The Legend of Zelda series features many of the best games ever made. Some are amazing, but some… not so much. Today I’m going to take a look at the best and worst Zelda spin-offs you probably forgot existed.

Spin-off’s are games that borrow elements from The Legend of Zelda, but aren’t officially part of the main series. Nintendo have done their fair share of experimenting over the years and the results have been hit and miss. Some spin-off games have been collaborations, other spin-off games have been when Nintendo opened up the license for the Legend of Zelda. With the Switch 2 coming this year, I hope to see more collaboration with the Zelda franchise, and hopefully we’ll see some interesting spin-offs.

First let’s dive into ranking the Zelda spin-offs from worst to best, then we’ll get into some predicitions for the future.

Zelda The Wand of Gamelon / Link The Faces of Evil (1993, Philips CD-i)

While these are separate games, I’m going to combine them into a single entry on the list, given they were released on the same day in 1993 for the Philips CD-i. The Wand of Gamelon had Zelda as the playable character and Link in The Faces of Evil. These are not good games, both with terrible gameplay, bad controls and laughable cutscenes. They do border on “so bad it’s good”. No wonder Nintendo kept the Zelda license close to them for many years afterward.

Zelda’s Adventure (1994, Philips CD-i)

The game featured Zelda as the main player character and it was a top-down RPG simmilar to the original Legend of Zelda. Unfortunately the controls were difficult and the gameplay was poor, plus the game featured full-motion video throughout, which were very bad.

Tingle’s Balloon Fight DS (2007, Nintendo DS)

Tingle’s Balloon Fight DS is an action platformer released only in Japan featuring Tingle as the main character. This is basically Balloon Fight with Tingle as the main character. It was released exclusively to Platinum members for Club Nintendo Japan. The game has 3 game modes Balloon Fight, Balloon Fighting Spirit and Balloon Trip. Balloon Fight was originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it makes sense with Tingle given he’s often airborne via Balloons. In the game you have to keep Tingle in the air, pop the enemies balloons and hit the enemy parachutes when they are on their way to the ground. When enemies are on the ground you have to knock them off the platform.

Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland (2006, Nintendo DS)

This is a Nintendo DS Zelda spin-off with the weird and wonderful Tingle as the main character. Tingle is trying to build a Tower near his house, but he needs money. Tingle has to go into dungeons to find things to sell to get rupees. It includes a good bartering system in the shops, where you can haggle for prices. Plus the Nintendo DS was used well when it came to navigation and mapping.

Ripened Tingle’s Balloon Trip of Love (2009, Nintendo DS)

This is another Nintendo DS game featuring Tingle. Here Tingle plays cupid in this romance themed game. The objective here is for Tingle to escape the fictional world by dancing with the Princess. If you couldn’t tell already, this is a very odd game. There are no references to the main Zelda series, just a man in a green suit trying to dance with a Princess. The gameplay is point and click and has to go down as one of the strangest Zelda spin-off games of all time.

My Nintendo Picross The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (2016, Nintendo 3DS)

This is a spin-off for Nintendo 3DS which is a crossover of Picross and Twilight Princess. Originally this launched as a My Nintendo reward and cost 1000 platinum points. Picross is a well known puzzle format where grids must be filled in to create a picture. Each picture is based on Twilight Princess except for the tutorials. Midna pops up and provides tips on how to complete the puzzles. If you complete the puzzle you get a Miiverse Stamp and that was shareable (before the Miiverse was shutdown). There have been many versions of Picross over the years as it lends itself to partnerships and spin-offs, and this was a great example based on Twilight Princess.

Hyrule Warriors (2014, Wii U)

This one is a mash up of The Legend of Zelda with the gameplay of the Dynasty Warriors series and was developed by Team Ninja and Omega Force. It was pretty successful and later got a port to the Nintendo DS in 2016 as Hyrule Warriors Legends. Later the game was ported again to Nintendo Switch as Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition and combined all the content in the previous two releases.

Gameplay-wise it’s very similar to Dynasty Warriors where you pick a character and then fight against hordes of enemies. Given it’s a Zelda spin-off, then you take control of Zelda themed characters like Link, Princess Zelda, Impa and Lana. The great thing about Dynasty Warriors-style games is cutting through hordes and hordes of enemies, plus you have to think tactically too so you don’t get overwhelmed. Hyrule Warriors also features many locations from across the Zelda series.

Link’s Crossbow Training (2007, Wii)

This one is a spin-off from Twilight Princess, and features the same Link in the same art style. Nintendo released a Wii Zapper, hoping it would be as successful as the Nintendo Entertainment System Zapper. You couldn’t buy the game stand alone, it only came as a pack-in game with the Wii Zapper. Link’s Crossbow training is a shooting gallery game, and they are themed around locations in Twilight Princess. The game is essentially a tutorial for the Wii Zapper. While the game is short, it’s actually pretty fun.

Cadence of Hyrule (2019, Nintendo Switch)

This is a spin-off with the makers of indie game Crypt of the Necrodancer. This is a top-down Zelda game with rhythm elements. This has gorgeous pixel art, plus the actions have to be taken on the beat. At the time we were hoping Nintendo would lend the license to more indie developers, that’s something we haven’t seen yet, but hopefully with the Switch 2 just around the corner, perhaps Nintendo will loosen the lease and let more indie developers come up with interesting and entertaining titles like Cadence of Hyrule.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (2020, Nintendo Switch)

Hyrule Warriors must have gone down well with Nintendo fans because only a few years later another was released, this time called Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. This is set 100 years before Breath of the Wild as doesn’t feature as many characters as Hyrule Warriors. This is much more self-contained and has a relevant story in relation to the modern wild-era Zelda games. This is probably the most “Zelda-like” game when it comes to all the spin-offs and is highly regarded by fans.

Community Spotlight

@inkstickequalspen
A spin off where instead of saving the world, Link takes jobs mowing lawns with his sword and breaking pots to pay his debts.

@darkdragonmedeus705
I would loved to see a turn based or ATP based Zelda RPG inspired by Chrono Trigger. An idea I have talked about before but not on this channel. Link would basically play like Crono for obvious reasons. Zelda would be the physically frail healer with some magic and Haste similar to Marle.

There are playable characters among the respected races of Zora, Goron, Rito, and Gerudo. Stats, abilities, and associated elements for each of them. And the illusive final playable character is Ganondorf basically playing a Magus like role except pure evil rather than antihero. Being a boss, then perhaps a section you play as him solo. Later becomes an optional party member due to semi-final boss being either a new foe or someone similar to Majora. Then the real final battle is choosing a good or evil side, and Ganondorf receiving a final transformation either way. Sounds like a set up for a Golden RPG.

@caffiene-fueled-chaos
i would like to see a zelda mortalkombat type game with 2d action fighting and all zelda characters

@zakzerak7191
1) stardew valley type zelda game. it suits the game perfectly, they would only need to reskin it and add some details from the series.
2) dungeon maker as already planned and reworked as echoes of wisdom.
3) something that would be harder to do is a citybuilder but it would be a fun scenario where the player needs to rebuild central hyrule after the calamity/ totk stuff

@chuckolator1859
Definitely a 2D fighting game with a roster that pulls from the whole Zelda history. I want to be an Error main

@dustybees6308
I remember there being talks of a mobile game being in development after Mario Run. People were speculating on what we could see. At the time I was playing a lot of mobile games. Tap titans I thought would be an interesting style for Zelda. Tap the screen to attack the enemy. After so many you get a boss that you have only so many seconds to defeat. I thought something similar would work with Zelda.

@MaikeruShinigami
Always interested in another Hyrule Warriors. That said, for something different. I love the thought of doing a TRPG like Mario + Rabbids or Persona.

@MartKart8
Maybe another Hyrule warriors again, the last one Hyrule Warriors one Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity, I felt the amount of content was good

@iamnotrealyouarejustcrazy
Dating sim

Let me know in the comments what you think, and let me know if you have any good Zelda spin-off ideas.