Miyamoto calls Zelda II “Sort of a failure” in resurfaced interview

Shigeru Miyamoto, the mind behind our childhood favorite video game mascots and heroes like Zelda, Mario, and Donkey Kong, has viewed the history and development of his iconic The Legend of Zelda series a bit differently compared to fans.

In an open discussion from over two decades ago that resurfaced this week, Shigeru Miyamoto called Zelda II: The Adventure of Link “sort of a failure” and dubbed The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past the true sequel to the original game released in 1986.

These words come from a 2003 interview with Sweden’s Super Play magazine, which has garnered newfound attention after being highlighted in Retro Gamer’s special "40 Years of The Legend of Zelda" issue.

In the original interview, Shigeru Miyamoto admitted, “Zelda II was my original idea, but the actual game was developed by another team. The games I make usually get better in the development process, since we keep coming up with good ideas, but Zelda II stayed the same game. It was sort of a failure.”

In the interview, he further added, “We actually see A Link to the Past as the real sequel to The Legend of Zelda. Zelda II was more of a side story about what happened to Link after the events of The Legend of Zelda.” 

Due to Miyamoto's influence on the series, Zelda II has generally not been considered or treated as the main continuation of the series.

For context, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was released for the original NES in 1987. After the breakout success of The Legend of Zelda in 1986, the sequel tried something more experimental.

Zelda II kept the overhead map for navigating and exploring Hyrule, but changed the battle system to side-scrolling combat, alongside some RPG elements like experience points, leveling up, and spells. It was a divisive move that was welcomed by some fans, while other gamers criticized Zelda II for its difficulty spikes and new control scheme.

Zelda II went on to sell millions of copies and was heralded as a commercial success. Despite this, it’s ranked relatively low in fan polls and “best of” lists compared to most other Zelda titles released across the franchise.