It's definitely a combination of revisionism and a newer batch of gamers just not having the stones for that kind of game.

 

I doubt it.  At the time, if you liked Zelda you did an autobuy on Zelda II.  As a kid, once you buy a game, you are going to play it and get your money's worth.  

Then, after a couple of decades of Zelda releases, it is clearly an oddball in the franchise.  It is not universally panned like the garbage CDI games, but it definitely breaks the mold, just like Zelda Link's Awakening.  And if I'm picking between the two, it is Link's Awakening all day long.

Zelda has set a clear path, and anything differing from that path will receive some criticism.  When your sample size is two, Zelda & Zelda II, you had no idea where the series was going.  Since the series did revert to its roots, it implies that Nintendo did notice some criticism on Zelda II and wanted to go back to what worked for everyone.

I don't really agree with the last bit.

I don't remember anybody speaking ill of the game, back when it was relatively new.


And from what I recall reading of the lineage of LttP (i.e. reverting to its roots), the idea was that the game designer finally had the hardware to do EXACTLY what they had wanted to do with the original Legend of Zelda, so they did.

(i.e. LttP was less about a response to criticism, and more about the designer being able to do exactly what they had wanted to do in the first place)





Nobody is saying that the game doesn't break with the rest of the series, because that would be a silly and obviously incorrect argument.

What is being suggested is that the game reviewed well, back in the day, sold well, and people generally enjoyed it.
That is, the "general dislike" is a newer phenomenon, and doesn't reflect how the game was perceived in its own time.

EDIT: and to that end, I'm not even clear that there is a "general dislike", because the game STILL seems to review well from people that actually play it.

When I was a kid, had to go over to friends' houses to play Zelda II. I was obsessed with getting through Death Mountain as early as possible. Was very intrigued by this since it was a late-game thing in the original Zelda, a place shrouded in mystery for me since I hadn't beaten it yet (didn't own part 1 or part 2, sadly).

So I kept going through Death Mountain, memorizing the paths, memorizing where the enemies were in the dark. And when I emerged on the other side, boy that felt like an achievement.

A few years later, I borrowed the game from a friend and beat it, never once using a guide or Game Genie. Much like Death Mountain, you are expected to earn your way through it. And you come out 'on top of the mountain', victorious. Not a lot of games give you that feeling when you beat it.

The music was so iconic, the moves you earn felt very dynamic for an NES game. The pixel art stuck with me through my childhood, and it pushed further the verisimilitude of Link and Zelda's world in my mind. Some of my favorite Nintendo Power issues cover Zelda II. I get chills just thinking about it.

Once Zelda III came out, I do remember people being glad that they went to a top-down style again. But people didn't decide they hated Zelda II until... It was sometime in the 2000's when I started hearing how bad the game was. A common criticism I remember hearing was how "I am Error" was an error in the game, therefore the game is flawed. Turns out Error's actually the guy's name, and it wasn't an error.

But still, there seems to be a negativity connected to it, especially from the younger gamer crowd.

It can't shake the stigma of being a black sheep--I get that. So that's why I'm glad there's so many people on this very forum with memories similar to mine.

People who have played Zelda from the beginning like Zelda II, even after Zelda III and Ocarina, etc.

It's the kids who can't hang with Nintendo Hard™ that floated the 'Zelda II' is a black sheep meme, especially since Zelda regressed into a very easy, action-wise, game series.

I agree 100% with the revisionism claim.

You paid $50-$60 in late 80's cash for that cart. You played it. You played it and you LIKED it    .