One of the biggest Nintendo franchises that has thrived for more than 35 years, The Legend of Zelda games are amongst some of the most beloved video games in history. Having first released on the NES and SNES back in the 1980s, the Zelda games have evolved over the decades, taking the gameplay series to new heights.
With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom having been released on the Nintendo Switch in 2023, fans are loving it in the Kingdom of Hyrule. With this in mind, we’re going to take a look back at the history of The Legend of Zelda Games in order.
The Legend of Zelda – 1986
The one that started it all, The Legend of Zelda took the world by storm when it launched for the NES. Selling millions of copies and being lauded for its graphics, gameplay, music and writing, The Legend of Zelda quickly became an instant classic and helped popularise the NES console, as well as the action-adventure genre itself. But this was only the start of the Zelda series.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link – 1987
Less than a year after its first release, The Legend of Zelda got a direct sequel in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Despite the quick turnaround, the gameplay of Zelda II was vastly different from the first, shifting towards more role-playing and even side-scrolling gameplay over the action of the original. It was another huge success and technically was the only canonical sequel to the original until 2017’s Breath of the Wild.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – 1991
For the third entry in the Zelda series, Nintendo decided to make a prequel, exploring Hyrule many years before the first game. In terms of gameplay, A Link to the Past returns to the top-down gameplay of the original, but also features a parallel, Dark World, a ravaged version of the Hyrule Kingdom. A Link to the Past is considered one of the best in the series, and by many critics, one of the best video games of all time. Nintendo was going from strength to strength with the Zelda games at this time.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – 1998
After some lesser handheld-only games, Nintendo returned to the Zelda series with their first fully 3D game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The first Zelda game to release on the Nintendo 64, Nintendo made the most of the system’s superior hardware to introduce a wealth of graphical and gameplay changes, including context-sensitive buttons and a lock-on targeting system, which today are commonplace in video games.
It was another massive success, becoming the highest-grossing entry in the series to that date.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – 2000
For the direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, Nintendo took things in a darker direction. With the fate of Hyrule Kingdom at stake, Link battles to prevent the moon from crashing into the world and destroying it. While dungeon gameplay carries across from other entries, the big feature of Majora’s Mask is the 3-day cycle the game has, giving you a time limit before the end of the world.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – 2002
Where Majora’s Mask took the series in a new, darker direction, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker tried to open up the appeal to all age groups. Now featuring cel-shaded graphics and a more cartoony art style, Wind Waker definitely takes a less realistic approach. With its big and expansive world, Wind Waker was very popular with fans of the series and marked a great start to Zelda on the Gamecube.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – 2023
Tears of the Kingdom looks to build upon the incredibly solid groundwork of Breath of the Wild. Retaining the open world setting but looking to expand the verticality, Tears of the Kingdom offers a range of new abilities that Link can use on his journey. One of the most anticipated releases of 2023, Tears of the Kingdom is set to be a must-have for fans of The Legend of Zelda series.
