The side angle is occasionally seen in Link's Awakening and the other Game Boy entries, which rely primarily on the top-down view.

[3] In this installment, Link gains experience points to upgrade his Attack, Magic, and Life attributes by defeating enemies.

Other games in The Legend of Zelda series only allow Link to increase his strength through new weapons, items, and Heart Containers.

The game switches to side-scrolling mode when Link steps onto particular spots in the overworld map to enter towns, buildings, or caves, or when he encounters wandering monsters.

The Life spell becomes the main means of recovering health during action scenes, because healing Fairies are rare.

[3] Several years after the events of The Legend of Zelda,[5] the now-16-year-old Link notices a strange mark on the back of his left hand, exactly like the crest of Hyrule.

Impa places the back of Link's left hand on the door, and it opens, revealing a sleeping maiden.

Princess Zelda refused to reveal its location, and the prince's wizard friend, in anger, tried to strike her down with a spell.

Zelda fell under a powerful sleeping spell, but the wizard was unable to control the wildly arcing magic and was killed by it.

The prince, filled with remorse and unable to reverse the spell, had his sister placed in the castle tower, hoping she would one day be awakened.

She gives Link a chest containing six crystals and ancient writings that only a great future king of Hyrule can read.

Link finds that he can read the document, even though he has never seen the language before; it indicates that the crystals must be set into statues within six palaces scattered across Hyrule.

A new team was assembled to develop the sequel,[6] except for Miyamoto (who is credited with the pseudonym "Miyahon") as the producer and Takashi Tezuka as the story- and scriptwriter.

The two dungeon bosses Carrok and Volvagia (the latter being named Barba in the NES release) have different graphical appearances.

Due to the Disk System's additional sound chip, the NES conversion lost some musical elements, especially from the title screen.

The most significant change is the spending of experience points, as Link's three attributes cost the same, unlike the worldwide release.

[15] The Adventure of Link was re-released in 2003 on The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition disc for the GameCube,[16] and again in 2004 as part of the Classic NES Series for Game Boy Advance,[17] with minor changes.

Zelda II was released as the 100th game on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007: in Japan on January 23,[18][19] in Europe and Australia on February 9 and in North America on June 4.

It was re-released again on the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in September 2011, alongside the first Zelda game, as part of the "3DS Ambassadors" program.

[25][26] It is one of the 30 games in the NES Classic Edition, a miniature replica of the Nintendo Entertainment System, released on November 10, 2016, in Australia and Japan and one day later in North America and Europe.

In 1990, Nintendo Power's special edition Pak Source gave it ratings of 4/5 for Graphic and Sound, 3.5/5 for Play Control, 4.5/5 for Challenge, and 4/5 for Theme Fun.

[45] IGN said that the game is a "recommended and playable adventure" but also noted that players should not expect the same gameplay from the classic Zelda titles.

[32] Kotaku enjoyed the darker spin on the original Zelda, stating that the more detailed graphics and bigger sprites made enemies appear more menacing and hostile, also noting that an evolved combat system makes enemies able to defend themselves, withdraw, or strike strategically, using the environment to their advantage.

In a 2007 retrospective, GameSpot said that while the game is "decent enough to make it worth the $5 price [on the Wii's Virtual Console]", it features "questionable design decision[s]" and can get confusing if players don't have the help of walkthroughs.

[47] Zelda II is one of the first games with NPCs traveling with their own agendas, giving the world a life of its own rather than being a simple stage for the story to unfold.

[citation needed] Five of the sages in Ocarina of Time bear the same names as towns from The Adventure of Link (Rauru, Ruto, Saria, Nabooru, and Darunia; excluding Impa).

[53] Some recent games that take more direct inspiration from Zelda II include Adventure Time: Hey Ice King!