Bagu was error. Error was not.

So, what's your favorite Zelda title?

"Mine's chocolate!"

Well, aside from chocolate, I'm sure most will respond with A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, or the original (with a handful naming Majora's Mask, because that's the unsettling and creepy one). As for myself, it's the "black sheep" of the bunch: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. I can't really pinpoint a sound reason. It's just the one in the franchise that left the strongest impact upon my decrepifying memory.

I love the larger sprites. It's an expectation for a sequel to outshine it's predecessor, and, visually, Zelda II did that with ease. As was the case with the first game, bosses here are bigger, but not by much, and one is just a late game mook with an amazing ride.

At the stroke of its mane,
It will cause you some pain
And if Link ends up slain
His blood will resurrect Gannon.

Unlike the original, however, where enemies were crammed into the space of a single square, the rest of the opposition comes in a variety of sizes with the smaller ones consistently proving themselves to be more obnoxious:

Many indulge in playing the role of "Asshole who knocks you into a pit of instant death!"

Sprite detail also comes in the form of genuine motion during side-scrolling gameplay. (Yes, this one is a side-scroller most of the time. Yes, so are the first two CD-i Zelda titles. Yes, they are bad games.... Ahem, you know what? The third one plays like the original. Go enjoy that travesty and try convincing me the top-down perspective matters!) Link's arms and legs move, mostly because he actually has them, and not only do they help Link to swing his sword (because he has no other weapons in this game), but they also allow him to crouch and jump. Yes, oddly enough, at some point between saving this Zelda and the previous one, Link realized he could momentarily fight gravity whenever he wanted. No items, ledges, or Z-targeting necessary. It's a shame he never got around to teaching the skill to anyone else in Hyrule, because I don't think we bear witness to Link performing this phenomenon again until his appearance in Super Smash Bros..

As I mentioned above, none of the tools returning from the first game will actually help Link during combat. Instead, he must search each town for a wise, old man who is willing to teach our hero magic that will allow him to jump higher, minimize damage, fly (gender bending included, which means we've had our female Link all along!), shoot fireballs, heal, reflect attacks, ...spell, and even weaken a boss whose name is actually a hint on how to defeat it. That would have saved me a lot of time and grief had Nintendo been kind enough to provide the same sort of hint against Stabface, boss of the first palace and hipster brony who clopped to MLP porn before it was cool.

"I don't clop! I have hands!"
(duly noted)

Equally powerful, if not moreso, are a pair of stabbing techniques taught to Link by Hyrulean knights. Once Link has acquired both, he will just tear through most enemies, including melee opponents on Smash Bros.. Down thrust is such a convenient meteor strike. Still, I can't help but ponder why it requires two knights for Link to learn these attacks. How is it possible that neither was successful in mastering the other's skill?

There's also a third knight who shows you how to summon a bridge.
Then, he tells you a story about it!
#BestZeldaEver

The Adventure of Link also introduced 1-up dolls hidden throughout Hyrule. They resemble Link and each can only be obtained once within the same quest.

Ok, I admit it. The dolls are dumb, but this is the only game where Link has lives. Just don't bother grabbing them until you're ready to venture into the final palace. 

Unlike younger iterations of the Zelda series, The Adventure of Link is a rewarding challenge, provided you remember about the hammer's other use. The game will most definitely kick your ass, nab your wallet, and call your waifu "trash." I wouldn't label it as Nintendo Hard, though it comes awfully close. I think it's fair to type that those deaths, the Game Over screen, and that fucking Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! laugh are all your fault. This is thanks, in no small part, to Link's ability to dodge and, eventually, bounce over troublesome enemies. On top of that, the final boss can be easily defeated by crouching in the left corner of the room and stabbing at his legs. It's not a glitch, either. You'll discover that Link fares better against an approaching enemy in this game, and, well, you're not the one doing the approaching with this strategy. Winner!

The soundtrack for Zelda II is my favorite for two reasons: Simple chiptune tracks are more memorable by design, and, while this also applies to the original, the sequel benefits from having a larger tracklist, despite a few cuts made to the NES version. Basically, it's better because there's more wonderful Zelda music to enjoy. What I find somewhat odd is how I can't type this about Zelda III: A Link to the Past. Oh, I most definitely played the shit out of that game, and there are a few tracks I love hearing. A few. It's not that I don't enjoy the rest of its music. I just can't remember unless I am currently listening to the soundtrack. Hang around while I clean or work, and you'll probably catch me humming either a palace theme, or that of the village (outdoors version). Never has a Zelda game managed to stir a desire in me to fight quite as much as that palace theme. I love that tune!

I was looking over the virtual console on my 3DS and noticed it was available for five bucks. I own a gold cartridge, and I do have a functioning console to play it on, but this is Zelda on the go. What's not to love? With that same logic, I also bought Oracle of Seasons. I would have bought a few other Zelda games, but I really wanted River City Ransom and Kid Icarus at the time, so I spent my money on them. Still haven't played either, so why did I buy those?