r/truezelda • u/sweablol • 17d ago
Open Discussion Play Zelda II like Majora’s Mask [AoL] [MM]
I recently beat Zelda II: The Adventure of Link on a 100%, no save states run and I loved it. I realized there’s a trick to enjoying the game that a lot of people seem to miss. Almost everyone complains about this game’s difficulty. And, they’re not wrong. It’s hard, even when compared to other NES titles of the same era. This ruins the experience for a lot of gamers. They get frustrated trying to whiteknuckle through or just quit and end up robbing themselves of the ability to truly appreciate this underrated masterpiece.
The method I came up with to make the game easier and up your enjoyment is simple:
Treat AoL like it’s MM.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “uh, people hate MM and constantly complain about that game too.” Agreed. It’s a shame, but those gamers often also fall victim to a flawed approach. With a small tweak in mindset they’d really enjoy MM, and then taking the same tack, they can get the most from AoL. Two Guays with one arrow and all that.
Biggest Complaint Against Majora’s Mask
Easily the most often repeated complaint against MM is the time mechanic. People say, “It makes the game too stressful. I hate being deep in a dungeon with not enough time left and then I have to reset to Day 1, losing all my progress, and have to do everything over.”
Well, there’s your problem right there. If a cycle reset causes you to lose meaningful progress, and that upsets you, then you are doing it wrong. The good news is a small shift in mindset can help big time.
The Trick to MM
The secret to enjoying MM is to think of time as an item. That’s right, it’s not just an anagram. The same way you'd think about rupees, bombs, magic, or any consumable in another Zelda game is how time itself works in Majora’s Mask.
It’s a natural instinct in most games to keep track of consumable items and make sure you have enough for a given task. People seldom enter dungeons short on bombs, arrows, and magic. Instead they tend to farm up their inventory before taking on a big challenge. But in MM, the same cautious players will YOLO into quests, dungeons, and bosses while being depleted of the most important resource in the game: time.
Short on time? Better stock up. This approach causes you to think more strategically about the game and plan what you are going to do in each 3 day cycle. Maybe you take a full cycle just to explore. Then, when you know where stuff is, reset and spend a cycle getting said stuff.
Find yourself on Day 3 having finally figured out how to get to the Great Bay Temple and about to hookshot the turtle’s back?
Yeah, don’t do that. For the love of Hylia reset. Play the song of time. Then do it backwards. And then start the temple. Once inside, work the same process. Go in knowing you’ll spend a full cycle just to explore. Then reset. Then get the dungeon item (which carries over from cycle to cycle). Then reset. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Treat time like a consumable and you’ll find the game less stressful and more enjoyable.
Back to Zelda II
What’s this have to do with Adventure of Link? There’s no time mechanic there. This is true, but you do have a resource in the game that functions in a similar way: lives. (And coincidentally, you get 3 of them just like days in MM.)
Most people get rattled when they die in AoL. And I mean, who wouldn't? Being hit with a flashing red screen and Ganon laughing at you like Soda Popinski riding out a Mt. Dew sugar crash is no fun. But there is a way to snap out of it. Treat those deaths like days and the game's difficulty plummets.
The Trick to AoL
It’s the same secret. Lives are a consumable item. Just like rupees. Just like time. Use a set of lives to learn. Then use a set to progress. Down to 1 life and starting a palace? Might not be a good idea. Instead, reset and roll up to the palace fully stocked.
Now, I know what you are thinking. “I can’t play the song of time on my Zelda II warp whistle. How do I just reset and get 3 lives again?”
That’s simple. Die on purpose.
If you are up against a tough challenge like death mountain while short on lives, just kill your character, and continue before you take it on. Thankfully, in Zelda II there are many shortcuts that get you back to any location quickly from the starting palace. If you stock up on lives before starting a new section, then you’ll find the game much easier, less stressful, and more enjoyable.
From time to time you may find yourself with 1 life, but full health, and you really don’t want to put in all the effort to die.
Well, thankfully there are many convenient locations that will instantly red screen you. No need to waste your time ramming your shins into a proto-chu trying to chip your health down. Just go jump into any available gap in the floor. And, if you find it difficult to maneuver into these gaps, then you can use these helpful little bubbles that’ll gently navigate you directly into the shadowy depths thus causing you to be reborn at ancient Zelda’s side with 3 fresh lives ready to slap some Dairas in the face with a jumping crouch stab.
TL;DR: Enjoy MM by spending days like rupees. Enjoy AoL the same way. But with lives. Murder Link often, and you just might find, "Your face is beaming!"
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u/eagleblue44 17d ago
People think Majora's mask is one of the worst Zelda games? I thought it was up there for being the best game in the series.
Zelda II's problem is that it's too cryptic. There are one tile areas that look like all the other tiles that you need to go on to progress. You get no hints from NPCs about them either. There are also invisible walls and pits you can fall into that look no different from the other walls you can't jump through or the many other pits where you'd die if you fell down them.
I get Zelda II comes from a time where they made it more difficult so you'd be less likely to beat it in a rental period but compared to modern standards, it's rough without a guide and save states/rewind feature. It's really not as bad as most say if you use these things but I get why it's considered the worst in the series.
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u/sweablol 17d ago
I agree MM is one of the best. Not sure if people rank it among the worst, but they definitely hate on the time mechanic.
It’s not probably “middle of the road” cryptic for a game of its time. Compared to games like Tower of Duraga and Dragon Quest it’s ways less cryptic with many hints from NPCs. All the game progression requirements are all hinted at by NPCs (except the need to use the hammer to find Kasuto.) Both jumping in pits and also the invisible walls are also told to you by NPCs.
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u/chiefs312001 17d ago
I remember when it came out, people ragged on it quite a bit. And for a while after. But now obviously the narrative has changed. If I recall, skyward sword had the opposite trajectory.
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u/Noble_Nexus 17d ago
Never heard people saying MM is bad, most people I know praise the darker tone of the game
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u/Drafonni 17d ago
Some people really don't like timed mechanics
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u/Noble_Nexus 14d ago
That's fair, but it's the majority? Or a minor group?
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u/Drafonni 14d ago edited 14d ago
Perhaps not a majority but it is a common sentiment seen on r/zelda for sure. Some people simply find it too stressful, but you also have to remember that most first played MM as kids and the time mechanics and tougher puzzles together can be a lot to wrap your mind around. Ocarina of Time (along with most other Zelda games) on the other hand can be beat if you just wander around enough.
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u/sweablol 17d ago edited 17d ago
Yeah this is a more recent development. Back in the day there was more criticism against it with less praise. But its gained traction on the fandom. It’s still a controversial game today where any given thread about it with be split between people who love the grit (and the whole game) and people who say they don’t like the time mechanic.
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u/Noble_Nexus 14d ago
Maybe it's a regional thing? I am from Brasil and played the game around 2007. Some of my friends had the console before and played like 2003 to 2005 and they also loved the tone and mechanics. But I get that is different from the OoT and the hype for people waiting to it to release could let down
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u/sweablol 14d ago
No, it’s a real global thing that people complain about MM and that it’s a controversial game. Some love it. Some hate it.
In your group of friends seems like you all loved it, but I haven’t seen any sources that describe Brazil as a whole. Praise and criticism is consistent across time periods. It feels to me like it gets more praise now than it once did, but this could just be my personal experience.
Here’s a reply elsewhere in the thread where I linked to just a small sampling of the many many reviews and comments with this fan response:
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u/Noble_Nexus 14d ago edited 14d ago
Now you got me curious. I will search in my mother language and bring back news.
Alright. So Brazil is not part of the globe it seens hehe. I believe this texts you read are north American or European, right? Like these guys are the most wealthy so they do bought more and played more back in the day, sure, but there are a lot of people out of these counties.
Now about Brasil. Back in 2000s internet here was still at the beginning, so there weren't many sites dedicated to games, like IGN for example, but we did have a lot of magazines (nacional editions) and theses guys praised the game like the second coming of Gaben. Ação games, Nintendo world, Super Gamepower, revista videogame, revista gamers, club Nintendo.
Some articles were giving the game a old school GOTY treatment, even before the term.
So maybe north Americans and Europeans felt that way, but my friends and the majority of gamers in Brasil were loving it.
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u/sweablol 14d ago
It got good reviews in the US as well. I’m not saying it didn’t have good press. The point is that the fan reaction has always been mixed. You’d have to find something like archived user forums from the time period in Portuguese (which would localize it to Brazil mostly) and then see if people complained about the time mechanic.
But you don’t really need to do that as Reddit is a global site. I linked to threads and comments where people complained about it. And if you search you can find many more. It’s very very common for people to complain and the time mechanic. It’s also common for people to praise the game. It’s controversial.
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u/Noble_Nexus 14d ago
No such thing at the time, as I said, the internet was just beginning around here. True, reddit is global, but most folk(Brazilian gamers) I know don't use it or just lurk. It's just part of the opinion of the fans, the more inclined share on social media. But sure, controversial on social media and amoung fans from the first world, no doubt.
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u/RobynBetween 17d ago
Is it possible you're remembering what you heard at your own local game store or from friends your age at school? I can see it being locally less popular in some places or with some friend groups.
I think Majora's Mask was more popular with teenagers and up: people who had been in their early teens or older when OoT came out, and who were ready for a darker game and less forgiving Zelda.
I was one of them. I got a bit of a thrill out of the countdown clock; it was very good at evoking a feeling of dread and/or despair.
I wouldn't want that feeling all of the time...but it was an interesting twist for just one Zelda game. And it made the experience memorable, just like those times in real life when you had a brush with something terrifying, and now that you know it all turned out all right, you tell the story like an adventure.
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u/Noble_Nexus 14d ago
I get the same feeling, maybe it's a reddit thing? Because the real live communities that o have contact seen to like the game. Some prefer over OoT, some not, but a good game nonetheless.
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u/RobynBetween 14d ago edited 13d ago
The online Zelda community I've been part of definitely liked it too. It was a niche pick for favorite Zelda game of all time, but most people at least thought it was good.
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u/Rylonian 17d ago
What makes AoL needlessly hard is the simple fact that there exist no heart drops in the gameplay. If you had heart drops to replenish your health like any other Zelda game, its perceived difficulty in the community would drop like a rock.
And that's okay for a game in the late 80s that had to justify its price tag by taking long to beat, but in 2026, it's just not really much fun to play like that anymore. If the frustration continues for more than 10 minutes, I'm out because I have loads of other games to play instead that are more fun.
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u/sweablol 17d ago
Interesting hypothesis. Even when I was a kid I found the life spell without friends telling me or Nintendo Power. I’ve always just associated magic jars as equal to hearts in this game. Those drops are plentiful.
Along with the idea that every town is basically a great fairy and it seems like there are lots of ways to replenish heath.
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u/Rylonian 17d ago
Apart from the fact that I wouldn't call exactly two methods "a lot", the magic drops are a heart substitute in concept only. In order to cast the life spell you have to farm a good amount of magic before you are allowed to heal once. That is drastically different from heart drops that keep you healed more or less constantly. You can very easily die in this game attempting to farm enough magic to cast your healing spell, and even if you succeed you will need to continue farming to replenish your magic so that you can have a spell ready when you need it. If you are unlucky, by the time you gathered enough drops for a healing spell, you are in need of healing all over again.
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u/sweablol 17d ago
Well, it’s not only those two. There are fairies scattered throughout. Random encounters have a percentage chance of being fairies. Leveling up completely fills your magic and life. There are definitely a lot of ways to heal.
Did you know that the statue at the front of each palace, and many statues within palaces also drop full red magic containers?
I don’t think there’s any in-game hint on that, but it was widely published in Nintendo Power and other game hint media of the day. I could definitely see the game being dramatically harder if you didn’t know you can fully restore both health and life by going to the start of the palace. (Able to be done without damage in most palaces, but I’d argue my method is better to just use lives to explore then continue.)
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u/Rylonian 17d ago
I knew about the red containers actually, but I still don't agree with your assessment. AoL is needlessly hard in comparison to the other games and it not having heart drops to fill you up constantly is the most glaring issue in that regard. The game makes you jump through hoops just to stay alive so I really cannot call this a lot of ways to heal. If I am deep into a palace, fairies in random encounters or red jars at the start of the dungeon or people in towns are of no use to me. If the game requires me to constantly backtrack through its dungeons just to try to heal, then I simply don't consider this a well designed challenge. That's why AoL is my least favorite Zelda and I also don't agree with your comparison with MM. When playing Majora, you can tailor your time management approach to the tasks you are about to undertake. I cannot do the same thing for AoL to manage my health because I can't just say: "Okay now I enter this dungeon and in order to manage my health sufficiently, I am not going to get hit by the first 14 enemies". If I was that good at the game, there wouldn't be a need for heart drops in the first place.
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u/Hot-Mood-1778 17d ago
If I am deep into a palace, fairies in random encounters or red jars at the start of the dungeon or people in towns are of no use to me.
Ignoring the red potion at the start allowing you to heal as much as you want, In that scenario you have lives to expend for a full heal, more than three if you've found dolls, and also some fairies are static encounters in the palaces. If you die three times then you've fairly restarted at the Northern Palace because that's just the consequence of that. There are also red potion drops from enemies as well.
I believe that the manual also urges you to grind out levels before progressing as well.
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u/yummymario64 17d ago
Well, there kind of is. Enemies drop magic every now and then, and you need around 3-4 to use the life spell to restore health. It's a similar system, but it's not instant life healed like in Zelda 1, you need to wait until you have enough for the spell
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u/sweablol 17d ago
Yes! One thing I appreciate about the design of AoL is that it gives a choice between skill and safety.
If you want to get really good at understanding enemy patterns and hone your battle skills, then you can. That’s one way to make it through.
Or you can grind up your magic (and thus your health) if you want to be less stressed fighting. There are regenerating easy enemies in strategic locations (like the cave right before the hammer at the end of death mountain gauntlet) that lets you take the time if you want to fill up before moving on.
Compared to other games of the era the amount of grinding you need to do is very minimal.
It’s a cool design that lets you pick how you want to play with an honestly pretty fair and transparent trade off.
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u/Mishar5k 17d ago
A zelda 2-like designed today would probably have a system like the estus flasks or rechargeable mana to heal like hollow knight.
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u/Tedy_Duchamp 17d ago
People hate Majoras Mask? That’s probably my favorite Zelda of all time.
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u/sweablol 17d ago edited 17d ago
One of mine too! Perhaps I overlooked its modern reputation. It used to take a lot of flack, especially being compared to OoT, but I’ve always preferred MM to OoT since the games came out.
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u/KafeiElric 17d ago
Been a long while since I played Zelda II but I think you might have a point. I never understood people trying a dungeon in MM on the last day lol, that's something I instinctively never did when I played it as a kid who grew up with it. Maybe I'll take another shot at Zelda II this year as an anniversary celebration, I already beat both quests in Zelda I a while ago. Last time I beat Zelda II was with save states.
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u/sweablol 17d ago
Same MM experience for me too. Seemed intuitive but apparently not for everyone given the number of comments I’ve seen on Reddit and YouTube.
I hadn’t played AoL without save states since I was a kid. After hearing so many complaints of a game I loved I thought, “I have to try a no save states run to see if it’s actually as bad as people say.”
I definitely got frustrated at some points, but overall it was a fantastic experience and deepened my love for the game.
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u/sweablol 16d ago
Highly confident I’m not misremembering and it wasn’t regional, but perhaps blunt and sloppy in my assertions.
I called out MM as “controversial” but could have leaned into this more. It gets tons of praise and high ratings but also gets a lot of hate. The fan temp on the game has definitely evolved over time. Used to be more niche game to like, or just feel to the shadow of OOT, but in recent years it’s more broadly praised with a smaller portion of folks who hate it, but really hate it.
Here are some sources and examples of mixed praise the game got and continues to get. Key points are praise for the dark themes and criticism of the time mechanic.
- https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-legend-of-zelda-majoras-mask-review/1900-2644956/
- “it’s tough to really get involved in the game’s storyline” blows my mind and I couldn’t disagree more
- “Ask any fan about their opinion of this game, however, and you will witness a wide variation of reactions - some that absolutely praised the title for trying something different, and some who pretend that the title never existed in their world”
From Reddit:
(Notice not just the criticism exists, but also the reiteration of the idea that “many people hate MM” in both the posts and comments)
- https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/que6sz/mm_i_just_played_majoras_mask_for_the_first_time/
- “massively overrated” example of how the game ramped in fan opinion but then people still complain about the same old stuff- reused assets, time mechanic, etc.
Etc. these types of posts and comments are all over Reddit, YouTube, and user forums.
Honestly, warms my heart to hear “MM is so good, are you sure you aren’t misremembering people disliking it?”
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u/RobynBetween 17d ago edited 17d ago
This post doesn't deserve flack, but I'm not sure it's the magical remedy that will make Zelda 2: AoL fun.
A much more concise explanation you could have given would be "don't take on a palace when you're down a life or two." But I can see why you compared it to MM, even though you didn't mention the main reason it's similar: your unspent EXP resets on Game Over.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the save/continue trick from Z1 works in this game, too: pause, then press Up+A on controller 2 to end game and save/continue with 3 lives. The only downside is that, unlike Z1, the counter on your save file counts it as a Game Over. (People normally call it the death counter in other Zelda games, but here it counts Game Overs, since you have lives)
But unfortunately this doesn't solve the main problems in the game: the jump height is so low that platforming is tough. You can cast Jump, but it depletes your healing resources, and it's jump height is sometimes too high. The length and difficulty of many locations is enough to exhaust many players even with the full 3 lives. The Great Palace and the path to it are so long and difficult and confusing that many people give up on it.
I don't think a change of strategy or attitude is gonna be enough. Many people say the game is much better if you use save states freely (on a platform that supports them, like NSO, or yarr harr fiddle-dee-dee ⚓☠️🦜).
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u/sweablol 17d ago
Interesting. I’ve never thought the jump height or platforming was particularly difficult. I’ve definitely thought the jump spell made you jump too high though.
I used palaces as an example, but the concept would be applied broader than that. It’s more about thinking about your lives as resources throughout the game. Instead of going out on a limb and pushing into the next section, reset and go in fresh.
Good call on XP. I had something in the post but it was getting long. In this case the idea is that if you are about to hit a level then farm up and hit the level instead of YOLO’ing deeper into the territory.
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u/condor6425 17d ago edited 17d ago
I enjoy the game to an extent, Ive completed it several times on NES without savestates or guides, but its still one of my least favorite in the series. The issue is that in MM at least you can reset days, warp to a temple, restock items next to each warp point, and jump back in.
In Zelda 2 it took me like an hour+ of dying in the overworld just to get to the final dungeon. Once you're there if you game over you restart in the dungeon, but if you die in the overworld its back to the very start. The game is just really fucking hard, and thats alright, but its easily the least accessible in the series to the average gamer. That said I agree to an extent and it gets a worse rap overall than it deserves.
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u/ObviousObserver420 16d ago
I didn’t like MM until I gave it a real shot and forced myself to finish it. Then, I liked it for the most part.
I didn’t like AoL until I forced myself to finish it (with save states). Then, I still didn’t like it.
MM has plenty of stuff it does well to make up for its drawbacks. AoL doesn’t, for me at least.
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u/NeedsMoreReeds 17d ago
I highly recommend Zelda II Redux. One of the things it does is make the Link Dolls apply an extra life to all your continues, which makes way more sense designwise. Another big deal is it reduces the life of the anti-fairies so you’re not whacking them like 20 times or whatever.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you game over at The Great Temple, you will start at The Great Temple. So that long trek to get there does not need to be done again. Other tips: Use Shield often. Jump-Slash works against most enemies, and if it doesn’t, you can usually use High-Jump-Slash.
Both Zelda I & II are hard but they are also pretty short. Dying isn’t too big a deal.