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Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America on December 1, 1988. The game was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console service on June 4, 2007, and can still be purchased for just 500 Wii Points, which is only $5. The Virtual Console version received an ESRB rating of "Everyone" with "Mild Fantasy Violence" listed as content for gamers/parents to be aware of.
How many Wii owners have reported playing Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and how many hours have they reported playing it, since it was released on the Virtual Console? Let's take a look!
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| Can you name the boss in this image? |
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link has 71,481 Wii owners that have reported game-play data through the Nintendo Channel in the United States, with 1,617 days possibly reported.
The game's average play-time per day/session reported is 54 Minutes.
The United States' Virtual Console release of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link has made Nintendo about $357,405, based on just the number of players that have reported data in the United States and the game's $5 price point.
Caffeinated Thoughts
If you never played the game, the video below shows off some brief game-play from it:
I can't remember playing Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, but seeing the game with more than 5 hours of game-play averaged "Per person" I think is good, especially with an asking price of only $5(That's like a dollar an hour!).
Considering the reported average hours for The Legend of Zelda that we looked at last week, Wii owners can get two Zelda games, The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, that will give them 12 hours of game-play for just $10. I think that's a pretty great bargain, especially if you have been interested in the original Zelda NES games, but have never had the chance to play them.
Questions
With The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword releasing in just another 10 days, are any of you playing through the older Zelda games like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link?
If you have played the Virtual Console version of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, is it a Virtual Console game you would recommend to other Wii owners?
If you are interested in downloading Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, you can do so by using a Wii Points card or a credit card directly on the Wii's Shop Channel. Also, if you have not pre-ordered The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword you can do so on Amazon.com below:
Good morning.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Skyward Sword, IGN got their review of it up this morning and gave it a 10. Interesting.
I really liked Zelda 2 - I definitely recall playing that one on the NES a million years ago. Most of my friends liked the original better. I liked them both equally and for completely different reasons. I played through it several times back then, and I still have the original cartridge floating around somewhere, though I believe the battery backup on it died a long time ago.
I think I remember this site - there was a really cool article about the Monster Hunter 3 demo.
ReplyDelete(I"m still playing MH3 btw, talk about value!)
Glad to find this site again.
Hadn't purchased Zelda II on VC [yet], but I did have it for the NES and liked it. I know it was a huge weird curveball and such a departure from the original which turned many people off. I liked it for what it was though we see that Nintendo came back pretty strong with A link to the past afterwards.
ReplyDeleteEven though everything is so different in that platforming RPG style and had some wonky music as compared to the original, it's probably worth another playthrough.
Played Zelda II a couple of months ago. Original gold cartridge and all. I was treating my wife to the Zelda series, since she did not grow up with video games. Brought back some memories. It wasn't quite as hard as I remember. Before making the trek to the Great Palace, I gave her the disclaimer that it may take several tries. Because not only do you have to get there, you have to traverse the nightmarish maze and defeat some very unforgiving foes.....*shudder*. But I only died a couple of times.
ReplyDeleteCoffee, those data report numbers are pretty good. I always felt that Z2:TAOL had more of a cult following. Much like the Windwaker, had a fan base, but those that were a part of that base loved it to death. I've always liked Zelda II A LOT. In fact, I owned 2 before I got the first. You may have already addressed this, but are you planning on getting and reviewing Skyward Sword?
@Chalgyr
I'm with you on that. I liked both games very much. As soon as I saw your comment, I paged over to IGN to see for myself. Yep, 10. But IGN is a site I like to go to for OBJECTIVE reviews. And I've heard from other sources that this is the best Zelda yet. Hmmmm... that's a tall order. In fact, I've been purposefully avoiding all the press and details that have been released as far as the story and gameplay. I've seen a couple of trailers and that's it. I want to be pleasantly surprised. We shall see.
@Anonymous
How long have you owned MH3?
@Robert
I think another thing that may have turned people off was the difficulty. The game is/was HARD imho. However, I've come to appreciate the steps that Nintendo has taken with series' variations. Which seemes rare nowadays. Some games find a formula that works, and they stick with it. Which is fine, but to see the different directions taken in Zelda games, and to have them all be good at the same time (with the exception of the disgraces of the CDI titles), I think that's special. There's a Zelda game for everybody.
Have you heard about the dance?
ReplyDelete@Chalgyr:
ReplyDeleteThanks for ruining the SURPRISE of their REVIEW!
As for Zelda II, it sounds like a few of your NES games could use some new batteries.
You may want to watch this for some help, if you're interested in changing them out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXBrAJIbfg
@Anonymous from November 11 @ 11:02PM:
I did write about my time with Monster Hunter 3 demo, here: http://www.coffeewithgames.com/2010/03/monster-hunter-3-or-monsters-hunting-me.html
Thanks for stopping by again, and leaving a comment!
@Robert:
"I know it was a huge weird curveball and such a departure from the original which turned many people off."
Yea, I didn't remember the 2D Mario type "levels", and then I saw them in the video, and thought that was an interesting idea.
@Tim:
As for me getting Skyward Sword, I don't plan on getting it now...unless Nintendo wants to send me a copy, but I've been on their blacklist for a while now I think.
Do you plan on getting Skyward Sword?
@Keith:
This dance... http://workbench.cadenhead.org/media/napoleon-dynamite-dance.jpg ?
Thank you all for the comments/feedback!
@Coffee:
ReplyDeleteYes, I placed Skyward Sword towards the top of my wish list for this holiday season. :) The Zelda franchise is a safe bet. The majority of games I put on my list are under a "used" category. I'm not partial to owning new games, but it may be difficult to land a used copy of Z:SS for a reasonable price. In fact, it seems like that's still the case with some of the Wii's most popular titles (Smash Bros., Mario Galaxy 2, Mario Kart, etc.).
@Coffee:
ReplyDeleteI forgot to ask.... blacklist? :)
@Coffee - LOL - there's no surprises when they slap those big ol' #'s right on their reviews. :) Good video - I should really do that at some point, since you are correct - I have several old battery save games (Ultima: Exodus, the Zeldas) that don't retain info anymore.
ReplyDelete@Tim - it's interesting because I heard the difficulty thing when I was a kid, but I always thought the original Zelda was a bit harder. At least, for people who didn't have Nintendo power strategy guides to get them through the games (I did have one friend who had those for both Zelda games, and he thought Zelda 2 was harder now that I think about it - maybe because of it's platforming elements?).
@Chalgyr:
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. Now that I think about it, the platforming style added a different dimension to the game: pitfalls, new combat mechanics, and such. And Zelda I is certainly no cakewalk either. There are still a few dungeons in that one that stress me out. But probably what also made Z2 so tough for me were the added rpg elements. Never paid too much attention to leveling up Link. If you failed to do that properly in Zelda II, then you're going to get your butt handed to you towards the end of the game. But now, being an older and somewhat wiser gamer, I understand the importance of that factor, and maxing the levels will allow you to rip through most of the enemies with an amount of ease.
@Tim:
ReplyDeleteYea, when I broke the news that Nintendo had stopped producing Metroid Prime Trilogy, they didn't take to me making that news public, and sent their PR firm asking me questions...to which I didn't reply, because I thought it was insulting for them to try and play-off/deny the fact they were canceling Wii games, and not announcing it.
After that, they stopped answering my consumer questions, which is really shady of publicly traded company I think, to withhold information that could impact profits.
@Chalgyr:
Glad you liked the video, and there are others just like it if that one doesn't answer all the specifics, but I thought it did a good job.
Thank you both for the continued comments/feedback!
@coffee - interesting tidbit about Metroid Prime Trilogy - and information that I could have used back then since I had no idea they quit producing it, and when I was finally ready to pick it up, it was obscenely expensive in the used game market I concur completely about that being a somewhat shady way of handling the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree, interesting way they reacted and not in a good way regarding the trilogy. Cheapest I've seen it was over $60 at GameStop.
ReplyDelete@Tim: You're probably right on the difficulty. Many of those games were very difficult and not nearly as forgiving as today's lineup.
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