About
Zelda Again: Link is Adventuresome (ZALiA) is a free fan-made enhanced PC remake of Nintendo's 1987 Famicom/NES title Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Built in GameMaker Studio, its gameplay is highly faithful because the logic is a direct translation of the original's assembly code, while adding new content and quality-of-life features such as a modern save system, overworld and dungeon maps, widescreen presentation, faster dialogue, and partial experience retention after a game over.
Because it is an unofficial Nintendo fan project, it was never sold commercially and is distributed only as a free community download. It was well received by retro Zelda fans and gaming press for its polish and faithful recreation of the original action-RPG.
Identity
Launch
- Binary
- ZALiA.exe
- Needs files
- none beyond the binary
Proton
- Version
- GE-Proton
- Winetricks
- —
- ProtonDB
- ProtonDB Pending not enough reports yet
⚙ Setup notes
About: A free Zelda II: The Adventure of Link fan game by HoverBat, built in GameMaker Studio 1.4 as a faithful re-creation (a direct translation of the original's assembly) with extra content and quality-of-life improvements. Distributed as a portable Windows zip (e.g. ZALiA_1.0.0.2.zip, ~286 MB; a current beta build is also offered) on the creator's itch.io page under the title ZIIAOL — there is no Steam release and no Linux build.
Install: Extract the zip on the Deck, then add the ZALiA.exe inside the extracted folder as a non-Steam game and set its "Start In" to that folder. Force GE-Proton (or proton_experimental).
Proton: No ProtonDB entry exists (it is not on Steam). GameMaker Studio 1.4 Windows games generally run well under Proton with no tweaks; try stock first and only switch to GE-Proton / experimental if it fails. No special winetricks confirmed as required.
Controller: GameMaker provides native XInput controller support and the game has a controller-mapping menu (in builds beyond 1.0.0.2), so the Deck gamepad should work without a Steam Input layout.
Display: Has a built-in widescreen presentation.
The one thing to know
Free fan game: Not Nintendo, never sold on Steam — distributed only as a free portable Windows zip on the creator's itch.io page (title ZIIAOL by HoverBat). Built in GameMaker Studio 1.4. No ProtonDB entry exists since it is not a Steam title.
Install: It is a portable build, not an installer — extract the zip and run ZALiA.exe from the extracted folder (add that exe as a non-Steam game). Try stock Proton first; GMS 1.4 games usually run without tweaks. No special winetricks confirmed.
Controller: Native XInput controller support with an in-game mapping menu (builds beyond 1.0.0.2), so the Deck gamepad should work without a Steam Input layout.
Binary best-guess: The exe name ZALiA.exe is inferred from the GMS 1.4 project name (ZALiA.project.gmx) and the zip naming (ZALiA_x.x.x.x.zip); confirm against the actual extracted files.
Community guides
Write-ups and threads from people who got this (or a similar) game running. deckport links to them — it doesn't reproduce them.
Get the artwork
deckport never hosts game images. Open this game on SteamGridDB, pick
the cover / hero / logo / icon you like, and drop them into the
game folder under .deckport-art/ before you push it to the
Deck. The importer files them under the right names automatically.
Run it on your Deck
Two files: the one-time importer (deckport.py) in your
Deck's home folder, and this game's install helper. Copy the game
into ~/Games and run the helper with Steam closed — it
writes the recipe (binary, launch options, Proton version)
and registers the shortcut with artwork.