Zelda II was the Dark Souls of its day. You'll die ALOT, but once you gain enough exp and master the combat & enemy patterns it becomes much more doable. Death Mountain and the road to the Great Palace have and always will be a huge pain in the ass though. Most of the difficulty in the game stems from these two segments.
On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.