Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Zelda 2 released on Famicom Disk System in January 1987, almost two years before making it to the American market in December 1988 (and even before The Legend of Zelda 1 arrived state-side in August 1987). The Japanese was rushed before development was completed; because of that there are some notable differences between the Japanese and English releases. The most obvious changes are loading screens, due to the JP floppy disks and additional sound coming from FDS expansion audio. There are also many changes that make the JP speedrun a little different from NA for runners of both versions.
JP has a simpler level system that allows Link to reach high attack levels even faster. This benefit evens out with NA in the long run because in NA we can cancel levels to get bigger benefits from placing palace gems. The overworld encounters look different, and they have slightly smaller hitboxes making them easier to dodge and harder to intentionally intercept. The last I'll mention is that items must be picked up by stabbing them. The short cutscene holding up items isn't there, so there's no need to cancel them by casting Fairy -- in fact, we cannot pick them up as a fairy.
Zelda 2 released on Famicom Disk System in January 1987, almost two years before making it to the American market in December 1988 (and even before The Legend of Zelda 1 arrived state-side in August 1987). The Japanese was rushed before development was completed; because of that there are some notable differences between the Japanese and English releases. The most obvious changes are loading screens, due to the JP floppy disks and additional sound coming from FDS expansion audio. There are also many changes that make the JP speedrun a little different from NA for runners of both versions.
JP has a simpler level system that allows Link to reach high attack levels even faster. This benefit evens out with NA in the long run because in NA we can cancel levels to get bigger benefits from placing palace gems. The overworld encounters look different, and they have slightly smaller hitboxes making them easier to dodge and harder to intentionally intercept. The last I'll mention is that items must be picked up by stabbing them. The short cutscene holding up items isn't there, so there's no need to cancel them by casting Fairy -- in fact, we cannot pick them up as a fairy.
![[SPOILERS] Z2R BuzzLeague Week 3 ASYNC](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tSFBVEB1Zw0/mqdefault.jpg "[SPOILERS] Z2R BuzzLeague Week 3 ASYNC
[SPOILERS] Z2R BuzzLeague Week 3 ASYNC")
