Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Game: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES / Famicom, 1987)

z2rs: a Rust reconstruction of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, as well as Android and the browser. It isn’t a standalone reimplementation yet: it runs your ROM in its own 6502 interpreter and, whenever the game calls a routine that already has a Rust version, runs that instead. To check the work, the original game runs in a reference emulator next to z2rs, and the two must match frame by frame in memory, sprites, palette, and picture. Graphics, maps, text, and music are read from your ROM as you play; the repository only holds addresses and sizes, relies on the community disassembly of the game, released under CC0, and its PROVENANCE.md file explains where every file comes from. It adds widescreen with real scenery in the margins (16:10, 16:9, and 21:9), player-painted HD graphics packs at 2x to 8x, two-player co-op with a second Link on one machine or online, save states, fast-forward, controller support, a randomizer that builds a new game from your ROM, and optional enhancements, many inspired by HoverBat’s ZALiA remake. Everything is set up from a launcher. It was released on September 18, and version 0.6.0 (October 22) added optional new areas, among them an island with a town of monsters and an eighth palace, HD animations for enemies and townspeople, and camera zoom.

You needYour own ROM of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, the US NES release (the No-Intro dump: without the iNES header, CRC32 BA322865 and SHA-1 11333adb723a5975e0ecca3aee8f4747aa8d2d26); it’s the only one accepted. Plus x64 Windows, macOS (Apple silicon or Intel), or x86-64 Linux.

How it gets to PC

Game-specific engine

Console

Nintendo Entertainment System / Famicom

Original studio

Nintendo

Year

1988

Author

troyedwardsjr

Stars

201

Last activity

2026-10-22 · 10 days ago

Latest version

v0.6.0 · 2026-10-22

License

MIT

Language

Rust