Over nearly 4 decades, The Legend of Zelda has entertained fans with it’s story of it’s hero Link, Princess Zelda, the powerful Triforce and the evil Ganon. Many fans will have come to the series in the last 10 years playing modern classics like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but what if you want to play the whole back catalogue, how do you do this? That’s what I am going to dive into today, how and where to play all the mainline Legend of Zelda games.
The Legend of Zelda has been a staple of Nintendo consoles, dating back to the 1980’s with the two original Zelda games, throughout the 90s with Super Nintendo and N64, all the way through to today with Nintendo Switch. Often, Legend of Zelda titles are released alongside a new console, because Nintendo knows these games move consoles. Twilight Princess was sold with the Wii, Breath of the Wild was sold with the Nintendo Switch, plus we’ve seen re-releases on Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online throughout the years.
Today I’m going to go through all the mainline games, I’m not going to cover games like Link’s Crossbow Training, plus the Phillips CD-i games. The good news is, if you have a Nintendo Switch you can already play 10 of the mainline Zelda games. You can of course, own the original consoles with the original games, however, these days that’s an expensive quest, as well as needing some specialist technology to hook up the older consoles to a modern TV, or you’ll need a CRT TV (which is becoming increasingly rare).
Before I dive into the list, I’m going to cover off some points to be aware of. Regarding consoles, you can play 95% of the games on Nintendo Switch, Wii U and 3DS handheld console, plus Nintendo Switch Online subscription service which can be subscribed to for 19.99 or 49.99 for the expansion pack. You can still pick up the classic NES and SNES consoles, plus the Zelda Game and Watch, although these are also becoming quite rare in shops. Yes, you coudl also emulate the games, however for this list I wanted to focus on official ways to play the games.
How to play every Zelda game
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA (1986)
Switch: Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Switch Online
Other: Game and Watch: Legend of Zelda
ZELDA II: THE ADVENTURE OF LINK (1988)
Switch: Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Switch Online
Other: NES Classic Edition and Game and Watch: Legend of Zelda
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST (1992)
Switch: Super Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Switch Online
Other: SNES Classic Edition
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK’S AWAKENING (1993)
Switch: The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening was remade for the Switch in 2019.
Switch: The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX is available on Game Boy – Nintendo Switch Online
Other: Game and Watch: Legend of Zelda
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME (1998)
Switch: Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack
3DS: You can buy a physical copy at Amazon.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK (2000)
Switch: Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack
3DS: You can buy a physical copy at Amazon.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ORACLE OF SEASONS AND THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ORACLE OF AGES (2001)
Switch: Nintendo has announced that both titles will be added to the Game Boy – Nintendo Switch Online catalogue in the future.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER (2003)
Wii U: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD was released for the Wii U in 2013.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: FOUR SWORDS (2004)
The only way to play this one is on legacy consoles including Gamecube and GBA.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP (2004)
Switch: Game Boy Advance – Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS (2006)
Wii U: The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess HD was released for the Wii U in 2016.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: PHANTOM HOURGLASS (2007)
3DS: Phantom Hourglass was released for the DS in 2007, but no longer seems to appear on the My Nintendo Store. The 3DS is backward-compatible, so physical copies are playable.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SPIRIT TRACKS (2009)
3DS: Spirit Tracks was released for the DS in 2007, but no longer seems to appear on the My Nintendo Store. The 3DS is backward-compatible, so physical copies are playable.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SKYWARD SWORD (2011)
Switch: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD was released for the Switch in 2021.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK BETWEEN WORLDS (2013)
3DS: You can pick up a physical copy from Amazon or your local game store.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TRI FORCE HEROES (2015)
3DS: You can pick up a physical copy from Amazon or your local game store.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD (2017)
Switch: My Nintendo Store, or Amazon, or your local game store.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM (2023)
Switch: My Nintendo Store and anywhere else that sells games like Amazon, or your local game store.
How to play the Zelda games in chronological order
That’s how to play all the Zelda games, the official way, but there’s also another way to play – and that’s playing all the games in Chronological order. This is where we play from the start of the timeline to the current end.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Child Timeline
This is where Child Link continues after the events of Ocarina of Time.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Adult Timeline
This is where Adult Link continues after the events of Ocarina of Time.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Fallen Hero Timeline
This is where Link fails to beat Ganon in Ocarina of Time.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
The Legend of Zelda
Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link
Era of the Wild
The placement of the two new games is the source of a lot of speculation, so for the time being I’m going to put them on their own branch.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
If you are new to the series, and have only played Breath of the Wild and or Tears of the Kingdom, I do recommend going back and seeing where the series came from. The original Legend of Zelda’s on the NES are harder to play these days, but you can see the origins of Breath of the Wild in there. Zelda 2 is divisive, but it was my first Zelda game so it’s always going to hold a special place in my personal gaming history. A Link To The Past is where the series started hitting it’s strides, then you have Ocarina of Time, which is regarded often as the best game ever made. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are both modern classics, and Skyward Sword is where it all began with the origins of Demise’s Curse.
If you’re a Legend of Zelda fan, then you can really go wrong with these games.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
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