It’s time for something a little different in the Angry Video Game Nerd series, at least, different from what we’ve had in the past year or so worth of episodes — in this one, James takes a look at Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Yep. A Zelda game that isn’t the CD-i ones. This one was actually a common request, and James even expresses in the video how surprised he is by this — a bad Zelda game that’s actually a proper Zelda game? It’s time for the Nerd to take a look at it, but first, he compares it to the first game in the series, The Legend of Zelda.
He goes over how the game is well regarded, but does have some oddities about it, leading to quite the funny rant about enemy names. He moves on to begin talking about Zelda II and its story, how it is the only direct sequel from the first game (see the 2006 Chronologically Confused episode for more info on that one) before he begins to get into the problems.
He starts off with the overall appearance, and how the game is a platformer / side scroller in the core gameplay. This is different from the constant top down view of the first game, but this was only the second game in the series, after all, and Nintendo was known to do “different” games as the sequel to their big titles back then, so it’s not so odd.
He addresses the somewhat odd nature of enemies on the overworld, comparing that to other games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior before hitting the biggest factor for why some may dislike the game — the difficulty, especially Death Mountain.
Of course during this he cracks plenty of jokes, a “fuck you” to Gannon when you die, a joke about the “P” bags in the game, which contain experience points used for leveling up, and more.
Moving on from the difficulty, he talks about the nature of towns in the game and how odd they are. Of course he mentions everyone’s favorite odd moment in the game, the “I AM ERROR” guy, before wondering just what goes on in one of the houses when you have your health restored. This goes into its own little tangent which is fine until he discovers a glitch in the game (cue our friend from the last episode, the Glitch Gremlin) and is somewhat amazed by the results.
Following that he covers more of what happens in the game story wise, finding more odd aspects, annoying enemies and more before eventually hitting on the cryptic aspects, making this a “Nintendo Power” kind of game to add to the raw difficulty of the enemies.
Finally reaching the end, James is happy to see the game actually lets you continue from the entrance of the final dungeon, so long as you have enough lives saved up during your previous play session.
Reaching Dark Link he winds up unable to beat him, much like you “can’t beat your own shadow.” He compares the difficulty to people who are skilled enough at the first game to get to the end with no sword. As a challenge to himself, he jokes about playing the game with the Power Glove. In finishing the review, where he’s rather positive about the game, he accidentally begins the last fight again and, without realizing it, beats Dark Link.
This, of course, would be pre-recorded footage of the “normal” tactic used to beat Dark Link, but for the purposes of the Nerd story it fits right in.
Final Rating: 4.5/5
I have a strong soft spot for Zelda II, so when this episode premiered I knew some of what to expect, having played through most of the game myself. I was surprised to learn a few things, both about it and the original Legend of Zelda, and was certainly entertained the whole way through.
This episode feels a bit more like a Season 3 to Season 4 episode, as well. A bit more traditional, I guess you could say. James certainly covered the game pretty well in the short span of the review and made sure to keep the comedy at a steady pace. I think he was feeling a bit more energetic during this one, and certainly had fun making it, which always makes for a good episode.
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