This was actually the first game that my mother beat, way back in I want to say 1991? Even I hadn't beaten it yet, and along with her beating the original SMB, it's a small point of pride for me. My mom sadly passed away in 2019, but this video reminded me of her way back then when she had sharp eyes and quick hands.
i just beat SMB with one life left as little Mario song a lil song and RRAN past the hammer bro and hammer Bowser on my second go i was still in Loop from that. Rest in Paradise to your Mom's cause thats a A God breaking Game yo. Word up 💖
Damn man, same thing over here. NOBODY have ever beaten my mom at Tetris, Magical Drop, Dr Mario, Bubble Puzzle, etc... Not even me. She passed away in 2016. She was an Expert at Link's Awakening. That's the only "RPG" we had in french she could understand... :)
That's an awesome memory thanks for sharing. My pops could beat the first Mario game with one man and no warping. Pretty amazing still as far as I'm concerned!
Sorry for your loss. My grandmother passed away in 2019 as well. The last memory I have of her alive was playing A Link to the Past with her cause we played it together all the time when I was growing up.
@@UCanBeatVideoGames: *FUN FACT:* Mago, the name of the "Old Hags" in the Palace on The Sea, is the Spanish word for Magician. *FUN FACT 2:* Palace on The Sea abbreviated spells pots!
I don't think I've seen someone who makes NES walkthroughs as interesting as you do. Most walkthroughs are boring, you actually put some effort into it. Super impressed, sub from me.
BONUS TIP for those still struggling with the game:. If you level all the way up (my spot is usually the block room in Palace 5 with the endless Moas) then crystal level-ups turn into 1-ups!
I used to grind on the palaces where you can get red potion or red ironknuckle. Leave and come back to reset the statue. Heal up with life spell, use the red potions to fill magic, slay endless ironknockles for xp.
Y preferred grind spot is entry screen to Palace Four. Requires lvl 6 attack… Jump and up thrust the Moa for 50 points, and dispatch the red ironknuckle in two jump attacks. Run out. Repeat.
I beat this game tonight! I never thought I’d be able to do it, and it’s haunted me since I was a kid. Your strategy made all the difference. Thanks for bringing a little joy to this old man. FYI, played it on a retropie.
this was a terrible game and really hate it then and still hate it now. nintendo sells outdated hardware and scam price fixing nintendo has been trash for 25 years.
@@sharkulashairstylist5505 obviously it's trash but in my mind because I was a 12 year old kid playing it and life was new to me and I hadn't ruined it yet it will remain in my memory as one of the greatest games ever.
Hold up, I never knew there was aquick save in this game. Ever. I spent so long trying to die to save not knowing this. I could have saved the game right there. This is very extensive for a tips vid. Your voice is engaging. It makes me wanna listen to what you have to say
7 minutes in and I’m already mind blown by your leveling strategy Edit: glad to know I was always using the right power leveling spot Last edit: using reflect against the thunder bird, did not know that
@@UCanBeatVideoGames Fun Thunderbird fact - there was a Game Genie code that would make it so that casting Shield would cause the lightning spell to constantly cast while Shield is active. This sounds OP and fun, but if you have it active for Thunderbird it soft locks the game - Thunderbird dies before the game registers that it spawned and you can’t continue. Young me was crushed when I learned this, lol.
fun fact: if you can get an enemy to hit you as you move into those action sequences on the way to Darunia, you can bypass the action sequences with monster action sequences and avoid the water pits all-together
@@jamesaroeuett1567 Yup, the joys of playing too damn much and learning unintentional mini cheats. Same with Super Mario Bros 2, Double Dragon, etc back then.
Dude that was awesome! Watched the entire thing from start to finish. Interesting thing is, your leveling strategy is exactly what I used as a kid as well as your strategy for shadow link! I remember being so frustrated fighting shadow link that I said "I'm gonna just crouch in the corner and attack because I tried everything and nothing works..." and that did it. LOL never forget that moment. Because of that leveling strategy I never found this game hard. Miss the days when I could play video games all day LOL
Notes: Lizalfos are much harder to beat with the Ironknuckle strategy, since downward slashing hits don't always work. You can damage them a little more reliably with short ducking hops while slashing. Imagine trying to hit them between their low and high shield poses. The "intended" way to defeat Fokkas is probably to upthrust them as they jump overhead, but the timing is tricky and it's easy to jump into them this way. If you hit a statue and an Ironknuckle/Fokka comes out of it, so long as you don't kill it, if you leave the area and come back the statue will regenerate, and you can hit it again for another chance at a red magic potion. The statues at the start of most palaces that might produce a red potion or Ironknuckle can be regenerated even if you kill the Ironknuckle simply by leaving the palace and returning.
Awesome review and walkthrough! I passed this game when it came out originally. Im in my 40's today. Brings back memories. I never knew using reflect magic on thunderbird boss.
I figured easiest way to get to get level 8 stats is in palace 5 (sea palace). Go in to room where rocks are falling from ceiling and let them pile up to top of screen. Then make a ladder from rocks to top on the same height eye monster (Moa) is spawning. They keep spawning infinitely and basically run into your sword and give 50 exp each. It ain't much but it's honest labor. :D
I do like the UCBVG strat of saving all the palace boss battles until the end, filling up those costly final levels easily. Never occurred to me back in the day.
@@mklptrk I've done that previously with the exception of saving. I'd exit the palace as I would normally and go to the next destination. I found that doing this, I'd max out before finishing all the palaces. Once you have nothing else to level, you receive an extra life at 9,000.
The island palace can be used to grind out your XP very easily. Just go in attack statue for magic or iron knuckle, take the elevator down, fight the 3 enemies for 100xp, 70xp, and 5xp. Take the elevator back up and walk out to the left. Re-enter palace and repeat as many times as needed. Use life spell as needed. Don't worry your magic will be refilled by statue almost every time. Each time it takes about 30-45 seconds and gives you 175-275xp.
His grind he suggested was a lot easier to me. I was wantin to beat this game all my life and finally with the help of this I did I actually had so much xp after island palace I tried to get level 9 attack!
Thanks to this guide I've mastered my fear of the wild in Zelda 2... I am now going to the Island Palace (zero coins inserted in previous palaces yet) 5 atk - 6 magic - 6 HP - better than my previous games by far.
No one hated this game when it came out. The only other zelda that existed was the first. There was no standard. This is an amazing entry in the series and my personal favorite.
No one hated it? Are you sure? I was in love with the first Zelda and then played this and immediately said "What is this shit?". It's unfairly hard, has ridiculous secrets no one on earth could figure out of logic or intelligence, has arbitrarily hidden key items. I know it was a staple back then, but it's objectively considered bad game design when developers do everything they can to actually discourage you from finding secrets, knowing they're so ridiculous you have to use guides or walk-throughs. It defeats its own purpose... And adventure game where the adventurer would never find anything on their own... Counterintuitive. Bad design. Change my mind.
I also adored it when it came out after being obsessed with the original. I still hold ZII very high on the list and it is one of my favorite NES games to this day.
@@soullessSiIence I bought this stupid game and it started collecting dust in just a few days. Loaned it to my friends and they all gave it back with the same opinion, not very good. I ended up trading it for a different game and was happy I got the trade.
There is something about this channel. I find it very nostalgic and fun to watch. Thanks for helping me remember all the good times, especially the names of everything lol. I do still play this game to this day tho. It was that impactful to me
I loved it when I was a kid. It was the first time I'd been introduced to the concept of experience points and I loved the fact that I could make my character better if I just put more work into it.
This is my absolute favorite Zelda game. Grew up with it, beat it at age 7, and even today I use the randomizer to enjoy it again and again. Thanks for taking the time to honor it.
Thank you, I had some strong, yet very vague due to the time since I last played Zelda 2, feelings when he said that, thinking I remembered killing those things all the time without the downthrust...
It’s Saturday night and I just beat this game for the first time in my life! Got this game 36 years ago. I feel like I’m in 6th grade again! The feeling crazy! Thank you for the walk through; without your tutorial I’d still be stuck trying to level attack and magic! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
A note on the orange Dairas in those two descending scenes at the end of Death Mountain: if you back away enough, they stop attacking. Then, when you run at them, quickly crouch, attack, and retreat. Assuming you don't mess up, it will always fall in the window between their attacks.
Thanks! Getting my NES mini a couple years ago was one of the things that turned me back on to this game. It was hard as a kid, but as an adult I can appreciate the challenge.
@@Danarchy3 Have you ever played it or are you just jumping on the bandwagon? Zelda 2 is great and has a really unfair reputation. I would put it around the same level as Zelda 1 but if I had to pick, my favorite of the 2 is Zelda 2.
@@DualAnalogReviews I have played it. It might be a good game, (I don’t think it is) but it certainly is NOT a good ZELDA game. Sometimes band wagons exist for a reason
@@Danarchy3 Of course we are both subject to our opinion. My main point is that the game is very underrated which I think we can agree on. The game is certainly not as bad as many claim.
One of the few games I never beat as a kid. Now I'm 40 and have COVID, so I'll use this downtime to finally conquer this game with this video's help! Thanks!
When I played this as a kid, I always went through the 2nd palace before Death Mountain, making it WAY "less impossible" due to the extra experience points. I can't imagine going through it after just 1 palace. lol
Great video with a lot of good tips! This is pretty much my favorite NES game and, even though I have played it a countless number of times, I still find it challenging, especially the final palace. I thought I'd offer a few additional tips that I use that make the game more manageable and, dare I say, slightly easier? They're small things, but every bit helps! 1. When getting into a battle on the overworld (when the black shadows run into you) I find in almost all cases that if you exit to the right, there are less enemies and even easier ones. This is especially true when getting into the easier overworld battles in the swamp. When you go to the right, you'll have to battle 2-3 rock throwing lobsters (Rock Lobster!). If you go to the left, you'll run into a moving Rock Lobster... 2. When attacking the Iron Knuckle statues at the entrance of a palace, attack from the right side. If an Iron Knuckle pops out instead of a red potion, he will fall off the pedestal to the left and won't be able to pursue you as you enter the palace to the right. 3. This one is specific to the battle with Goomer. I always use jump magic as well, makes it A LOT easier to get out of the way of his attacks. And my final additional tip, and this is a HUGE one... 4. Wait until you've beaten the 6 palaces to collect the overworld 1-ups. Once you've collected the 1-ups, they are gone. This means that once you've collected a 1-up, and lose your lives, you can't get them back. Why go to all the trouble of waiting to be able to stock up on 1-ups? The last palace is BRUTAL and you're going to want to get through it in one go. It's true that if you lose all your lives, you can start back at the entrance, but do you really want to have to go through that maze again? With all the extra lives you've now stocked up on, you have a bit more leeway and will have a better chance of making it to the end without having to restart the palace. And that's my two (or should I say four) cents! Thanks for a nice video and I am off to tackle TMNT now using the video you made for that game :)
I always lie to save the life/magic level-up for when I really need to refill them (At least early game. Past Death Mountain/Swamp Palace, I would level-up as normal). Also, I would save collecting the Link Dolls for when I'm about to tackle the Great Palace.
I use a different strategy for leveling up. When I go to the palacd surrounded by water, (the green one) I find the room with the falling blocks. I let the blocks stack all the way up. Then I cut a path about 4 blocks up. It will be the block level where the flying enemy enters the screen. If my attack isn't strong enough to kill it with one hit. I use fire magic to hit it once when it first appears, then my sword to finish it off. I place link on the far end of the stack standing one block down so he can stand up and his sword attacks at the level the enemy flies in at. The timing is important but not hard to figure out. When the enemy spawns you time a fire ball to hit it one, then the sword to kill it. Each kill is 50 points but they come repeatedly adding up quickly. Every few kills also leaves either a magic refill bottle or a bag with 200 points. It doesn't take long to earn points quickly. You can easily get all your stats to level 8 in a short time.
the 5th palace (sea/ocean palace) with the falling blocks and the fast flying big eye is the fastest way to get exp in the game (aside from the crystal statues), but really, the entire game progression has multiple good ways to get experience throughout the entire game progression you can use the orange lizard monsters in the cave to new/hidden kasuto town near the end of the game (6th palace area) to level up fully (8-8-8) almost as quickly as the 5th palace falling blocks room with the fast flying eyeball monsters (likely there's some simple programming mistakes, as the red lizard guys are harder/stronger, but only give 100 exp, whereas the weaker/easier orange lizard guys give 150, obviously, they accidentally swapped the address values in the programming, simple and "typo-like" mistakes, a lot of games often do these types of mistakes, unfortunately) death mountain runs are also a great source for exp too, once you're skilled/good at the game and with killing monsters (and being a bit more leveled up, helps a lot too, even for the veterans/skilled players of the game) (and having the life spell... as lots of new players don't find the lost mirror in town... sighs) the 3rd palace (island palace) statue at its entrance is a decent place as well, though it's not as great as it could be, due to the fact that you can get red jars (no red iron knuckle, or you get red iron knuckle, but he then drops a red jar instead of giving you exp), so, you can get like 8-10 time in a row (if super unlucky like me, laughs) where you get no exp at all from it... (if you could always get the 100 exp with always having a red knuckle and it always giving the exp drop, then it would probably be the fastest method in the game, possibly beating out the 5th palace with its falling block area with the fast flying eyeball monster, but that's not how the game mechanics work, unfortunately) another great method for getting exp is "dungeon running/farming", as still a ton of people have no idea that you can avoid placing the crystal into the crystal statue and exit the palace, as this is due to that the actual activation for placing the crystal is walking over the raised-platform-row of blocks' two center/middle blocks directly below the crystal statue, and thus jumping over these two blocks, enable you to NOT place the crystal, while still being able to go through the exit of the palace, allowing you to "run" the palace over and over again, killing the monsters for decent speed of experience along the way, and also being able to decide when to place the crystal for the best usage of the exp it gives you there's many other good sources of getting exp throughout the game... such as at the very beginning of the game, just get into a weak encounter on the grass, and going back and forth, killing the slimes/bots, as every 8th (or whatever number it is) killed enemy will either drop a exp bag or a red/blue jar, so, while the slimes/bots themselves are only 2 exp each, you do quickly (3 slimes on the right side and two on the left side, but might have them reversed, going off my memory here, lol) get the 50 exp bags to drop quite often, for actually quite good exp (it's actually probably faster then "running" the first/parapa palace), you can actually level up quite high from doing the slimes on the grassland right at the start of the game lol, and it really goes a lot faster than you imagine it does.. you can really quickly/easily get to (5-5-5)+ in almost no time at all, right at the start of the game, against the slimes on the grassland, using the fast killing and chance of 50 exp bag drops also, at the very start of the game, though a bit less safe, you could get into the hard encounter in the forest, to have the stronger moblins, which do give you exp, which might be faster than doing the slimes, especially if they do drop higher exp bags, along with these stronger moblins themselves giving more exp than the slimes, though it is a bit more dangerous, then fighting the weakest monsters in the game, the slimes and, on the eastern continent, once you got fire spell, you can get good exp killing those enemies that can only be killed with fire (the hopping blue guys with the big eye who shoot those magic things at you, and/or those blue iguana/lizard-4-legged-walking things that shoot the fireballs at you) in the random encounters for really good fast exp too, as they die quick to the fireballs of the fireball spell, and so it can be fast killing, racking up 50 exp per kill, along with whatever amount of exp their exp bag drops give -------- the most important things to note: the strongest enemies in the game only give 200 exp, so they're really not worth the effort, as say even 50 exp per monster really isn't much different than 200 exp per monster, and also that you have chance to get an exp bag every 8th (or whatever) monster killed too for even more exp, so really, it's about speed/frequency of kills, over how much exp you get per monster, especially due to the exp bag drops the easiest/quickest monster for its exp, is the orange lizard guys who give 150 exp (and their exp bag drops give 300 exp), as the 200 exp monsters are the hardest in the game, very hard to kill, not worth the effort, and they take more time to kill as well), but the orange lizard guys are near the end of the game (6th palace area, best place is the cave to hidden/new kasuto, and if remember right, near the exit of the cave, aka the right-most within the cave, to the new/hidden kasuto area, going in and out of it to respawn the orange lizard guy, or you can just get into an encounter in the forests of the 6th palace area as well also), so not really useful unless you're still not maxed out by then
I really dig this series. Its like karma from my childhood being tormented by the difficultly since you aren't scared to employ exploits. This games deserve to be exploited damnit. They exploited me for years when I was a KID being so damn difficult.
Great video!. I love this game, and I think many reviewers have villified it in excess. Yes, it is a difficult challenge, but, at least for me, I enjoy a good challenge, and I beat it once a year. Another strategy you may want to use to rack up levels early is to kill the bubbles in the first palace. These take a LOT of hits to kill when you have your sword in level 1, but they give you 50 experience points, which is a LOT when you are starting the game. Kill a couple of these guys, and you can rack up levels very quickly. Thanks for your video. I'll use some of your strategies in my next playthrough.
I rented that game so many times until I finally bought it. Turned out I'd rented it enough to get to the final level. I beat it 2 hours after I bought it.
I used to save all the crystals before going to the final palace, but I don't remember exactly why. Was it to get extra-lives? I presume I had 8 on all the sword-magic-life anyway. I really don't remember why I did that. I think I collected all those extra-lives dolls + setting all the crystals just before going for the final palace. I never thought this game was difficult when I played it as a kid in the late 80s.
One of the first games I ever managed to beat by myself as a kid. I really think 90% of the dislike of this game comes from the difficulty spike when you enter death mtn. If you can get through that then you're set.
Excellent video. I’ve had this game since release, and I still learned new things about this game. I never dared to cancel a level up and I didn’t know you could save up exp points. Gonna try to play it the way you did in this video. If anyone wants to try beating Shadow Link without the crouching trick, he has a weird hit box. Jumping slashes aimed at the heart and throat area seems to work most of the time.
Yes, your jump slashes have to land past his shield. If you jump slash too "shallow", then he'll just block it. You almost have to jump on top of him when doing it.
Great videos fellow retro nostalgic video maker I watched one video Searched generally for another game video Of course no great results Then I searched this with exactly your channel name Found instantly Thx for producing quality that legit matches a search Your results should be the top results
This game requires way too much exterior knowledge. Bad game design. I should be able to just play it naturally and progress forward. I made it to the Valley of Death but couldn’t get in and had no idea why. The game didn’t even tell me why.
I've already completed this game around 10 times since I got it back in Christmas 1989, but those leveling up tricks are pretty handy. I'll try those next time I decide to run though the game again.
Greetings from the BIG SKY. I always enjoyed the music in this video back when it came out first. I see that you have a 2 part strategy toward beating the game.
I'm surprised how much of the muscle memory of Zelda 2 has stuck with me. When I replayed this game, I cleared out Death Mountain and many other areas near flawlessly. I generally found the game fairly easy to replay. I did play it hundreds of hours as a kid - definitely stuck with me for some reason.
One of my favorite games when I was a kid. It was so hard. When I finally made it to the final stages my dad tripped over my console while I was playing and deleted all my progress!
Thank you for emphasising the importance of the shield & fairy magic. In many reviews and comments regarding Zelda 2, commonly I find people complain about the cost of the life spell. But these people seldom use the other magics, which negate much of the need for the life spell. It's still a crucial spell, but not the best for every situation.
Funny thing, when I played this as a 7 year-old I couldn’t find the mirror, so I just went through most of the game without the Life magic. That is, until the fruitless search for the 6th Palace utterly stumped me for the next six years of my life.😅
Thanks! I didn't know the Blue Fakker strat or the Thunderbird reflect magic strat and I've beaten this game many times. One thing I do that I don't think is mentioned in this video is save all the extra lives for the last section of the game. That way if you die you can continue and pick up 4 extra lives on your way to the last stage. The last stage is the only one that ever gives me trouble. It might be easier now with these strats though.
This video was fantastic. I just beat zelda 2 last night and trying to go through the great palace without a guide and using trial and error to get through it and find the Thunderbird was maddening. Now that I see how to deal with certain threats like the blue fokkus, it doesnt seem that bad anymore and much more manageable. The next time I play through this underappreciated gem, I am 100% using this so I can fully enjoy the game unlike before. This was fantastic and I instantly subbed after seeing this to the very end.
Overall a really good walkthrough of the game. One thing I want to note is that instead of leaving the palaces incomplete and then having to go back to them to get those final levels, I like grinding out levels in Palace 5 (Ocean Palace) instead. There’s a room where blocks fall from the ceiling and moas attack from left to right. If you let the blocks fill the area and then stand on the 3rd block up, you are at the perfect height to kill the moas over and over for 50 points each time. It helps to cast fire as well to kill them faster. This lets you grind fast to max levels. Or usually what I do is I grind to 8-7-7 levels and then beating the bosses of Palace 5 and 6 will completely level you up.
@@UCanBeatVideoGames It might be faster to get those last levels, but I always found it tedious to have to go back to those palaces later. There’s something rewarding about finishing a palace the first time and not having to come back. I agree your method is probably faster though.
@@UCanBeatVideoGames And if anything, I would mention the grind spot in your video since I think it’s better to grind there than the woods area near the ending of the game, even if you do revisit the palaces to get the last levels.
Something I used to do because I thought it made the hammer cave easier was I would go up the side path at the end of Death Mountain before doing that final cave, and go to Mido and get the down thrust and come back down the bridge and side path and get the hammer and the magic container.
Brilliant work! I am glad more long videos examining games in-depth are popping up on RU-vid, especially for older games that have a bad habit of being unclear and unforgiving. I hope your channel keeps growing, you explain things so clearly and concisely.
Thank you for that leveling tip. It really saved a lot of time, and I only had to spend like a half hour at that leveling spot to get to the right levels to go after the bosses. These videos are awesome. Though I was playing the Zelda 2 redux hack, so the orange guys were only giving me 100 points each. The red ones were 150.
Indeed, I feel zelda 2 is also misunderstood imo You have to remember, the 2 in games on Nintendo for the most part did something radically different? Like super mario bros 2 USA is doki doki panic, zelda 2 is.. zelda 2.. and Simon's Quest sort of plays like adventure of link
If you want to level quickly in the first palace, an easy trick is killing the skull bubble things. You _can_ kill them - though they take a lot of hits - and they will give you 50 XP each, and they respawn. I usually grind them to attack level 4 before continuing on.
It is easier to exit and re-enter the Parapa Palace to reset the mini bosses and the fairy. It is incredibly time consuming to kill a Bubble for just 50 exp unless you have a high sword level and down thrust, which you wouldn’t have early in the game. Those Bubbles take 16 hits to defeat at max sword level and they take forever at the lower sword levels. I wouldn’t bother with them unless I had a turbo controller at that point.
One of the greatest games of all time. It's totally misunderstood! This was a great game and mystery as a kid, we had a lot of fun with it. Yeah there was some BS and it was linear in spots, but so is the 1st, you can't do some of the temples without doing another first. Plus, who could be upset at the town healer...but that magic lady is sus
35:14 "Soon you'll come to an area you can't avoid." Not necessarily true. You could stand and wait for a group of enemies to appear and try to hit one as you step onto the hidden area. If you time it right and connect on top of it, you'll fight the (hopefully) weaker standard desert enemy, instead of having to go through the area with the instant death water pits. This works in the final road to the valley of death as well. The hidden ones on the way to the final castle. Presenting you with a weaker and shorter battle to traverse to pass the area.
The Links Adventure Zelda 2 cartridge is one I've seldom gone back to just because of how demanding the game is. I'm sure if I could actually create a magic seal to encase it, namely to prevent others from the harsh trail of madness I suffered, I would. Thanks for helping me come to grips with a less loved classic and helping me remove it from a 30 year slip case slumber.
If you've already passed the game, I highly recommend fighting Shadow Link fairly. It is extremely rewarding and a fitting final battle for the game's overall difficulty.
I can tell you a lot about it. -There are 41 fixed location Red Jars (at my own research) including those that can turn into Ironknuckles/Birdknights -There are 30 fixed location P-Bags in the game -Getting 9000 Points gives you an Extra Life! And a free Life/Magic Refill. -Defeat the Boss of a dungeon, but jump over the center and exit the dungeon instead. Wait until you're you 8-8-8 (9000 points) and then seal the palaces for a free 6 lives. -Save the link dolls for the end of the game. -Use Shield against Bosses to half your damage. -Keep Fairy on hand to cast instantly (select the spell as your last selected spell) to save yourself from being knocked into a pit otherwise. -Fairy can allow you to fly through doors without a key. Use this if you wish. Make sure you can get magic to fly back! -Fairy doesn't allow "kickback" which means you can't be knocked into a pit/etc. Guess what, you cannot cheat the Great Palace, as it's set for instant death if you touch it. Developer insight! -There is too much for me to post in one comment. -Ironknuckles can be killed easily if you do a jump/duck/stab move, in order, to bypass their shields and go through their helmets. -Game cannot be saved scummed, if you want a 000 clear, you must clear the game without saving or game overs in one sitting. -Still more I can tell you. But not now.
@@emailchrismoll As a kid back in the late 80s/early 90s I tried to bypass the barrier by using Fairy, as there is no kickback when you're a fairy. Developer insight prevented me from passing, as it's coded to instantly kill you as a fairy.
I wonder why is this game looked as the red haired step kid in the family? This game should be liked better because it is different much like Super Mario Bros 2 USA was different, because these two were different from their respective first game, every future edition is different from the one before. Simple, if there was no LINK'S ADVENTURE, there'd be no Twilight Princess or Breath Of The Wild.😜
YES! I made it through death mountain with your help! your tips also helped me develop a slow & steady technique…. If you run away far enough for them to lower their weapons, and then run right back to them head on without stopping, it’ll time your attacks to hit them, run and be able to repeat. Just dont back down, run right up and swing, then run right back away until they aren’t holding the axe any more, then run back and swipe again. You’ll still have to jump to beat the red ones though.
@@UCanBeatVideoGames Crouching is unnecessary for "the trick". The last time I played through this game, I managed to get my first (and probably last, since it seems to be luck-based whether or not he'll be able to break through the slashes of a standing Link while he'll almost certainly hit Link a few times during the crouching strategy by jumping into Link) "no damage taken against shadow" battle. I'm disappointed that the mostly-useless Spell spell didn't have a role in this battle [I tried it in one of my most recent playthroughs (I had the magic to spare after using Shield and making sure I kept enough to use Life in case of emergency in the playthrough in question, so it wasn't the aforementioned "last playthrough"), but nothing happened]. I still don't know if using Fire does anything, but I intend to find out in my next playthrough, which is currently ongoing. Hopefully I remember to edit this comment or leave a new one after I find out if Fire does anything to Link's shadow, since if it does, that would certainly be "a more fun way" to win the final fight, with or without "the trick". "WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, USE FIRE" is an in-game hint, and I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to have a hint for the final boss when most players think the hint only applies to Tektites and Zora.
@@RemyWillard The spells Fire & Spell don't work on bosses, especially Spell, since that would be too cheap. It turns all regular enemies on the screen into Bots. I'm not sure if Thunder works on bosses either (excluding Thunderbird), but Dark Link's HP is special. Instead of taking damage based on your ATK level, his health bar goes by number of hits instead, so even if you could cast it on him, it would be for only 1 bar.
@@Animebryan2 I figured as much for Spell's "normal" effect, which is why I only ever use it to get the magic key in most playthroughs. I'm still going to try out Fire when I get to the shadow on my current playthrough, but if it doesn't work, at least I know I can still win the final fight. XD If Thunder abides by the same rules as Link's sword, that'll be a waste of 64 magic, so I probably won't try it... but I could just rewind on my Switch if I have the magic and see the spell only remove one bar of health. Thank ye for the input. :) UPDATE: Like Spell, Fire and Thunder are 100% ineffective against the shadow. I managed to reach the shadow with full Life and Magic, so it was a good time to try them. The only spell left to experiment with is Fairy, but since that just turns Link into a fairy (some "POWER", right? XD ), I'm not expecting it to do anything with the shadow either. That means "the trick" of standing to one side is the only known way to battle the shadow. :(
This game was released on January 14, 1987 in Japan for the Famicom Disk System. Since no other game' was released on January 19 I consider it my birth game.
I'm so glad that NES game sequels often tried different things. I loved how they mixed the game up and built the world up and gave it the Monster Boy / Wonder Boy treatment. I do think this game is way more fun and rewarding than most of the 3D Zelda games. I think the only one I like more than it is WW, which was a surprisingly good game. I think people who complained about this game being too difficult and cryptic must never have played Zelda 1 without Nintendo power.
Love your strategy! At least for newcomers to this amazing game. This might be one of my favorite Zeldas, despite it being the black sheep of the Zelda family.
Very interesting video! I finished this game like a billion times, but some strategies you used during this gameplay never crossed my mind. I love Zelda 2 and now I'm very happy because I learned something new about this game. Thanks.
There's an unofficial "remastered" version out that is really good if you like the original. A bunch of quality of life "fixes", additional areas and secrets, one ups increase your total when you continue etc. Unfortunately I think it's emulator only so... That aside, it's very well done.
This game came out just when I quit NOA to return to Montana and the abscence of access to the game play counselors at Nintendo really made this game hard for me.. I even had the advantage controller for it.
I wish my mom would have let me call the game counselors, but I'd have probably been calling those guys daily. they'd know my voice as soon as I got on the phone!
I wish I had your video many years ago when I beat this game. Your guide would've made it MUCH easier and less grindy. I didn't even know about the shadow Link trick when I beat him as a kid. That mofo was extremely hard! It wasn't until years later when I replayed it, and I was just messing around, and discovered it by accident. Some more years later, the trick appeared in an AVGN episode. Fun fact: The Iron Knuckle statue potion trick also works on those wall statues with the animal heads.
Thanks!! I also stumbled onto the Shadow Link strategy when I was pretty young - I'm not sure how else anyone ever beat him. Cool tip about those animal heads! probably need a jump spell to hit some of the higher ones.
If you play this video at 1.10 speed, it's much more tolerable. i have no idea why he narrates like a sloth, but it's a good video if you can speed it up a bit.
Thanks for this awesome guide. I've been trying to beat Zelda 2 since the re-release on GBA, and then the bonis disk on the GameCube. After all tgat time I did it on the NES mini thanks to you. Cheers!
I played this game through on my channel. The end nearly broke me. Overall I enjoyed the game, but i don't think i'm in any hurry to play it again. You make it look profoundly easy in comparison!
Thanks man! At least if you die on the final palace they let you start back there, I'm not sure I'd have ever beat this as a kid if it wasn't for that.
@@UCanBeatVideoGames In my play-through, i made it to the last palace, only to realize i hadn't finished the swamp temple. Had to trek all the way back. made for a funny video, but I was less than thrilled!
@@Turbotef He's fucking fun to fight normally. God I wish more popular RU-vidrs like Game Grumps and Mike Matei showed off their skills this way. Fuck the jump trick.
the way you delivered that line at 32:46 caught me off guard, choked on a piece of broccoli even. bravo, sir. i tip my hat, my sword, my bow and my axe to you.
