Adventure of Link: Zelda 2

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After a pair of false starts, we're finally at a real game. What's amazing about Zelda is that from the very beginning (and obviously here in th sequel) all the pieces that have made the series great were already in place -- the music, the NPC's, the get-an-item-do-a-new-thing cycle, the limited number of figure-out-able enemies that promotes finesse rather than mashing. It's hard to say what's more amazing: that Miyamoto had all this figured out so early, or that he's managed to keep it all intact but still fresh after 20 years.

The obvious difference here is the fact that Zelda II is a side-scroller. The rest of the franchise is top-down, and you feel the limitations in Z2. There's a distinct cut in how you're doing business when you enter a dungeon from a map, a la Commander Keen, and this is mostly a negative here. What you get in return of course, is that Link can jump, and that's no small thing. Of course, this also causes the dungeon areas to feel a little metroid-y or, to be honest, more mega-man-y, which does take away from Zelda's distinctiveness (though you might reasonably argue that at this point, that distinctiveness didn't yet mean 'top-down' as much as it did later.)

Whatever, this is a real game. Both Laura and I felt that we could play this, finish it, and enjoy it, which is cool. The graphics are rough, even for the NES, and the gameplay is occasionally unforgiving in that 8-bit kind of way, but overall you understand Zelda II -- it's obvious to both the newcomer and the vet what you're supposed to do, and the game lets you do it. Overall, it's a pretty compelling experience, and though it's definitely not my favorite of the Zeldas (not even in the top 5) this is more a statement about the franchise than this particular game, which is not bad.

Rating: 7/10
Advice: If you don't have the cart, this just came out on WiiWare.
Best Moment: "I am Error."