This is a review of the port of the infamous Zelda game, the second in the series. Was it as bad as people believe? No. Then why do people dislike it? Change.

I'll start with parts of the game.

STORY: "A new Link, has reached the age of manhood. He notices a strange triangle on his left hand. After showing it to Impa, she used it to open a door. And in the door, was a beautiful maiden, asleep. Link learned that a curse was cast upon her, and to remove the curse, he had to activate the seals at all of the temples. And his journey began. Although, Ganon's minions were looking for Link, and wanted to use his blood to resurrect the Dark Lord."

Not a bad story at all, the only problem is that it only appears if you wait at the title screen, or read the manual. It was a good story though, and seemed to explain things better than the original Zelda game. Also, it did good work as a sequel. (10/10)

Graphics: Actually, these are probably some of the best graphics on the system. You can tell what everything is, and the game really takes advantage of the point of view. The graphics looked excellent on a screen that was actually made for them. No stretching, as was evident in the first classic NES series. The only downsides to the graphics are the standard overhead graphics, and the sword, held at waist level, and seeing that it is skin-colored. >.< (9/10)

Gameplay: This is what the game is all about. This is why people disliked the game, change. It took a completely different path than the original. Was this a bad thing? No. Did it bring you into a different dimension of fighting? Yes. Was the action smooth? Yes. How was the AI? Good. Random battle encounters? Different.

The only problems were, the slightly odd path to random encounters. Although, I like this approach better than that of, the Final Fantasy series, I can't think of anything they could of done better, with the hardware they had to use.

The other difference, unmentioned before, was the leveling system. This was actually a very good thing, and it added a new sense of adventure that was not in the original. You gained experience with most monsters you killed, and, using these points, you would choose what to level up, and as the levels became higher, the experience required to excel in these would also rise. Good idea Nintendo, too bad nobody caught on. >.> (10/10)

Difficulty/Leveling/Magic System: The difficult of this game is probably the second thing that turned gamers off to this game. Why? It's extreme difficulty, and how hard it beat this game, or even to make it halfway. This ties in with the Leveling, and the Magic system directly.

Leveling was point based, as mentioned before, however, you did not learn spells, or additional sword techniques with leveling. These were taught to you by either, the "Wise Men," or the "Warrior" in each town. But, in order to talk to these men, you had either find them, or help them with whatever they need. These include "That monster stole our trophy," and "I lost my mirror!" This was nice, as it added more of a social system than the "Buy something or beat it!" type of interaction that the original contained. However, finding some of these items were a pain. The difficulty will probably scare off most next-gen gamers. (9/10)

Controls: The controls for this game were just about perfect. Just like in the original, your shield was always out, but it was even a bigger part of gameplay this time. It would block sword attacks, projectiles, and just about everything, other than direct collisions with a foe. The only problem was that you had to die to save, or even if you did the trick with the #2 controller, it still counted it as a death. This game did not suffer from control mishaps on the GBA. (9/10)

Music: The music, was probably one of the greatest parts of this game. It utilizes the NES's capability for music, and presented some of the greatest songs in the series. The dungeon music was, outstanding. I cannot imagine better music in this game. It was perfectly emulated on the GBA, I love it. (10/10)

Ported-ness: (Errr...) For lack of a better word, this is just how close this game stayed to it's NES twin. The screen resolution was great, and almost everything was the same as the original. The only differences are those related to saving, and that letting one know that the game is paused. However, both use the game's font, so it blends in perfectly. (10/10)

Overall: This is my opinion of the game, complete and full. What I thought of the above is insignificant. I believe this is an excellent game, and that it did not deserve all of the hate that it got. Most that hated it couldn't even beat two dungeons, so the opinion against it was biased. Very few who beat the game hate it. This game worked great as a port, and I love having another manual for this game. (10/10)

Summary:

Story: (10/10)
Graphics: (9/10)
Gameplay: (10/10)
Difficulty/Leveling/Magic System: (9/10)
Controls: (9/10)
Music: (10/10)
Ported-ness: (10/10)
Overall: (10/10)

Actual score: (Calculated): 9.62 Rounded: (10/10)