Several small steps forward, several massive steps backwards. Zelda II's core gameplay is tight and tough; the combat on the classic side-scrolling plane is some of the most exciting and dynamic you'll find on the console. Reinterpreting the mechanics from the previous game and incorporating them more meaningfully into the experience: shields are now a key aspect of melee duels, not only ranged ones; the items are replaced by the spells which improve your core abilities; instead of killing to try and grind for money, here you kill to grind exp, to, again, make your basics stronger.
But it's just too much for the poor, old NES. The level of precision required for some of these enemies is so intense that every failure feels like the end of the world. And there's the insta-kill death pits too. The punishment is so much more severe than anything from the previous game. Losing all lives means being sent back to the very beginning, the spawn point, no matter if you choose to continue or not. And the map is so much bigger. You unlock some shortcuts but that doesn't help much.
And the player will lose so many resources trying to find the way into the next dungeon. Though undoubtedly the first game is obscure as well, through the use of the attached manual you can make your way through it for the most part. There are even simple and effective visual clues, plus the other secrets are largely consistent. Not here. Some secrets still get hints, but others? Good luck bumbling in the dark, trying to touch any and all tree in hopes it contains a secret. Tiles that look exactly the same as others may hide a heart container, or even a required NPC, without whom you can't progress the game. It's bizarre because the game has the first few locations like this placed with actual visual clues to guide the player, but further on there is just nothing.
This design feels like a natural extreme—it is testing how dedicated players can actually be to finding these things. In some ways then, I'm glad this thesis was tested so early and discarded soon after when it comes to Zelda. It is a huge step backwards in that sense. But it is unfortunate that the perspective was completely abandoned. Not that the other games on the NES don't do it justice, but there is something about these shield-to-shield duels that can make for something really exciting. I guess we'll never know.
But it's just too much for the poor, old NES. The level of precision required for some of these enemies is so intense that every failure feels like the end of the world. And there's the insta-kill death pits too. The punishment is so much more severe than anything from the previous game. Losing all lives means being sent back to the very beginning, the spawn point, no matter if you choose to continue or not. And the map is so much bigger. You unlock some shortcuts but that doesn't help much.
And the player will lose so many resources trying to find the way into the next dungeon. Though undoubtedly the first game is obscure as well, through the use of the attached manual you can make your way through it for the most part. There are even simple and effective visual clues, plus the other secrets are largely consistent. Not here. Some secrets still get hints, but others? Good luck bumbling in the dark, trying to touch any and all tree in hopes it contains a secret. Tiles that look exactly the same as others may hide a heart container, or even a required NPC, without whom you can't progress the game. It's bizarre because the game has the first few locations like this placed with actual visual clues to guide the player, but further on there is just nothing.
This design feels like a natural extreme—it is testing how dedicated players can actually be to finding these things. In some ways then, I'm glad this thesis was tested so early and discarded soon after when it comes to Zelda. It is a huge step backwards in that sense. But it is unfortunate that the perspective was completely abandoned. Not that the other games on the NES don't do it justice, but there is something about these shield-to-shield duels that can make for something really exciting. I guess we'll never know.