Zelda 2, Blaster Master Join Nintendo Switch Online NES Lineup

Nintendo has announced that Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Blaster Master will be joining the library of titles available on Nintendo Switch Online.

On January 16, Zelda II and Blaster Master will join the ever-growing list of NES classics that saw Ninja Gaiden, Wario’s Woods and Adventures Lolo added last month.

Zelda II was released on the NES in 1987 in Japan and in 1988 in North America and PAL regions.

It saw re-releases on GameCube and Game Boy Advance, as well as on the Virtual Console.

We reviewed the title when it became available on the Wii’s Virtual Console in 2007, and said “Zelda II is just a great game, and playing it again today makes it hard to understand why it’s been so chastised for the past 20 years.”

Blaster Master was released in Japan and North America on the NES in 1988 and in PAL regions in 1991, and is a platformer and run-and-gun shooter that features a protagonist named Jason who has follows his pet frog named Fred down a hole.

Jason then finds a tank named SOPHIA the 3rd and gets to drive it around while searching for Fred.

It released on Wii’s Virtual Console in 2009 and, in our review, we said it is “an incredibly unique, wonderfully memorable hybrid design that blends side-scrolling platforming and shooting with top-down exploration and boss battles.”

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who will, he promises, finally beat Zelda II on the Nintendo Switch. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst.