The Adventure of Link was a huge departure from
the first Legend of Zelda game. Its full title is Zelda II: The Adventure of
Link, and the lack of a main 'The Legend of Zelda' subtitle indicates Nintendo's
lack of plans to turn the series into a franchise. However, the game went on to
sell 4.8 million copies just in the USA, and because of this the game was
followed-up by A Link to
the Past on the SNES. The biggest change in AoL was the perspective.
Rather than the top-down view in LoZ (and later in all other 2D Zelda
games) there was a zoomed out top-down view on Hyrule's overworld, and a
side-on view for enemy encounters, towns and dungeons. Also, the game further
distanced itself from its older brother by introducing stats and levelling-up.
As Link increased in experience, he received more powerful and varied sword
attacks.
However, the new features weren't welcomed by all, and it is believed by some
(though we find it slightly dubious) that when a townsman claims 'I am Error',
it is a Nintendo employee holding his hands up and admitting that he
misjudged the move to the new perspective. What was fantastic about AoL was that
for the first time you were allowed to explore all of Hyrule. In the first LoZ
you were restricted to just the South West of Hyrule, although unknown to many
at the time, and the larger setting enabled AoL to include many more diverse
locations, the most enticing including Maze Palace and North Castle.
In AoL it was your job as a slightly older Link to break Zelda out of the spell that has been cast over her, sending her to sleep forever. The Wizard who placed
her under the spell is also after Link's blood to resurrect Ganon. Link has
to get six crystals to unlock the Great Palace, where he must retrieve the Triforce of Courage. It's not all bad news, however, because now Link can call
upon various forms of magic to help him through his quest.
Although we often fire off little digs at the game, there is a loyal fan base out
there (somewhere), and it did introduce a lot of new elements to the Zelda series
(despite few of them
sticking). It didn't do
as well as its predecessor but it did pave the way for the awesome A Link to the
Past.
