ZELDA II: THE ADVENTURE OF LINK Copyright 2001 Clasher. All rights reserved. Any attempts to plagarize will be... handled. My e-mail address is: j-d-walker@worldnet.att.net . Zelda II is sort of a part RPG, part adventure game. Unlike all other Zelda games, instead of moving around from a top view, you move like in an RPG on the world map, and move in a 2-D setting when in battles or palaces. It also has over Zelda I the bonuses of experience and levels, magic power and spells, and a whole new fight system. Let's go. Note that this is a FAQ, not a walkthrough, and it's up to YOU to figure out what to do. I will give you information about all aspects of the game. ***<<>>*** This, friends, is the ultimate experience and level guide. It tells you how much experience each enemy gives when beaten, and then what each level means. Note that sometimes when you beat an enemy, it instead of giving experience, gives a magic jar or power bag. Power bags, which are found sometimes when you kill an enemy, give experience, up to 200. You can also find them lying around. Note that many enemies have different colors, orange, red and blue. Blue is usually the toughest, as in Zelda I. So, DairaO means an orange Daira. Enemies will be described in detail later. The number after each enemy is the amount of experience they give. ENEMY LIST Overworld Bot (type 1) 2 DeelerR 2 MoblinO (type 1) 0 MoblinO (type 2) 10 Geldarm 5 OctorokR 10 Megmat 5 MoblinR 20 Moby 2 DeelerB 10 MoblinB 30 Bago-Bago 3 MoaR (type 1) 30 Tektite 50 Killer Bee 50 MoaR (type 2) 20 Leever 10 OctorokB 20 Fire Dragon 50 LizardmanO 150 Scorpion 150 LizardmanR 100 MoaB 50 LizardmanB 200 Cave Lowder 3 Ache 3 GoriyaR 20 Acheman 10 GoriyaB 30 DairaO 70 DairaR 100 Myu 3 Palace Mini-Horsehead 0 StalfosW 30 Skull Ball 50 Hammer Brother 50 IronknuckleO 50 Rope 20 StalfosB (type 1) 30 Skull HeadB 20 IronknuckleR 100 Stone Warrior 100 MoaO 50 StalfosR 70 Skull HeadR 5 IronknuckleB 150 Doomknocker 100 StalfosB (type 2) 70 Fire Dropper 200 DreadhawkR (type 1) 200 Bot (type 2) 10 RopeR 30 Skull HeadO 50 DreadhawkR (type 2) 70 DreadhawkB 100 Giant Skull Ball 0 Giant Bot 0 Boss Horsehead 50 Helmethead 200 Ironknuckle 300 Carock 300 Gooma 500 Barba 700 Thunderbird 1000 Link's Shadow 0 LEVEL GUIDE This chart shows how much experience you need to get to each level. Each time you go up, you get reset to 0. The letter right of each number tells which ability, life, magic or attack, will increase when you reach that level. 50 L 100 M 150 L 200 A 300 M 400 L 500 A 700 M 900 L 1200 A 1500 M 1800 L 2200 A 2600 M 3000 L 3500 A 4000 M 5000 L 6000 A 7000 M 8000 A 9000 1-UP *When you get to a new level, press start and your life, magic or attack strength goes up one. The maximum for each is eight. Life - Reduces damage you take when hurt. Magic - Reduces the amount of magic you use when you cast a spell. Attack - Reduces the number of hits an enemy takes before dying. If you can get 9000 experience, and by then all your abilities are at 8, you get a 1-UP. Your abilities all start at 1. ***<<>>*** In each and every town in the game, there is an opportunity to learn a spell. Some spells require nothing. Some spells require something that can be found in the town. Still others require that you find something outside the town and bring it there. Each spell causes something to happen, and drains you magic meter. To refill your magic meter, hit jars with your sword. They are sometimes dropped by enemies. A blue jar refills one magic container. A red one refills your entire magic meter. Here are the spells. Sadly, I am unable to make a chart showing how much each one uses. This is because: I usually play already beaten games these days, and there my magic level is at eight, so I've forgotten how much they use at lower levels. Also, it's kind of hard to make it to Darunia on magic level 1. SPELL WHAT TOWN EFFECT COST AT LEVEL 8 Shield Rauru « damge on current screen 16 Jump Ruto 2x jump height on current screen 8 Life Saria 3 health containers restored 50 Fairy Mido Morph into fairy on current screen 40 Fire Nabooru Sword shoots fire on current screen 16 Reflect Darunia Reflect spells on current screen 16 Spell Secret Kasuto Enemies become Bots on currentscreen16 Thunder Visible Kasuto Enemies destroyed on current screen64 Here's how to get each spell: Shield: Enter the fifth house in Rauru. Now, it's the same as every other spell. Walk right, into the basement, and talk to the old wizard to learn the spell. Jump: There is a cave in the Tantari Desert in the north, to the east of Ruto. Be sure to have the candle! Go through the cave, kill the enemies, or just dodge them. Be careful not to fall in the lava - it kills you. At the end, you will find a trophy. Take it to a woman in Ruto and she'll let you into her house, where you learn the spell. You can always tell a woman who needs something before letting you into her house (which usually contains a spell) because she'll walk out of the house when you walk near it, instead of being outside it when you first see her. Life: One of the houses in Saria is open. Go inside. There are several of these but it's not hard to find the right one. It contains nothing but a table. Walk in front of the table and press B to find a mirror. Take it to the woman who has lost her mirror and do the usual. Fairy: A woman in Mido says her daughter is sick. Now, to the north of Saria is a large swamp. At the north end is a cave blocked by a boulder. You'll need the hammer. The cave contains some pretty tough enemies like Dairas, so be careful and enter with full life. At the end is some medicine. I think you can figure out what to do now - bring it back to the old woman! Fire: In Nabooru is a thirsty chick. She's too lazy to go to the fountain herself, so you'll have to bring the water to her. Walk in front of the fountain and press B. Ta da! Water! Now, just... Reflect: Now this will really make those little ones happy. In the Maze Island, Before going to the Maze Palace, from the entrance to the maze go south, as far right as possible, then up and to the dead end. You'll enter a hidden square. Don't bother fighting the orange Lizardman, he's very, very strong. Instead, jump over him and bag that lost child over there. Then get the heck out of there. Then go to Darunia. In case anybody's wondering, we're going to have a big family reunion now... Spell: In Secret Kasuto (see the FAQ for where to find it) go into one of the last houses in town. Aw man, nothing but a fireplace and some other stuff. Well, we walk in front of the fireplace, and for some reason press up. Wait, we're in a whole new area! Go right and a wizard is waiting for you... Thunder: This spell is in Visible Kasuto. DO NOT get it before the 3-Rock Palace. If you try, you'll get ripped to pieces by the blue Moas infesting the place. I can see why they decided to leave, as the blue Moas are invisible until you get the cross! And guess where that is located... anyway, it's in the very first house. (The spell, not the cross, in case you didn't know). There's nothing else here except smashed buildings and blue Moas, so just leave. ***<<>>*** This will be a long section that covers the eight items and containers in the game Six of the items are found in palaces, one each. The other two are in the overworld. The containers are all found in the overworld, or in caves. There are four heart and magic containers, and each increases your health or magic bar by one container. You start with four and must have eight before beating the game. We'll start with the containers. MAGIC CONTAINERS: 1. Right below the starting palace is a cave. You'll need to go around the water to reach it. Inside are Lowders, Octoroks, and a magic container. I suggest getting this before even getting the candle, although that is risky as without a candle, the monsters are mostly invisible. 2. This can be really easy if you know what you're doing, and almost impossible of you have no idea what you're doing. IMMEDIATELY after getting the hammer, use it (press A) to bash the boulder right next to its cave. Then walk onto where the boulder was, and... wait, what's this? You're falling into a hidden pit... with a magic container! 3. Even easier. Note that in Maze Island, there are a lot of squares which take you into battle, but some can be avoided by going through detours. On one of the detours, which is a corridor that folds back over itself and takes you by a shortcut with a battle - it's about midway through - you'll walk into a hidden hole with a magical vial. 4. In Secret Kasuto, the very first house contains a magic container. But, as usual, life's just not that easy. You can only get in by talking to the woman, and she'll only let you in if you have all the other containers. HEART CONTAINERS: 1. Due south of Parapa Desert Palace is a long path. As always, the curious one wins, as going down this path eventually leads to a small meadow where a heart container and two orange Goriyas reside. Trouble is, one of the squares en route is a square with thin ledges and lethal water, and you'll need some fancy footing to make it across. And just to top it off, there will be some floating bubbles who can knock you into the water, so have fun. 2. You need the hammer for this. From Rauru, go south, crush that builder, and continue south. To the east is a cave blocked by a boulder. No problem, dude. Just walk in, bust the stuffing out of some Lowders and Myus, and voila! 3. You should get this right before entering the Sea Palace, and it is very hard to find. In the water, note that there is a narrow corridor near the palace that you can walk through. However, there is a hidden and completely inconspicuous exit to the north. From the palace, go onto the water, and keep trying to go north, and if you can't go west one step and try again. When you finally succeed, go north four squares, and then east until you enter a square with a high ledge. A use of the jump spell and you've got this one in the bag. 4. East of 3-Rock palace, go along the edge of the desert, just testing every square on the beach, and eventually you'll find it. SWORD TECHNIQUES Downthrust: With this tactic, the game will be a heck of a lot easier. You can just jump over enemies by jumping and using downthrust to tap them on the head, and bouncing on your way. It also makes Skull Balls and Heads much easier. In Mido, you'll see a very suspicious looking door that's a bit out of reach on the top of a church... use the Jump spell, you fool! Then go right and talk to the warrior. Upthrust: Very useful for killing Moas and other flying monsters. It's in Darunia. In the second scene (I think) you'll notice the first house has a chimney on it. Using the Jump spell and other houses, climb up to there, and go down the chimney. Same as before. ITEMS Candle: You will get absolutely nowhere on your quest without entering caves. The problem is, without a handy candle (you'd think, after games like Shadowgate and Dragon Warrior it'd be a torch) you can't see any monsters in there. So, get it ASAP. It is in Parapa Desert Palace. Hammer: They tell you how to get this in Nintendo Power, remember? Anyway, go through Death Mountain, always choosing caves to the east when you have a choice, until you reach a desert. Also don't take the elevator up in the third cave. In the desert, go west to a cave. It looks a bit suspicious... it's not in a rock wall. Well, guess what! This is where you find the hammer! Take the elevator down, go right, and there it is. All these caves are stuffed full of Dairas, so either have extremely good swordplay, or make sure you gain levels, to about 4 in life, I'd say. Glove: For most of the quest you take it for granted that you can destroy blocks with your sword, but without this, you can't do any of that. And blocks are EVERYWHERE in palaces. So, get it, and get it ASAP. It's in the Swamp Palace. Raft: No game effect, except when you walk onto the dock at Mido with it, you'll sail to the eastern half of Hyrule. Look for it in the Island Palace. Winged Boots: Again, no real game effect, except to reach the Sea Palace. You can use it to walk on some water, but most of the water you can walk on is near the Sea Palace. Flute: Found in (surprise!) the Sea Palace, again it has no game effect. You need it to enter the 3- Rock Palace and defeat the River Devil. Magic Key: Found in Secret Kasuto. The place is stuffed, huh? After getting the spell of Spell (!), go to the very end of town. Hmmm... this place looks a little boring. Let's give it some help. Cast your new spell, and a building will appear, inside is the magic key. Now we have NE NEED WHATEVER for any of the keys in the palaces! A good thing, because there ARE no keys in 3- Rock Palace. Cross: Guess where this is found. It's only function is to make blue Moas visible. Just in case you're wondering, these pests are everywhere on the road to the Great Palace. ***<<>>*** PARAPA DESERT PALACE How do I get there?: Go through the cave northeast of Rauru (be careful, you won't be able to see the enemies, but it isn't too bad) and you'll be in the desert. Go northeast until you reach the palace (you may want to get the heart container to the south first). Where's the item?: From the start go down, right until you see an elevator, down, and then left until you find the candle. Key and lock info: One key is directly to the left when you start a palace, and it is needed to open the lock to the right. All that's guarding it is a Stalfos. Another lock is before the candle. To get through it, don't go down the second elevator, continue right. When you find another elevator, go up (a fairy is to the left, take it now or later, whenever you need it most). Then go right, up the steps, and grab a key. Then continue right to another key, guarded by a Hammer Brother - be careful! Now, see the dirty cheat section for reasons why you don't beat the boss yet. For now, just take it for granted that you should exit the palace the way you came after getting the treasure. When you leave after getting the candle, you'll have an extra key. Don't worry - you'll use it in a later palace. Anything else I should know?: Your attacking strength is very weak now, so killing the Skull Balls will take so long you'd be too old a weak to care about experience. So avoid them instead. If you have trouble with a particular enemy, such as an Ironknuckle, use Shield when in battle with that foe. The bridge in the room before the candle will crumble... what, are Link's boots acidic? Oh well. Getting the power bag here is a bit dangerous and only worth 50 experience. Guarding the candle is an Ironknuckle who may give you some trouble if you're unfamiliar with their strategy. SWAMP PALACE How do I get there?: South of Rauru you'll see a huge swamp to the west. Slog through it as best you can and eventually you'll reach the palace. Where's the item?: Go down the elevator one floor. Then go left as far as possible. Down one floor, then left again and you'll find the glove. Key and lock info: There are three locks you must pass through. Two are guarding the glove, one is in the first passage to the left of the elevator at the start. One of the keys is in plain sight in the broken bridge room. The other two are found by riding the first elevator down. Go left on the second floor and right on the third floor to reach a key on each. Be careful though. You'll face some rather hard monsters, like Hammer Brothers and blue Stalfos. Be careful. Anything else I should know?: It's impossible to kill the heads on the ceiling, just dodge the fire they drop. To the right of the broken bridge room is a room with some blue Skull Heads. Your best bet for beating them is to jump above them and keep hitting them with downthrust until they die. Do the same to Skull Balls: jump above them, and just keep smashing away at them from above. The broken bridge room is pretty tough - the bridges don't crumble here, but they are covered with Bots and have gaps which you must jump over. On your return trip, be careful not to use downthrust - the glove will break through the blocks and you'll have a hot bath. In the room before the candle are some falling blocks which can do two things: give you a big, big headache (both meanings), and trap you in their walls. Blaze through this part like crazy if you can. Guarding the glove is a red Ironknuckle, who can be pretty tough to beat. Use the Shield spell when fighting him. ISLAND PALACE How do I get there?: It's a little complicated. From Mido go down into the graveyard. DO NOT GET ATTACKED. If you do, just get the HELL out of there! A lone grave in the middle is the "king's tomb". From it, go directly south... you'll fall not a hidden pothole! Problem is, how to get over that huge wall? Use the Fairy spell and float to victory. Exit the cave, loop around and you're there. Where's the item?: Down 1 on the elevator. Then right until you see another elevator. Go down again, then right as far as possible to find the raft. Key and lock info: You'll need to pass only two locks here, both are guarding the raft. This means you'll come out with an extra key. One key is in the room with the lava in plain sight. Another is in plain sight, buried under blocks, just use downthrust and the glove. Also, before going down the second elevator, go right one more room. This place is outside, so it seems, and there's another key. Well, that was TOO easy. Anything else I should know?: This palace is trouble. The enemies are the most troublesome part. To deal with Stone Warriors, use the Shield spell, and don't kill them, they're too hard. Jump over them and run like mad. (When jumping over something, use downthrust to bounce off it). If you become good at this, you can do it without shielding yourself. The orange Moas are impossible to kill now, just dodge the fire they drop. In the room with block steps, do not release the Ironknuckles (you probably could have figured that out). Use the Jump spell - it makes it quicker, and is needed to reach the room to the right with a key. In the falling block place, run through without abandon. As for the red Skull Heads, adjust your shield carefully and stab them, or just jump over them. Use Shield when battling red Ironknuckles (unless you're very sure of yourself). The room before the raft has several lava pits which you must jump over. Don't use Jump, just use caution. Finally, guarding the raft is... a blue Ironknuckle! This guy is so hard fighting him, even with shield, will usually result in you getting killed, until you raise some levels. Best bet here is to use the Fairy spell, although you can't avoid getting hit at least twice if you do that. MAZE PALACE How do I get there?: Go to Maze Island (through the cave north of Nabooru, then east as far as possible and onto the bridge). Traverse the maze and enter the palace. Where's the item?: Down one (as always), then right until you reach an elevator, then down one floor. Then again go right, to a hole. Drop down, and go right to the winged boots. To get out, drop down another screen, then go left until you find the elevator. Go back up and you're in familiar territory. Key and lock info: As long as you don't get lost you'll only encounter two locks. Now, most of the keys here are appallingly hard to get. Many are at the end of broken bridges with really tough enemies like Stone Warriors on them. Use the two excess keys you got earlier to get through these locks. Also do the Fairy trick (see the dirty cheat section) if you can't get through a necessary lock. Never get a single key here, just don't. Anything else I should know?: This palace is very short as long as you don't get lost. You'll meet a new enemy, the type 2 blue Stalfos. These guys can do a lot of damage, if you feel insecure, use Shield. You'll encounter in the two rooms guarding the winged boots a Stone Warrior and blue Ironknuckle. Again, Fairy is your best bet for the latter. When you drop down the hole, be careful - the bridges you land on collapse, and if you fall, you must loop all the way around. Quickly jump to the right and solid ground. When you drop down again, you'll land on another crumbling bridge over lava, so just run left (NOT RIGHT) and you'll do fine, the key is remembering it's there. You probably won't run into a Doomknocker but if you do, jump over its spells, you need reflect to kill it and you're really strapped for magic here. SEA PALACE How do I get there?: Walk east from Nabooru onto the water with the winged boots, as straight shot, just keep going until you find the palace. Where's the item?: It's a LOOOOONG way away. Here's what to do: go down, then right as far as possible, and down again. Then left as far as possible, down, left until you see an elevator. Down one floor, then right until you see another elevator. Down, then finally left until you reach the flute. WHEW! Key and lock info: The three keys you'll need to pass through the locks are all in plain sight, but each has a catch. Hey, it could be worse, though I don't know how... anyway, the first is on top of a tall wall. To get it, revisit the room after you leave it. You need to be able to use your sword to get it. The second key is on a REALLY high ledge. Wait until most of the blocks have fallen, then take your time and burrow through them and form some steps up to it. If you can spare the magic, use Jump. The last one is on top of a ledge you need Jump to reach. It's also guarded by a red Ironknuckle. Isn't this fun? Oh, and to get through the last lock, use the Fairy trick. Anything else I should know?: Oh boy, this place is living heck. Soon after you start you come across a huge wall. Use Fairy to get over, and watch out for those darned Skull Balls. The next room is the toughest one in the entire palace! It is a crumbling bridge. Think you can cross it while timing your jumps perfectly to avoid those Skull Heads? If so, you are very brave. If not, use Fairy - although this put you at practically zero magic. I say brave it, but forget the power bag. Next up come two red Ironknuckles. And that's just the beginning. From now on, you'll have to dodge Fire Droppers - the wizards who drop fire. They give mega-experience but take a ton of hits, are almost impossible to hurt, and do massive damage. Take it slow and watch your step, and just run. Now, jump and stab that statue thingy on the wall for a much-needed red jar. Go down the elevator. The next two rooms aren't too hard, but in the second, just go down the elevator, don't get that power bag - you need your magic. Go right... oh no! It's a huge dead end! NOT!!! Jump through the wall - it's... FAKE! You'll just go right through if you jump into it. This is a real nasty trap. Also, you'll meet a blue Ironknuckle here - don't cast Fairy, just jump over him as best you can, maybe cast Shield. Down the elevator. This next room reminds me of those little dinosaurs in Jurassic Park II - it seems that the Fire Droppers and red Skull Heads, wouldn't be a problem, but if you fight, you'll soon be disproved. Just blaze through and maybe use shield. You're finally in the room with the flute... oops, we don't have a key. Use the Fairy trick. If you think that is too dirty for you, get one of the keys back in the Maze Palace - there's several, one directly above and below the winged boots. Oh, and guarding the flute is a blue Ironknuckle to make your life even more happy. 3-ROCK PALACE How do I get there?: In the desert east of Visible Kasuto, stand in the middle of those suspicious rocks. Yep, we're gonna do the same trick as in Zelda I. Play the flute and 3-Rock palace appears. Where's the item: From the start go down two floors, then go right as far as possible (how many time have I said that? Don't answer). This is like eight rooms, and each one is worse than the last. Key and lock info: None whatever! There are no keys whatever in this palace, except the keys you get from beating the sub-bosses. Plenty of locks though. Don't worry, you have the magic key (at least you better!) Anything else I should know?: Anything else you should know? I'll be babbling about every room, for crying out loud! A guide for this palace will be made later - it's so hard it deserves its own section. Also, note that, since you'll get the magic key before entering this palace, you'll actually want to get the item and beat the boss in the same stroke. Enter with full magic and life, and have all your abilities at 8. GREAT PALACE How you get there is covered in its own section, as is a guide for it. There's no keys, locks, or item. Just note that at the very beginning is a huge energy field. If you haven't beaten all the other palaces, this is as far a you're going. ***<<>>*** Now before we beat the first five palaces in earnest, we have to do something - level up to max. Trust me, it's important, so stop yer whining! Geez! The best place to level up are in the forests in southeast Hyrule. Fight the Lizardmen there - these guys are very tough, so if you want to level up somewhere else, go ahead. After getting to level 8 on all our abilities, go back to West Hyrule. Here's the guides for each palace: Parapa Desert Palace: Remember that elevator you took up to reach some keys (near the fairy)? Go down instead. Then go right. It's a few rooms away, but the enemies - mostly orange Ironknuckles - won't pose much of a problem. Swamp Palace: Go back to the place where you got the glove, only instead of getting off the elevator to go left, continue down. Go right to another elevator (enemies will be easy at best). Go down it and then go right. I suggest against getting that power bag on the collapsing bridge - it's risky and worthless, remember? Island Palace: Ride the second elevator in the palace down. We went right, if you remember, to get the raft? Go left, until you reach another elevator. The enemies, mainly blue and red Ironknuckles, will be a little hard, so don't fight if possible or use Shield. Go down that second elevator and then go right, through a large block maze room, to the boss. Maze Palace: Isn't it just WONDERFUL to have a magic key? All you must do is go (from the start: down, left, down, left, right. This is quite a trek, but the enemies won't be a problem. You know how to kill Stalfos and red Ironknuckles, and the Doomknockers (wizards) can be beaten with Reflect. Sea Palace: Another epic trek. Be sure to enter with full power, this is gonna be hard. For starters, go through the palace, the same way as you did when getting the flute, until you reach the elevator leading down with a power bag above it. We went down, as you recall, to get the flute. Instead bypass it. When you come to another elevator, go up it. All that's left are a few Ironknuckles. BOSSES Parapa Desert Palace: The first boss is Horsehead, a ruatnec with the head of a horse and the body of a warrior (you could probably have guessed that). He's the easiest of the bosses, but was designed to be fought at the beginning of the game. IOW, he's not easy now, he's PATHETIC. Don't bother casting Shield, just cast Jump, and, while trying to dodge his club (easy to do) jump and downthrust the poor guy's pathetic skull. Two hits is all you need. Swamp Palace: This is too easy. Helmethead the warrior is a little more civilized than Horsehead, attacking with a sword and also spitting fireballs. Don't bother with Shield of Life, and it's the same as before - Jump, then downthrust twice. Shows he need to change helmet stores. After hitting him he'll lose a head, but the head will fly off and shoot fireballs at you! No matter. Hit him hard and quick and he'll be dead in a matter of seconds. Island Palace: This is easily the hardest boss yet, but it's still a joke, unless you're like half dead entering it. Unlike the previous fights, you should cast Shield on yourself to lower damage. Ironknuckle the knight will ride across the screen on a horse. Stand about 3/4 of the way to the right and as he charges, jump and downthrust (I'm getting kind of tired of that). Hit or miss, he'll stop about 1/4 from the left edge of the arena, giving you more opportunities to hit him with downthrust. Only two hits and he'll dismount and attack like a normal blue Ironknuckle. Beat him like you would any blue Ironknuckle, it shouldn't be too hard. Maze Palace: Our foe here, Carock the wizard, may look tough, as he can appear and disappear and shoot spells like nobody's business. He is actually the easiest palace guardian. Just cast Reflect on yourself, and probably Shield, and stand in one of the corners of the screen, and duck. Unless Carock appears right on you, he won't hurt you, and his spells, well, will not do what he expected. This battle may take a little while since Carock only stays vulnerble for a second. Sea Palace: Yet another pathetic fight. I promise, they'll get tougher soon! Next up on our bash the heck out of list: Gooma the giant. This battle is fun, since we'll be stabbing Gooma in his pathetic crotch (I couldn't possible make this up, folks...) Cast Shield and Jump immediately. He's very slow and only attacks by swinging his ball and chain (is he married???), but that can do a lot of damage. No matter. Ball and chain or chain and ball, you'd have to be a complete kook to lose to this guy - after he swings his weapon, run in close, and duck and stab him right where it hurts. Then he'll swing again... jump over it, for Pete's sake! Then stab him again. He takes a good bit of damage, though. ***<<>>*** An enemy guide seems out of place in the middle of a FAQ, but I wanted to do the Great Palace last, so I stuffed some other stuff in. Here goes: (in order of appearance) Overworld BOT: This guy is PATHETIC. He's a little blob that hops around. Duck down and stab him. Any attack factor except one will kill him in one hit, so you shouldn't worry about this guy at all. In the Great Palace, there is a naive attempt to make the Bot a menace, but it's a joke. The Great Palace ones can take more hits, but are still too easy. DEELER: This is SO easy. It's a spider that hangs in the trees and lowers itself down to attack, found only in forests. Dodge their attack, then jump and stab them from the side. Again, any attack factor but one will do the trick. The blue ones can be a problem, though. Instead of staying in trees they drop to the ground and then leap to attack! For them, duck and stab them with your sword after they jump. If you have it, use upthrust. MOBLIN: De-ja-vu, Zelda I! There are FOUR different kinds of Moblins. This is a rare enemy, found almost exclusively in forests. There's the orange kind that charges at you, the orange kind that throws its spears at you, the red kind who runs in close and stabs you, and the blue kind who does all of the above. All their spears, thrown or not, can be blocked if you're quick with a shield. Oh yeah, slash the heck out of them when possible. GELDARM: Another rarity, you don't really need to worry about tackling these guys. They are found only in deserts in the early game and are tall, white, and look like cacti. Stab them once to cut them down to size. Then repeatedly stab their heads to kill. MEGMAT: Common in plains, forests and caves in southwest Hyrule. This thing isn't much of a problem, as all it does is bounce around like heck. It can be annoyingly hard to land a blow, though. OCTOROK: Another common foe, and a veteran of Zelda I. He's easy enough. You'll usually kill him in two hits. He'll jump and spit rocks at you, which are easily blockable, so just run in and stab while crouching. In East Hyrule is a slightly stronger version, the blue. They can move, jump and spit rocks high and low, but still aren't any kind of threat. RED MOA: A very hard foe that packs a powerful attack and is hard to kill. There are two types. The first is seldom seen, as it's only in graveyards and all it does is fly back and forth, btu can be very annoying. The other is found in forests and a few swamps in East Hyrule. It moves slowly, sometimes stopping to open its eye, then continues moving. It isn't too hard, just stab it when it's eye is open. GORIYA: It's a toss-up whether these wolf-like things should be covered in the cave section, as they are common there too. There's three types: orange, red and blue. All do the same: they move back and forth and throw boomerangs. They can cause heavy damage early in the game, although good shield-movers can block their boomerangs. The red and blue kinds throw progressively more. If you have downthrust, use it - it's their Achilles' Heal. TEKTITE: This jumping spider, found in fields early in East Hyrule, is a real pain in the ass. Is shoots fireballs and jumps like nobody's business, can take a lot of abuse, and can only be hurt at all with the Fire spell. KILLER BEE: Ha, and you thought the Tektite was bad. This annoying little bugger flies above you and drops rocks like there's no tomorrow, and is really, really quick, so scoring hits is all but impossible. Use upthrust if you're going to fight them. FIRE DRAGON: This blue lizard isn't much of a threat as long as you're good with a shield. Block their fireballs with it. They can only be hurt by the Fire spell, and can take quite a few hits. LEEVER: You'll probably never run into these on your quest as they are only found in East Hyrule deserts. They aren't hard either, just jump and downthrust them. They burrow through the ground. SCORPION: A hard foe, well, not really hard, but hard to beat, but gives quite a tidy experience gain. It shoots fireballs which can't be blocked and do hell-o damage! Even worse, you can only hurt them when their eye is open. Cave LOWDER: Slug-like creature. It's a joke. Squat and stab, or use downthrust. Killable in one hit. ACHE: A flying bat that swoops down at you. Not a problem, just stab from the side, although you must be quick. ACHEMAN: Again, not much of a problem. Basically an Ache that swoops down, becomes a dragon and shoots fireballs. Stab it hard and fast. BAGO-BAGO: I'm not sure why I'm putting them here, as they are more common in the overworld. Anyway, this is a fishbone creature that flies around on bridges, and shoots rocks at you, which are blockable. Slash him if you really want to, but I suggest just running away. DAIRA: Ah yes, the Daira. One of the tougher enemies indeed. Two kinds. Both have axes, but the orange ones just swing them at you and red ones hurl them fast and furious. I shudder to think what the blue Daira is like... anyway, they are common on the caves in Death Mountain, and can do BIG damage! They can also take a lot of abuse. Best bet is to use the Shield spell, then attack them right after they swing their axe. After they swing it, run in, stab, then move back. For red ones, jump over their axes and try to stab them. BOTH types require perfect timing to take down. MYUS: A little spiky critter that can ONLY be damaged by downthrust. That's the bad news. The good news is, you'll hardly ever meet them until you have downthrust! LIZARDMAN: Sometimes found in the overworld, but mostly on the way to the Great Palace. It is like an Ironknuckle, only much harder. Use the same Ironknuckle tactics, stab the head, although that fails to work annoyingly often. They also attack pretty well, with spears for the orange ones, axes for the red ones, and thrown axes for the blue ones. Just keep trying to attack, or better yet, avoid them altogether! BLUE MOA: An eye thing that is a real thorn in your side. It is very fast, zipping around the screen, and steals experience. Thankfully, they are only found on the road to the Great Palace. Sadly, they are very common there. Oh, and don't even dream of fighting one until you get the cross, as they're invisible then. Palace MINI-HORSEHEAD: Oh, give me a break. This cute little thing bounces toward you... I actually pity it. Just slash it once. STALFOS: If you know what you're doing, this can be real easy. If not, well... anyway, there are many kinds. A direct attack will be repulsed by their shields, and they also have swords. No matter. Just duck and as they come close, stab the things in the legs. I guess their heart isn't in lowering their shield. SKULL BALL: Not a very serious threat, but can endure LOTS of hits and is really annoying as it steals magic. It bounces around, often in important locations. If you want to beat it, walk right up to it, and keep slashing like heck until it dies. I loathe this bugger. HAMMER BROTHER: A... strange creature that throws hammers at you. The tough part is just getting under the hammer's arc, after slipping through an opening, stab the source a few times. They DO take a lot of hits, though. IRONKNUCKLE: Ah yes, the Ironknuckle. The single most important enemy to master bashing in the game. There's three types. First, the orange and red, who attack by charging, then stabbing you with their swords and adjusting their shield to block your attacks. To beat them, and their cousins the Lizardmen, you must jump, and as you come down, stab the head. This is the only reliable method. Jump, and stab the head. You MUST master this technique, it's as important as the one-foot jump in Mega Man I, as Ironknuckles are very common. Oh, I haven't mentioned the blue kind. This is a very annoying knight, which throws daggers at you like nobody's business and takes a LOT of hits. Best bet is to use the Shield spell, and maybe try to jump over than rather than slug it out. ROPE: This little snake isn't really bad, it's like an Octorok. All it does is slither around, spitting fireballs. Block them, duck, and slash like crazy. Red ones, which are found only in the Great Palace, are no tougher, except their fireballs can't be blocked. SKULL HEAD: This is a really annoying bugger. Interestingly, the ORANGE type is the toughest. Red ones will move slowly, and shoot fireballs, and appear in large groups. Your best bet is to run rather than be slowly bitten up. Blue and orange ones are basically the same, except orange ones are found only in the Great Palace. Both bob up and down very quickly, can steal experience if they hit you, and are very annoying. Downthrust repeatedly is your best bet. STONE WARRIOR: A relative of the blue Ironknuckles, and a tad less civilized. He's just like the Ironknuckles except he throws axes which return like boomerangs, he takes a lot of damage, and he is a major hemorrhoid. Shield is a good idea. ORANGE MOA: Finally, the last Moa! This darned thing is almost impossible to kill (except maybe with upthrust), you just have to dodge the fire it drops. DOOMKNOCKER: A close cousin of the Wizzrobe of Zelda I. He appears, shoots a spell, and disappears. If you want to bag one (and you may want to if they are attacking in full force) you must cast Reflect, and then duck right in front of one and let it do itself in (for some reason, that didn't sound quite right...) FIRE DROPPER: Another wizard, only found in the Sea Palace. He'll appear, drop a fireball, and then disappear. Forget killing them. He can take about six hits, can do a lot of damage, and is almost impossible to hit, as he's only vulnerable for half a second. He pretty much has to appear right on you for you to hurt him. Beating them requires too much time and energy. Great Palace enemies are covered in the Great Palace section. ***<<>>*** Q: HELP!!! I can't get the hammer! A: They covered this in Nintendo Power. You need to talk to Bagu, the guy in the woods northwest of Saria, before you can get within a mile of the hammer. Hang around there until you find him and receive his note. Then go back to Saria. Go to the end of town. Whoops! A huge unbridged lake... great. Well, enter the booth nearby, and the river man will look at Bagu's letter and let you cross. (If you're playing an already beaten game, don't bother ,just fly over with the Fairy spell). Congratulations - you have made it to one of the most dangerous places in Hyrule. Whenever you have a choice, always CHOOSE THE CAVE TO THE EAST. Otherwise you'll get nowhere. Each cave has really strong enemies like Dairas and Goriyas. Use Shield on almost every screen - thankfully, a few red jars are along the trek. After escaping this place, you'll come out in a desert. Go west... that cave there looks a bit suspicious, it isn't in a rock wall! Enter, beat up some Dairas, and the Hammer is yours for keeps. You'd better develop your levels to life 5, or you will probably get a good whacking from these guys. Q: Where the heck is Secret Kasuto? A: I could say something really revealing here. I'd best bite my tongue... what's that? Hey, you're SUPPOSED to spill the beans! Either spill the beans, or I'll spill your intestines? Okay, okay! Go to southeast Hyrule and that huge forest. In the northeast corner is a cave. Inside are Tektites and Lizardmen. Since fighting these guys is suicidal, just run whenever possible. After coming out the other side... uh oh, nothing here? Well, stand facing the second forest block from the west in the second row from the south, and press A. Ta Da! Secret Kasuto. Q: Where's the best place to send my levels to the moon? A: Anywhere the enemies are strong enough to give you good experience, but not so strong they wipe you out. Just pick a good spot. Early in the game, the swamps in southwest Hyrule are a good choice, as they have mostly Octoroks, who are easy to kill and give a lot of experience. Late in the game, the Lizardman-infested forests in southeast Hyrule are an excellent place to gain, but only if you get slaughtering Lizardmen down pat and regularly do so without sustaining any damage. Q: Where's the Great Palace? I've looked everywhere and had no luck. A: Everywhere but south of southeast Hyrule's graveyard, that is! Q: Any 1-UPS in Zelda II? A: You bet. Note that you can only get these once EVER, so DO NOT get them until you're ready to tackle the last two palaces. You need all the lives you can get! One is one square southwest of the boulder blocking the cave with the medicine. One is two squares southwest of the bridge in Maze Island. And another is in the swamp in southeast Hyrule in the northwest corner (you need the Jump spell to get it). The last two are in the last two palaces, one each. Q: Okay, I'm on the way to the Great Palace. I'm getting slaughtered by something invisible! A: Ever thought that there might be an item in the 3-Rock Palace? Ever thought that you might need to get it? Well, it's the cross, and it reveals the invisible buggers. Q: Thank you very much. I'm still getting slaughtered. A: Well, you need to have all spells and all your levels at eight, as well as plenty of lives, before taking the Great Palace on. Also, don't kill everything. If you can, take to the hills and avoid fighting. The problem is, the enemies are usually in narrow corridors which means you kind of have to fight them (the narrowness isn't exactly, handy, either)... and use Shield and Jump every screen, unless you're a magic miser. Q: When should I use the Shield spell? A: When you feel overpowered by an enemy. Problem is, more often than not, you either take no or very little damage, and waste magic. Still, use it on your own whims, and remember that Life is three times as expensive in MP as Shield, and Shield effectively doubles your life for one screen. Q: What spells should I use the most? A: The first four. The last four will only be used in very specialized situations. Q: YIPEE!!! I got the Fairy spell!!! Now I can fly around all my enemies! A: Sure, waste all your magic. Good idea. Q: When does giving water get fire? A: You win the prize for dumbest question. Another gamer pointed out that to get the Fire spell, you need to give a chick water. I loathe riddles. And I don't have a lot of time. So shut up with your stupid questions and give me something interesting. Q: Where are the containers, items, power bags, that stuff? A: Are you out of your skull?!? I dedicated a whole section to the containers and items!!! As for power bags, they aren't really important, so there. Now, these questions are just so dumb I'm ending my FAQ right now. ***<<>>*** 1. Fairy Trick Ever just seen a locked door and thought, oh, wouldn't it be divine if I could just get through that thing? Well, you can, as a fairy! Problem? Fairy is expensive. Real expensive. And don't try it if you have any keys, you'll use the key anyway. I suggest saving up keys in early game sections and using them later on. 2. Not beating palaces This is the single most important trick in the game! If you don't beat the palaces, just go in, get the treasure and leave, you: A: Will not have to go through the annoying at best process of key searching. B: Have the sheer pleasure of frigging butchering the early palaces at level 8. C: Get an extra life for every palace you beat. Isn't it awesome? 3. Replaying the game This is another terrific trick. If you start an already beaten game, you'll start with all your levels at 8, all spells and sword techniques, but all items and containers will be lost. Then, you can just breeze right through the early game. It's awesome! 4. Red jars: the secrets Red jars, which are really hard to find can really restore magic AND life. When you find one, use Life, then grab it. Or, if you don't have enough for Life, grab it, and the second you have enough for Life, use it. You'll restore life, and your bar will keep refilling. It'll go almost to full. 5. Red jars: the locales A red jar is located at the beginning of every palace (except Parapa Desert and Sea Palaces, the latter of which has a nearby town), just stab the statue. However, it will annoyingly often become a red Ironknuckle instead of a jar. If that happens, leave the screen and try again! In the palaces themselves, be sure to stab every statue, including the ones on the walls (well, probably not the ones that spit fireballs). Sometimes you'll get a red jar, sometimes you'll get an enemy. Some can only be reached with the Jump spell, which makes it a real casino! 6. Chicks: the secrets In every town (except Rauru, which has only the life lady) are two gals, one in orange and the other in red. The orange one is easy to find. The red one is also easy, she'll, instead of wandering, constantly patrol her dwelling. Talk to either one and they'll let you into their house. Inside, you'll get your life (from the red lady) or your magic (from the... guess) restored to full!!! 7. Fairy: the problems Beware when in fairy form. You can still get hurt, you can still die if you're foolish enough to go into lava or water, and you can't use your sword. This means you are helpless you defeat enemies, pass through blocks or collect goodies. 8. The spell of... Spell Spell, the spell, has strange effects. If used, I believe enemies on screen will either die, or become Bots. Weird, huh? ***<<<3-ROCK PALACE WALKTHROUGH>>>*** Ladies and gentlemen, this is a tough palace. While it's nothing compared to the Great Palace, it's stuffed full of old buddies like Ironknuckles and Doomknockers. It's time to nail down some basics. -Be sure to use the red jar at the palace entrance opportunity to refill your magic and life to FULL before proceeding. -Have all levels at 8, and several lives in reserve. -Don't use magic unless necessary: save it for Jump and Life. -Ignore all power bags and enemies. Well, don't ignore enemies as in walk right through them. I just meant that since we don't need experience anymore (you'll have more than ten lives by now, you'll get one for each of the five previous palaces, and should also be grabbing all three overworld 1-UPS now). -Since you don't need experience, you can and should try to run away from your foes and save your strength for places where you must fight. This doesn't work as well with Ironknuckles, though, since they can and do follow you if you do get by them. Alright, let's go - we aren't accomplishing anything by hanging around the outside, so let's go down the elevator. Ignore the first floor, nothing's there. Go down again. Uh, a door... no problem, just walk right through (you DID get the magic key, didn't you...) Now it gets interesting. Use Reflect here in this room. There are THREE Doomknockers, and without Reflect, you'll have a, well, hard time jumping over all their spells. So kill them. Also, with Reflect active you can actually block the Stone Warrior's axes, making him very easy. One room down, a few zillion to go. Next up comes a spot with a blue Ironknuckle and some holes. Cast Shield if you're desperate, but I suggest just running in, slashing the Ironknuckle hard and fast, and either killing him or knocking him into the hole. For the longest time I thought that if you fell into these holes you couldn't get back up, but then I realized that if you fall down past the bottom floor, the pattern repeats and you're whisked back up here. Nevertheless, cast Jump, you can't get over the holes without it. See that statue? It's a red jar/Ironknuckle thing. However, DO NOT TOUCH IT! We'll get it later, but now, we've hardly started. Next, continue right... Yikes! Another blue Ironknuckle! We'll kill him later, but for now, just jump over him after backing him to the steps, and climb up. The next room you may want to use Reflect in, as there's some Doomknockers here, but I wouldn't - just jump over their magic. If you can, jump over the Stalfos rather than kill them (all though they're way too easy anyway). The fireball streams from above are almost impossible to dodge, but do almost no damage. Then... de-ja-vu, Island Palace! A block steps room! Don't release the things inside their prisons (you could have probably figured that out). Cast Jump, it makes it a lot easier. Besides, you need it to get over that gap on the far right. Make me proud: did you grab that power bag? Ah yes, the next room. It's a really nasty one. Go on as normal jumping over Doomknocker spells until you get to the third Ironknuckle statue. Take a few steps to the right. Move so you're standing on top of the block two blocks right of the statue. Then make a huge, Jump-assisted leap to the right and pray you land on solid ground. What the hell are you worried about, you ask? Well, a false floor, which happens to drop you into a Doomknocker and StoneWarrior-infested area. Heck, cast Fairy if you're desperate. After making it across, you'll enter.. The boss room?!? No, it's NOT the boss room. This is a sub- boss room, where you'll meet another MBI, back from the Island Palace! The only reason it's a boss is to force you to beat him. Same as before, don't bother casting Shield, Ironknuckle will die in four hits, two to get him off his mount. After scrapping him, enter the final area to get... the Cross! Now we have every single item in the game! Now, get ready for some serious backtracking. Head back all the way to the room with the two pits, using spells as necessary. You are probably almost out of magic by now, so you may want to kill yourself on the trek back. Resist that urge. In the room with the holes, time to recharge ourselves with that statue! First, trash the BI (Blue Ironkncukle). Then cast Jump and leap up and stab the statue. If it's the knight, get the heck out of there and try again until you run out of magic or get the jar (in the former case, kill yourself). Then drop down the holes. Nothing but a power bag here, so drop down again, and this time go right. Now that we've got the treasure, the real fun begins! First on your search and destroy mission of Barba (the boss): a BI. Kill or jump over him and continue. Uh oh, a room with some lava pits that you've got to leap over. Don't use Jump: the pits are rather small. Problem: BLUE SKULL HEADS!!! Kill all three BEFORE making any jumps. Then cross at your leisure. The next room isn't too bad, it's an orange Moa and some RI's. Oh no. Not a giant, Skull Ball infested lava pit. The Skull Balls won't be a problem, but how to get over... use Fairy (you could probably have figured that out). A few more enemies in the next room, shouldn't be a problem. That elevator going down? Forget it. Continue right... ah, another MBI. You know the drill. Then comes the final room. You'll be on a ledge and a hole is before you. What do you do? Well, if you have at least three magic containers, you can just plow on to the boss. If you don't, cast Jump, jump over the gap, and say hi to a BI and two Skull Balls. You can't defeat them: run through, grab a 1-UP at the end there, but it's gonna be a short life... kill yourself. DO NOT get this if you are not going to kill yourself, as if you do, the BI and Skull Balls (who can steal magic) will make short work of you anyway. When you're ready to take on Barba, drop through the hole. You're in a chasm place... pause the game NOW! Select Fairy, and use it BEFORE you drop off the screen. Otherwise, consider yourself Doomknocker and Ironknuckle food. After casting Fairy, go through that little hole (no, you CANNOT get through in your normal form) and go right, into a room with some lava, but with something in it... BOSS: As we know, there's no such thing as an adventure game without a dragon. Zelda II lives up to that tradition, with this next boss, Barba the Dragon. Finally, a challenge. Barba is not really hard, but he's LONG. Also very scary. Cast Jump for this battle. Don't cast Shield. Why? Because if you get hit, you'll die! Die by being knocked into the lava... the platforms are pretty darned thin. See why it's so tense? Anyway get onto the middle island. Barba will randomly rise up on one of the three holes... if he rises on the far left, ignore him and wait for him to go back down. If he rises up on either side of you, jump up, and get CLOSE (practically kissing the creature, not that anybody would want to, but...) to his head, with the help of Jump, and slash. He will then shoot a laser beam at you (you'd think it would be a fireball). Immediately after hitting him, jump to the island away from him. Then immediately jump again and you'll be cool as ice. Jump back to the middle island and repeat. Hit him eight times and he'll sink for good. ***<<>>*** Before you embark on this journey, from which you will never return, you MUST have: full magic and life, all abilities at 8, all spells, all items, all palaces beaten, and at least ten lives. Don't have ten lives? Hang about the nearby forests and fight Lizardmen. When you're ready, go to southeast Hyrule. Stay east of the bridge, near the graveyard. Notice the path leading down south from it? Don't go there just yet. Instead, step into the swamp and QUICKLY step back onto the path. The wandering monsters will then hit you on the path, resulting in a no fight. Then after leaving, QUICKLY (before more monsters attack) head down through the graveyard into that path, and you'll enter a battle scene. The rest of the trek is a mixture of normal battles on a new kind of terrain, lava field, and also there will be some caves and battle squares. Here's some basic advice: -Try not to cast Shield often, unless you absolutely have to, you need your magic. -In every battle square except the first, (in which you must cross a fence dodging flung rocks and a Moa or two) you'll be in a cave with two orange (in the last one, red) Lizardmen and plenty of Moas. Also some lava pits. In each and every one, start off by casting the Jump spell. It makes hitting blue Moas easier, and it is needed for the final lava pit, and makes the others much easier to make. -You sort of have to kill enemies because they will keep hitting you if you try to run, and you do not, under any circumstances want to get hit while jumping over a lava pit. You might want to run in normal battles, though. -Fighting conditions aren't exactly ideal, because there's plenty of lava pits, and when fighting Lizardmen, you're often in a thin corridor, making hitting them hard indeed. -Now that you can see them, you'd think the blue Moas would be easy. You'd be quite wrong. They hit for pretty good damage and can steal experience, but the real problem is their movement, zipping across the screen at fast speed and changing height, makes attacking them hard. Since fighting normally is pretty much out, your best bet is upthrust or downthrust, depending on their elevation, twice. A few red Moas are also thrown in, and they can be really annoying. -The first cave contains nothing but Moas, but the second - your final challenge - has all colors of Lizardmen and a Scorpion. -Ah yes, the Lizardmen. When fighting them, be aggressive - don't cast Shield, just leap and lash their head as best you can, and keep fighting forward. You'll usually best them. Orange ones won't be too bad. Red ones are pretty much like orange ones. Only difference is they take three hits instead of two, and their axes can't be blocked, but the orange one's spears are very hard to block, so it's not a problem. -In a few battles, you'll encounter the very last, and very hardest, overworld enemy: blue Lizardmen. They are basically red Lizardmen and red Dairas into one. They throw axes, although not as fast as Dairas, but otherwise are the same as their cousins, jump and attack the head. After the second cave, you'll reach a palace. Let's see... what could it be...? Now that you've made it to the Great Palace, the real fun begins! ***<<>>*** No, there's no magic refill here. Sorry. But there is a giant energy field before the elevator going down. Yep, the binding force from the story! However, it won't be a problem, because you've beaten all the other palaces (at least you'd better!) Now, the Great Palace is... WEIRD. For one, all the enemies here are either new outright, or v2.0s of previous enemies. Next, there's no keys, locks, item, or need to gain experience. Second, there's a lot more "puzzles" - some of the rooms can be very tricky. Also, half the palace is a gigantic loop! You'll think you're on a roll, you're going without fail, then you'll either hit a dead end, or end up back where you were before, hopelessly lost. So either meet that rather grisly fate, or follow my directions from start to Thunderbird. OK? Also there are a few shorter dead ends, and to ease your suffering, some fairies, red jar opportunities and a 1- UP. To start off, when you come to a fork, go left. The path to the right is a dead end. It's... A DREADHAWK! This younger cousin of the boss is the toughest enemy group in the game, found only here. Surprise! This one is the most common, a deep red, type 1 red Dreadhawk, which is, while the easiest, very menacing. It gives up awesome experience, but if you can, jump over and run. He can endure like six hits, and attacks by throwing fire. He throws the fire in an arc like the Hammer Brother, only when it hits the ground, it remains and sometimes moves. You can try jumping over the bugger, but you'll probably have an encounter with his fire as he throws it upward, and it may be more economical to simply get in close and cut the hell out of him in the first place. The next room has a high path and a low path. The high path leads to the elevator but has a small false floor just after the first pillar. And on the lower part? A dozen Dreadhawks? No... Bots. Yes, in the Great Palace, BOTS. These aren't normal Bots though. They can endure an amazing two hits, and do pretty good damage, but Bots or Bots, and these guys are easily killed by simply walking up and chopping away. If you don't have full magic, get it by killing the Bots, leaving and coming back. They'll reappear, and every sixth kill you score is worth a blue jar. Anyway go down the elevator. Do you realize we've spent two paragraphs talking about two rooms (or three, maybe)? I think we need to go a little faster. At this fork, go right (the left path dumps you into the loop). Ah, a nice, enemy-free room to catch your breath. But paradise just doesn't last that long. Your next challenge is a red Rope (same as blue, only unblockable fireballs), some orange Skull Heads (same as blue, only take additional hit and do more damage) and another of those darned type 1 red Dreadhawks! And now, there's nada in that Dreadhawk statue. Go down the elevator. Unless you conside ornage Skull Heads hard, this won't be a problem. Just cut through the blocks and keep going. In the next room, you'll meet (gulp) a TYPE 2 red Dreadhawk! This guy, while he pails to the blue kind, is really hard. He can jump and throw knives like nobody's business, gives alarmingly low experience, but only requires two hits to beat. That's two too many. Get by him by running under him and climb the steps. He'll be chasing you, so do this next part very fast. Jump over or kill the Bot, and quickly cut through the top four blocks in the column. Then use downthrust and zip down the right column, and get away from that bird by going down the elevator. STOP!!! In a small, tiny elevator passage? Well, if it wasn't for the fact that the left wall, about 1/3 from the bottom, is fake, I would be nuts, but as it is, go through for a secret area. Yup, that statue contains a red jar... or maybe a type 2 red Dreadhawk. In the latter case, RUN! Come back and do it again. It requires the Jump spell but is worth it, as Jump is very cheap in magic by now, and a red jar will completely heal you. After healing up, continue down two more floors... another fork. Right again (left takes you to the loop). Another type 1 red Dreadhawk will give you a run for your money. Another orange Skull Head room, only this time, there IS a red jar in that statue. We just restored, but why not - just make a running, normal leap up and stab it. Again, be prepared to run if it's... not what you want. Refill, and then into the next room below. Cut through those blocks and defeat the Bots inside with a thrown sword before doing so. When you reach the other side, you'll meet the toughest enemy in the game... the blue Dreadhawk. He's basically a type 2 red one, only all around tougher. However, this particular one can be beaten with a special trick (thanks to Nintendo game Atlas for this lovely cheat!) As you cut through the blocks, leave the FOURTH BLOCK ON THE FAR RIGHT INTACT. Then stand on it, duck and face the blue bird. As he jumps at you, slash. You'll hit him in the head, maybe just use your sword continuously, don't use magic, just sit there, slashing as he jumps up to you... four hits does him in. Whew, I thought we were dead! Onward, through more blocks, and into the next room. Oh no, not a crumbling bridge... complete with a red Rope. Not a problem, just jump and downthrust the reptile as you come near, and dodge his fireballs. Then jump over another hole (the Skull Ball will be a no problem). Roll up the big guns on these next two rooms... The first one contains a giant Skull Ball as your first foe. He can do awesome damage but shouldn't be a problem, just hit him from below with upthrust until he goes down. He gives no experience, though... waa waa. Ahhh!!! A blue Dreadhawk! No blocks here, so instead of fighting, run under him when he jumps as long as you don't freeze in terror, and get the heck out of there! As if that wasn't enough, the next room contains ANOTHER BD. Here, you'll be much more hard-put to escape, but do so anyway - fighting these guys is sheer suicide. Run under him, and up those steps fast... you'll get hit by the giant Skull Ball, sorry. Now get through those blocks, and FAST! Go down the elevator to escape. Yep, another red jar here, same as before. Be ready to run and keep trying with Jump. After your get that lovely vial, go down... STOP!!! Since we just refilled, there's no point in grabbing the fairy to the right, but instead go left. Wait fro the Bots to jump into the lava, or slay them with a thrown sword, and jump over the small pits. In the next room... no, you're seeing things! A practically free 1-UP! Bag it and head back to the elevator and continue down. Going right is a dead end, so go left. Okay, last Dreadhawk! A type 1 red. Beat it like you always would, and then continue left. This is a key room, one that stumps elite gamers time and time again. It has an upper and a lower half, and no enemies but some orange Skull Heads. Most people would say that the upper half is right, after all, it has two ways to get in and out. The lower half appears to be a dead end. Actually, it's the lower half we're in now, and that's the right place to be. If you enter from the left, you'll reach a cut-and dried dead end. If you enter from above, you'll be only able to exit to the left, and that eventually takes you right back where you started. So if you're in the upper half, reset and try again. Anyway, the lower half is a dead end, right? Right? No, quite wrong. Don't those blocks look a bit suspicious to you? Well, downthrust your way through the fifth block from the left... a false floor! ARGH! You're almost to the end! Go right (left's a dead end). A huge Bot will fall! Oh man, what to do? Well, use upthrust and whack it from below. It splits into six normal Bots. Don't bother killing them, just go right. A last, gasping try for a trick. Don't cross the crumbling bridge - dead end again. Enemies are a joke, just a Skull Ball and some Myus. If you don't rush through, you'll notice in the center is a small gap in the lava. Drop through, of course! Now, left is a dead end. Go right to a room with eight pillars and you've made it to Thunderbird. Breathe a sigh of relief... which quickly turns into a grimace of alarm! ***<<>>*** Thunderbird, the... thundering bird, is your first final foe. He looks more like an Indian statue than a bird. He is the toughest boss in the game, much tougher than Link's Shadow coming up. He will drop a continuous stream of fireballs, which are very hard to dodge, and do MEGA damage - more than one container, even with Shield active! Thunderbird himself is harmless, though. Problem is, he's blood-red, and has no head! And the head is the vulnerable point for all the bosses, well, many of them at least. I think it's time for a little change of colors. I'll assume you enter with full or near-full magic and life - if you don't, you'll probably just die. Or, kill yourself and then have max. When he is FULLY ON SCREEN (otherwise the latter won't work) cast 3 spells: Shield, Jump and Thunder. The latter will cause Thunderbird to turn blue, and give him a head, that is, a weakness! He'll hover around the room, dropping fire, more and more after you hit him. Get up to the side of him, make a big leap and slash the guy on his noggin. Then keep dodging the fire and look for opportunities to hit him. Thunderbird will go down after you whack his skull eight times on attack strength 8. THE END? No, it's NOT the end! After killing Thunderbird enter the next room. A dwarfed wizard will cause the triforce to disappear, and the screen turns purple, and Link's Shadow, of all things, jumps out from him, comes to life, and begins fighting you!!! This isn't too hard... Link's Shadow does surprisingly little damage. Kill yourself immediately, then come back on full stats. Cast Shield immediately. Then, when you're down to less than two life containers, cast Life twice, so you actually have 14 life containers. Link's Shadow will move around, stabbing like crazy, high and low. He can jump but cannot use, or can be hurt by, either "thrust" move. Be aggressive, jump, keep trying to attack his head like you would an Ironknuckle or Lizardman, and eventually you'll score a hit. Just keep jumping and striking, jumping and striking. Also if the shadow jumps, note that the instant he lands, stab him - you'll catch him off guard and usually score a hit. Link's Shadow is "dead" after (surprise!) eight solid hits. Congratulations - you have just beaten a classic. Enjoy the ending and the replay option - you've earned it. Once again, PLEASE do not plagiarize, as I hate having to do the dirty work of handling that, but I will if you try. If you see this FAQ/walkthrough anywhere else, please notify me if there is no credit to Clasher. If you want more Zelda, the only other option on the NES is Zelda I, and I found that rather crummy. But I have The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for SNES: It's awesome! And DO enjoy Zelda II as best you can. Best of luck to you. Farewell (End of FAQ)