Seen by many fans as the black sheep of The Legend of Zelda franchise, Zelda II sticks out as one of the most unique titles in the series, switching the top-view that made the original The Legend of Zelda for NES such a classic in favour of a side-scrolling adventure, one that the series wouldn't see officially (and partially) again until Link's Awakening on the Game Boy (and excluding the CDi titles of course), with LA only using a side-scrolling view for very limited areas in dungeons.

Even though the game does have its haters, known romhacker infidelity has taken upon the task of porting the entirety of Zelda II into the SNES, which he did a couple of weeks ago back in June 28th, 2024. The port itself features some slight quality of life changes over the original, offering less slowdown, less flickering and, until just a few minutes ago, infidelity has been able to implement full MSU-1 support into this new SNES port, which means CD quality music playback for the game.

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While some might see this as just mute work and unnecessary, it is nothing short of a technical wonder, showcasing the capabilities of the modern day when it comes to romhacks altogether, and that given the proper knowledge, entire ports into newer consoles can be made, and with even bugfixes or more features than the original.

 

[Robert Newbie]

I looked at YouTube and cant see the difference between original NES-Version and SNES Port?

The core of the game should look about the same. On the SNES, games experience less slowdown, and Infidelity is nice enough to add a menu for soundtrack options in some of the ports. I think there may also be bugfixes here and there.

 

[ATKOtter]

I love to see Zelda II remade in the Style of Top-down perspective like how Ys 3 got remade just like in the style of it's predecessor came before it & it's successor came after it.

Oath in Felghana still roughly reused the layouts of the dungeons and progression from the original because the focus on platforming fit the Ys 6 gameplay design.

Zelda 2 would need to be completely redesigned to work from a three-quarter view in a way that Ys 3 didn't.

I'd rather have a remake that keeps the side-view style, but redoes the gameplay and combat systems to be more engaging. The RPG mechanics were incredibly simplified in the overseas releases, and the game is pretty unforgiving in general

 

[urherenow]

there has already been a remake (Zelda II Remastered, by Hoverbat) with different spells and such, and it's pretty awesome . If you're a completionist, you MUST play through it twice, to 100% it.

 

[Robert Newbie]

Zelda II will always enjoy an infamous reputation because of all the kids that couldn't figure it out back in the 80's and 90's. It's now a game I revisit fairly often, but I know I used to be in the same boat.

I'd argue that it's tough for the wrong reasons, but the gameplay and overall design are great.

I suppose resembling the first two Zelda CDi games the most doesn't help.

 

[Scriber]

Has Chrono Trigger been done yet? I don't even know if my Everdrive 5X even supports MSU, I'm guessing not.

Chrono Trigger was done years ago, and no, no Everdrive's support MSU1. Only ikari_01's SD2SNES/FXPak supports MSU1.

I heard MSU-1 hacks are usually not recommended due to emulation and hardware quirks.

?

 

[ATKOtter]

there has already been a remake (Zelda II Remastered, by Hoverbat) with different spells and such, and it's pretty awesome . If you're a completionist, you MUST play through it twice, to 100% it.

That's not a remake. It's an expanded port based on disassembled code from the NES version. Essentially like the Mario 64 / OOT pc ports, but made in a new engine.

Zelda II will always enjoy an infamous reputation because of all the kids that couldn't figure it out back in the 80's and 90's. It's now a game I revisit fairly often, but I know I used to be in the same boat.

I'd argue that it's tough for the wrong reasons, but the gameplay and overall design are great.

I suppose resembling the first two Zelda CDi games the most doesn't help.

I agree. It's a pretty good game divorced from all the incredibly anti-player systems (like lives and EXP loss, and restarting at the temple every time you game over).

Do wish the RPG mechanics were a bit less gutted in the USA version though. The Japanese version let you select what you upgraded because each of the stats required the same experience per rank up, but the USA version you're kinda just stuck with going a set level up path because of how they changed the EXP requirements for each stat.

 

[Robert Newbie]

That's not a remake. It's an expanded port based on disassembled code from the NES version. Essentially like the Mario 64 / OOT pc ports, but made in a new engine.


I agree. It's a pretty good game divorced from all the incredibly anti-player systems (like lives and EXP loss, and restarting at the temple every time you game over).

Do wish the RPG mechanics were a bit less gutted in the USA version though. The Japanese version let you select what you upgraded because each of the stats required the same experience per rank up, but the USA version you're kinda just stuck with going a set level up path because of how they changed the EXP requirements for each stat.

I remember thinking as a kid, "wait, I can only choose this one upgrade or cancel?" I know I cancelled once on a whim, but I don't recall what the end result was. Does that option skip the upgrade entirely? No one knows.

It's such a weird game to recommend because it's genuinely fun, but newcomers need to be warned about the design choices. I genuinely remember the first time I went to get one of the extra lives, and it wasn't there. Child me had an "oh, come on, really?" moment.

Miyamoto had a LOL that day

 

[LuigiXHero]

If you cancel a level up it lets you wait until the next point threshold for the next stat. So let's say you are at level 1-1-1, you need 50 for life, 100 for Magic, 200 for Attack. You can cancel the level up at 50 and so it'll automatically switch to needing 100 for the magic level up and so on.
A lesser known thing is that if you pass a level and then level up you can still select the cheaper option and it'll take that amount of points and let you select more if you have enough. So you can pass the cheaper options and clear a palace and get a ton more xp since it gives you the amount of xp required for the next level. So you could be like level 8 in attack and 4 on health and magic pass health and magic level up and get up to 9000 points in a level up from a palace and just dump those into health and magic. So there's a hidden risk and reward system the game never tells you about.

 

[Robert Newbie]

If you cancel a level up it lets you wait until the next point threshold for the next stat. So let's say you are at level 1-1-1, you need 50 for life, 100 for Magic, 200 for Attack. You can cancel the level up at 50 and so it'll automatically switch to needing 100 for the magic level up and so on.
A lesser known thing is that if you pass a level and then level up you can still select the cheaper option and it'll take that amount of points and let you select more if you have enough. So you can pass the cheaper options and clear a palace and get a ton more xp since it gives you the amount of xp required for the next level. So you could be like level 8 in attack and 4 on health and magic pass health and magic level up and get up to 9000 points in a level up from a palace and just dump those into health and magic. So there's a hidden risk and reward system the game never tells you about.

My head hurts. Pretend you're Kaepora Gaebora (aka "the owl"), and I just said I'd like to hear it again.

I usually skip the crystals so I don't have to grind in the last part of the game. Would skipping the level ups result in better rewards at the palace crystals?

 

[urbanman2004]

I'm may try this out with Snes9x

So I finally tried it out and it plays fine. I didn't grow up w/ the NES even though I owned the original hardware later in life so I don't have much of any nostalgia for this game. Although, this game seems to be more difficult than I anticipated. That's why I prefer "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" which happens to be my fav title from the whole franchise.

 

[urherenow]

That's not a remake. It's an expanded port based on disassembled code from the NES version. Essentially like the Mario 64 / OOT pc ports, but made in a new engine.

BS. M64 and OOT are straight-up disassembled and recompiled for PC, With options like higher resolution and framerates. Hoverbat's version has a metric butt ton of differences. Even the boss battles are different. The map is expanded, spells are changed... it is FAR from an enhanced port. It is a remake. To say otherwise makes me think you haven't played it, in which case you shouldn't even be commenting on it.

 

[ATKOtter]

BS. M64 and OOT are straight-up disassembled and recompiled for PC, With options like higher resolution and framerates. Hoverbat's version has a metric butt ton of differences. Even the boss battles are different. The map is expanded, spells are changed... it is FAR from an enhanced port. It is a remake. To say otherwise makes me think you haven't played it, in which case you shouldn't even be commenting on it.

Hoverbat disassembled Z2 and rebuilt it to run in gamemaker so they can modify it, but it's no different than a hack of the game.

It's not a remake, it's an expanded port. I have played it, and I have played the original.
Yes, there's a lot different, but it doesn't make it a remake. A remake would be making an entirely new game based on the original without reusing the original's engine and assets, not editing the original to add more content.

 

[LuigiXHero]

My head hurts. Pretend you're Kaepora Gaebora (aka "the owl"), and I just said I'd like to hear it again.

I usually skip the crystals so I don't have to grind in the last part of the game. Would skipping the level ups result in better rewards at the palace crystals?

Is hard to tldr that tbh it's a lot of info. Yes but it's definitely a challenge to keep your lives long enough for it not to be a waste.

 

[urherenow]

Hoverbat disassembled Z2 and rebuilt it to run in gamemaker so they can modify it, but it's no different than a hack of the game.

It's not a remake, it's an expanded port. I have played it, and I have played the original.
Yes, there's a lot different, but it doesn't make it a remake. A remake would be making an entirely new game based on the original without reusing the original's engine and assets, not editing the original to add more content.

Nope. An entirely new game, is an entirely new game. This is a remake. The graphics aren't enhanced, they are different. The mechanics are different. In the original, a fairy spell made you a fairy. That fairy
cannot hurt things, and lets you fly through keyholes without a key. This version turns you into a chicken, and you can fight with that chicken. But you cannot bypass a locked door with it. There is even an upgrade to that spell. Things were brought back in from other zelda games that weren't there before, like the concept of a power glove/bracelet so you can move heavy pilars for a shortcut. How about the master sword? How about warps? How about an entirely new *real* final boss, in an entirely new area? So no, you can't say there are no new assets, and you can't say it isn't a remake.

 

[ATKOtter]

Nope. An entirely new game, is an entirely new game. This is a remake. The graphics aren't enhanced, they are different. The mechanics are different. In the original, a fairy spell made you a fairy. That fairy
cannot hurt things, and lets you fly through keyholes without a key. This version turns you into a chicken, and you can fight with that chicken. But you cannot bypass a locked door with it. There is even an upgrade to that spell. Things were brought back in from other zelda games that weren't there before, like the concept of a power glove/bracelet so you can move heavy pilars for a shortcut. How about the master sword? How about warps? How about an entirely new *real* final boss, in an entirely new area? So no, you can't say there are no new assets, and you can't say it isn't a remake.

I didn't say there are no new assets, I said that it's an expanded port of the game, because it's built off the same code and graphics and game itself. Just adding new stuff to a game does not make it a new game, it makes it an expanded game.

Even Hoverbat themself called it "Zelda II: Enhanced PC Edition" and not a remake.

 

[SonyUSA]

This version has a bug that displays EXP incorrectly. Wait for the next release to download/load onto your carts!

 

[easycrashing]

This version has a bug that displays EXP incorrectly. Wait for the next release to download/load onto your carts!

REV-F 7-23-24

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*additional fix to vram buffer, to allow 7E:0302 portion of buffer to be accessed every time vblank starts

*fixed softlock with 2A03 soundtrack selection, when dialog boxes are finished typing, and cannot exit via Y button



REV-E 7-21-24

-----------------

*fixed experience points not updating correctly within hud

*fixed msu-1 track not playing, after sword techniques have been taught to Link

 

[placez]

is this just higher quality audio?

 

[Robert Newbie]

is this just higher quality audio?

MSU-1 offers the opportunity for higher-quality audio. Infidelity goes for completeness, so these ports offer the original soundtrack alongside one or more remix options.

Since it's an NES to SNES port, there's usually less lag and possibly some bugfixes.