by Russell Cohrs

Created on: October 07, 2009   Last Updated: October 09, 2009

This was the second in the highly successful Legend of Zelda series and the last for the NES.

Story

After Ganon was defeated in the original game, the threat of evil was far from over. Ganon's minions are still wreaking havoc on Hyrule, and seek to resurrect their former master with the blood of Link. It is revealed that hope lies in the Triforce of Courage, which was hidden ages ago by the Princess Zelda. After hiding the Triforce, the princess was plunged into a deep sleep by a magician seeking power. Her brother the prince kept her preserved in her slumber, and issued a decree that all female children in the royal household would be named Zelda, explaining that there are numerous Princess Zelda's, and that the former Princess Zelda from the first game isn't necessarily the sleeping Zelda.

One day a now 16 year old Link sees the mysterious symbol of the Triforce appear on his hand. He is summoned to the royal castle, where the mark unlocks Zelda's chamber. The aged handmaiden Impa instructs Link that he is the hero Hyrule has been waiting for, and gives him six crystals and a map. Each of the crystals must be place in a respective palace, which is protected by a guardian. When all the crystals are in place, the path to the final palace containing the Triforce will be opened.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Zelda II is completely different from any other Zelda in the series. There is a main map, similar to a role playing game style overhead view, and the action shifts to a side scrolling action format for towns, enemy sequences, dungeons, and the like. In the overhead view, your main goal is to find the towns and palaces that house items. Some areas are opened up only after you acquire special items like the hammer, raft, or whistle.

During the overhead view, enemies appear as icons that chase after you in groups of 2 or 3. As long as you stay on roads, they will not appear. If an enemy touches you after you've made it back to a road, their battle screen will be automatically cleared of enemies. In any other case, you'll be transitioned to the side view battle scene, where you can attack enemies for experience points, or simply walk off the edge of the screen to get back to the map. The battle system is the same in the dungeons as well, and you can use both your sword and magic spells to defeat your opponents.

The experience points left by enemies, found in special bags, or gained by completed a palace can be used to boost your life, magic, and attack stats. Life

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