Experience

Experience is a feature from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Link can acquire experience by defeating enemies, collecting P Bags or returning Crystals to palaces. Upon reaching a certain threshold, Link will be given the option to level up one of three stats. The power of his sword, the rate at which his Heart Meter drops or the rate at which his Magic Meter drops. In the NSTC and PAL versions of the game, Link can choose to ignore the current stat he can level up and retain his experience to try and level up another stat. However once he has the opportunity to level up all three of his stats, he must select one in order to continue. In the original Japanese version, Link could choose to ignore leveling up his stats however if he does not level up his stats evenly, then all his stats will reset to the number of the lowest stat upon obtaining a Game Over. In all versions of the game, getting a Game Over will also reduce Link's current experience to zero. The maximum number Link can get in any of his stats is Level 8. If Link gets enough experience to level up at any point afterwards then he will instead obtain an extra life. The number of experience points gained depends on the enemy and the P Bag but experience gained from clearing a palace will always give Link enough experience to level up. The experience necessary to level up through out the game increases as Link levels up meaning a lot more experiences is required to gain a level when a stat is at 7 than when a stat is at 1. To compensate, Link fights more powerful enemies that give more experience and in a higher frequency as the game goes on. Some enemies such as Tinsuits and Moas can reduce Link's experience when hit but will not cause him to lose any stat gains he has obtained.

Hyrule Warriors
Experience also appears in Hyrule Warriors. All playable characters can gain experience which increases their stats upon level ups. Experiences is usually gained through defeating enemies however the player can also use rupees to level up characters using the Training Dojo in the Bazaar. However the characters can not gain levels higher than the current highest level character via this method.