I’ve heard that Zelda II is actually pretty good, just a departure from the norm.
Zelda II is GREAT! It’s one of my favorite Zelda titles. People don’t like it because it’s HARD. Really hard. And there’s a lives system and when your lives are up you gotta start from the beginning point. and work your way back to where you were (keeping all items and such).
That actually probably sounds like more of a pain that it really is though.
The combat is incredibly fun! Nothing on the NES can touch that.
It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t deserve the flack that it gets. In fact it set in place many of the things the series is known for.
Also, Zelda II has the best music in the series. It’s only a bout 4 tunes, so it can’t compete with soundtracks like OOT or SS, but the themes beat all the other games in my opinion. Youtube the ‘palace theme’. It’s too good!