2.5/5 ★ – johnschwartz's review of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Nintendo Switch Started this on my Zelda Game and Watch then decided after the first dungeon to just start over on Switch. This game was just too frustrating for me to play without the aid of a rewind feature. Sure I probably could have finished it without it but it’s not the 80s anymore and I don’t have the patience for this game’s shenanigans. Definitely tried to keep in perspective that this was only the second Zelda game ever and Nintendo was still trying to discover what this series actually was. Glad they didn’t really pursue much of this game’s mechanics in future sequels because this ain’t it. Not a fan of the side scrolling nor the overemphasis on combat over puzzles. The side scrolling is weak and Link’s sword is too small. The overworld looks ugly and the random encounters are annoying. I liked the experience system but this game really needed it whereas it would have felt out of place in any other Zelda game. So yeah, definitely the weakest “official” Zelda game. The CD-i games can burn