With Tears of the Kingdom released soon, some people have been speculating, based on leaks, that it and Breath of the Wild actually take place on the “downfall” timeline of Hyrule, the very first games to follow chronologically from the two NES Zelda games.
It’s a good time to revisit one of the weirder, and unexpectedly well-made, fangames out there, a FPS re-envisioning of Zelda II. This was originally release to the internet in 2010, but it turns out its creator Mike Johnston updated it back in 2019, to include some of the initial overworld areas of the original game. He included a couple of shops too, which are not in the NES Zelda II game, so the player can get a few aids to make the game easier. Have a look at some of these screenshots:
Sadly Johnston is a bit dismayed by Nintendo’s absurdly litigious defense of its oh-so-sacred properties, even if they are pushing 40 years old now, and has no plans to continue working on his project. I can’t blame him, and am glad for what he’s given us. Thanks Mike!
Zelda II FPS (browser playable, $0, requires Unity)
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This looks pretty darn interesting, and I DO so love me some Zelda II!
I’ll put this next to that VR remake of Zelda 1 that someone made that I’ll have to try at some point in the near future!
It’s a shame that it’s basically just the first dungeon and the game running up to it. You can see other continents, that you can’t get to, that are indicative of its creator’s former ambitions. There’s even that darn boulder blocking the road to the southern portion of the first continent, which you can see past but can’t break.