Playing The Legend of Zelda series in Easy Order – What to play first? 

The Legend of Zelda is one of the most renowned sagas globally and goes down as Nintendo’s second-best hallmark game in the videogame industry, next only to Super Mario.  

Moreover, the series has received a massive boost in its present generation games due to the release of installments, such as Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD remastered.  

Several players, beginners, and veterans wonder how to navigate The Legend of Zelda franchise due to its massive variety, consisting of 20 main games, nine remakes, and 17 spin-offs. Although there is no correct answer, there are a few ideas you can follow to play the series logically. This order includes playing The Legend of Zelda series chronologically or release date-wise. 

Here’s more about how to play The Legend of Zelda series in order.  

1. The Chronological Order to Play The Legend of Zelda Series 

The vast The Legend of Zelda timeline is divided into multiple timelines, namely before the Ocarina of Time timeline, the Child Era timeline, the Adult Era timeline, the Hero is Defeated timeline, and the Unification timeline.  

If you’re a storyline geek and want to learn the franchise’s narrative as intended by the developers, consider playing The Legend of Zelda series in the chronological order below. 

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword 
2. The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap 
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 
4. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 
5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 
6. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures 
7. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 
8. The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass 
9. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks 
10. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 
11. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Season/Ages 
12. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening 
13. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 
14. The Legend of Zelda: Tri-Force Heroes 
15. The Legend of Zelda 
16. The Legend of Zelda II: Adventure of Link 
17. The Legend of Zelda: Breathe of the Wild 
18. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 

Note: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Season and Oracle of Ages are the same game, but the former focus on action while the latter focuses on puzzles.  

Also, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords is another game in the series, but it’s not mentioned in the above chronological order as it’s merely a culmination of A Link to the Past and Four Swords Adventure. 

2. The Release Order to Play The Legend of Zelda Series 

With so many games in the franchise, it can be hard to find a few installments, let alone keep track of them. If you’re a clumsy gamer who just wishes to enjoy the gameplay The Legend of Zelda series offers, playing it in the release order will work out well for you. 

The release order to play The Legend of Zelda series is given below. 

1. The Legend of Zelda – 1986 
2. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link – 1987 
3. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – 1991 
4. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – 1993 
5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – 1998 
6. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – 2000 
7. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons – 2001 
8. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages – 2001 
9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords – 2002 
10. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – 2002 
11. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures – 2004 
12. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap – 2004 
13. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – 2006 
14. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – 2007 
15. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – 2009 
16. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – 2011 
17. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds – 2013 
18. The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes – 2015 
19. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 2017 
20. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – 2023 

3. Which The Legend of Zelda game should you play first? 

If you have a Nintendo Switch and want to explore the Zelda series for the first time, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a perfect choice. However, you can also start with Link’s Awakening or Ocarina of Time. Although for different reasons, the games mentioned above are the best place to start The Legend of Zelda for beginners. 

Breath of the Wild is reputed among gamers as one of the best games of all time due to its exciting representation of exploration and adventure with a pinch of eye-catching art. Additionally, Link’s Awakening would be a better place to start if you don’t want to spend a lot of time on the first Zelda game, as it only requires 20 to 30 hours to beat. 

4. Do you need to play The Legend of Zelda series in order? 

Even though The Legend of Zelda series follows a specific timeline and possesses a given chronological order that players can explore, most games in the franchise can be treated as standalone. So, you don’t need to play the Legend of Zelda series in order. 

You can treat a few installments as direct sequels to the previous ones, like Majora’s Mask is a sequel to Ocarina of Time, Phantom Hourglass is a sequel to Wind Waker, and A Link Between Worlds is somewhat of a sequel to A Link to the Past. Nevertheless, these are the only games you should seriously consider playing in order, but the rest can be played as games with an independent narrative.  

5. What is the longest The Legend of Zelda game? 

Unsurprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the longest game in the Zelda series. Although players can technically run straight to fight Calamity Ganon after the tutorial, a basic run through the entire game would take 50 hours at least.  

On the other hand, a perfectionist run through the whole game would take around 190-200 hours. Furthermore, Breath of the Wild consists of a couple of DLCs, The Master Trials, and The Champion’s Ballad, taking the total gameplay time to 25-30 hours extra.  

6. What The Legend of Zelda game is the shortest? 

The first game in The Legend of Zelda franchise, The Legend of Zelda (1986), is the shortest game of the series. While standard gameplay through this game would only require 8-9 hours, completionist gameplay would require players to invest 10-11 hours.  

It may not be the lengthiest game in the Zelda series, but the Legend of Zelda was a revolutionary game nonetheless. Recently, a sealed copy of this game was sold for a ground-breaking amount in an auction.  

7. What are the easiest and the hardest The Legend of Zelda games? 

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is one of the easiest games in the Zelda series. This sequel to A Link to the Past is a game you never know you needed, and most players describe playing it as virtually “breezing” through it. On the other hand, The Legend of Zelda II: Adventure of Link is by far the hardest game of the series.  

While A Link Between Worlds contains a few clever puzzles and unique dungeons, the enemies in the game are a bit on the weaker side. In contrast, Adventure of Link is considered the black sheep of the Zelda series and deemed unfair because it throws an endless stream of enemies on an already weak Link. 

8. Should you play Zelda Ages or Seasons first? 

Whether you should play Oracle of Ages or Oracle of Seasons first depends on the kind of gameplay you prefer. If you prefer solving puzzles and riddles, go for Oracle of Ages first. But if you prefer combat and action-packed gameplay, Oracle of Seasons is your calling.  

Furthermore, the order of the story depends on which game you play first, so players won’t really miss out on anything regardless of which one they start with.  

9. More About The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an upcoming action-adventure game developed and produced by Nintendo. It’s scheduled for release on 12^th May 2023.  

Nintendo announced the game at E3 2019 with an initial release date in 2022. However, the developers later changed the release date to Q2 2023. Also, it’s a sequel to Breath of the Wild and a possible conclusion to The Legend of Zelda series.  

10. About The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch and Wii U consoles.

Breath of the Wild is part of the Legend of Zelda franchise and is set at the end of the Zelda timeline; the player controls Link, who awakens from a hundred-year slumber to defeat Calamity Ganon and save the kingdom of Hyrule.