Hollow Knight is one of the most widely acclaimed indie games of the last decade, but one of its main inspirations is far more divisive. While the three core of Hollow Knight studio Team Cherry have been relatively quiet over the past several years, the team wasn't always so shy. Before the extended development of Hollow Knight's long-awaited sequel, Silksong, Team Cherry shared plenty of the inspirations and motivations behind the creation of the original game. Among several classics, the most interesting note is the reverence that the team places on Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link.

For long-term Hollow Knight fans, this detail may come as no surprise, as Team Cherry referenced the contentious Zelda classic in Hollow Knight's original crowdfunding page. It's less likely to be a familiar fact to everyone who ed the party after the game's official release, though, and it's also recently received a bit of additional clarification. While Team Cherry hasn't recently elaborated on the significance of Zelda 2 to Hollow Knight's development, a freshly published interview originally conducted in 2018 sheds additional light on the subject.

Team Cherry Bonded Over A Love For Zelda 2

An Unlikely Zelda Game Brought Team Cherry Together

The Kickstarter page for Hollow Knight mentions Zelda 2 three times, and each reference is notable in its own way. The first lists it as one of three style inspirations alongside Metroid and Faxanadu, the latter of which is another side-scrolling action RPG that's never received quite the same level of fame. Another name-drop focuses on co-director William Pellen, whose long-term fascination with video games was apparently kick-started by a moment when "his Dad found the wing boots for him in Zelda 2." The most fascinating reference, however, cites Zelda 2 as the game that glued Team Cherry together.

"Our team initially formed around game jams, but we really bonded over our love for Zelda 2."

The odds of three game developers sharing a ion for Zelda 2 don't seem especially high, but the unlikelihood of the scenario is probably why it was so significant to Team Cherry. Any indie team working on a Metroidvania will almost certainly share a love for Super Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and iration for universally beloved games wouldn't be a particularly unique bond. If Team Cherry hadn't found each other, however, any of the three developers would be hard-pressed to land at another indie studio with the same Zelda 2 appreciation.

In a 2018 Source Gaming interview that remained unpublished until April 9, 2025, Pellen and Hollow Knight animator Ari Gibson elaborate on the game's influence on Hollow Knight. When asked what Zelda 2 had to offer that Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night didn't, the two discuss how different its world felt, offering both a greater sense of population and a larger overall implication of vastness.

The Adventure Of Link Is An Unusual Zelda Game

Tough Side-Scrolling Action Is Far From The Zelda Norm

I don't want to imply that there aren't plenty of Zelda 2 fans — there certainly are — but if you ask a random person for their Zelda ranking, Zelda 2's more likely to be near the bottom than the top. Part of that is simply due to the change in formula, as Zelda 2's side-scrolling format could hardly be more different from the top-down exploration of the original game or Link to the Past. Adding to that potential point of alienation, Zelda 2 also features some classic NES-style difficulty that outpaces the comparatively minor challenges of most Zelda games.

Side-scrolling elements appeared in the first Zelda game and some later entries, including the recent Echoes of Wisdom, but only Zelda 2 uses it as the primary approach.

It's not hard to see why someone who fell in love with Zelda through Ocarina of Time or Breath of the Wild wouldn't take to it, and it's hard to blame them. Zelda 2 hasn't always been a black sheep, and initial positive reviews indicate that a modern surge in re-appreciation isn't anything out of left field. When it released, there was no true franchise mold to fit or break, but the ing decades instated an idea of the typical Zelda game that Zelda 2 just didn't fit. While it's far from the only style shake-up in the franchise, it comes across as the most radical.

It's worth coming into Zelda 2 with an open mind, and like the off-beat American version of Super Mario Bros. 2, it has its own charms when embraced for what it is. Despite the change in format, Zelda 2 successfully transposes many of the staples that make Zelda games great, like fantastic music and unique bosses and enemies. The difficulty curve can still take some adjustment, but if you're looking for a challenge and haven't yet tried Zelda 2, it's worth checking out.

Hollow Knight Recaptures Zelda 2’s Strengths

Retro Highlights In A Modern Triumph

While technological advances have made huge, open-world games possible, the sense of vastness that made Zelda 2 so captivating for Team Cherry can be difficult to recreate today. Scale is one thing, but Gibson describes something a bit different — "not being able to feel the edges" of an expansive world. In many ways, the limitations of NES games could enhance this sense. Cryptic game design was the norm, not an anomaly, and simplistic graphics asked the imagination to fill in environments and ideas that the anemic pixel count only suggested.

One of the best things about Hollow Knight is how adroitly it manages to recapture this aspect of Zelda 2. Unfolding the map of Hollow Knight is equal parts daunting and rewarding, and the game's gorgeously detailed art makes extensive use of soft focus to suggest a scale beyond the bounds of the 2D plane on-screen. The specks of life and civilization found throughout the world of Hollow Knight cut through the loneliness with memorable warmth, with NPCs who deliver the kind of quirky charm that characterizes virtually every Zelda game.

Perhaps its biggest success, however, connects to a sentence in the Source Gaming interview that Pellen starts and Gibson finishes. Following Gibson's description of not being able to feel the world's boundaries, Pellen agrees and adds, "Like, legitimately not knowing...", which Gibson continues with "what you're going into." That feeling of hesitating on a precipice before diving into the beyond is what Hollow Knight does best, and it's a huge part of what makes the game feel so special. Whenever I get my hands on Silksong and experience that feeling again, I'll know I have Zelda 2 to thank.

Source:Kickstarter, Source Gaming