I’ve been determined to finally beat Zelda II and determine that I would do it without save states and without a guide.
I know Zelda II is considered a black sheep somewhat but I really think in some ways it’s more fun than the original although I’d still pick Zelda 1 over II.
This is no joke and deserves a bit of emphasis. NES games expect you to read the manual.
I did my first play of Zelda 2 about 5 years ago. I didn't like it as kid, but I loved my adult playthrough. I will note that this was one of the games that I got stuck until I read the manual.
Another Z2 pointer, to anyone that wants to give it a go, is that you can logically "soft lock" the game with bad key management. It's unlikely, but if you like to look for unintended orders to do game goals, it could happen.
If you do mess up and miss a key, you can always use fairy to pass through the door. This is actually how I got the cross because I couldn’t figure out how to get the magic key until I could see the ghosts in old Kasuto. And search the houses for the clue
I would be careful with the word "always". A softlock can occur by entering a later dungeon to steal some of its keys. You can use the surplus keys to beat an early dungeon without collecting its item. This locks the item in the dungeon. Hope you didn't need that later.
But couldn't you go to where the alternative dungeon's keys are, get those and come back to get the earlier dungeon's item that way?
I can't see how you can softlock?