Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

“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...”

— Intro

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Developer	Nintendo
Publisher	Nintendo
Genre	Action Adventure
Platform	Nintendo Entertainment System BS-X
Release dates	January 14, 1987 December 1, 1988
Chronological Order
Previous	"The Legend of Zelda"
Next	"A Link to the Past"
Map

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the second installment in the The Legend of Zelda series, released in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is preceded by The Legend of Zelda and succeeded by A Link to the Past. The Hero of Hyrule is the main protagonist and Ganon is the main antagonist. Ganon's minions serve as the villainous faction.

It is the second game in the series, but it is the final game set in the Downfall Timeline. The events of The Adventure of Link take place a few years after Zelda I, but refer back to the Princess Zelda that was put under a sleeping spell at the beginning of the Era of Decline.

Chronologically this game takes place between Zelda I and Breath of the Wild.

Official Description

After the events of the first game, Zelda's attendant Impa shows Link that there was a first princess named Zelda who was cursed to slumber forever. She also tells him that Link is in possession of the Triforce of Courage. As Link learns all of this, the minions of Ganon begin to attack once again. Believing that they could revive their master by pouring the blood of Link over his ashes, they begin to spread across the land, seeking for him. Eventually, Link is able to gain the Triforce of Courage. Uniting the three Triforces, Link returns to the Northern Palace to wake the slumbering Zelda.

Summary

A few years after the defeat of Ganon and the rescue of Princess Zelda, Link, now at the age of sixteen, is disturbed by the appearance of a mark on the back of his hand. Upon seeing this mark, Impa, the nurse of Princess Zelda, tells him the story of how, ages ago, the King of Hyrule had hidden a third part of the Triforce, the Triforce of Courage, in the Great Palace to safeguard it from evil.

Upon the death of the king, his son had searched for the missing Triforce, but its location had been imparted only to the king's daughter, Princess Zelda. Angered upon learning this, the Prince tried to use the power of a Magician to force the truth from his sister. After she refused, the wizard cast a spell upon her to put her into a deep sleep, which caused the wizard to die soon after. Only by uniting the Triforce of Courage with its counterparts, Link would be able to awake the sleeping Princess Zelda. Upon hearing this tale, Link receives from Impa six crystals that serve as keys to open the seal on the Great Palace.

As Link learns all of this, the minions of Ganon begin to attack once again. Believing that they could revive their master by pouring the blood of Link over his ashes, they begin to spread across the land, seeking for him. Eventually, Link is able to gain the Triforce of Courage. Uniting the three Triforces, Link returns to the Northern Palace to wake the slumbering Zelda.

Characters

Hero of Hyrule

Princess Zelda I

Bosses

Image	Enemy	Description	Dungeon
	Horsehead	Mazura wields a mighty, spiked club and sports heavy armor around its entire body, except for the head. In this battle, Link must perform continuous jump slashes with his sword at the boss' weak skull; it is the only way to inflict damage. The boss' club is the most detrimental weapon Link encounters in the game thus far - in only a few blows, Link's health may be completely depleted. As such, Link is knocked back significantly harder and further when struck by Mazura's club, compared to distance Link is pushed away by other enemies' attacks. Mazura also attempts to slowly herd Link towards one side of the screen, giving Link little opportunity to escape while the boss bludgeons him with persistent blows. After a significant amount of hits, Mazura explodes and Link is provided 50 experience points.	Parapa Palace
	Helmethead	Like Mazura, the previous boss, Helmethead's weak point is his head. Unlike Mazura, he attacks Link by throwing fireballs at him from his head. When Link lands a blow to the head, the helmet will come off and be replaced by another one. The detached helmet will then begin to float around and attempt to kill Link by shooting more fireballs and running into him. When Link knocks off two helmets, his true head will rise from the armor - a white head (seemingly with one eye). For the rest of the battle, Link fights Helmethead while also dodging the fireballs shot by the helmets. After achieving victory in the fight, Link returns one of the Crystals to the Palace.	Midoro Palace
	Rebonack	While mounted on his horse, Rebonack retreats off or almost off screen, then charges at Link at high speed. Seemingly on the back foot against a mounted opponent, Link must move to the middle of the room and when Rebonack charges, jump and use the Down Thrust to damage him.	Island Palace
	Carock	Essentially a large Wizard, this boss guards the Maze Island Palace, and can be defeated only by using the Reflect Spell to turn his own magic attacks against him. Carock throws his attacks and warps at a very high rate, so Link must defeat him quickly before it is too late.	Maze Island Palace
	Gooma	Gooma is a giant with a spike helmet that swings a spiked Ball and Chain at Link. Wearing no armor, its body is vulnerable, but not its head. To defeat Gooma, Link must dodge the spiked ball that it throws at him hit Gooma with his sword.	Palace on the Sea
	Barba	Barba's boss room has three lava pits. Barba rises from the depths of the lava and directly into the air, keeping its head away from the range of Link's Sword. It breathes a stream of fire at him. Its attacks will often knock Link into the lava if he is hit, so Link must time his jumps to avoid the flames. Barba can be beaten if Link uses the Jump Magic to leap into the air and strike the dragon on its head. It is also possible to defeat it by using the Jump Thrust, though this method is more risky, as it is easier to fall into the lava.	Three-Eye Rock Palace
	Thunderbird	When Link enters the chamber of Thunderbird, it will not be anywhere to be seen at first. However, after a few moments, it will swoop down upon Link from above and proceed to attack him with fireballs. It will have a red color to it and will be invulnerable to attacks, leaving it invincible at first. To reveal its weakness, which is its face, Link must cast the Thunder Magic. Casting it will cause Thunderbird's color to change to blue, making its face appear, leaving it vulnerable to Sword attacks. When reaching half its health, Thunderbird will quicken its pace of throwing fireballs, which can only be repelled with the Reflect Magic.	Great Palace
	Shadow Link	Link's Shadow appears as the final boss after Link defeats Thunderbird in the Great Palace. He serves as the final test before Link can obtain the Triforce of Courage and wake Princess Zelda. Link's Shadow is the most difficult opponent to appear during Link's second quest to save Hyrule.

Title Screens

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Media

Japanese

USA

Trivia

• Although the Japanese title for The Adventure of Link uses the English name of The Legend of Zelda, and the game's backstory explicitly defines The Legend of Zelda as a plot concept, the English language game is the only one in the main series not to include The Legend of Zelda in its title.
• The Adventure of Link marks one of the few times where Link speaks in a main game, by saying "I found a mirror under the table" while in Saria Town and "Looks like I can get in the fireplace" in Kasuto.
• The Famicom Disk System version of the game uses the infamous "Gannon" spelling in the intro, as well as other typos such as "Tryforce." This intro was largely re-written in the North American release.
• Acording to series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, The Adventure of Link is the only The Legend of Zelda game he considers a failure, this due to the limitations of the hardware.
• Ganon's laugh on the game over screen in the English version is also used in the NES game Punch-Out!! as Soda Popinski's laugh.

Continuity

• Both this game and the first are linked in continuity, since the first game revolves around retrieving two of the major fragments of the Triforce, and Ganon is fought in order to rescue Princess Zelda; the second game revolves around finding the third major fragment in order to revive an incarnation of Zelda that was sleeping for a very long time, and to impede the revival of Ganon.
• The Zelda in this game is actually Zelda I, who was in a coma in the first game.
• This is the first game to feature Impa, although art in the manual for the previous game depicted her as well.
• All the towns in this version of Hyrule are named after the Seven Sages from Ocarina of Time, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, and Nabooru.
• This game's iteration of Hyrule is the biggest version of the map that exists in the timeline so far, even bigger than Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom's, as it encompasses multiple continents that border Hyrule.
  • Inside this map is explicitly the map of the very first game, in this one referred to as the Lower Death Mountain Area.
• Link retains the same sword he had in the previous game by the end, the Magical Sword.
• The same Link, the Hero of Hyrule from the previous game, returns six years after the first game. This is also the final game set in the continuous Downfall Timeline before the timeline merge.
• Link can find the Hammer item inside of Spectacle Rock, a location that returns from the first game, which was previously known as Ganon's lair, Level 9: Death Mountain. This parallels the fact that the Megaton Hammer was the item found in the Fire Temple in Ocarina of Time, which was also built inside of Spectacle Rock. This means that after Ganon's lair was built from the ruins of the Fire Temple, the hammer remained, which the Hero of Legend picks back up again.
  • Similar totem pole statues found inside the Fire Temple are found in the cave where the Hero of Legend finds the hammer in The Adventure of Link.