Just the Tip: Zelda II - Combat for Beginners

[@cookinsdabest]

lol I wonder why the mirror was under the table...

[@mikematei]

[@Peter_1986]

That part of the game was really random; some girl is just like "omg I lost my mirror, find it plz", and then you are just supposed to know that you have to crouch and push B by the table in the empty house. I guess that house was meant to look "mysterious" or something.

[@ahabduennschitz7670]

​@@Peter_1986I am Error

[@holdingpattern245]

@@ahabduennschitz7670 Error helps you later, he tells you how to reach the King's Tomb Palace (also called Island Palace)

[@FusionDeveloper]

Pee Wee Herman put the mirror under the table.

[@Peter_1986]

Mike Matei comes to the rescue again. Great series concept, by the way.

[@mikematei]

thanks. You a Zelda II fan?

[@Peter_1986]

@@mikematei Yeah, I am. I enjoy the platformer/action-RPG hybrid that this game was experimenting with.

[@xyanide1986]

@@mikematei I'm gonna try beat it on the game n watch zelda edition some day

[@crt_rex]

Awesome series. The fact that both the name and idea were suggested by someone in chat and then you actually going through with it and making it happen is absolute gold, lol. Keep up the good work!

[@lepaondesalon]

Your (mostly) non-ironic videos always have been my favorites. Like guides, top lists, showcasing and other subjects related to what you care about.

[@broomhatter3450]

I love Mike's tip!

[@paulmillcamp]

I may have been born in the 80s but I suck at Zelda 2, and would really like to beat it some day. That's why it felt really good to receive this tip, thanks Mike.

[@maxpower_815]

This tip was huge!

[@professorpenne9962]

using down thrust is great for link. one of his best moves, it's a great tip.

[@johanbothun9953]

For anyone having trouble with Death Mountain, do Palace 2 first. It’s easier, it’s in the area before Death Mountain, and there aren’t any pre-requisites to go there, so it makes sense to do it before Death Mountain.

[@Bryanna7910]

@johanbothun9953 and the path always goes to the right. Even on the map, travel right and downwards. Straight shot thru the cave systems. I don't think there is anything worthwhile to collect in the other cave directions, perhaps P bags and maybe a few magic jars. I spent a lot of time scouring for the mirror thinking it was somewhere in Death Mountain.

[@serjicus]

Here are some tips for refilling your health and magic in the Great Palace: At the beginning of the Great Palace, if you go to the left path there will be a bunch of respawning blue slimes on the bottom floor of the room. Farm magic jars from them using Fire and Life magic until your health and magic are full. It's important to use Fire magic, as it's much faster. Later in the Great Palace, you may run into a Giant Slime that falls from the ceiling. Use your upthrust on it and it will turn into a shower of many small blue slimes. You can farm these with Fire magic also. You can just move to the left of where the Giant Slime was about the distance of a screen or so and the Giant Slime will respawn and you won't have to leave the section which would make you cast Fire magic again. Also, most people know about this, but you can sometimes pass through invisible passages in the elevators and get Red Jars from statues there. As well as getting Red Jars from other statues of that sort, which are often near elevators. These statues sometimes turn into enemies, just leave the screen and try again.

[@Doortodoorgeek]

I love the tip, the tip is so smooth literally this is in the top 50 youtube videos of all time that I have seen in my life, mike's patience with the viewer is unmatched and his usage of the word fuck is appropriate, in my head I heard the word fuck 15 times ... but I am not sure mike ever said it wow, life

[@dougo670]

Always feels so good getting Mike's tip! Great series, sir!

[@TheDarkThunder]

Great big tip this time Mike, you were handling those darknuts like the pro you are!! In a future Zelda 2 ‘Just the Tip’, you should expose the often underutilized “Up Thrust” technique!

[@steelcurtain187]

Well done 👏

[@Bryanna7910]

@steelcurtain187 upthrust sword move doesn't seem to work as good. I always seem to take damage.

[@steelcurtain187]

@@Bryanna7910 it is tough to pull off consistently for sure

[@Thievishaura]

from beginning to end... all useful tips i had no idea about!! thank you!

[@ZMAN_420]

Such a great series name and series. Zelda 2 was hard to beat as kid.

[@edge1000]

This will help me. I have a gray cart and gba version of this game. Keep making tip videos like this on any game

[@jikosauce]

There's a gba port?? Id replay this game 100 times

[@danbauer3669]

​@@jikosauce there was a series of classic NES ports to GBA. The games themselves were a different shade of grey, closer to the color of NES carts.

[@RetroNook]

After all the years I finally beat the first palace, Parapa Palace, several months ago. Naturally when I shared this someone said to me, "That's the easiest palace" thanks buddy, thanks. I also made it through death mountain, however got rekt in the area where you get the hammer.

[@mikematei]

You can tell this to the other guy in my comment section who is wondering why the video needed to even be made.

[@holdingpattern245]

Apparently that axe-throwing guy is a crocodile man with a rhino horn, I always thought it looked like Goofy.

[@G-Self]

BONUS TIP: The "Medusa Head" enemies in Zelda II don't spawn infinitely. If you stop and kill them, they will stop spawning until you trip the next "spawn flag". So if you encounter these things in an area that has lava pits, STOP and kill them to give yourself safe passage. The exception are the floating head enemies who move in a square sine wave pattern and shoot fireballs. Those will keep spawning until you leave their territory. Fortunately, those guys don't spawn in areas that have lava pits.

[@serjicus]

Another thing you can do with them is to wait until they're about to leave off the side of the screen and then intentionally scroll the screen in the opposite direction of where you want to go and make them appear behind you instead of in front of you. This will make them less likely to knock you into pits, because they'll be "chasing" you and be slower.

[@teknix1]

Love the series even though it's just getting started. There are so many game you could do, a lot of the hard ones. Keep up the good work!

[@iamweasel2112]

I actually didnt know that tip about the throwing red axe dude, so thanks again for your valuable tip Mike.

[@Peter_1986]

I always liked how the beginning of the game had a bunch of nice stuff lying around here and there, like the -pee bag- P-bag that gives an instant level up, the free Magic Container south of Zelda's palace, and the free Heart Container north of Parapa Palace. I love when games give you cool presents right off the bat like that.

[@RyanBro]

I think the hardest part of the game is the road to the final Palace where the lizardmen are throwing stuff at you.

[@MrBoomblaster]

Hey Mike, fun series! Hope you'll keeping making these and not get discourage if the views are lacking. Very handy for everybody but especially when new people are discovering the retro games for the first time and find out what nes hard means. These kind of video's will help them and maybe give them the push to keep on playing. Stay awesome, dude!

[@Johnbpoppin]

I absolutely love this series The name is great and the tips are solid and the shafts are too

[@ZitiPatrol]

For real, though keep up these tutorial videos for underrated gems that are difficult. Some people really shit on games because they're hard and in return we get a plethora of brain dead AAA shovelware

[@Verbalaesthet]

Aw, man.. why didnt you tell me 35 years earlier?

[@mikematei]

Well what are you busy playing these days? And you better not say anything past gamecube 🤣

[@jaredhill6080]

Most gamers would have these straightforward instructional vids in the KZbin Shorts section, but Mike's tip is always a bit longer than you expect.

[@MrAutumnWinters]

I've always struggled with this Zelda game will love to finish it one day thanks for posting pals

[@mikematei]

Maybe this video will help. You plan on trying the game again sometime?

[@MrAutumnWinters]

@@mikematei Yeah It's been sitting in my mind for years. Actually was the first zelda game I ever played back in the day loved it but never got far, still struggle with it today. But hey I'll have to practice you showed some great tips.

[@schmittieus]

@@MrAutumnWinters I grew up thinking this game was horrible and realized like 7 years ago watching mikes stream actually that it looked not as bad as I thought. It’s now my favorite Zelda game of all and Zelda is my favorite series. I’m hoping this video will get one of my buddies to try the game with me haha.

[@robertcatania1120]

I love content like this Mike, hope you continue it. I have beat Zelda II many times and really grew appreciation for it as an adult to the point it has come one of my favorites in the series and in terms of NES games. I play it several times a year now and as a kid, I hated it. Regardless of the fact that I have beat the game I still found interesting tips in this video (definitely didn't know about the skull head one and being able to walk through them), so I think most people regardless of skill level can find value you in the video. Definitely do a part II, because Death Mountain/Final Castle is the second major difficulty spike in the game (along with the journey there) and those blue flying things were always a pain for me...until I recently found out you can easily kill them with the UP thrust, which I never knew.

[@Ryan42069]

Love watching Mike play Zelda II

[@paulieswalnut]

3:55 MY first encounter with a red lizard man was when I was 18. Her name was Julie. 😁

[@alwaysbanana8141]

Thanks for the tip, I finished it on NES a a few years ago and lately I've been playing it on the Disk System which is harder and different with the grinding system. The ennemies don't drop the same amount of exp and when you have a game over, the game reset all stats to the lowest one. So you have to be more careful even when you know the game and it can be more frustrating.

[@slyrobbie8935]

Thanks for making this video Mike! Great series; always love and appreciate your sense of humor!

[@SuperBadGateway502]

I prefer this than your streams, which are super long. Sorry.. "Just the Tip" are short and fun. You should definitely continue that series. You've played epic amount of old games, you gained exp. You can share your knowledge with others. I'm waiting for more.

[@mikekz4489]

One of your playthrough videos from a while ago gave me some good advice on building up the attack power as fast you can, thereby making things a bit easier overall.

[@steelcurtain187]

That’s the most important stat for sure

[@OniLordMiki]

8:21 I was still expecting a rage moment when Mike fell off the ledge. The fact that he kept calm is both cool yet vaguely unsettling.

[@boul6373]

I just beat Zelda II for the third or fourth time a few weeks ago (actually been playing a Link to the Past today). I would also recommend that first time players complete palace 2 (the one in the swamp) before tackling death mountain. Not only do you get at least a couple extra level ups you can take advantage of at death mountain, you also get a chance to get better at the combat and the game in general before having to deal with a sharp difficulty spike.

[@JustinEvitable80]

The part with two Red Daira's you may be thinking about is the cave you get the water of life at (Item needed to learn Fairy spell.)

[@The-Flute-Wizard]

nice to have a new mike matei video! Hope you are doing well buddy!

[@jikosauce]

Mastering the shield is a huge help

[@zombiesouffle]

Sometimes a good tip makes all the difference😋

[@kirkanos3968]

O YES BABY Just the tip.

[@Zeburaman2005]

I’m really glad that the recent Zelda 2 Remake completely changed the place you find the mirror in, ‘cause it never crossed my mind to check under that table as a kid. That really exemplifies the infamous “Nintendo Power secret” from 80s’ games.

[@dustofftheoldgamer]

always loved your content. i think it would be so cool and amazing if you made a video giving tips and advice for youtubers who are trying to make a gaming channel or trying to get there gaming channel off the ground ^_^

[@UltimateGamerCC]

with the abundance of Zelda II Hacks out there, one REALLY needs to have the Combat down more than anything else. so this is a very useful video overall.

[@mikematei]

Thanks. Maybe sometimes later I'll make a video about the later stages or bosses or something. This is a long game so I focused mostly on the Death Mountain stuff.

[@Bryanna7910]

Best ones imo are Resurrection of Gannon and Winter Solstice. There is also Zelda 2 remastered for PC. Have you tried that one?

[@henkdachief]

it would be funny to use this video to make an edit that makes it seem like mike is explaining this to me personally while i go thru the game and struggle and then mike comes in and explains its to me and i say "oh mike you really are the best zelda 2 player! thanks bro" and other funny remarks

[@colt5189]

That reminds me of that awesome fake trailer for a live action Zelda movie around like 15 years ago.

[@anthonyschultz6801]

More please. Really brings me back

[@spartacus36526]

I love it when Mike gives me just the tip.

[@FreeggNinja3618]

Loving the new show Mike, some great tips. Zelda 2 is a great game btw. Definitely easier once you know all the tricks

[@TheVgrey]

Great stuff Mike I love Zelda 2 and I am pretty good a it not a pro tho only the final palace is the one difficult to me to navigate have a book for that as long you know how to regain magic in this game you are golden

[@PuellaSins]

Its really cool seeing you do little series like this again! I missed the first two videos so Ill def go check those out

[@mikematei]

I’ll be awaiting your full reviews

[@blaketindle4703]

I’m enjoying this series. Please consider doing some SNES games as well, such as Super Mario World, Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Castlevania IV, and Mega Man X.

[@adamschroeder1452]

I’m really enjoying the just the tip videos. A problem spot for me is the way to the great palace, there are a couple spots along the way where you have to fight . There are ghosts and really long jumps across lava with a lizard enemy blocking the way. I usually use a random encounter battle to bypass that part or use the fairy spell. I wondered if you had a strategy for that section?

[@mikematei]

it would be a good topic for a video sometime

[@steelcurtain187]

Great tips Mike this is one of my all time fav games and I love seeing you play it.

[@danbauer3669]

Awesome, Mike! Yes, that's exactly the road block that stops me from getting past Death Mountain in this game! Also, level grinding, grrrr!

[@OldSchoolCurt]

Awesome tips Mike!

[@MattKimura]

No matter how many times I've played through this game, I never learned how to properly deal with the blue iron knuckles. I never realized how they work and I usually try to brute force my way to landing hits even if I take hits myself. Taking it slow really is a good strategy, thanks Mike. Also the red Buma enemy, I would always damage boost through it to grab the hammer or use the jump spell to jump over him. But now that you showed how easy it is to kill him, I don't know why I never did myself. Another enemy I have a tough time with is the devil and the bird soldier in the final dungeon. They're the toughest part of the whole playthrough and I usually end up running past them instead of killing them.

[@francisjo3]

Great series, great name, well done Mike!

[@jesseleesamples]

I love this game and I love when anyone gives it attention cause I think it’s very underrated. I’ll probly get blasted for this take, but I actually like it more than the first game. I never had the Zelda NES games growing up and didn’t get to really play them until an adult, and this was the first one I owned and beat, and I actually didn’t have a hard time with it but I did look at a basic walkthrough to know where to go at the cryptic parts. I think the most important tip for this game is to power up asap and as much as possible. The game becomes much easier and more enjoyable when you’re powered up. I know some people don’t care for having to grind some to power your character up, but I don’t feel like it takes too long to do it in this game. The best tip I think you could give for this game would be to show the best farming method to get powered up, and the best path to take through the game. The guide I looked at said to max everything before Death Mountain, and that’s great advice, but I might say to do it even sooner than that if you’re having trouble with this game. Thanks for these tip video’s Mike, I think it’s a great idea and hope you give us your tip many more times in the future.

[@conspiracycracker5254]

I started with Winter Slostice after catching your playthrough this year, I think it starts out pretty rough but is easier than the original cuz its sort of easier to level your dude at first by just grinding out xp. Nice tip! Also just caught the Super Mario World hack that was 9 hours long, the one with the crazy mine cart race and shitty hit boxes. When I thought Mike was about to quit he somehow made it through falling bullet hell and smushed Ludvig Von Kupa with exuberant prejudice.

[@tobiasbki443]

The tip from Dark Nuts 1on1 was huge, thanks!

[@chrisp8611]

Good series. If you do another Zelda 2 video my favorite tip is to hop the end of each temple so you don't put the gem in the statue. Come back at the end of the game, put the crystal in, and you'll get an auto-level for the hard to grind levels.

[@Ultimaterockmanx135]

If you're still trying to figure out how to fight the Yellow Devil in an easier manner, in the part where there are two blobs that come one after the other(first one from the floor and second one from the middle), you have two strategies. For the first strategy, do a really small early jump for the first blob(it isn't necessary to move back) and then repeat it for the second one so you don't get hit by the third one. The second strategy consists of doing a really high jump at almost the last second so you jump over both of them.

[@Femaiden]

Mike's at it again. . shoving his tip down the viewer's throats.

[@PlanetCHH]

Hey Mike, can we get a new room tour? Even if not much has changed I think we’d all like to see the collection!

[@mikematei]

I did a 2 hour video on my members area

[@seanmills7586]

hey mike this is a great series you came up with actually. I really like zelda 2 and think its a bit underrated honestly.

[@mikematei]

Thanks. I know there are people that don’t like it for some reason. Its great

[@seanmills7586]

@mikematei it really is, its different than zelda 1 but that doesn't mean it's a bad game.

[@StevenQBeatz]

I sometimes still get confused with how the leveling system / experience points works in this game. When should I level up life, attack, magic, or just cancel?

[@mikematei]

Usually just take it. Because if you don't you could die and lose the points.

[@holdingpattern245]

Also avoid the free level ups until you unlock the Three Eye Rock Palace and grind up to attack 5, magic 6, and life 7. That's the easiest way to max all the levels. You might also want to look up where all the magic containers are, because even with every magic container and magic level, the fight with Thunderbird at the end can really drain your magic meter.

[@Zeburaman2005]

Cancel is only really useful later on when you want to save up for a more expensive upgrade (usually the last 3 levels of Attack), yet you’ve just hit the upgrade threshold for either Magic or Life. Alternatively, it can be used to challenge yourself or if you want to level a specific stat instead of the others. But that’s for more advanced players.

[@Ultimaterockmanx135]

You can slide under the hammers in the Doritos game. In Rock of Ages you're placing units in the enemy's route and vice versa.

[@gamersunited8190]

I always went around the other side of death mountain to river town and get down thrust to take out axe guys but your technique definitely works too.

[@schmittieus]

Biggest tip I’ve ever swallowed.

[@jbigs65]

Zelda 2 was really tough!!!

[@Bryanna7910]

When I was kid I thought differently about Zelda 2. Often renting this game and not really knowing waht to do. I thought it was a real difficult complex game. Nowadays it's really not all that bad of a game. My most favorite actually out of what 30 Zelda games now?

[@ctownsoldier]

These are legit helpful! Maybe I'll actually attempt to beat Castlevania and Zelda 2 now

[@ThrawnTheater]

I will add that the Sĥield spell is incredibly useful. Using the shield spell wisely and often is very important because it halves all damage inflicted upon Link, and costs much less magic than the Life spell, so it's more efficient. Once Link reaches Level 4 Magic, the Shield spell only costs one bar of Magic, so if you see a blue jar drop, you should absolutely cast the Shield spell, it's a freebie.

[@mikeytheriot692]

I really love all Zelda games but this one I never really got into because I couldn’t get far and would really like to play it so these little tips help a lot and I will try it again thanks Mike

[@mikematei]

Good to hear

[@Slit518]

These countless hours of trial and error strategy make for great tips!

[@metaltoons]

Thanks! Playing the game for the first time in 30 years!

[@sammyshehole]

I learned that attack trick against the iron knuckles a long time ago and it turns them into a joke. Easy EXP. Just started a Zelda 2 rom hack called Amida’s Curse. Seems good so far. No enemies on the overworld is a little weird but it’s fine. Makes it harder to just get super overpowered early game.

[@ShadyOC714]

Love Zelda 2. Can be beat if you get the patterns down. The path to the Great Palace is rough but once you get there it’s not bad.

[@ThrawnTheater]

5:15 there's two red Dairas in the cave where you find the water of life to get the Fairy spell.

[@cookiesliyr2]

A tip for the tips videos: when you say "this place" or "here" it would be nice to tell the audiance where is the place, like "This is the first dungeon, and this is where it is in the world map", "this is the death mountain, and it is the second place you have to face" i believe it is the second ... i never played the game but watched you and other finished it many times. but it is nice trying to do these kind of videos, giving some tips here and there, way to go! P.S: any tips on how to fight the birdface knight?

[@myunihausen]

Great video! I love this game, one of the best for the nes IMO.

[@alexandarjelenic2880]

Thanks MIke, as a kid I learned to greatly reduce the time grinding for levels, by using the auto level ups after each dungeon only after I had went through the cheap levels first. that way the dungeon completion pay for the expensive levels. I think i would grind level at the island palace as there was a knight drop or sometime a potion drop inside a statue outside of that dungeon. so I could gain a few levels without dying.

[@GregoryCave23]

I appreciate the video! I really like this game but, I'm always on the lookout for tips on taking less damage in the long run. Sometimes I barely make it through. 😂

[@Bryanna7910]

Remember about 99.99 percent of the time you can damage iron knuckles or other enemies by striking as you come back down from a jump. In fact, i think its the only to reliably defeat them. I also thought someone told me once that the gossamers name was called a 'burpus gurpus' Whatever that is. I should have known better lol. And get that damn candle. If you dont, its one helluva trek thru the dark in Death Mountain. Though it is possible to clear it without it, I dont recommend it.😮

[@Zeburaman2005]

Given enough time and perseverance, you can also reliably parry their strikes and counterattack until they fumble their own defence, but the jump attack sure is the quicker option.

[@Topher_Knows]

"If you're going through Death Mountain, why don't you make it through it? It's because some of the enemies killed you. " -Straight out of Nintendo Power

[@SpaceAvaliable]

I want more than just the tip Mike

[@Omar_E11]

Went straight to the comments to look for this comment

[@FusionDeveloper]

After watching this video, I might finally give this game a try. It always looked too complicated to attempt, until I saw this video. I don't need to beat the game, just to give it a try.

[@F28aj]

Mike, have you played Nine Sols? It’s a hand drawn 2d platformer souls like. Give a shot if you haven’t yet. It’s on steam as well as consoles.

[@jimmorti2153]

Go through Death Mountain, get the downward stab and repeat Death mountain to build your attack.

[@KrunchyTheClown78]

Just the tip, because that's all most people can take 😉

[@Super_D36]

Very helpful. Thanks a lot!

[@UtushoReiuji]

One thing I've started doing is when you get to the point where the game starts throwing monsters that can only be damaged by the Fire spell, don't even bother fighting them. Just use the Down Thrust to bounce off of them and keep moving, because they're just a waste of time. I think the only thing the Famicom Disc version of the game does better is not having those enemies being exclusively weak to Fire.

[@AlfredFJones1776]

I’d love to see Mike stream Huntdown on this channel. It seems like a game he would like.

[@xyanide1986]

That's some good tips

[@user-mq4xp1gq3q]

This just the tip series is great. If Nintendo Power was around today, this is the type of content they should be making. Speaking of...do you plan to do anymore Nintendo Power reviews? I like the others ones you did where you show the magazines and go through the articles and give your thoughts on them. I liked when you called them out for their bs takes or blatant shilling of bad games.

[@evanb4189]

Don't destroy the castles (just turn around after the boss and leave). Wait until the last few levels, b/c it automatically gives you enough for the next level. Grind at the swamp castle, if you exit and go back in, all the enemies respawn and that vial that fills your magic when you hit thw statue respawns too.

[@Shroomlines]

Hey Mike, can you tell me which video you were singing the Cheers theme song in wearing the wizard hat ?

[@LordDemonos]

Thanks Mike