I don’t see it as a failure at all. I really like the action side scrolling gameplay and early RPG elements. It’s a nice departure from the style of the first game and link to the past. Especially compared to other games on the NES, it holds up. My only gripe with it is that it took me forever to find the hidden village because there wasn’t really any good hints. Definitely seemed designed to sell Nintendo power. LoZ was the same way though