z2rs

What you need: A ROM of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (USA), dumped from your own cartridge.

z2rs is a native port of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for Windows, Linux, macOS and Android, a reconstruction of the game in Rust that is checked frame by frame against the original ROM running in a reference emulator.

On top of the original game it adds widescreen at 16:10, 16:9 or 21:9 with real scenery at the sides, HD graphics packs that repaint tiles and sprites at 2x to 8x, two-player co-op with a second Link on one machine or online, save states, fast-forward, movie playback and gamepad support. The Android version has an on-screen gamepad; online co-op is not available there yet.

The downloads are not code signed, so Windows and macOS warn on first launch. The download contains no game data. It needs Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (USA), dumped from your own cartridge; only one dump is accepted.

How to set it up

1. Download the archive for your system and unpack it, or install the Android APK.
2. Start z2rs-launcher.exe on Windows, z2rs.app on macOS or z2rs-launcher on Linux.
3. Pick your ROM and press Play. The launcher also sets window size, widescreen, HD packs and co-op.
4. After the first run you can start z2rs directly. HOW-TO-PLAY.txt lists the controls.