Whoa, didn't expect so many positive replies to this, thanks all
Yeah, the Link sprite definitely needs work but there are two good reasons it looks like that. a) It's probably the most important sprite and not wanting to screw it up I was saving it for last, and b) Upon realizing how much work it takes to program anything worth playing, I submitted all my work to the Z2E project over at
http://forums.thegaminguniverse.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8. Their intention is to first and foremost complete an identical version of Zelda 2 with only graphical and audio upgrades. This means I couldn't mess around too much with poses and the size of the sprites since the game mechanics were to be kept as in the original. Unfortunately they're not making muc progress over there, so I figured I might as well post my stuff here.
@Hyre_SwordsMan - If you're willing to edit my sprites or contribute with your own then that's great, though I can't promise that it will turn into a playable game anytime soon
You can find the rest of my work in here:
http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e125/Alianger/I really like what you did with the Link sprite, it has a lot more character and the colors are much better. I hope you don't mind, but I took a few minutes to edit yours a bit, mainly the shading and the black outline. Still not sure if it fits the backgrounds any better, but it's a step in the right direction.