Mario was way more popular than Zelda in Japan, and Zelda 2 takes a lot from both Mario and Dragon Quest. Is it possible that Zelda 2 was an early attempt at making the series more popular with Japanese players?
>>3079248
I feel like it was an attempt to explore a completely new avenue of RPGs.
As to not to make the same game over again with slight differences, a la jp-Mario-2 at the time.
It borrows a LOT from Dragon Slayer though.
>>3079263
>Zelda
>RPG
>>3079274
Can we stop with this "borrow" euphemism? It's theft.
>>3079390
Zelda 1 definitely could qualify as an ARPG on the NES
The differences between them and Zelda werent as distinct back then
>>3079248
Nobody liked Zelda 2 when it came out
>>3079263
Zelda 2 has a lot of gameplay elements that I really admire, like the mixture of overworld exploration and the side scrolling sword combat is actually really clever (the use of spacing and careful movement are really good). The problem for me is that the game is too difficult, walking around the overworld is really frustrating because the encounter rate is way too high making it feel tedious, and the dungeons are all difficult making it hard to get a grip on the gameplay. I think Wonderboy 3 did a way better job at exploring those ideas, but I've got to give it to Zelda 2 for taking a chance like that.