Yes, it's fun. It's one of my favorite Zelda games... And I came to realize this decades after it was released. As a kid, I thought it was too hard and I was always lost.

If you have to play an emulated version with savestates, so be it. It's a great game.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Stop forcing yourself to play games you don't enjoy. No one will ever care if you beat it and is a game hardly even talked about when the franchise comes up. It's not bad if you enjoy it but if you've tried a couple times and can't play more than a couple minutes then just watch a youtube video or something if you're dying to see the simplistic story.

 

[Anteater]

I used to play it all the time when I was a kid but the game is fucking hard, it's one of those games I keep playing but don't get very far

 

[UserDoesNotExist]

Every time I tried it, I put it down in like 30 minutes. I'm asking now because I kind of have an interest in playing all the mainline Zelda games in release order as I've never completed the original Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, and I've never played Link's Awakening.

Given that Zelda II plays differently from the other Zelda games, I'm debating if I should skip it or not.

EDIT: Should I even include Minish Cap, Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks in a potential playthrough?

I'm in the process of doing the same thing as you, OP. In my case, it was accidental; turns out that Zelda games are great for playing while stuck in an airport. Currently at the Oracle games.

I skipped Zelda II and haven't regretted my choice.

 

[YourMaster]

Savestates are more an anti-frustration-feature because the game saves every time you game-over, but except for the final dungeon the game over puts you all the way back at the start point, which for late game stuff before the final dungeon basically adds 15-20 minutes of getting back to where you were before.

I doubt it takes so long to get back to a dungeon. The overworld map is well designed so that each additional castle is in a different direction so you don't have to walk any further. Added to the fact that you can travel across roads for most of the way to each of the castles and there isn't that much wasted time.
Furthermore, as you are fast and save on the roads, the only part you have to walk to the dungeon where you can be attacked is where you actually face enemies that are around your level. This is part of the core gameplay, and not just filler.

The final dungeon does have a really long road, but there you can start from again after death.

 

[AgeEighty]

I loved it as a kid. Finished it multiple times and felt great every time I beat Shadow Link, who is a bastard.

In retrospect it can be a clunky game, and it's not particularly pretty as NES games go (the graphics are more blatantly tiley than many, and you spend too much time staring at bland rock tiles), and it's very difficult. Kid me would be disgusted at my skills today.

I do think it's a good game though, yes.

 

[RoslindaleOne]

Don't play the game if you don't like it. Minish Cap and Phantom Hour Glass are a lot of fun. You might enjoy those more. They are definitely easier to beat than Zelda 2.

 

[AtomicShroom]

It's fun, but incredibly convoluted. Good luck finishing it with a guide! The later parts of the game are also extremely hard. Again: Good luck finishing it without a guide telling you how to optimize the picking up of extra lives, and finding all the upgrades. Also expect to do a lot of grinding, which gets boring fast.

It wasn't a bad game, it's just that it had many aspects that made it frustrating. I always found the limited sword range to be unsatisfying.

 

[Justin Bailey]

I don't know. I enjoy playing through it once a year or so, but I also know where to go and have some nostalgia for it. It's definitely the most challenging Zelda game, but that also means it's replayability is better for the sheer satisfaction of making it through.

 

[JaseMath]

It's great but it's not the Zelda you're probably used. Not remotely.

 

[Justin Bailey]

Jumping and combat in Zelda II is so satisfying but I can't quite put my finger on why.

Me neither. I think it has something to do with how "bouncy" the movements are.

 

[maxcriden]

EDIT: Should I even include Minish Cap, Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks in a potential playthrough?

Minish Cap - amazing
FSA- haven't played
PH - amazing IMO but very polarizing - love the feel of control it gives you for the character and items, I'd say all of the above the same for Skyward
ST- haven't played but supposed to be better than PH

 

[13ruce]

I also still need to play through this game my ultimate gaming goal is beating all mainline Zelda games so i have to.

The games i still need to play and beat are:
Links Awakening.
Both oracle games.
The legend of Zelda
Zelda II
A link to the past.

I think i will save Zelda 1 and 2 for last.

I played Zelda 2 a few yeara ago and i did not like t in the beginning maybe i will like it the next time when i play a bit futher into the game.

 

[NimbusD]

I really loved it,even if I never actually beat it haha. The overworld sort of sucks, mostly because of the random encounter type crap. Nothing is more frustrating than that. But has such a great sense of adventure and difficulty.

I miss towns in zeldas.

 

[Joei]

One of my favorite Zelda games, but I find the last bit of the game really difficult. I love the world, the towns and characters, the dungeon design, and the challenge.

 

[Red Fire]

Zelda 2 is awesome

And minish cap is by far the best 2d zelda

 

[Lumpy Onion]

I love it. There is a weighty feel to the combat that I have never seen reproduced in a 2d action rpg since. The satisfaction of rushing a darknut (sp?) from above and the clanging sounds and finally hitting the weak point was so good. I don't like comparing it 1:1 with other Zelda games but it is one of my favorite 2d sidescrolling action rpgs. Memorable bosses too.

 

[foltzie1]

I liked it, but I quite frequently "cheated" by setting up in the swamp with a turbo controller and let it rack up experience early in the game.

 

[Prototype]

Best Zelda game there is, and why I pretty much stopped following the series after it. The games got worse and worse and easier and easier to the point of contrived stupidity.
The series went from a games that were hard to games that go out of their way to hold your hand and have asinine tutorials.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

No. Play Wonder Boy in Monster World instead, it's kind of like it, except good.

 

[bobawesome]

You'll probably get more enjoyment out of watching a Let's Play of it, to be honest.

 

[eyeball_kid]

Zelda II is as pure a Zelda game as the first one is. It was a huge shock to all of us when it was revealed back then, but it turned out to be a fantastic game. The combat system is fun, the dungeons are really challenging, the music is fantastic and does a great job of setting the atmosphere, and it's the first time towns were introduced to the series. It's my favorite Zelda game, despite how clunky some of it seems today.

Nintendo fans ask for innovations with Zelda and Mario, but then claim that Zelda II and Mario 2 aren't "real" Zelda and Mario games because they're so different. But I think later Zelda games have actually veered too far away from its roots focused on exploration. Breath of the Wind seem heavily influenced by both Zelda I and II. So if you want to see the through line to BotW, play Zelda I and II.

edit: if you play Zelda II, I would definitely grab a scanned manual and scans of the Nintendo Power issue that has the Zelda II maps. Because that's what all of us used back then.

 

[Kadin]

I play it a couple times a year on my 3DS. I'm old enough that I played it when it first came out so there's a bit of nostalgia there. Also, I do abuse the save state ability of the 3DS so there's that too. There are some parts in the game that I just can't get through if I don't, mainly everything at the end. The game doesn't immediately come off as 'fun' but it's a great experience over all if you can stick with it.

 

[Voysa Reezun]

I appreciate what it's trying to do, but I'd rather play Dark Souls III than Zelda II. If the combat is going to be balls hard, I want freer movement.

Plus, holy shit, walking around a forest to try and find a single square where you have to go so that you can get the next MacGuffin and thus be allowed to move on in the game suuuuuuuuuuucks. Sucks.

Zelda 2 is easy as hell , I don't see why people say its hard.

It gets easier combat-wise when you acquire that downward stab move. Before then, it's pretty freakin' challenging, IMO.

 

[Zee-Row]

Zelda 2 is easy as hell , I don't see why people say its hard.

 

[Eila]

Yeah, even though I never beat it. It's a challenging game for sure.

 

[Chilled_Eskim01]

Every time I tried it, I put it down in like 30 minutes. I'm asking now because I kind of have an interest in playing all the mainline Zelda games in release order as I've never completed the original Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, and I've never played Link's Awakening.

Given that Zelda II plays differently from the other Zelda games, I'm debating if I should skip it or not.

EDIT: Should I even include Minish Cap, Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks in a potential playthrough?

Eh, I never liked Zelda 2 much. Just not my cup of tea. But Link's Awakening? Man that's one of my favorites in the entire series!

And why are you questioning Minish Cap for? It's a great handheld Zelda title! Definitely check it out OP.

 

[Kadin]

Zelda 2 is easy as hell , I don't see why people say its hard.

If it's your first time playing, or hell even your fifth time, unless you know the perfect way to take out knights and know the paths through some of the dungeons, it can be pretty punishing. Once you've learned these things and adjust to the mechanics, it can be easier. But to just say it's 'easy as hell' is a flat out lie for the majority of new players.

 

[Psxphile]

I think this was the absolute first image I ever saw of Zelda 2, and this was soon after getting a chance to play the first one on a friend's NES.

Exciting times. Pretty sure I had this issue at some point, but it's long gone now.


I'm just going to leave this here.

 

[sugarhigh4242]

I think it's trash. Worse than Battle of Olympus.

 

[RickFrick'n]

Ooooo boy, Zelda II is my bread and butter, amigo! For my money, Zelda II is the most fun, and the one Zelda game I've been able to pick up and play anytime.
For me, I love the tight controls, the music, the size of the world, and the atmosphere.

The downside to the game is that it takes a while to get used to the controls, and the level-up system can be grueling and grundy if you don't plan your end-of-temple level ups correctly! I feel that the Japanese version of the level up system may have been better.

If you're interested in some tips, ice picked up a few along the way!

Spoiler

first of all, when you fight those knights with the shields that block your stab and crouch stab, try aiming for the slots in their helmets. A little jump and stab can do it!
Also, try to level up your sword as much as possible; it may not seem clear, but you can pass on your current choice after you level up and save your XP for the next level. Do this to level up your sword!
After you make it to the boss of a temple, you don't NEED to put the crystal in the statue right away. You immediately get a level up if you do, but sometimes it's wise to come back to it later. Need 5000XP to level up and grinding to boring? Cheese it back to the first temple's statue you daved for that level up!
And, finally, you can faerie yourself through locked doors. Be a little wary of this, though, as you may throw the balance of keys vs. Doors off for the temples. It's not game-breaking or anything, but you *may* need to backtrack to some old temples near the end, or plan out your magic to get an item in a temple.

Anyways, I love this damn game! I think I may just give 'er a play right now!

 

[Justin Bailey]

If it's your first time playing, or hell even your fifth time, unless you know the perfect way to take out knights and know the paths through some of the dungeons, it can be pretty punishing. Once you've learned these things and adjust to the mechanics, it can be easier. But to just say it's 'easy as hell' is a flat out lie for the majority of new players.

There's always one in any thread that talks about difficulty.

They know it's hard. "X is easy, I don't know what you guys are talking about" is just an epeen contest challenge.

 

[Hyperactivity]

Play it on VC with savestates

It's fun