The DEFINITIVE Way to Play Zelda II

Courtesy of programmer Hoverbat, Zelda II has received a modern facelift that you need to play.

Play it here:

Support Hoverbat here:

Assets for Steam library:

Zelda II thumbnail font by Patrick H. Lauke:

Check out Robin Poe's Sheep Lad:

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Thank you to Michael for the thumbnail assistance :)

JJJreact

#zelda2 #pcport #hack

[ozmaphase]

I just 100% completed that game, and it was one of the best games I’ve ever played. The inability to abuse save states, or look up every secret, and being forced to figure them all out by myself was just invigorating and gloriously rewarding. It’s a masterpiece.

[nathanaelries]

In the original game, you could actually save by using the second controller and hitting Up and A while you were on the spell menu screen. It was on page 47 in the US release's manual.

[PabbyPabbles]

It's not perfect, but the first 3DS Adventure Time game "Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?" is a surprisingly okay homage to Zelda II

[Atamastra]

When I discovered this remake about a month, I was absolutely floored. I always held Z2 close to my heart as it was one of the first Zelda games I tried playing as a kid, and as I grew up, I got better until (lol) I finally returned to it in high school and beat it. But it always left something to be desired, like it was unfinished and too small. THIS remake however, oh my god... just perfect. Once I started playing, I binged it for two weeks straight, spending every hour after work and two full weekends just gobbling it up. I couldn't get over all the new items added and how big the world felt. And you better believe I played that 2nd quest! It was worth it.

[marcwilliams]

Zelda 2 was my first Zelda game and will always be special for that reason. Plus, it was the first game I ever beat. No guides, no walkthroughs, just me.

[mae]

This game is an absolute masterpiece. He adds so many side quests and they're so well done. The end of the second quest was fantasitc. Even added funny things like the new fairy spell.

[picsled]

I just beat the 1st quest this morning. I'm BLOWN AWAY. Playing this felt like playing Zelda II for the first time when I was 8. But the reality is it's now the giant, epic adventure and solid game kid me always imagined it was.

[warrenc]

I actually played this recently and really enjoyed it, Hoverbat really added some great stuff to this game, it is not an exact copy of Zelda II, however, it feels like the best version of the game, tons of new content and items, minigames and a new palace.

[turbohusque]

This was my first Zelda game that I got along with my NES in 1989, and it will forever be etched into my Christmas memories. Every aspect of the Hoverbat rework is a massive quality of life improvement, from animated water to grass and stones, clouds, everything. It's called this in other comments, but I think it applies. This hack makes ZII a bona-fide Masterpiece. And whats best about it is that it never looks glaringly out of place, like so many other hacks. Every asset looks like it was there to begin with. It makes the game so moody and lived-in, it's just fantastic. I wish the original could have been exactly like this.

[VivianAladren]

I never got to beating this game but it's nice to see this much effort put into reworking it!

[illdie]

I was looking into Zelda 2 qol romhacks recently with the intent to give one of them a shot eventually, but I had no idea a full remake like this existed! I'll definitely give it a shot some time.

[thelemonadestandman]

Very happy this video came across my recommendations. I also really love zelda 2, the difficulty is high and unforgiving but there's really no other game that makes me feel the exhilarating rush of a sword duel quite like fighting off one-on-one against a Darknut in this game. I was actually replaying the game while waiting for Tears of the Kingdom to come out and was curiously looking through all the fun romhacks for the game. It's a shame that zelda 2 hasn't had much of a legacy quite the way zelda 1 did. I think Zelda 2 is a genuinely great first stab at a side-scrolling combat game. It has plenty of room for improvement of course, but there's very little out there that tries to do what it does. I will definitely check out this (I'm not sure what to call it actually... fan game? fan expansion?) it looks right up my alley.

[BetterThanDoomWithAZ]

They really should've given Link a bigger sword in this game. For the whole adventure and not just when he goes to that lady's house.

[whichcache]

0:47 Oh, that's easy. "Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!!" for the 3DS. There's a top-down 2d overworld. Monster encounters will appear that transition to small sidescrolling segments if you bump into them. Towns and Dungeons have the same sidescrolling format. There's abilities you unlock over time that get you through certain areas.
It feels very heavily inspired by The Adventure of Link from the way it's structured, although it's fairly easy (with an NG+ mode where you keep your stats, but the enemies deal double damage and have twice as much health).

In terms of a successor to Zelda 2, that'd have to be "Link and Zelda: Panoply of Calatia". It's a game using the Zelda Classic engine that serves as a sequel to both Zelda 1 and 2, which combines aspects of both while expanding on the mechanics. You even get to play as Link and Zelda at the same time (the former using a sword, the latter using arrows), with certain moments where the characters have to split up to solve puzzles. I highly recommend it.

[Roshenbo]

I just came across this video and am BLOWN AWAY! This looks amazing! Zelda 2 is my favorite in the series, as it holds the most nostalgia for me from my childhood. Is this strictly a PC emulator game, or can this be played on our Everdrives on real hardware? I have to play this, but if it's a PC only thing, I'm SERIOUSLY, going to cry! Great job to the creator of this incredible looking remake/rom hack. 🤜🤛

[Rockabilly]

This looks great!!!! I'm in my 40s so I played and ENJOYED Zelda 2 when it came out back in the day. I'm really excited about the added content and potential added content I just saw. The facelift looks almost perfect.

[otakubullfrog]

It's nice to see this game getting so much love. It would be great to see Nintendo make new Zelda games that use the basic Zelda II gameplay structure, but with some quality of life tweaks like those seen in these remakes (much like how they continued to make old-school top-down Zelda games for the DS even after the main console games had moved onto 3D).

[WealthyIndustrialist]

It was my first Zelda game, and I love it, even more than the original. I wish they’d do a full remake of it.

[DaveFu]

Friends don't let friends put points into magic or life until attack is at level 4 or so. lol

[KayloMaster]

Hey thanks for the background assets for Steam! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy <3 Can't wait to get into this!