Previous comments made by Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto have resurfaced, where the Zelda series creator admitted despite it being his idea, he felt Zelda 2 was “sort of a failure”, and Nintendo instead believes that A Link to the Past to be the original game’s “real” sequel.
Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link released back in 1987, as a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda. However, despite being a commercial success, it didn’t live up to the hype of the original, and often falls far behind other series entries when it comes to polls and the like. This is largely due to how different the game played – IGN actually dubbed it the “bastard stepchild” of the Zelda series. And, it seems, there was a similar sentiment in Nintendo.
Back in 2003, Miyamoto revealed Zelda 2 was his “original idea”, but “the actual game was developed by another team”. Now, before I go further, I know this is an old comment, but it recently got reshared in Retro Gamer‘s 40 years of The Legend of Zelda issue (thanks, Games Radar), and as a fan of the series, I found it interesting. So, I am sharing it again.
Anyway, back to the original interview. Miyamoto went on to say that the games he makes “usually get better in the development process”, because the team “keep coming up with good ideas”. For whatever reason this didn’t happen with Zelda 2, though, and it instead “stayed the same” throughout the game’s development.
“It was sort of a failure,” Miyamoto furthered, before adding: “We actually see A Link to the Past as the real sequel to The Legend of Zelda.” But, if Zelda 2 wasn’t considered a true sequel internally at Nintendo, what was it considered to be? Well, according to Miyamoto, it was viewed as “more of a side story” to the original Legend of Zelda.
So, there you have it – Zelda 2 is about what happened to Link after the original game, but A Link to the Past is the “real sequel” to The Legend of Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda turned 40 on 21st February, 2026. To mark the occasion, Christian Donlan wrote an essay on the ineffable magic of its two most recent entries, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
As for the series’ future, Nintendo is reportedly releasing a remake of Zelda: Ocarina of Time later this year. A live-action Zelda film adaptation is also in the works, which is due to be released on 7th May, 2027.
