Page "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link" Paragraph 3

In this installment, Link gains experience points to upgrade his attack, magic, and life by defeating enemies.

This feature is exclusive to Zelda II in the game series.

He can raise each of these attributes to a maximum of eight levels.

Raising a life level will decrease the damage Link receives when hit, raising a magic level will decrease the magic points ( MP ) cost of spells, and raising an attack level will strengthen his offensive power.

Each attribute requires a different amount of experience to level up, with the life level requiring the least number of points to level and attack requiring the most.

When enough points are acquired to raise an attribute, the player may choose to level up that attribute or to cancel and continue gaining experience points towards the next level in another attribute.

Once Link has raised an attribute to the maximum level of eight, further advances in that attribute will earn Link an extra life, without advancing the attribute itself.

Link can acquire up to four Heart Containers and up to four Magic Containers that permanently increase his life points and magic points.

Other games in The Legend of Zelda series only allow Link to increase his strength through new weapons, items, and Heart Containers.

Certain enemies drain Link's experience when they attack, but he will never lose a level once raised.

The game however only saves the level at which the player's experience is at and how much experience he needs for the next level, not how many experience points he currently has.

So if the player has 750 experience points and the next level is 800, if the player saves and resets the console or loses all his lives, he will begin with 0 experience points and 800 for the next level.