Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Magazine Screenshots#

Famimaga Issue 24#

The December 5, 1986 issue included a number of screenshots from an earlier point of the game's development.

Prerelease	Final

For the title screen the spacing for the "PUSH START" text was made smaller, some of the colors were changed slightly, and the top of the 冒(bou) in "bouken" was redrawn with a thicker drop shadow in the final.

Prerelease	Final

The altar in the North Castle that the sleeping Princess Zelda rests on was changed to a more simple brick pedestal in the final version.

Furthermore, the spot that Link is standing on in the early screenshot is not possible without scrolling the screen in the final game. The altar room may have been just a single screen at this point.

Prerelease	Final

The area outside of North Castle had some mountain tiles removed south of the lake, as well as a forest tile removed in the lower-left corner.

Prerelease	Final

In the Town of Rauru a house was removed at the left edge of town and a door was changed from permanently closed to open.

Prerelease	Final

At the Parapa Palace entrance a column was removed, a background cloud was moved one tile to the left, and, most notably, the small statue was replaced by an Iron Knuckle statue in the final.

This screenshot of the bridges in the south area of Death Mountain has red Moby enemies flying down. This red variant of Moby is not seen in the final game, only an orange one.

Mock-Up	Final

Biweekly Famitsu Issue 15#

Prerelease	Final

From the January 9, 1987 issue. Likely the first hallway area at the entrance of Parapa Palace. There is no red Iron Knuckle here in the final game, and more columns and windows were added.

Oddly, this same image was also used in a 1991 NES promotional poster, well after the game's release.

Manual Screenshots#

Prerelease	Final

Seen in the FDS version's manual, the Candle item room in Parapa Palace either had the block formation moved to the center of the room, or the room itself was two tiles smaller.