Following the success of The Legend of Zelda, the release of The Adventure of Link in 1987 for the NES continued the story of good versus evil that the first began. Once again, you are put into the shoes of Link, the hero of Hyrule. While Link killed Ganon in the Legend of Zelda, his minions are trying to bring him back by using the blood of Link to do so. By sprinkling Link's blood upon the ashes of Ganon, Ganon would be resurrected and would resume his evil reign.
All the while, Zelda has remained fast asleep upon a bed in North Castle. Bewitched by a magician who sought Zelda's secrets of the Triforce, here she remains asleep until one worthy of the Triforce may wake her. When Link discovers the Royal Crest upon his hand, the Triforce, Impa knows that he must be the boy foretold of. Impa then sets Link off on another adventure to claim the Triforce of Courage, which had been hidden in the Great Palace. To get there, he must take six stones and place them in each palace after defeating the Guardian there. Once each stone had been placed, the binding force over the Great Palace would be released, allowing Link access to the Trials within. If Link could successfully obtain the Triforce of Courage, the spell over Zelda would be broken, and Hyrule would once again return to peace.
While The Adventure of Link has a great story, it is often considered the "black sheep" of Zelda games, to use a cliche term. Nintendo took the overhead sword action of the first Legend of Zelda game, and transformed it into a side scrolling action adventure game. The Adventure of Link still used an overworld, but only for transportation reasons. On the overworld, if you walked anywhere other than the road you would be chased by shadows of monsters. Running in to one of these shadows would initiate a side scrolling battle scene with the monsters that was very different in style to that of The Legend of Zelda. Dungeons were also very different, and featured some very challenging fights between Iron Knuckles and other various foes.
Another stark difference between The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link was the use of RPG style mechanics. In this game, unlike any other Zelda game in the series to date, Link could gain experience points to level up aspects of his character. His life, magic, and sword fighting ability were all leveled up via experience points that were gained by defeating monsters and finding special bags with the letter "P" on them that provided varying levels of experience. Along with levels and experience was robust use of spells. Link could learn to heal himself, jump higher, and even turn into a fairy all with the use of magic spells. These features make it a very unique, yet out of character entry in the Legend of Zelda series.
For all of its differences, though, The Adventure of Link is a great game, and a piece of Zelda history. Its unique style and flare make it a memorable, yet difficult experience.
