History YMMV / ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink

%%* MemeticMutation:
%%** "I AM ERROR"
%%** [[KillItWithFire "IF ALL ELSE FAILS USE FIRE."]]
%%** GAME OVER. RETURN OF GANON.

** The FinalBoss, Dark Link, can be defeated by crouching down in the left corner of the screen and stabbing repeatedly without too much trouble. Indeed, this boss is considered so hard that most people don't even ''try'' to beat Dark Link the proper way.

** Ironically, Dark Link, the final boss, can be this if you use a fairly well known exploit against him - [[spoiler: the trick of positioning yourself in the far left corner on the arena]].

** The experience/level system is the other most-loathed mechanic in the game, largely due to the combination of four factors: (1) Every subsequent power-up requires additional XP and time to get (pretty normal), (2) The severe difficulty of the game makes these power-ups very desirable (normal for NintendoHard), (3) Losing your lives resets any unspent XP back down to zero (Ok, now this is ''brutal''), and (4) Beating the first six dungeons of the game automatically gives you the XP to your next power-up, regardless of the amount required. As a result, the game ''heavily'' encourages you to spend most the early game grinding to get most of your power-ups out of the way, saving the last and most expensive ones for the rewards you get for beating the dungeons. This has the result of also making the monsters in the last 2/3 of the game even ''more'' of a chore, as you're no longer getting any real benefit out of killing them since you've earned your power-ups already.

** Moas are a big enough pain in the ass in graveyards, but they also moonlight as LedgeBats when you trek across the Valley of Death, and they have an orange variant in Temples that flies ahead of you and weeps fire down from above with infuriatingly great timing.

*** SecretTestOfCharacter? Not that the possibility makes this any less funny.

** Assuming to know how to kill him, Carock is another, and if you have enough magic for the Shield spell, he goes from pretty easy to a complete joke.

** A lot of fans who discovered the series with ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' are surprised to learn that ''this'' game was the first appearance of Dark Link and the name of the Sages plus Mido.

** Three-Eyed Rock Palace, AKA Palace 6, the final Crystal Palace in the game. Not only is it the furthest palace away from the North Palace where you begin, necessitating a grueling walk to the place upon a Game Over, it's also [[GuideDangIt the most difficult to locate]] as the one hint ("Call for help at the Three Eye Rocks") is somewhat cryptic ([[spoiler:you have to use the Flute while standing in the center of the three stones]]). Once inside, you'll find there's absolutely no keys to be found, minus the two dropped by a Rebonack rematch and Barba, the dungeon boss, requiring constant use of the Fairy spell or the Magical Key [[spoiler: hidden in New Kasuto]], yet another {{Guide Dangit}}. Aside from THAT, the strongest enemies barring the Great Palace, fake floors dropping you to different levels, and being the biggest of the six crystal dungeons, and you have a recipe for a major headache. One positive, however, is the fact that there is a fairly well hidden Link Doll here, granting you an extra life if you happen to be running low.

** Kasuto, despite ''not being an official character'', at least judging by the amount of fan works that include a character named Kasuto - often as a GreaterScopeVillain[[note]]or at least before ''Skyward Sword'' introduced Demise[[/note]] or GreaterScopeParagon for the setting.

* SophomoreSlump: When the game is retroactively seen as an OddballInTheSeries.

* DemonicSpiders:

* ArtificialBrilliance: Part of the difficulty of the game is that in addition to monsters having fairly nasty attacks, they tend to move and use them intelligently, and the AI is much more impressive compared to most other 8-bit games of the time. Fighting the Ironknuckles feels like a real duel. The Lizalfos will throw their rocks at Link with leading patterns to catch him to where he's expected to be, not just where he is currently. Even the basic Bots in the dungeons like to feign immobility while quivering and then jump at you when you get to close.

* MemeticMutation:
** "I AM ERROR"
** [[KillItWithFire "IF ALL ELSE FAILS USE FIRE."]]
** GAME OVER. RETURN OF GANON.

** The "quest" to learn the Fire spell in Mido. A woman complains about being thirsty. The water fountain is about ten steps away. Whatever would she have done if Link hadn't come along to undertake such an arduous journey for her?

** Three-Eyed Rock Palace, AKA Palace 6, the final Crystal Palace in the game. Not only is it the furthest palace away from the North Palace where you begin, necessitating a grueling walk to the place upon a Game Over, it's also [[GuideDangIt the most difficult to locate]] as the one hint ("Call for help at the Three Eye Rocks") is somewhat cryptic ([[spoiler:you have to use the Flute while standing in the center of the three stones]]). Once inside, you'll find there's absolutely no keys to be found, minus the two dropped by a Rebonack rematch and Barba, the dungeon boss, requiring constant use of the Fairy spell or the Magical Key [[spoiler: hidden in New Kasuto]], yet another {{Guide Dangit}}. Aside from THAT, the strongest enemies barring the Great Palace, fake floors dropping you to different levels, and being the biggest of the six crystal dungeons, and you have a recipe for a major headache.

** Gooma hits very hard, and it takes plenty of hits to be defeated.

* UnfortunateCharacterDesign: The Wizzrobe's new design looks alarmingly similar to a Ku Klux Klan member, complete with white robes, pointed hood and a red cross on its face.
* {{Woolseyism}}: As usual, there are some differences between the Japanese and international releases.
** New color palettes and tile sets for each different palace (they all use the same stone pattern from Parapa Palace in the Japanese version, and only alternate colors between gray and blue).
** The wandering monsters were originally little balloon things.
** New, more varied music.
** The bosses Carock and Volvagia are now animated instead of merely static sprites.
** The addition of the classic ItemGet pose (before, stabbing things to get them like with the potion was done with ''all'' items.)
** There's a brand-new boss in place of a second fight with Helmethead. The second fight from the Japanese version was moved to the second palace, replacing the first fight altogether. The new boss is Gooma, a KingMook version of the Guma enemies.
** For better or worse, the legendary difficulty is worse internationally, with Tektites only being vulnerable to the Fire Spell (and first encountered long before you get it!) and XP-draining monsters being stand-out examples.
** The amount of XP needed to level up in Japanese stops increasing at 4000, not '''9000,''' which means you're a lot tougher by the time you reach the Valley of Death and the Great Palace, which are ''ultra''-deadly internationally. To compensate, however, you don't undergo stat reduction when you die in the international version.

* {{Woolseyism}}: As usual, there are some differences between the JP and US releases.
** New color palettes and tile sets for each different palace (they all use the same stone pattern from Parapa Palace in the JP version, and only alternate colors between gray and blue).

** For better or worse, the legendary difficulty is worse in the US. Tektites only being vulnerable to the Fire Spell (and first encountered long before you get it!) is new to the US, as are XP-draining monsters.
** The amount of XP needed to level up in Japan stops increasing at 4000, not '''9000,''' which means you're a lot tougher by the time you reach the Valley of Death and the Great Palace, which are ''ultra''-deadly in the US. To compensate, however, you don't undergo stat reduction when you die in the US version.

* FairForItsDay: Gets a lot of criticism for being such a major departure from the series. Its defenders like to point out that as the second game in the series it was hardly a "major" departure. Furthermore, the belief at the time was that {{Mission Pack Sequel}}s wouldn't sell in America and so sequels were expected to be quite different from the original - compare Videogame/SuperMarioBros2.

** The bosses Carock and Barba are now animated instead of merely static sprites.

** There's a brand-new boss in place of a second fight with Helmethead.

** The two different animated head statues, Ra and Mau. (Ras are the dragon-shaped ones, Maus are the panthers). Both spawn infinitely and drain experience when touching Link. Ras double as LedgeBats, Maus basically ZergRush Link.

** The experience/level system is the other most-loathed mechanic in the game, largely due to the combination of four factors: (1)Every subsequent power-up requires additional XP and time to get (pretty normal), (2)The severe difficulty of the game makes these power-ups very desirable (normal for NintendoHard), (3) Losing your lives resets any unspent XP back down to zero (Ok, now this is ''brutal''), and (4) Beating the first six dungeons of the game automatically gives you the XP to your next power-up, regardless of the amount required. As a result, the game ''heavily'' encourages you to spend most the early game grinding to get most of your power-ups out of the way, saving the last and most expensive ones for the rewards you get for beating the dungeons. This has the result of also making the monsters in the last 2/3 of the game even ''more'' of a chore, as you're no longer getting any real benefit out of killing them since you've earned your power-ups already.

** Death Mountain, which apart from the Great Palace is the area that gives players the most trouble, and you have to pass through it very early the game. Amongst other things, it involves a maze on the overworld that's easy to get lost in, along with hordes of enemies. And once in a while in the Death Mountain caves you have to face the Red Dairas, who can rapidly throw axes which, unlike the thrown swords of the Blue Ironknuckles, can't be blocked by the shield. And this comes early enough in the game you don't have the down thrust attack and probably don't have high attack and defense levels unless you've been deliberately grinding.

** Gerus/Lizalfos. The name 'Lizalfos' was first used on monsters in ''Ocarina of Time''. The bipedal lizard-like monters in ''Zelda II'' were never given a localized English name, and the Japanese name translates to Geru. Some think they're obviously Lizalfos and refer to them as such, others prefer to call them Gerus until an official source confirms them to be the same monster. If the Bipedal Armored Lizard Monsters aren't actually Lizalfos though, they're certainly a prototype of sorts.