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First things first. the_icepenguin is a very good ROM hacker who has made multiple Zelda 2 hacks and his work has been and usually is very good. BUT, this being his first hack has its many flaws. Where do I begin XD?

First things first. What the difficulty patches should really mean are listed below.

Easy Mode = 0 game over playthroughs are not possible, and backtracking multiplied by 50. Medium Mode = Old version of 0 games over playthroughs are not possible. Hard Mode = You better savestate on every enemy encounter, and expect a 30 hour+ playthrough if you don't savestate because of the backtracking you will face every time you game over.

Now, I am the type of gamer that loves hard difficulty and challenges. I absolutely despise using savestates; and hacks that require/encourage using and abusing savestates are not the best in my opinion. For me, I make sure that 0 death playthroughs are possible especially on the hardest modes of my hacks. In this hack, that is never going to happen. Regardless this is how it went for me. When patching I naturally picked the hard patch for this hack with the goal of getting a 0 game over save file and with my magic at Lv1... If you are wondering why I wanted to beat it with magic Lv1, the reason is that in the included Readme file it says this.

"I added a fun secret to ONLY this version but I'm not going to say what! You will like it though, once you see it. Alright, I'll tell you... There is a surprise near the end of the game. But only if you get there with your magic stat at level 1..."

So, because that was so tempting, I attempted it... HAHAHA! Boy, was that a mistake! From the moment I started playing, I had to avoid absolutely all enemy encounters. All enemies will murder you in seconds if you aren't careful. I had to grind to the Lv3 sword the moment I got the shield spell, and grinding early on is horrendously slow. The only safe enemy to grind at that point is the blue bot enemies, and they only drop 2 EXP points. You start with 6 lives instead of 3 like the original, but even with 6 lives, it is not enough.

I honestly think that the_icepenguin did not playtest his levels without using savestates himself, haha XD. Expect nearly every area to have a long parkour session with pixel-perfect jumps, while you dodge bubbles, rocks, flying skeleton fish, and avoid pitfalls that will unforgivingly steal all 6 of your lives before you eventually game over and have to trek through all the trials again... and again... and AGAIN. And even with all that, there are invisible pitfalls, that look like solid normal ground. These are everywhere starting as early as the 2nd palace! And Death Mountain... Death Mountain was hell on earth. Parkour rooms everywhere and having to suicide to use the jump spell again and again. I barely got the handy glove at the end of it all. As of now, I have attempted to beat this hack in hard mode and without savestates over and over since 2017. But after 3 years, I finally gave up on it.

I started playing easy mode after dying over and over in the 2nd palace's falling rocks/breaking floor rooms in the hard mode. The backtracking got to me and in the end, wasn't worth it. I gave into using savestates... Newsflash, it is barely easier than the hard mode.

To sum up the whole hack, this is how it goes. Once you know your goal, you attempt the goal. On the first attempt, you start to see your first glimpse at a thing called "artificial difficulty". Artificial difficulty is based entirely on unfairness, enemy count, and enemy position. Skill? What skill?! No matter the skill of the player, you will inevitably die. You'll game over and get sent back to the starting palace. You MUST backtrack. That same attempt happens 100+ more times until you get SUPER LUCKY and escape all the enemy placements blocking all your attempts. Once you finish the goal you face, you feel great! You finally got that 1 single key that was guarded by the worst parkour ever. Then... the same story happens again, but under even worse circumstances and even more artificial difficulty.

I have the death mountain area of this hack, BURNED into my brain forever. I am surprised I haven't gotten a seizure after seeing the dying animation so many times. I am easily able to beat the original Zelda 2 without getting a single game over, but in this hack it is impossible. What? You say you think you can beat it without dying? Do you think you are good at Zelda 2? Hah! This hack will throw your skill all down the gutter along with your pride. Skill doesn't matter in this hack, it is entirely based on luck and savestates. Believe me, I really wanted to give this hack a "Yes" recommendation, I waited three years to review it for a reason. I thought maybe if I played longer, it would get better... I was proven wrong. There is one pro to the cons though. There's so much creativity with the item progression. I think that is the highlight of the hack. But I can't recommend playing this unless you really are a true extremist that is begging for hell on earth. I am still going to attempt to beat this hack in easy mode. I personally don't even like leaving reviews until I beat a hack, but it's been three years of me on and off attempting this hack. Even if I beat it in easy mode now, I'll never feel satisfied knowing that there is a harder mode to beat and a secret to be found by playing with Lv1 magic stats. Play at your own risk.

Note to ice_penguin. Please come back and make this hack more enjoyable! Or at least allow infinite lives. That way it is still challenging and the game will have an excuse to go over the top. If the original game was this hack, people would've burned their cartridges over the artificial difficulty, XD!

I've always been a Zelda II fan, I always found the game very under-rated and under-appreciated, I was & am still pretty good where I can could zero death run the orginal. But this game, this hack... No

I enjoyed the_icepenguins hacks in the past, Loved Shadow of Night & Journey of a Day, but this one, just No. Not gonna say that I just made it to the first town and quit, I went through more than half of the game of barely surviving just to get from place to place, and making it half way across the map to die and had to start up again from the beginning made me call it quits The layout, some dungeons i've seen and overworld map are great, but the enemies you fight just kill you in 3 hits or even less if you don't have experience up-graded was too much. Always having to save magic to regain life, having to use magic to jump up certain ledges to make tedious jumps from ledge to ledge or you'll fall into a pit and die just made the game not fun at all!

I can see how some people love the challenge, I love a good Zelda II challenge as well, but this hack is just not for me. Maybe if there was an easy version i'd give it another shot, but for now, just not for me.

5/10

Just to be clear, I'm a huge Zelda 2 fan. I love the game and beat it countless times. I was very excited when I saw this hack 'Zelda II Part 2'.

When playing I kept wondering why the author of this hack had to make things so difficult and unfair. Why bother working so hard on something only to make it so difficult and cryptic that most people trying it won't even see more than 5% of it is beyond my understanding.

The_IcePenguin, you're a great hacker but you should really try to balance the difficulty properly...

Still, I would recommend it to the most hardcore Zelda II players because it is still fun to play and pretty addictive despite the crushing difficulty.

Yeah!! So excited!! Fully completed the_icepenguin's Zelda II: Part 2 (Hard Patch/No Save State)!! The very last video for my YouTube channel, the missing puzzle piece, the holy grail! The Great Palace sure was tough!!

Although I finished Journey of a Day and Part 3 before finally wrapping up Part 2, I still remember it well.

Where to begin for the review? Hmm.

I've always loved Zelda II, but found the original game too easy. I was new to ROM hacks when I first came to RHDN and couldn't believe my eyes when I stumbled across icepenguin's Zelda II: Part 2. It was precisely what I was hoping for!

Indeed, the hack itself is spectacularly difficult and I loved every minute of it. Not for the faint of heart, this quest delivers on so many levels.

I was so happy that it was an all new layout: overworld, palaces, everything. Once the battles begin, you can't help but drop your jaw (being used to the original game)! You start with six lives, that gives you an idea of the challenges you will face! I often wondered how icepenguin came up with the new overworld and all his puzzles, he seems to know the mechanics of the game pretty well. But, no matter how difficult things get, I assure you that you always have more than enough lives to see things through.

I always told myself that it is so much more rewarding when you have to fight for victory and I became addicted to the challenge of continuing the storyline. A hero must save Hyrule!!

I'll try to wrap this up and leave some helpful highlights of icepenguin's first Zelda II hack:

• It stays true to the original graphics/sounds
• Brand new layouts across the board
• Six starting lives and difficult puzzles everywhere
• Relatively easy to grind out your levels
• Up/Down stabs disabled in the Hard Patch (cool!)

Again, the level of difficulty may not be for everyone, but if you don't mind a challenge, try out the Hard Patch and give it some time. If this kind of challenge appeals to you, you certainly will not be disappointed.

Part 2 and Part 3 are by far my favourite hacks by the_icepenguin, I had so much fun. Thank you for the great adventures!!