It all started somewhere. The Legend of Zelda had a vast back catalogue, and I would imagine each of us started in various places along the journey. Some may have started with the original Legend of Zelda back on the Nintendo Entertainment System, some may have started with Tears of the Kingdom. Our first Zelda tells a story, and today I want to tell you my story of my first Zelda, plus share some community stories with you too.

My first Zelda is an odd Zelda game. When you ask someone for their top Zelda games, this one probably won’t be in the list. My first Zelda was Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. This was dramatically different compared to the first Zelda. For a majority of the game it was a side-scrolling action/adventure game, rather than the top-down style the first game had introduced. This was Nintendo experimenting with different styles early in the lifecycle of Zelda, before the traditions set in.

I still love Zelda II though, to this day. I replayed it a couple of years ago to completion. It’s still tough, it still has it’s gameplay quirks. I was lucky enough to get a Nintendo Entertainment System when I was a kid, my Mum and Dad bought me one of bundles with a pack in Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt. Before we got the Nintendo, I remember playing Atari games, and when my parents would go to the pub to meet their friends or family I would always find the arcade machines there and beg them to play.

Playing Zelda II takes me back to sitting on the floor infront of an old-school TV. I remember taking it in turns with my Dad. Both of us would play it together if it was raining outside, and this being the UK, it would rain a lot, so we’d default to playing The Legend of Zelda. To this day I don’t know why I played Zelda II before playing The Legend of Zelda. Back in the day we’d go to the store and ask someone about games, and they would recommend you something. I guess Zelda II was newly released at the time, and that was recommended. I do remember we had the gold cartridge version, and it’s a fairly mysterious cover with the sword, so I imagine thats also what drew us in.

That is where it all started for me, sitting in front of the TV, Zelda II on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I had other games like Super Mario, Duck Hunt and Punch Out, but Zelda II Was my favourite. Having played it again, I don’t know how we made progress through that game. I can’t remember if I completed it as a kid, but I do remember fighting Dark Link so I must have gotten pretty far. The Final Boss is insanely difficult.

I hope in the future Nintendo does something with Zelda II, like remaster it and introduce this strange Zelda relic to a new audience. I think it’s got a bad reputation, but if you take the time to sit down with it and play through, I still think it’s good fun. It’s available on Nintendo Switch Online, so I’d recommend playing Zelda II to anyone.

OK, that is my first Zelda game, and the one that started it all for me. If kid version of me could see me today and see I’m making YouTube videos about Zelda, he’d probably think that was pretty cool. So I didn’t want to make this all about me, I wanted to share your first Zelda games too, because there is a running theme here with memories of friends and family. My most pronounced memory is playing Zelda II with my Dad, and it turns out others have great stories too.

I asked the Triforce Times community:

What was your first Zelda game? How did it shape your relationship with gaming? Did you play on your own or with family or friends?

@RizzyGyatt
Ocarina of Time was my first Zelda game. It released in America on my brother’s birthday and in Japan on my birthday. We saved up money to buy an N64 with dad and it was and still is the greatest gaming experience to date. I remember being scared shitless of Under the Well, Shadow Temple, Spirit Temple (the flying pots in the intro to this day still send chills up my spine), and being hyped as hell to watch my dad and brother beat Ganon. Zelda nowadays is still my favorite game series, and I played every game to date with my top 3 being OoT, TotK, and MM.

@XIntoxicationalX
The original LoZ on GBA, I played without guides as a child and it was very satisfying finishing it. Then I got to borrow OoT on the N64 and Majoras Mask

@Klatubarada1979
The first one, then the second one. Both made me appreciate more what I consider to be the greatest game of all time. A Link to the Past!

@eeveefennecfox
ocarina of time,and I only got to play the game by myself,mom didn’t like legend of zelda,she thought it was boring ;-; dad doesn’t like video games,and I did get to play ocarina of time with my friend and when we got stuck,we just rode epona everywhere XD

@msw0322
My first Zelda game was the original Legend of Zelda on NES. I got it for my 10th birthday in 1991, been a fan of the series since.

@jimmann1680
1st game on NES….And I have played every game since on the main consoles.

@keirawalton2578
I used to watch my step dad play twilight princess on the wii when i was little and then when he left my mum he left behind all his games so since then its always been my favourite video game as well as zelda game

@NintendoHacker1980
Zelda one, with grandpa as he babysat me every Saturday no matter what…..beating Ganon was a moment ill never forget, well until kid icarus came along

@John-xo6wq
Got A Link to the Past when I was 6 years old. At that time, if I’m not mistaken, Nintendo was giving out a random free game as a surprise with each new SNES and the one my mom just so happened to buy came with A Link to the Past. Ever since I’ve beaten 13 Zelda games and have a Link/Dark Link tattoo.

@billfrantz1638
The Legend of Zelda. Story time! I grew up poor on the Canadian border, watching a television made of wood and dials. I got a Nintendo from my estranged father, which gave me basically control of the television. My mom didn’t like all the “jumping games”, Mario, Metroid and others until I got Dr Mario, suddenly it was interesting. Then she started Zelda. My friends and I had moved on to Super Nintendo at their houses, but at home I was my mom’s Zelda dungeon guide book. Hours of “up, left, up, right”. Now my mom is 73 and has finished more Zelda games and Zelda clones than I have. The legend of Zelda series is the one thing my mom and I both enjoy together.

@ZeldianGamer-231
My first real Zelda game was Wind Waker. It was what got me into the rest of the Zelda games, and now I’m a huge Zelda fan. Wind Waker will always be a game that is very special to me, and I always have fond memories thinking about it. I played alongside my siblings, and WE HAD A BLAST. We laughed, cried, and cheered on the Hero of Winds while I played this wonderful game.

@Heydudhfmf
Me and my dad played through twilight princess when I got a Wii in 2009, has been my favorite franchise ever since

@LynzArts
My first game was Link between worlds. I bought it almost on a whim at GameStop. I saw it and majoras mask on the shelf, remembered a friend liked Zelda, and so thought maybe I’d try it out. I asked the cashier which one I should play first, and she said link between worlds so I got that one.
I absolutely loved it! It was like it was made specifically to cater to my interests. I loved the puzzles and the painting mechanic. I loved the story and characters. This was my first game with LORE, and I ate it up.
It became my favorite game I had ever played. I remember thinking these words specifically as the credits rolled, “I need more of this.”
So I went back to GameStop and bought Majoras mask, started it, stopped, looked up that it was a sequel, bought oot and played that, and it goes on from there. I’ve now played most of the 3D titles, I own or have access to all of the 2D titles and I’m working through them. The Zelda series is now my favorite video game franchise.
Link between worlds isn’t my favorite anymore, (botw and oot fight for that now) but it still very much holds a special place in my heart.

@ggbetz
My gamer aunt gifted my brother and I the very first zelda and its still one of my favs to just walk around in. She actually had to go to the emergency room with a repetitive stress injury on her thumb because of it and other games. She left the game on pause and went back to it as soon as she got home! Haha, it definitely caused permanent damage and yet she still games to this day! The news dubbed it “Nintendo Thumb” but on our house it was always “Zelda thumb”! A real treasured memory. We’ve since gone on to play almost every game in the franchise (along with many other video games)

@Memo-yh4nc
Ocarina of Time 3d. One of my friends on the school bus was playing it and I learned soon after that a lot of the kids were all buying it and playing it. It was really cool to play the game and learn its secrets and share them with each other. If one of us got stuck on a puzzle, we’d just ask around to others. And we all struggled hard with Master Mode. This was in my 3rd grade.

@Jackson-101
My first Zelda game was surprisingly Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. I was starting to get into NES games when I was a kid, so I got it on the Virtual Console. I never got too far, even with save states, but I really enjoyed the game and have a fondness for it still today. The first Zelda game I “truly” played through was Breath of the Wild, and I fell in love. Since then I’ve played every 3D Zelda and I’m now working on the 2D entries! I’ve also since finished Adventure of Link and it’s one of my favorites in the series!

@Cosmosis-86
My first Zelda experience was the original on NES, my dad bought it… he would play through night and my sister and I played during the day, we took turns when one lost all their hearts. I then returned to the series with the release of Ocarina Of Time, it was nice but Twilight Princess was epic at the time/ the best experience and here I am now… Twilight Princess, A Link Between Worlds and BOTW being my all time favourites along with the original

@GamingReinvented
My first Zelda game was The Wind Waker on GameCube. Yeah, I’d seen other Zelda games before then, in the pages of official magazines and what not, and I was definitely interested in playing them. But I’d never got around to it, despite how interesting the games looked in those reviews and walkthroughs. Somehow though, when I had little else to play in the GameCube era, I bought the Wind Waker for that console at a whim, alongside that Ocarina of Time/Master Quest bonus disc. And surprisingly, I got hooked on the game near immediately. I played it for what must be weeks at that point, mostly 100% completing the title in the process, then decided to try out various other Zelda games after that, like Ocarina of Time, The Minish Cap, etc.

@wilsonaish
My first Zelda game was the very first one on the NES.

@RinRin-ge7bq
I’m already seeing a theme that I relate to in these comments. Our initial playthroughs as kids were a lot of the time done alongside family, and that was the case with me as well! My first experience with Zelda was A Link to the Past, but I barely got past the castle on my own. One day, my dad brought Ocarina of Time home from the video rental store (in 1998, yes I am almost 40) and we plunged headfirst into that game together! He was good at the combat and I was good at the puzzle solving. We worked in tandem to beat that game, and some of my best memories of my dad are from those times. As a result, OOT is my absolute favorite Zelda game to date, and I think it always will be.

@sparklefulpaladin
My first Zelda game that I tried any of was Ocarina of Time, but I didn’t even make it all the way to Gohma.

The first Zelda game I actually played was Link Between Worlds and I fell in love with the series through that. Even though it’s not one of the best (by most people’s opinions), what I really enjoyed about it was the flexibility in dungeon order and the fact that there weren’t really any “misses” as far as dungeons or bosses went. Even the worst dungeon which, in my opinion, was Ice Palace, was still pretty enjoyable and fun. Thieves Hideout had a really cool take on the escort mission. Skull Woods made me simultaneously terrified of Wallmasters and intrigued by them. Swamp Palace was my second favorite Water Dungeon that I’ve played in the series. Plus, the story was pretty charming and finding Ravio’s Hood in TotK just brought back a lot of memories of that game.

Since Link Between Worlds is often called out as a spiritual successor to A Link to the Past, I’d love to go back and play that one someday.

I have since gone back and played Ocarina of Time (both regular and most of Master Quest), Majora’s Mask, most of Windwaker, as well as BotW, Echoes of Wisdom and am currently working my way through TotK.

@victorcastanedab
My first Zelda game was Breath of the Wild, actually. Although I was a kid (not that I’m that old now at 21, but you get what I mean) during the Wii era and have nostalgia for games like Super Mario Galaxy, I didn’t actually play any Zelda game at the time (I have played many of the older titles since then). I think Breath of the Wild in particular made me appreciate games for more than just the fun and the stories. It made me realize how videogames can be a form of art: they can be beautiful, they can convey emotions, and of course they can also be an entertaining experience, and so much more…

@TheRealPSKilla502
Phantom Hourglass

@dustybees6308
My first Zelda was technically a link to the past on my cousins file, I must have been 5 at the time. He was in skull woods and I didn’t know what I was doing. Though the moment everything changed I was at a friends house and we were on his brothers file of oot in the Gerudo training grounds. We couldn’t find the final key. As soon as I got home I begged my parents to get me the game. Been impacted by that game for all these years.

@darkdragonmedeus705
My very first is A Link to the Past, and my childhood favorite game of all time. It really made me in love with gaming as a whole and especially the Super Nintendo. Such iconic music, story, aesthetics, adventuring, puzzles, exploration, ect. And so many secrets to be found as well. Me and my brothers were all crazy addicted to the game back in the day. And I just feel like no other Zelda has the same charm. And I think Shigeru Miyamoto is correct about this being the most “Legend of Zelda” game in the Legend of Zelda series. Of course, Tears of the Kingdom momentarily surpassed it for me, but it may either be solidified as my favorite or go to the next really big Zelda game. And the only other Super Nintendo game that tops this for me in terms of “As close to perfect as a game gets” is Chrono Trigger. But A Link to the Past also in turn got me into various JRPGs on Super Nintendo despite not being turn based. It kind of just paved the way for future aesthetics and what not.

@michaellentner9141
At like 6-7 years old I played original zelda nes, but didn’t understand it well and could never make it far. The first zelda that brought me into the franchise was minish cap on gba, and then wind waker at around the same time

@Romulus879
I played a bit Link‘s Awakening on the Gameboy of my brother, but not much.
For me my first Zelda game(s) were the Oracle games. I started them with Seasons. I played some of the game alone and some parts together with my brother.
I really loved the combination of the two games and it took me years of playing to find out all the secrets, passwords,…
And it is one of the few memories I was doing something with my brother, because most times our interests were very different.

I‘ve always played more boardgames than digital ones, but Zelda was one of the digital series, which I really enjoyed everytime.

@danielostblom5250
My first Zelda was actually the very first, The Legend of Zelda for the NES. I grew up in the 80’s, so all my friends were playing NES all the time. And of course they would all play this. I didn’t own an NES at the time though, so me and my dad would go to a video rental place and actually rent an NES and a game or two for some weekends. So my fondest Zelda memories are still playing the game with him on these weekends, trying to find all the dungeons and items, and solve all puzzles and beat the bosses. Good times, for sure!

Let me know what you think in the comments.