Link's Adventure

    Just one short year after the release of the successful Legend of Zelda, came the 1987 sequel, Link's Adventure. However, for many fans this game barely deserves the title "Zelda" at all. For one thing, it doesn't follow any of the structures of other Zelda's, although the engines used in the series has changed over time, they all follow the same style, except this one. 

    At the time of release, side scrollers, or side view games, (like Mario 1) were the popular. The staff responsible for this title decided to play on the success of sideview games and create a new, unique kind of game, a sidescroller action RPG. The over world map, however, followed the fashion of games like Final Fantasy 1 and the like, allowing the game to have an overly massive player world, with hundreds of NPCs and nearly dozens of towns. Though in 1987 this new style was not received with too much enthusiasm it would not be Nintendo's last try at such an interface, since in 2000 Paper Mario RPG for N64, would kind of use a similar interface, except it was a 2D sideview character in full 3D world (very strange, yes?).

    The actual plot behind Link's Adventure wasn't too bad, and for the most part followed the same style as the first Zelda, and the Zelda games to come. Basically, Gannon was defeated and killed by Link, yet his minions were attempting to avenge his death, and even raise him from the grave, however, for this to succeed they must kill Link and use his blood in a strange ritual that can raise Gannon from death.

    The most notable elements from this game that would survive onto other Zelda games were the idea of towns, sub quests and mini-games, and the introduction of Impa, Zelda's nursemaid.