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The Legend of Zelda is among the most cherished franchises in computer game history, ideal beside Super Mario Bros., Pokemon, and Sonic the Hedgehog. For almost 40 years, fans have actually taken pleasure in playing through the large world and tradition of Hyrule with numerous versions of Link, the mute green-clad knight testified secure the kingdom and Princess Zelda from the evil of Ganon.
Now that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is approaching its release date in May, you might be looking play all the video games in the series in release order or sequential order. If you’re decreasing the latter path and do not understand which Zelda video game to begin with, you’ve concerned the best location. Continue reading for the complete timeline.
Games How To Play The Legend of Zelda Games In Chronological Order
If you’ve been a hardcore Legend of Zelda fan considering that 1986, you might have observed that Link looks like a young person in one video game, a kid in another, and vice versa. The disparity in Link’s age is since Nintendo made the timeline open up to analysis. Nintendo launched the master timeline in Hyrule Historia in 2011, which begins with Skyward Sword and branches into 3 various timelines after Ocarina of Time: the Child Timeline, the Adult Timeline, and the Fallen Hero Timeline. The Calamity Timeline, which appropriately begins with Age of Calamity, is different from those timelines since it rendered them a misconception.
That being stated, here is the list of The Legend of Zelda video games in sequential order according to the imaginary connection. Hyrule Warriors is its own different thing since it was established by Koei Tecmo, Omega Force, and Team Ninja– the developers of Dynasty Warriors– so we’re leaving out the video game from the list because of that.
Dive to:
- Early History Timeline
- Kid Timeline
- Adult Timeline
- Fallen Hero Timeline
- The Calamity Timeline
- Release Order
Early History
1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Skyward Sword occurs countless years after the Ancient Battle in the Era of the Goddess Hylia, set on the drifting island of Skyloft where understanding of the surface area world listed below is nonexistent. This video game stars the very first Link, who creates the Master Sword from the Goddess Sword with the assistance of Fi as he saves Zelda from the devil lord Ghirahim in order to restore his master, Demise.
Almost 10 years after its release as a Wii video game, Skyward Sword got an HD remaster for the Nintendo Switch. The remaster has 2 control schematics: one where the Joy-Cons duplicate the movement control maps of the Wiimote and the Nunchuck, and another where the sword can be utilized with the best analog stick in portable mode.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
2. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
The Minish Cap is the only canon Zelda title established by a business besides Nintendo, which is Capcom. Link accompanies Zelda to the Picori Festival to commemorate small individuals who call themselves Minish. It’s here that sorcerer Vaati, the very first reincarnation of Demise, looks for the Light Force as he thinks it conceals the Picori Blade. After Vaati lets loose a crowd of beasts from breaking the sword’s seal and turns Zelda to stone while doing so, Link triggers to reforge the Picori Blade with the assistance of Ezlo, the eponymous Minish Cap who has the power to diminish the user to the size of the Minish.
The Minish Cap is a prequel to Four Swords due to the fact that when the Picori Blade is reforged, it develops into the Four Sword, which seals Vaati inside it. You can presently play the video game on Nintendo Switch thanks to the GBA video game upgrade.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
3. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Vaati breaks from the seal of the Four Sword and abducts Zelda with the intent of making her his bride-to-be. After drawing the Four Sword, Link divides into 4 copies himself– green, red, blue, and purple– and they all need to interact to beat numerous enemies to get to Vaati, reseal him in the Four Sword, and rescue Zelda.
Fours Swords is the very first multiplayer video game in the series that was bundled with the 2002 Game Boy Advance variation of A Link to the Past. It was later on launched as a standalone video game for DSiWare.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords.
4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
After having premonitions of Ganondorf taking the Triforce, a young Link is talented the fairy Navi by the Great Deku Tree, who is cursed and passing away, and sets them on a mission to stop him. He fulfills Princess Zelda, who had the exact same prophetic dreams as Link and they outline together to unlock of Time to get to the Triforce prior to Ganondorf does. When Link tries to draw the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time, he gets sealed away for 7 years and wakes up to a Hyrule wrecked by Ganondorf. Old adequate to wield the Master Sword, he accepts his fate as the Hero of Time, and takes a trip throughout the damaged kingdom– and time– to re-assemble the Triforce and defeat Ganondorf.
Here’s where the time split can be found in. After Ganondorf is sealed away in the Evil Realm, Zelda utilizes the Ocarina of Time to send out Link back to his own time, however it divides into 3 branches– the Fallen Hero Timeline, where Ganon beats Link; the Child Timeline, which follows Link back to his own time; and the Adult Timeline, where Link vanishes from Hyrule. The Master Sword exists in the last 2 timelines; nevertheless Link puts the sword back in the Pedestal of Time in the previous, while Zelda does so in the latter.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or have a look at more leading N64 video games
Kid Timeline
1. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Throughout his months-long look for Navi in this direct follow up to Ocarina of Time, Link faces the Skull Kid, who uses the titular mask and takes Link’s horse, triggering the hero to chase him into the parallel world of Termina. The mask itself is populated by a devil called Majora, and damages the Skull Kid to the point where he plots to ruin Termina by lowering the moon. With just 3 days to stop the armageddon, Link utilizes transformative masks to release the Four Giants from 4 various areas to assist keep the moon from hitting the earth and defeat Majora.
After conserving Termina from getting mauled by the moon, Link resumes his look for Navi, never ever to be seen once again. He becomes the Hero’s Spirit after his death.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess, Link is a cattle ranch hand and a descendant of the Hero’s Spirit. His tranquil life in Ordon Village is shattered by the shadow beasts called Bulbins, who he pursues after they abduct the kids and plunge the majority of Hyrule into Twilight. When Link goes into the Twilight, he changes into a wolf and coordinate with an imp called Midna to take on Zant, King of the Twilight, who looks for to rule over the worlds of light and shadow.
After Link eliminates Zant with the Fused Shadow, he saves Princess Zelda from a reanimated Ganondorf at Hyrule Castle and eliminates him with the Master Sword, which broke Link’s wolf curse after he drew it from the Sacred Grove, where the Temple of Time as soon as stood.
Golden Princess was the launch title for the Wii and the last first-party release for the Nintendo GameCube in 2006. It was remastered for the Wii U a years later on.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
3. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Centuries after Ganondorf’s death, Princess Zelda summons Link to the castle to safeguard her and her shrine maidens after finding out that the weird events pestering Hyrule were triggered by the weakening of Vaati’s seal. As Zelda deals with the maidens to restrengthen the seal, Shadow Link appears and abducts them. This forces Link to pull the Four Sword and work his multi-colored clones once again to beat his wicked doppelganger, who ends up being the minion of Ganon, who wishes to plunge the majority of Hyrule into darkness.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures
Adult Timeline
1. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
In the very first GameCube video game of the series, Link is a citizen of Outset Island who is not associated with the Hero of Time whatsoever. He sets out to save his more youthful sis Aryll, who gets abducted by the Helmaroc King per Ganondorf’s command to abduct girls with pointed ears in the hopes of recording Zelda. He gets assistance from the pirate captain Tetra– a version of Zelda. With the assistance of her pirate team and a talking boat called the King of Red Lions to cruise the ocean, they check out the islands to collect the powers needed to beat Ganondorf.
Nintendo remastered The Wind Waker in HD for the Wii U in 2013 to hold fans over while they await a brand-new entry to be established the exact same console– which ended up being Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch– and to offer designers space to evaluate what they can do with the brand-new hardware.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
After the occasions of The Wind Waker, Link cruises with Tetra and her team when they discover the Ghost Ship, among the ships reported to vanish on the planet of the Ocean King. When Tetra boards the ship in sight, she vanishes with it, triggering Link to save her only to get tossed overboard and clean up on Mercay Island. There he satisfies a fairy called Ciela and her grandpa Oshus, who offers Link the Phantom Hourglass to ward off menstruation put on the Temple of the Ocean King by Bellum.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
3. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
A century after the occasions of Phantom Hourglass, Link is a Royal Engineer who goes to the Tower of Spirits with Princess Zelda to examine the disappearance of the Spirit Tracks. Their train gets hindered by Chancellor Cole, a consultant to Zelda who exposes himself to be a satanic force on an objective to restore Malladus, the Demon King sealed underground long back by the Lokomo individuals. Cole casts a spell that separates Zelda’s soul from her body in order to utilize her body as a vessel for Malladus, fragmenting the Tower of Spirits, while her soul sticks with Link as they work to put it back in its rightful location.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Fallen Hero Timeline
1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Link hearkens a telepathic call from Princess Zelda to come to Hyrule Castle to conserve her from her jail time by the dark wizard Agahnim that utilized his powers to persuade Hyrule’s soldiers, depose the king, and got rid of 6 maidens to the Dark World in order to break the seal on Ganon and guideline both the Light and Dark Worlds. Link’s uncle likewise observes the call, however passes away in the dungeon– however not prior to informing Link he’s the successor to the Knights of Hyrule. Link finds out that in order to beat Agahnim, he’ll need to gather the 3 Pendants of Virtue from dungeons throughout Hyrule and after that get the Master Sword from the Lost Woods.
Throughout Link’s journeys to the Dark World by means of the Magic Mirror to save the maidens he finds Agahnim to be Ganon’s modify ego and battles Ganon in the Pyramid of Power.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
2. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
On his method back to Hyrule following his training to prep for brand-new catastrophes that would threaten the kingdom, Link gets captured in a storm in the middle of the ocean and winds up shipwrecked on the island of Koholint, where a huge egg rests on the peak of Mt. Tamaranch. He is saved by Marin, a girl who highly looks like Princess Zelda in spite of the video game not including her in any capability, and finds out that in order to leave the island, he’ll need to gather 8 Instruments of the Sirens and wake the Wind Fish who oversleeps the egg.
Link’s Awakening got a 3D remake for the Nintendo Switch in 2019, which saw Link updated to a chibi style.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
3. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
The Triforce calls Link to Holodrum, where he witnesses a dancer called Din, the titular Oracle of Seasons, get abducted by Onox, the General of Darkness. This occasion tosses the seasons of the land into chaos. To bring back the balance of the seasons, Link needs to gather the 8 Essences of Nature and utilize the Rod of Seasons to control the seasons all over he goes. After saving Din, he gets carried to Labrynna, where Oracle of Ages happens.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
4. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
As in Oracle of Seasons, the Triforce beckons Link to Labrynna, where the vocalist Nayru is had by Veran the Sorceress of Shadows, interrupting the circulation of time. Link utilizes the Harp of Ages to take a trip in between previous and present to gather the 8 Essences of Time and battle Veran atop the Black Tower.
Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons have an ending that is related to a password, so if one video game is played as a follow up to the other, Twinrova records Princess Zelda and lights the Flame of Despair. Connect beats Twinrova and an inadequately restored Ganon and releases Zelda, leaving Labrynna by boat.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
5. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
In this video game, Link, an apprentice to a blacksmith, comes across Yuga, who has actually been turning individuals throughout Hyrule into paintings, consisting of the Seven Sages and Princess Zelda. Utilizing a magic bracelet offered to him by a mystical peddler, Link journeys to Lorule to stop Yuga’s aspirations to take in Hyrule and Lorule with Ganon at his side.
A Link Between Worlds is popular for its double gameplay, as Link ends up being a two-dimensional painting himself while taking a trip through the walls of Lorule and reverses into his three-dimensional self when he goes back to Hyrule.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
6. The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
Tri Force Heroes is embeded in the kingdom of Hytopia, where Princess Styla is understood for her appeal and impressive taste in style. The witch Lady Maud cursed Styla with a brown one-piece suit that she can not take off at all, so Link signs up with 2 doppelgangers to collect the pieces of the Lady’s Ensemble and treatment Styla of her style catastrophe.
Tri Force Heroes is the very first video game in the series to support online multiplayer. The controls are the very same as Four Swords, despite the fact that there’s one less Link in the group.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
7. The Legend of Zelda
Ganon is restored to lead his army to attack Hyrule, take the Triforce of Power, and abduct Princess Zelda. Prior to she was taken and consequently put behind bars, Zelda divides the Triforce of Wisdom into 8 pieces and spreads them throughout the kingdom to keep it from falling into Ganon’s hands, leading her nursemaid Impa to discover Link. After discovering of Ganon’s intrusion, the hero discovers the 8 pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom, beats him, and saves Zelda.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda
8. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link
6 years later on after Ganon’s death, while assisting to bring back Hyrule, Link gets a radiant Triforce mark on his left hand on his 16th birthday. The mark unlocks to the altar where Princess Zelda I is under a sleeping curse, and Link discovers the she’ll just be awakened with the Triforce of Courage, which is kept in the Great Palace. Link sets out to deposit 6 crystals in the palaces around Hyrule, defeat 6 guardians, and beat any of Ganon’s minions attempting to get his blood to restore him.
Read our evaluation of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link
The Calamity Timeline
1. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Set 100 years prior to the occasions of Breath of the Wild, Link and Princess Zelda assemble their allies to protect Hyrule versus Calamity Ganon, who is trying to restore himself and damage the kingdom with his Malice. When a strange Guardian originates from the future bearing proof of their failure, they accelerate their efforts to coordinate with 4 champs of Hyrule’s other races to enhance their forces and discover the Master Sword in the Korok Forest to alter the result of their fight.
Not able to beat Calamity Ganon, even after the Divine Beasts have actually damaged him, Zelda seals herself and him away in Hyrule Castle, and sends out Link to sleep at the Shrine of Resurrection for 100 years to recover his deadly injuries.
Read our evaluation of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
A century has actually passed, and Link awakens from his corrective rest without his memories. Zelda’s awakening powers have actually damaged, Calamity Ganon has actually grown more powerful, and Hyrule has actually been entirely ruined by the Great Calamity. Link takes a trip all over Hyrule to restore his memories, totally free the Divine Beasts of the Blight Ganons, and face Ganon again.
Breath of the Wild is still extensively applauded as one of the very best open-world video games, with a design that has actually motivated video games outside the series like Immortals Fenyx Rising, Genshin Impact, and Sonic Frontiers.
Read our evaluation of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Games How To Play The Legend of Zelda Games By Release Date
If you wish to play The Legend of Zelda video games in the order in which they were launched rather of changing in between the modern-day video games and the traditional ones, here are all the mainline video games by U.S. release date.
- The Legend of Zelda – August 22, 1987 – NES
- Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link – December 1, 1988 – NES
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – April 13, 1992 – SNES
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – August 6, 1993 – Game Boy
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – November 21, 1998 – N64
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – October 26, 2000 – N64
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages – May 13, 2001 – Game Boy Color
- The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords – December 2, 2002 – Game Boy Advance
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – March 24, 2003 – GameCube
- The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures – June 7, 2004 – GameCube
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap – January 10, 2005 – Game Boy Advance
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – November 19, 2006 (Wii)/ December 11, 2006 (GameCube)
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – October 1, 2007 – Nintendo DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – December 7, 2009 – Nintendo DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D – June 19, 2011 – Nintendo 3DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – November 20, 2011 – Wii
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD – September 20, 2013 – Wii U
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D – February 13, 2015 – Nintendo 3DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes – October 23, 2015 – Nintendo 3DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD – March 4, 2016 – Wii U
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – March 3, 2017 – Nintendo Switch
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (2019) – September 20, 2019 – Nintendo Switch
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD – July 16, 2021 – Nintendo Switch
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – May 12, 2023 – Nintendo Switch