Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Cheat Codes & Secrets
Complete collection of cheat codes, passwords, unlockables, and hidden secrets for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987).
Save System and Continue Mechanics
Unlike most NES games of its era, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link does not use a password system. The NES cartridge contains battery-backed SRAM storing up to three independent save files. Each file tracks your level progression, obtained spells, placed palace crystals, and permanent container upgrades.
Understanding what persists across death is essential to playing efficiently:
- Kept on Game Over: All six magic spells obtained, crystals placed in completed palaces, Attack/Magic/Life container count
- Lost on Game Over: All experience points accumulated since the last save point
When your three lives are exhausted, the Game Over screen appears. Pressing Start returns Link to North Palace with three fresh lives but all permanent progress intact. Veteran players deliberately exploit this reset — if you get into serious trouble with low experience, dying and restarting at North Palace loses nothing permanent and lets you grind again from a stable position.
Zelda II only saves when you complete a palace or use the save option from the Game Over screen. There is no in-game save during normal play, so plan long sessions carefully before tackling the later palaces. The Famicom Disk System (FDS) version in Japan shares this mechanic, as both versions were designed around the battery save rather than a code entry system.
Game Genie Codes (NES)
The Game Genie peripheral for NES allowed players to enter codes that modified game behavior in real time. These codes work specifically with the North American NES cartridge release.
| Code | Effect | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| SZKXVZVK | Infinite lives — counter never decreases | NES |
| ATNXOZ | Start new game with 9 lives | NES |
| YTKXSZAL | Take reduced damage from all enemies | NES |
| GZUXNGEI | Retain experience points after Game Over | NES |
| SZUXVGVK | Magic meter depletes much more slowly | NES |
| LAXZZZ | Keep accumulated experience after death | NES |
| AATOZE | Begin with maximum life containers | NES |
| GXNXTGEI | Extended magic meter capacity from start | NES |
The GZUXNGEI retain-experience code is arguably the single most impactful code in the game. Zelda II’s experience system requires grinding enemy kills to level up Attack, Magic, and Life stats to their maximum of 8 each. A Game Over normally wipes all accumulated experience since the last save, creating devastating setbacks in the late game when a single tough encounter run can represent 30+ minutes of grinding. This code eliminates that frustration entirely.
The SZKXVZVK infinite lives code pairs well with aggressive exploration. Since losing lives no longer results in any permanent consequence beyond returning to North Palace, players can experiment freely with the game’s demanding combat without anxiety. This is particularly useful when learning the movement patterns of Iron Knuckle enemies, which require precision timing to engage safely.
The YTKXSZAL damage reduction code was discovered to stack with the in-game SHIELD spell in some versions, creating a nearly invincible Link. While not officially confirmed as intentional, the combination makes the Great Palace’s gauntlet of late-game enemies significantly more manageable for players who want to experience the endgame without extensive grinding.
Combat Techniques — Undocumented Moves
Zelda II’s manual documented the basic sword attack but left several advanced techniques completely undiscovered until players experimented and Nintendo Power began covering them in 1988. These inputs function as “secret codes” in their practical impact — without knowing them, the second half of the game is essentially unwinnable.
| Technique | Input | Effect | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downward Thrust | Press A to jump, then hold Down + B while airborne | Powerful overhead stab | NES / FDS / GBA |
| Upward Thrust | Hold Up + press B while standing | Upward stab hitting enemies above | NES / FDS / GBA |
| Shield Crouch | Hold Down while stationary | Reduces hitbox, blocks low attacks with shield | NES / FDS / GBA |
| Running Attack | Move + press B at end of sprint | Slightly extended horizontal reach | NES / FDS / GBA |
The Downward Thrust is the most critical undocumented mechanic in the entire game. Iron Knuckle enemies — the primary combat challenge in Palaces 4 through 7 — raise their shields against horizontal attacks. A straight B-button swing against a shielded Iron Knuckle does nothing. The downward thrust bypasses this completely by attacking from directly above, hitting before the shield animation can register. Players who didn’t know this technique found themselves literally unable to progress past the middle section of the game, and the code spread through playground conversation and gaming magazines throughout 1988 and 1989. The discovery of the downward thrust was treated with the same reverence as finding a cheat code precisely because of how much of the game it unlocked.
The Upward Thrust is especially effective against Wizzrobes, the floating spellcasting enemies that materialize briefly before firing. Catching them during their materialization window while positioned below is much safer than trying to chase them horizontally.
Spell Locations and Unlock Sequence
The eight magic spells are not cheats in the traditional sense, but their locations were hidden well enough that finding them without guidance felt like discovering secret codes. Most are learned from specific townspeople who only teach them after Link meets certain prerequisites.
| Spell | Town | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| SHIELD | Rauru | Halves all damage received | Learn before any palace run |
| JUMP | Ruto | Greatly increases jump height | Required to reach Palace 3 |
| LIFE | Saria | Restores full health when cast | Most powerful survival tool |
| FAIRY | Mido | Transforms Link into a fairy | Used as glitch tool by experts |
| FIRE | Nabooru | Sword shoots fireballs at full magic | Requires REFLECT first |
| REFLECT | Darunia | Shield deflects magic projectiles | Essential for later bosses |
| SPELL | Kasuto | Breaks certain enemy immunities | Needed for hidden enemies |
| THUNDER | New Kasuto (hidden) | Screen-wide attack; destroys Ganon’s shadow | Final spell, mandatory for ending |
The LIFE spell functions as a mid-combat panic button. When cast, it restores Link’s health bar to full regardless of current damage. Magic jars scattered in palaces and dungeons refill the magic meter, which means a player who knows where to find them can effectively carry multiple “healing potions” into any encounter. Experienced players deliberately farm magic jars before difficult boss rooms.
The THUNDER spell reveals Zelda II’s lore loop: the game’s opening scroll explicitly names Ganon and states his followers want Link’s blood to resurrect him. THUNDER is described as the only magic that destroys Ganon’s shadow — the final obstacle in the Great Palace. Players who read the intro carefully understood the entire game’s arc from the first screen.
Hidden 1-Up Dolls
Scattered across the overworld map are invisible 1-Up dolls embedded in specific terrain tiles. Walking over the correct tile causes an 8-bit Link doll to appear and grant an extra life. These were completely undocumented at launch and became some of the most valuable secrets shared through Nintendo Power and gaming communities.
| Location | How to Find |
|---|---|
| East Hyrule beach, south of King’s Tomb | Walk the southern beach tiles along the coast |
| Maze Island outer path | Specific tile on the island’s western perimeter loop |
| Death Mountain, lower cave path | Walk along the floor of the cave near the entrance |
| East Hyrule, tile east of the bridge | Approach from the south side of the tile |
The Death Mountain 1-Up is particularly famous because Death Mountain is the game’s first major navigation challenge — a maze-like area that confused nearly every first-time player. Finding an extra life embedded in the cave floor became a reward for the players dedicated enough to explore thoroughly rather than rush through. Its position in what felt like the hardest early section of the game made it feel especially meaningful.
Glitches and Exploits
The Fairy Clip
The FAIRY spell shrinks Link into a small fairy form with a reduced collision hitbox. The game’s side-scrolling sections were not designed to handle this size difference carefully near wall edges. Entering fairy form while simultaneously pressing against specific wall types causes Link’s position pointer to skip past the collision boundary, placing him on the other side of solid terrain.
The most practical application skips the overworld HAMMER requirement. Normally, the hammer obtained in Death Mountain is mandatory for breaking certain boulder formations that block the path to eastern Hyrule. A precise fairy clip at the boulder’s edge bypasses the collision check and places Link past the blockade without the item. This remains one of the most discussed sequence breaks in early NES history.
Jump Spell Height Clipping
The JUMP spell increases jump height significantly beyond what the game’s vertical geometry expects. Near the tops of certain side-scrolling screens, jumping at maximum height while touching the wall causes Link to clip into the screen above or into areas behind ceiling collision. This was used by players in the Death Mountain section to skip portions of the maze by ascending through the ceiling into adjacent room data.
Iron Knuckle SPELL Interaction
When the SPELL magic is cast immediately before making contact with a red Iron Knuckle, there is a brief window where their shield behavior desynchronizes from their body. During this window, normal horizontal sword attacks register as hits instead of being blocked. This removes the requirement for precise downward thrust timing against the most dangerous standard enemy in the game, and high-level players use it to reduce the margin of error in late palace rooms.
Enemy Encounter Column Manipulation
Overworld enemy encounters on Zelda II’s map are seeded partly by Link’s horizontal column position when entering a terrain region. By adjusting which map column you cross into a region from, you can influence which enemy type spawns in the resulting battle screen. Early in the game, some enemy types yield higher experience than others for the same difficulty level. Players who discovered this could farm experience more efficiently by always entering grinding areas from the optimal column.
FDS Experience Counter Overflow
In the Japanese Famicom Disk System release, the experience counter for each stat uses a fixed-width register. Accumulating experience past a specific threshold without spending it on a level-up causes the counter to overflow and return to zero. This is a bug that punishes players who grind heavily without leveling up, but knowing the threshold (approximately 9999 accumulated XP toward a stat) lets you avoid accidentally triggering it by leveling up slightly before reaching the limit.
Easter Eggs and Developer Secrets
Error and Bagu — The Programming Joke
In the town of Ruto (called Saria in Western releases), a man named simply “Error” gives Link a hint about a man in the woods. In the forest east of Mido, that man is named “Bagu” — a phonetic approximation of the Japanese pronunciation of “Bug.” Error and Bug: two fundamental terms from computer programming, embedded as character names in a direct narrative chain where one sends you to find the other. Bagu gives you the bridge pass needed to reach eastern Hyrule, making both characters mandatory for game completion. The joke was intentional and placed by Shigeru Miyamoto’s team as a nod to the programming process. When Nintendo Power highlighted this in a 1988 feature, it became one of the most famous Easter eggs in gaming history.
The Hyrulian Alphabet Cipher
Several stone tablets and in-game text objects use a substitution cipher mapping to Roman alphabet characters. Players who photographed their television screens and cross-referenced symbol patterns were able to decode hidden messages in text that didn’t fully display through normal dialogue. Pre-internet, this required physical note-taking across play sessions. The decoded text included directional hints for hidden items and references to lore elements not explained in the main script — a deliberate design choice to reward the most dedicated players.
Ganon’s Arc in the Opening Scroll
Zelda II is one of the earliest Zelda games to name Ganon directly in its opening text. The intro scroll states that Ganon’s followers seek to sprinkle Link’s blood on Ganon’s ashes to resurrect him. The THUNDER spell’s description directly references destroying Ganon’s shadow in the Great Palace. Players who read carefully realized the entire game’s purpose — from the first screen to the final boss encounter — was telegraphed in the opening thirty seconds. This layered storytelling across item descriptions and intro text was sophisticated for 1987 NES design.
Speedrunning and Optimal Play
Zelda II has an active speedrunning community with several established categories. The Any% (No Major Glitches) category focuses on optimal palace routing and combat efficiency, with top runs under 50 minutes. Any% Glitched incorporates fairy clips and jump ceiling skips, cutting additional time through Death Mountain and the later overworld sections.
Key routing principles that apply even to casual optimal play:
- Collect the SHIELD spell in Rauru before entering Palace 1 — the damage reduction applies immediately and saves health across the entire run
- The LIFE spell in Saria is worth a significant detour before Palace 3 because it effectively gives multiple free heals throughout the second half of the game
- All four 1-Up doll locations are memorized by serious players and collected during early routing to maintain life count through grinding phases
- Blue Iron Knuckles (later palaces) respawn on re-entry and cannot be permanently cleared — pass through them efficiently rather than attempting to fight
The downward thrust and its application against Iron Knuckles remains the single most important piece of “hidden” knowledge in the game. Every efficient approach to Zelda II’s combat — whether casual or competitive — flows from knowing this technique.