Zelda II: The Adventure of Link/YMMV


 * Breather Boss: Barba has such predictable and easily avoidable attacks that you'll be more worried about falling than getting hit.
 * Assuming to know how to kill him, Carock is another, and if you have enough magic for the Shield spell, he goes form pretty easy to a complete joke.
 * Demonic Spiders:
 * The Red Dairas are the prime example of this trope. They are found in Death Mountain on your way to get the hammer. You'll likely have only one heart upgrade and their throwing axes deal a lot of damage, even with the Shield spell up. Oh, you can't deflect their projectiles either because you get that spell after you get the raft. Yay!
 * The Fokkas (bird knights) in the Great Palace. They do huge amounts of damage to Link (1 1/2 bars of his life meter) even at full life power, have the movable shield and shooting sword of the Iron Knuckles, and they love to take flying leaps that will invariably send them smashing right into Link. They're also quite durable. And if you beat them, for some reason the experience points gained is downright paltry (70 for a red one, 100 for a blue, contrast 150 for a blue Iron Knuckle, 200 for a blue Lizalfos)
 * Ironknuckles, particularly the blue ones. The orange and red ones aren't so bad once you get used to them and get better attack power, but the blue ones never cease to be a pain. Not only do they fire Sword Beams at an alarming rate, but they back away from you as they're doing it, making it difficult to land hits! The mounted ones you face as the boss of the third palace and as mini-bosses in the sixth are especially infuriating as they'll retreat Behind the Black, leaving you to wait for them to show themselves!
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: HE IS ERROR
 * Dark Link is also surprisingly popular. Some even consider him a character in his own right and give him a personality in fanworks.
 * Fridge Horror: Dark Link/Link's Shadow is part of Link as his dark side who wants to kill him. Ganon's minions are trying to resurrect him by pouring Link's blood on his ashes. Therefore SOME part of Link wants to revive Ganon.
 * Goddamned Bats: The two different animated head statues, Ra and Mau. (Ras are the dragon-shaped ones, Maus are the panthers). Both spawn infinitely and drain experience when touching Link. Ras double as Ledge Bats, Maus basically Zerg Rush Link.
 * Good Bad Bugs: Hold left and right on the D-pad (normally impossible unless you have a broken D-pad or are using a keyboard), and release. This will usually cause Link to slide off at high speed in one direction.
 * Memetic Mutation: "I AM ERROR"
 * "IF ALL ELSE FAILS USE FIRE."
 * Mis Blamed: Zelda II's hatedom didn't form until well after the game had been released and all of the (non-3D) sequels retained the top down perspective. Back in the old days, Nintendo of America felt that Mission Pack Sequels wouldn't sell in America, and so sequels were often very different from the original. See also: Super Mario Bros 2.
 * Even The Angry Video Game Nerd has said he doesn't understand why it gets so much hate, after he received requests from viewers asking him to bash it.
 * Shipping: One of the biggest arguments for Link/Zelda is the kiss at the end of this game.
 * Older Than They Think: A lot of fans who discovered the series with Ocarina of Time are surprised to learn that this game was the first appearance of Dark Link.
 * It's also the first appearance of many names from said game, though continuity wise the towns are named after them.
 * This game is also the first to feature an "adult" version of Link. He is canonically sixteen.
 * That's adult? Where I'm from, he'd still be a minor since the legal age of adulthood is 18.
 * "Adult" as in "not Young Link." All depictions of Link which don't feature him as a kid are technically adult versions of the character.
 * Paranoia Fuel: The man in Saria who proclaims, "EYES OF GANON ARE EVERYWHERE, BE CAREFUL." Its supposed to be a hint that some villagers will turn into enemies if spoken to, but new players likely won't understand until they uncover a spy on their own.
 * That One Level: The Great Palace. If you actually even made it to this dungeon, then this palace will undoubtedly make you rage because of how complex and confusing it was.
 * There's a particularly devious trick needed to find the bosses of the Great Palace. A section of the place has floor covered in a single layer of breakable blocks. There's a hidden warp pit one block long under one of them. Link can walk right across a pit that size without falling down it, which means the player might walk right over it and never notice.
 * That One Boss: Thunderbird. Arguably Dark Link, too.
 * And if you're not careful, Gooma.
 * And Rebonack. Blue Ironknuckles are a pain to begin with, but Rebonack has the habit of backing out of the screen where Link can't stab him.
 * They Changed It, Now It Sucks: The seething hate from many still hasn't died.