When i first plugged my first ever gold cartridge for Legend of Zelda into my Nintendo back in the mid 1980's, it turned into an adventure that I, and everyone else, had never experienced before. The world was HUGE even though it probably seems really small now. I remember taking notes on the map, trying to burn every possible plant and push ever grave in the hopes of discovering some secret. I also remember the elation of discovering a new weapon such as the boomerang and bow and arrow, all of which changed game play a lot.
A few years later, we were told that there was going to be a Zelda 2, and it was likely the most anticipated game of all time at the point. I had personally hoped that they would just make a longer version of the fist one, but instead we got something entirely different and I was not pleased.
So basically we were treated to Super Mario Brothers with a guy in a green outfit that had a sword about 2 pixels long.
There were top down exploration sections, but this only served to get you from place to place. If you were ever attacked, and you were, frequently, it would revert to side-scroller, which i thought was incredibly lame.
Sure the game is rating really high and is ranked as one of the best games on the NES but that doesn't mean i have to agree with it. Even Shigeru Miyamoto (producer on the game) stated that he was a bit disappointed with the final outcome of "The Adventure of Link."
Your main weapon has almost no range unless you are at 100% health, then some sort of magic beam flies off the end of it. Take one little hit from a bat or worm and that all goes away. Now you are reduced to a striking length about that of a pencil or toothbrush.
While I did play this game to completion, I was unhappy that they stepped away from the top down view that was so brilliant in the first game. In the next version called "A Link to the Past" they returned to the traditional top-down view and to this day I think that is one of the best Link games ever made.
Well at least we got to meet "Error"... one of the most cryptic NPC's in gaming history!
There are some rumblings about remaking this title and well, i don't know if we really need that. I suppose with the dramatically more powerful consoles of today that it could be worthwhile but I'd rather have a beautiful "traditional view" game made instead.
What did you think? Were you even alive? If you were I want to know if I am alone in this opinion.