My Zelda II save game from 1989 still works!

[Gentlegamer]

So recently there was a sensation in the Zelda fan community over the revelation of the official Zelda timeline. Reading over the timeline and the reaction to it got me nostalgic, so I got out my copies of Zelda I and II to mess with on my NES.

The copy of Zelda I was from a friend abandoning it in my possession long ago. It still has my save game from a couple years ago when I put a new 72 pin connector in my NES. It's the original battery.

But even more delightful is the save file on my copy of Zelda II. I got Zelda II in January 1989. Over the next several months, I battled through that fairly tough game, helped by hints in Nintendo Power or friends who were also playing. I finished the game in fall 1989. I fairly sure I never really played it again, having moved on to other games, or even put it in my NES.

Well, that save game still lives, 20 years later! I put my Zelda II cart in and lo! there is my game with level 8 in everything and a little Triforce under my name! Simply amazing! So now I have a good reason to replay it without having to grind my levels. Should be much easier than I remember it! I just hope that battery can hold out for one more play through!

I thought I'd share this little delight with you all. Have any of you experienced something similar?

[NE146]

Grinding levels is relatively easy if you remember to max out the "gems placement" at the end of each stage (i.e. don't waste them).

You should be at least attack level 6 at the end of the first dungeon. And you should use the 2nd dungeon gem to max out your attack to 8.

[Gentlegamer]

I don't have to gain any levels because my save game lets me start with all the levels I had before (8/8/8) as well as the upper thrust and down thrust techniques.

[DDCecil]

Off topic kind of, but I have a copy of Link with some strange stats that were on the game when I bought it, I haven't deleted it yet, and don't think I ever will. The spell costs are all over the place! Not sure if the original owner used a game genie or if something glitched.

[NE146]

I don't have to gain any levels because my save game lets me start with all the levels I had before (8/8/8) as well as the upper thrust and down thrust techniques.

lol.. I think you're right. It's just been so long, and in the times that I HAVE replayed through Zelda 2 it's been from scratch.

Wow.. Did not know that (as of late)

[skaar]

Lol Goku Jr.

Yay Zelda II!

[Baloo]

I've had my save file go bust twice, once it just straight up disappeared as I got to the 4th palace, the second time it glitched out and gave me a couple weird spells...right as I crossed the continent.

Needless to say, I wanted to pull my hair out, and I think after that I've only gotten past the 1st palace now.

[Sunnyvale]

I had a weird glitch on Ultima IV as a kid. I never deleted it tho, cause I had letters in the gold column. Spend and spend, never ran dry. I wonder who has that cart nowadays, and if it still has that file...

[Sabz5150]

My copy of Starflight (Genesis) still holds its save game from when I was sixteen, which is awesome since it is an open-ended game. Same crew, ship, modifications and of course my majority stake in pretty much everything. I also destroyed the Brain world and haven an extra Black Egg remaining. Sweet!

[thegamezmaster]

The save files are still on both zelda's and got them when they were release too. Wow.

[rbudrick]

Grinding levels is relatively easy if you remember to max out the "gems placement" at the end of each stage (i.e. don't waste them).

You should be at least attack level 6 at the end of the first dungeon. And you should use the 2nd dungeon gem to max out your attack to 8.

Can you please explain this? It sounds very interesting. I've never heard of this./

-Rob

[NE146]

Can you please explain this? It sounds very interesting. I've never heard of this./

-Rob

At the end of the dungeon, when you put the crystal in the statue it fills your experience meter to the next level needed. If you have 580 exp points and the next level is 600 points, then that is a waste of a good opportunity. It's far better to put the crystal in when you have little exp, and the next level is high.. e.g. 5000-7000 points.. i.e use it to get a shitload of exp at once. I don't know if that makes any sense.

What's key to know is you don't HAVE to put the crystal in at the end. You can jump right over the middle section of the statue, and leave the dungeon. That way the dungeon doesn't turn into a "rock" and you can re-enter and grind out levels.

So in the 1st dungeon which is relatively short, using the method above (not putting the crystal in) this allows you to grind a little and level up your attack. Once you get all the side rooms, you can just repeatedly make a straight beeline through the 1st dungeon over and over again, never putting in the crystal. If you ignore your magic & health.. keeping them at level 2 max (and using the fairy next to the elevator to heal each pass through) you can quickly get the attack level to at least level 5. Then you can put in the crystal to get it to level 6. That's all.

(..course you can grind it to level 6 and put in the crystal to get it to level 7, but I find that takes a little longer than I like to keep going through the 1st dungeon. )

[Oobgarm]

Wow, that's really cool. I never thought of that.

Looks like I know how I'll be leveling when I play through it again.

[thebeyond105]

those little batteries in the game have a long shelf life I guess. I still have my saves from a few old games also.

[Genesaturn]

It always brings a smile to my face when a game around 20 years old (take or give) can still save games. I just recently picked up a complete copy of Shining Force and was super excited that I can save my data!

[Edmond Dantes]

For me, games retaining their save data 10-20 years later is not unusual. I've only had two games in my possession go defunct--one was Sonic 3, which I somehow broke thru abusing the debug cheat. The other was Ultima: Runes of Virtue, which had a dead battery when I got it (I might try my hand at replacing it).

For some reason, all my NES games still have working batteries, and to my knowledge I've never had to replace any.

[Genesaturn]

For some reason, all my NES games still have working batteries, and to my knowledge I've never had to replace any.

Jealous. Both my copies of the original zelda won't hold a save anymore

[XYXZYZ]

Both of my original Zelda I & II cartridges still hold their saves. Actually, the only battery cart I own that won't hold a save anymore is Super Mario World. The battery in the Zelda I cart is 25 years old...

[Bloodreign]

Both of my original Zelda I & II cartridges still hold their saves. Actually, the only battery cart I own that won't hold a save anymore is Super Mario World. The battery in the Zelda I cart is 25 years old...

I'm in the same boat, my Zelda saves work fine still, but my SMW battery went belly up a few years ago. Perhaps the battery in SMW wasn't of the same quality as the Zelda titles.

[Genesaturn]

Probably a stupid question, but are the cartridge batteries replaceable? I've never tried before.