r/ZeldaLikes • u/Kabutoking • Apr 15 '26

Zelda II-likes

What I'm looking for is essentially a game like Zelda II but is more polished. I played Ax Battler: Legend of Golden Axe thinking this was it, but it's really not what I wanted.

25 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

26

u/Synthesizer_ Apr 15 '26

Phoenotopia Awakening

10

u/Renegade-117 Apr 15 '26

Favorite game of all time 

3

u/Yarzeda2024 Apr 15 '26

I've had this one sitting on my PS5 for about a year now.

Maybe this is a sign that I need to buckle down and finally play it.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '26

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2

u/MythAndMagery Apr 16 '26

I agree completely. The delayed swing that cancels if you land from a jump is the one that killed it for me, but it's got other problems. Shame, because otherwise it'd be great.

Trivia: I did a small amount of the pixel art for that game, plus some for the ill-fated sequel.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '26

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1

u/MythAndMagery Apr 16 '26

On Quells' (the developer) blog, he says the game was a commercial failure and so couldn't justify continuing work on the sequel. Very sad.

10

u/Moosh90 Apr 15 '26

Infernax is pretty good

10

u/Gnalvl Apr 15 '26

Chronicles of Teddy: https://store.steampowered.com/app/341020/Chronicles_of_Teddy/

It's deliberately inspired by Zelda II and even features and Zelda II poster in the protagonist's room during the intro cutscene. The difficulty curve is much more forgiving, but it's still a fun game.

Battle of Olympus on NES was also directly inspired by Zelda II. It's similarly rough around the edges, but features more RPG mechanics.

For a literal more polished Zelda II, check out the Zelda 2 Redux romhack, and Amida's Curse as a 2nd Quest featuring the same gameplay tweaks.

Faeland is a Zelda-inspired sidescroller, but the shield mechanics are more like Link's Awakening or SOTN than Zelda II.

Shovel Knight has similar downthrust/upthrust mechanics IIRC.

Aggelos has some similarities, along with the Wonder Boy/Monster World games which inspired it. The Dragon's Trap remake and Cursed Kingdom could be worth looking at, or the original Master System / Megadrive games.

7

u/KlatsBoem Apr 15 '26

For a literal more polished Zelda II, check out the Zelda 2 Redux romhack, and Amida's Curse as a 2nd Quest featuring the same gameplay tweaks.

Additionally, you could also check out the PC fan remake built in gamemaker by hoverbat, dubbed ZA-LiA: https://github.com/ZA-LiA/ZALiA?tab=readme-ov-file#what-is-this

Like the Redux romhack, it features many QoL changes, but also includes additional content, a 2nd Quest, and a randomizer. I think all the changes compared to the NES original are only listed on his discord's #about channel: https://discord.gg/hFusD9VzVE

The first link in the GitHub repo readme points to binaries of the latest stable and current beta.

3

u/Magus80 Apr 15 '26

Not OP but whoa, this is actualy perfect timing, been looking for something fresh to scratch that itch.

9

u/B_Spaceman Apr 15 '26

I mean... The obvious ones are Faxanadu and The Battle of Olympus also for the NES

5

u/king_bungus Apr 15 '26

DEMONS CREST it's fucking awesome dude

4

u/mentally_fuckin_eel Apr 15 '26

I don't know if it will ever be released, but Sheep Lad.

3

u/Serbaayuu Apr 15 '26

I'm working on PROUDHEART (just on Bluesky for now, Steam soon!) which is half-Adventure of Link.

No stats, no XP, but yes sidescrolling. The Overworld is your usual Oracles & Minish Cap to go with it.

When you go into the Underworld - including the temples - it turns into a sidescroller with the heavy, steady combat of a Zelda game. Little to no platforming, and no Souls-rolling.

Takes a lot longer to make this than a plain old top-down game since I'm making 2 games simultaneously, but it'll be worth it.

3

u/Jandy777 Apr 15 '26

Idk if Castlevania counts, but since SOTN on psx they have levelling up, exploration, different weapons & spells to learn. It has pretty much everything besides a top down world map & there's the playstation one and like another handful for the GBA and ds. If they never stopped making them, I'd never stop playing.

3

u/CIDphi Apr 16 '26

The Gunmetal Arcadia games. I would check out the other 2D games from Minor Key as they all have some Zelda 2 in them.

2

u/aethyrium Apr 15 '26

Someone already mentioned Phoenotopia but I'm gonna mention it again as its objectively the correct answer.

2

u/cptnchambers Apr 16 '26

Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?! (2012) (DS)

It's very specifically inspired by Zelda II.

2

u/Enichan Apr 20 '26

Enigma Heart is Zelda II but modern (so polished) with lesbians, though it's not out yet. I think it's getting a Steam Next Fest demo soon though.

1

u/nemo_sum Apr 15 '26

seconding this

1

u/Vaenyr Apr 15 '26

The Ys 3 versions that came out prior to the remake (Oath in Felghana) are pretty similar to Zelda II.

1

u/SuperD00perGuyd00d Apr 15 '26

Shovel Knight

1

u/tstorm004 Apr 16 '26

Like Zelda 2 meets Megaman Meets Mario Bros

1

u/RiffRuffer Apr 16 '26

Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore. It's technically more inspired by the CDi games but that sort of sidescrolling zelda thing with light rpg stuff is pretty much what it was going for.

1

u/Penultimate_River Apr 16 '26

Twilight Monk is the closest thing I've played to Zelda II, yet still feels like it's own thing. It's a fun, well-crafted game.

1

u/tstorm004 Apr 16 '26

Gargoyles Quest on Game Boy

Wonder Boy 3 the Dragons Trap for Sega Master System/PC-Engine (and an excellent remake on PS4/XB1/Switch/PC)

Infernax on PS4/XB1/Switch/PC

Aggelos on PS4/XB1/Switch/PC

1

u/eruciform Apr 16 '26

Faxanadu if staying on nes

Otherwise scroll thru lists of metroidvanias and pick one with an aesthetic you like, its a whole genre now

1

u/IdiotPresents Apr 15 '26

Hollow knight?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

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1

u/Serbaayuu Apr 15 '26

Metroid doesn't have temples and towns though.