The Legend Of Zelda - Ranking Every Gameplay Gimmick

It’s hard to disagree with the fact that Mario and Zelda, along with Pokémon, are Nintendo’s flagship franchises. Whilst Zelda has always focused on adventuring and puzzles from a third person or top-down perspective, Mario is best known for his side-scrolling platform hopping. You might think this had always been the case, but Zelda II: The Adventure of Link decided to change things up.

The sequel to the original game used a top-down camera whilst exploring the game’s open world and a Mario-esque side-scrolling perspective for everything else. Yes, this meant that fighting enemies, visiting towns, and even exploring dungeons was done from a side-on view.

As if that wasn’t weird enough, the game also gave Link a jump button (something which he wouldn’t have again until Breath of the Wild 20 years later) and featured light RPG elements. Link could earn experience points by defeating enemies, which were then used to level up his health, magic, or attack power.

Because of its untraditional perspective, Adventure of Link is often overlooked by fans, but whilst it’s certainly no Ocarina of Time, it’s worth playing at least once, just as a curiosity.