Classic NES Series: Zelda II Unlockables and Glitches (GameBoy Advance)

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, released in Japan as The Legend of Zelda 2: Link no B�ken is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the second installment in The Legend of Zelda video game series. It was originally released in Japan on the Famicom Disk System less than a year after the release of the original Legend of Zelda and converted (with various upgrades) to the NES cartridge format when released in the United States and other countries in 1988.

The Adventure of Link was re-released in 2003 on the The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition disc for the Nintendo GameCube and again in 2004 as part of the "Classic NES Series" for Game Boy Advance, with several changes. The death animation removed flashing colors in an effort to prevent seizures, replacing it with a solid red color (the same goes for the Virtual Console release). Several graphical and audio tweaks were made, and an enemy formerly titled Barba is named Volvagia, keeping with the naming in the Japanese release.

Unlockables

Spells
There is a spell hidden in each town. Their magic cost depends on your Magic level. Shield reduces damage by 50%; Jump doubles your jump; Life restores 3 hearts; Fairy allows you to fly and pass through keyholds; Fire lets you shoot fireballs from your sword; Reflect lets you block fire and reflect magic waves; Spell turns all monsters into blobs and unlocks the Magic Key at the end of Kasuto; Thunder kills everything on the screen.

Fairy - Find the Water of Life behind a boulder in the swamp, take it to Mido

Fire - Examine the fountain in Nabooru then talk to the thirsty woman

Jump - Find the Trophy north of Zelda and take it to Ruto

Life - Find a mirror in an empty house in Saria and take it next door

Reflect - Find the child in the origin of the river in the maze and take him to Darunia

Shield - Talk to the old man in Rauru

Spell - Talk to the old man in Kasuto (you must hammer a tree in the woods farthest to the east)

Thunder - Once you have everything else, talk to the man in the old ghost town of Kasuto

Sword Techniques.
There are two additional sword techniques that can be learned to help Link but they aren't really necessary to beat the game.

Downward Stab - Jump to the church tower in Mido and speak to the Knight inside.

Upward Stab - Go down the chimney of the first house in the middle section of Darunia. Speak to the Knight inside to be taught the move.

Glitches

Bypass forced encounters
You can bypass a forced encounter if you enter the tile while it's being occupied by a random battle monster. Instead of fighting through the forced encounter you will fight a random battle. After the battle, you can simply step off the tile and continue.
Move through locked doors without keys.
If you need to get through a locked door in a palace but you don't have a key you can use the spell of Fairy and then fly through the gate using this glitch. Handy if you don't know where a key is or want to save time.

Stay alive after a fatal hit.
If you fall off the side of the screen when you get hit, you won't die, even if your HP is at 0. Stand very close to the edge of the screen and attack from there. You can use this to level up without the risk of losing your EXP to a game over. Especially at screens with jumping fish.

Use spells with less cost to your magic.
A handy glitch in this port lets you cast spells while saving magic. When you grab a magic refill jar if you quickly switch to your spell menu, select a spell and then use it while the meter is still being filled from the jar you just grabbed the spell will be cast and the meter will continue to fill, making up for the difference in magic that the spell just used. You have to be quick to get it to work right; I've gotten this to fill it all the way back up sometimes but it appears to be based on just how fast you get it done.


Here's a video: