This is a semi-speed run of Zelda 2, emulated using the final release of NESticle for Windows.

I completed the game from scratch using almost the "bare minimum" requirements of items. Technically speaking, you do NOT need the Candle, Cross, or any additional Heart Containers. I also skipped all the "pre-arranged" P-bags (except a few times where I was in a palace and completely forgot; however, I took none from the overworld or caves). I didn't take any of the 1-UP dolls, either. I did get 6 extra lives from finishing the palaces (I needed them to get to and through the final palace).

I also demonstrate that you also only need four spells: Jump, Fairy, Reflect, and Thunder. Interestingly, you don't need the "odd" spells on the list, #1-3-5-7, but you do need the even ones, #2-4-6-8. And it turns out that the "needed" spells are more difficult to get (you need the Trophy, Water of Life, Lost Child, and 8 Magic Containers for those, whereas two of the other spells are "free" - Shield and Spell - and the final 2, Fire and Life, are ridiculously trivial to get).

I did have a bit of death abuse & save-game abuse, most of it early on because fighting through Death Mountain at attack level 2 in the dark is really frickin' HARD. The 2nd through 5th movie (or thereabouts) is pretty much my numerous attempts to get to the Hammer. Although I'd keep dying, I'd usually level up each time, so I figured they were worth keeping.

I managed to get the Thunder spell at something like Attack 4, Magic 5, Life 5. Seriously. Pretty much everything after that was saving up for the palaces.

Later on, to get ready for the palaces, I have 3 incredibly dull movies of me killing lizard-men in the woods. Sorry about those. There wasn't a faster way that I could think of.

So here's the entire list of what I took for the entire game:

• 4 magic containers (needed for Thunder)
• 4 spells - Jump, Fairy, Reflect, and Thunder. Note that, except for the cave south of Ruto, you actually don't need Jump for the rest of the game (although it's very handy, so I used it. Often.).
• Hammer, Glove, Raft, Boots, Flute (you need the hammer to get Fairy, but perhaps I'll do a second run showing that you don't need it after the first time through)
• 6 crystals used for 9000-XP 1up's.
• I used in-game Fairies when available if it was faster than going to towns. I also frequently used the Life & Magic restore ladies in the towns, because, well, what the hell else was I supposed to do?
• I did take P-bags & magics jugs from monsters, but none of the ready-made ones in the overworld. I do take magic jugs hidden in palaces and the occasional P-bag if it happens to be on the same screen in the palace, but I didn't really go out of my way for any.

And, here's what I didn't take:

• Candle
• Cross
• Heart Containers
• Any pre-determined Red Magic Jars NOT in palace statues
• Pre-determined P-bags (except for a couple in palaces 3 & 4 because I forgot, but it didn't change the level-up for that segment except to make it a bit quicker than it would have been)
• 1-UP dolls (I believe there are 6 in the game, 2 in each overworld and 2 in the last 2 palaces)
• The water to get Fire or the mirror to get Life

Anyway, you can download the zip of it here. Happy viewing!