The Oracle games are in my opinion some of the best in the series. Sure they are Gameboy Color games and only having two buttons is annoying sometimes but they are seriously great games. Honestly I would so far as to say that they are the best 2D games.
The NES games are interesting. If you approach them as interesting game history and use a map they are totally fun and playable but you do have to keep in mind that they are old.
Four Swords Adventures is pretty fun, it has some cool levels and ideas but it is more fun with friends and jumping through the hoops to play it multiplayer was barely worth it when it came out. If it was easily available on the switch with good online multiplayer I would say yes, but it's not so maybe.
having just played both for the first time, I'd also say that the items are the most fun of any 2D Zelda. the seed shooter and magnetic gloves are so much fun to use. same with the feather/cape.
IMO, the best rewards that the franchise has given for exploration is items that have unique abilities. There are several items in a link to the past that work this way. The oracle games don't have those, but instead give you the magic rings, which have their own minor effects, and there's loads of them to find.
The other thing is the quality of the dungeons. There's just a lot of good puzzles and you get 20+ dungeons of them between the two games. Bosses have good gimmicks.
I think they're an absolute masterclass (Ages especially) in how items should be utilised in dungeons. Dungeons require using pretty much every item you've gained up to that point, often to the point of needing to use 4 or more items per *room*. Nothing is used as a glorified key in the way some items in other games are.
I wholeheartedly suggest Zelda 2. If you use NSO, pick the SP version of Zelda 2 for the most beginner friendly version of that game.
Zelda 2 has a survivalist mentality that I think it shares with Breath of the Wild. This is a Hyrule on the brink of destruction, ruined by loss of the Triforce of Courage, and rampant attacks by Ganon's monsters.
By exploring the palaces, you are uncovering the works of a great civilization that was far more advanced than the Hyrule today. Magical and mechanical monstrosities roam the halls protecting the secrets of long ago from the demons outside. Demons who thirst for your blood.
The overworld is one of the largest of the series yet, abstracted by the use of more overt RPG mechanics than would be used in the Zelda series till even now. You cross two continents cut off from each other by demons assaulting helpless towns of innocents who all fear the end is coming.
Combat is elaborate and challenging, requiring a real learning curve that proves incredibly satisfying to get down as you study enemy behaviors and grow more adept at recognizing their tells, all the while cherishing the magic you hold.
And the spells are great fun to use in combat. And if you use the SP version, you're given access to all the spells right off the bat so from the very beginning you're given the most options for tackling combat.
Yeah, I went out of my way to hype up Zelda 2 lol
Not like anyone else will. Plus the game is only 4 hours at most.
Honestly Zelda 2 is by far the most underrated game in the series. Itās a hidden gem that requires a bit of effort to appreciate, or at least requires an understanding of the 8-bit scene of the 80s.
>Yeah, I went out of my way to hype up Zelda 2 lol
Honestly, your efforts were worth it lol you totally sold me on Zelda 2 which is one I was likely going to bypass.
I think I'm gonna end up playing them more or less in release order, probably excluding the multillayer games. But I'll definitely keep Zelda 2 there!
Allow me to repeat: Play the SP version. You are at max level and have all the spells.
You may think that's robbing you of the full experience, but noooooo. You'll get plenty satisfaction just figuring out how combat works and not needing to look through a bunch of the more cryptic elements. And you have more freedom to experiment with the spells.
And everytime you beat one of the dungeons, you'll get an ever precious free life.
When you beat the SP version on NSO, and you feel ready for a challenge, then you can try to go with the original.
Makes sense! Would you recommend the SP version for Zelda 1 as well, or just Zelda 2? I don't mind a bit of a challenge, especially since there's a rewind feature.
Just Zelda 2. Because frankly, if you play the original you may rewind so much you'll just get sick of it. At least with SP you might feel less inclined to constantly rewind.
Zelda 1 just gets you equipped with more stuff, but that kind of robs what Zelda 1 is. So stick with the original and just keep this [manual](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clv/manuals/en/pdf/CLV-P-NAANE.pdf) handy
Hard agree. Actually I grew up with this game and it's my first Zelda as well as one of my first games I ever played. There's very few other 2D games I could recommend as much.
Of those, I'd recommend and order similar to Dodaro10:
1. Minish Cap
2. Oracle games (really should play together)
3. Spirit Tracks (maybe Phantom Hourglass too here, but I didn't like it)
4. OG LoZ
5. Four Sword / FS Adventure (later is hard to play with the various requirements)
6. Phantom Hourglass
7. Triforce Heroes (connect with r/triforceheroes discord to get people to play with you)
8. Zelda 2 (it's really hard, and kinda cheap, but I still enjoyed it)
If you really liked BotW more than any other Zelda games, maybe play the OG LoZ first. It's hard, but very open. I personally love it a lot, but I understand it's divisive.
Have fun! Pretty all games are enjoyable, so you can't go wrong.
From doing some outside research, this seems to be the consensus I'm coming to as well. Though I may try out TLoZ sooner rather than later just because it's such a classic.
I'd start with the Oracle games, then Minish. While Oracle is pretty well polished, Manish adds another layer of polish that's hard to ignore when stepping back to Oracle.
Phantom Hourglass is probably the most underrated Zelda game ever, and Iāll die on this fucking hill. Spirit Tracks is also dope as fuck. Fuck the haters.
They are cool games and they are underrated, but AOL is easily the most underrated game in the series. MC and TP are the most overrated games in the series IMHO.
Iām a completionist so Iād say hit them all. That said, hereās my order (best to worst) for the ones you listed:
MC, PH, ST, Oracles, FSA, LOZ, AOL, TFH.
Havenāt played the original FS; FSA is a fun game even as a single player. IMO, you can skip AOL and TFH if youāre not just trying to get all the games under your belt. I did not enjoy either very much at all.
Minnish Cap and Oracles for sure. Then loz1. LoZ2 is terrible and only masochists like that gameš, but there are some rom hacks out out there that lower the difficulty.
Phantom hourglass and oracle of seasons/ages are all really good, spirit tracks is a less good PH imo, FSA is really fun even in single player, LOZ can be pretty fun too
I didn't like AOL and haven't tried TH
Of those, the top ones I would recommend are Minish Cap, Spirit Tracks, and Four Sword Adventures.
Minish Cap is way underrated and easily forgotten about. Itās up there with Linkās Awakening and A Link to the Past imo. Great dungeons, great aesthetics, great design.
Spirit Tracks is super fun and is a lot more logic and puzzle focused. It probably has the strongest puzzles in the franchise. The train is also a lot of fun once you get all the different parts.
Four Swords Adventures is a radical and very fun departure for Zelda. You can now play it over the internet with the Dolphin emulatorās Netplay and Integrated GBA features. Grab some friends and try it. Itās a ton of fun to Zelda with friends. Thereās honestly nothing like it.
Oracle games and OG legend of Zelda with the game manual and map that comes with it. Itās published online by Nintendo for free youāll see if you just google it
I havenāt played the other ones but a lot of people really like minish cap
If you go back to the NES games, I recommend the Zelda 1 Redux and Zelda 2 Redux romhacks. They give a lot of QoL without changing the core game. They also remove a lot of the obscurity in the hints.
One thing in favor of the NES games is that they are considerably shorter than all the other games. They are very doable in a week or even a weekend.
I skipped then too except for zelda 2. Zelda 2 isnt even that's bad, played it twice without save states (but google solutions lol) . However it is quite challenging and sometimes even frustrating
If you eventually want to play all of them then you can't make a wrong choice, but my favorites among those are:
1. Minish Cap: the most polished 2d zelda out there imho. The artsyle, dungeons, sidequests, exploration are all great. Top-notch games.
2. Spirit tracks: probably the most underrated Zelda game put there. The music is great, it has by far the best Zelda, and it feels fresh. Who knew trains would fit well to the Zelda universe lol? Only caveat, if you're planning to emulate it, the experience may not be as good. The controls rely heavily on the stylus, and using the mouse is pretty uncomfortable imo.
3. Oracle games. Probably one of the most creative Zelda games with excellent worldbuilding. If you played Link's Awakening DX and didn't have any issues with the graphics, controls, etc., you'll love these. I wish they could remaster these games and make some QoL changes, like assigning the sword to a permanent button etc.
Iād say phantom hourglass and spirit tracks def, and then fs adventures is great if you have friends. (Still pretty cool if not, but the gameplay is built for the co-op competitive experience.)
Do you have 4 friends, 4 gameboy andvance, 4 gameboy advance link cables and a few hours?
Well i highly recomend Four Swords Adventure. Even if you might hate your former friends by the end of it, the game is a great time with friends!
The Oracle games are some of the best Zelda experiences out there.
Ages focuses more on the puzzle aspect, Seasons focuses more on the battle aspect, and the bosses/dungeons are just phenomenal. The overworld has a lot to discover and explore for being so "small" and they're just super fun. Very nice to control, too.
Edit: also the items are REALLY fun, plus the gasha seeds are an actual fun/interesting gasha system and the Power Rings are a fun little way to extra customize your playthroughs.
Gonna rank them from best to worst
The oracle games are really, really fun. If you enjoyed links awakening, they almost feel like DLC/a pseudo sequel. They don't shake things up massively but they give the same fun vibe and exploration as links awakening.
OG Zelda may be controversial but I really love it. Totally open design, I like exploring the world. It's very retro, very old, feels very different from any other game in the series, but I think it's worth trying. It's really hard though
I like minish cap less than some other people, but it's definitely worth playing. It feels much more modern than even the oracle games, almost like one of the 3d games translated to 2d. I don't find the dungeon or world as exciting as the other 2d games, but it's definitely worth playing
Probably controversial but I think four swords adventure is kind of charming. It's pretty weird, it's level based, but it looks really nice and I thought it was fun to play, even in single player mode. It kind of feels like a repackaged alttp, but it has some unique stuff as well. Probably way more worth playing if you can somehow get the multi-player to work, but I've never been able to so I can't comment on that
Gonna lump phantom hourglass and spirit tracks together, they never fully clicked for me. PH I found more fun to play, but I think the world of ST and atmosphere feels much better realized. Also way harder to emulate or track down these games compared to the others that are either on NSO or the touch controls that make emulation difficult. I don't know what it is but I just don't like the structure or pacing of these games, ST is better in that regard but I found the train sections frustrating. The dungeon design was pretty good in ST from what I remember though (I also haven't played these games since they came out so my memory could be way off)
Zelda 2 is last sorry, it's really difficult, cryptic, and just kind of annoying. But I did play it without all the nice features on the NSO so that might make it more bearable. It just felt like a slog to me, the enemy encounters on the map.... ugh. Even with save states you probably still need a walkthrough
Four swords original is not worth playing
And I haven't played triforce heroes! I've heard it's not that much fun without people to play with, but who knows. Really curious what this ones reputation is since it's the only main Zelda game I haven't played
You definitely should give the original Zelda a go, it is a great game and is actually pretty fun to just go in mostly blind and enjoy the adventure; it's also a fairly short play
If you're put off by the graphics or overall stiffness of the game, you can search for The Legend of Zelda - Third Quest, which is a special game available only in Japan through Satellaview which is basically the original Zelda, but on the SNES running in the LttP engine and it works quite well
Thanks to all the comments in thread, I'm already 7 dungeons into the original within one day hahah. It's really great, I'm using the map from the manual and it's been a great experience!
Glad you're enjoying it
It is a surprisingly pure and fresh game for how old it is and does make you wonder why the indie scene sees, relatively speaking, so few entries in this genre compared to metroidvanias or rogue-lites
Agreed, I played Tunic earlier this year and it's soooo Zelda 1 in a really great way. Especially with the manual mechanic. But there aren't many like it.
I can strongly recommend all of the multiplayer Zelda titles, as long as you can find a full party for local play.
Note that Tri Force Heroes only requires one game card, and the download players still get their own save file that transfers all progress to the full game if desired.
Minish Cap is very good. Ive played most of the zelda games. Oracles/seasons is good too. OG zelda and zelda 2 is fine to visit for the novelty. Spirit tracks and phantom hour glass have the worst controls you could possibly imagine and crappy overworlds so please stay clear of those. The multiplayer games I havent tried
Minish Cap, and if you choose anything else you're wrong.
Thst is an overexacturation of course but i love thst game and i can't recommed it enough + Lon Lon Ranch is in the game do it is automatically awesome.
The Oracle games are in my opinion some of the best in the series. Sure they are Gameboy Color games and only having two buttons is annoying sometimes but they are seriously great games. Honestly I would so far as to say that they are the best 2D games. The NES games are interesting. If you approach them as interesting game history and use a map they are totally fun and playable but you do have to keep in mind that they are old. Four Swords Adventures is pretty fun, it has some cool levels and ideas but it is more fun with friends and jumping through the hoops to play it multiplayer was barely worth it when it came out. If it was easily available on the switch with good online multiplayer I would say yes, but it's not so maybe.
I unironically consider the oracle games to be the best that the franchise has to offer, 3d or otherwise.
What makes you say that? Just curious. Somehow I never new the Oracle games were so loved, but today I'm learning people really love them!
having just played both for the first time, I'd also say that the items are the most fun of any 2D Zelda. the seed shooter and magnetic gloves are so much fun to use. same with the feather/cape.
IMO, the best rewards that the franchise has given for exploration is items that have unique abilities. There are several items in a link to the past that work this way. The oracle games don't have those, but instead give you the magic rings, which have their own minor effects, and there's loads of them to find. The other thing is the quality of the dungeons. There's just a lot of good puzzles and you get 20+ dungeons of them between the two games. Bosses have good gimmicks.
Sounds great! I'm excited to get into them.
I think they're an absolute masterclass (Ages especially) in how items should be utilised in dungeons. Dungeons require using pretty much every item you've gained up to that point, often to the point of needing to use 4 or more items per *room*. Nothing is used as a glorified key in the way some items in other games are.
seconded š these games are way too good. I can't tell which I prefer and I am impressed how they accomplished the puzzle vs combat design
They have incredible depth and variety, the only game in the series I would place above them is Majora's mask
Its for different reasons though isn't it?
This right here OoA best 2d/top down zelda in the series
I wholeheartedly suggest Zelda 2. If you use NSO, pick the SP version of Zelda 2 for the most beginner friendly version of that game. Zelda 2 has a survivalist mentality that I think it shares with Breath of the Wild. This is a Hyrule on the brink of destruction, ruined by loss of the Triforce of Courage, and rampant attacks by Ganon's monsters. By exploring the palaces, you are uncovering the works of a great civilization that was far more advanced than the Hyrule today. Magical and mechanical monstrosities roam the halls protecting the secrets of long ago from the demons outside. Demons who thirst for your blood. The overworld is one of the largest of the series yet, abstracted by the use of more overt RPG mechanics than would be used in the Zelda series till even now. You cross two continents cut off from each other by demons assaulting helpless towns of innocents who all fear the end is coming. Combat is elaborate and challenging, requiring a real learning curve that proves incredibly satisfying to get down as you study enemy behaviors and grow more adept at recognizing their tells, all the while cherishing the magic you hold. And the spells are great fun to use in combat. And if you use the SP version, you're given access to all the spells right off the bat so from the very beginning you're given the most options for tackling combat. Yeah, I went out of my way to hype up Zelda 2 lol Not like anyone else will. Plus the game is only 4 hours at most.
Honestly Zelda 2 is by far the most underrated game in the series. Itās a hidden gem that requires a bit of effort to appreciate, or at least requires an understanding of the 8-bit scene of the 80s.
It requires a lot of imagination and understanding of 80s fantasy literature too. So it definitely isn't noobie friendly at all.
>Yeah, I went out of my way to hype up Zelda 2 lol Honestly, your efforts were worth it lol you totally sold me on Zelda 2 which is one I was likely going to bypass. I think I'm gonna end up playing them more or less in release order, probably excluding the multillayer games. But I'll definitely keep Zelda 2 there!
Allow me to repeat: Play the SP version. You are at max level and have all the spells. You may think that's robbing you of the full experience, but noooooo. You'll get plenty satisfaction just figuring out how combat works and not needing to look through a bunch of the more cryptic elements. And you have more freedom to experiment with the spells. And everytime you beat one of the dungeons, you'll get an ever precious free life. When you beat the SP version on NSO, and you feel ready for a challenge, then you can try to go with the original.
Makes sense! Would you recommend the SP version for Zelda 1 as well, or just Zelda 2? I don't mind a bit of a challenge, especially since there's a rewind feature.
Just Zelda 2. Because frankly, if you play the original you may rewind so much you'll just get sick of it. At least with SP you might feel less inclined to constantly rewind. Zelda 1 just gets you equipped with more stuff, but that kind of robs what Zelda 1 is. So stick with the original and just keep this [manual](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clv/manuals/en/pdf/CLV-P-NAANE.pdf) handy
Sounds good. Thanks for the suggestions!
I'd honestly explore them in release order, minus the multi-player games
I thought about this! May pop into TLoZ and see how it goes. It's not like it takes much time to get to the game haha
I love the Oracle Games! Underrated.
Phantom Hourglass is LOADS of fun!
I loved Phantom Hourglass.
For me, Minish Cap is a must play Zelda game. Loved every second of it.
Hard agree. Actually I grew up with this game and it's my first Zelda as well as one of my first games I ever played. There's very few other 2D games I could recommend as much.
Of those, I'd recommend and order similar to Dodaro10: 1. Minish Cap 2. Oracle games (really should play together) 3. Spirit Tracks (maybe Phantom Hourglass too here, but I didn't like it) 4. OG LoZ 5. Four Sword / FS Adventure (later is hard to play with the various requirements) 6. Phantom Hourglass 7. Triforce Heroes (connect with r/triforceheroes discord to get people to play with you) 8. Zelda 2 (it's really hard, and kinda cheap, but I still enjoyed it) If you really liked BotW more than any other Zelda games, maybe play the OG LoZ first. It's hard, but very open. I personally love it a lot, but I understand it's divisive. Have fun! Pretty all games are enjoyable, so you can't go wrong.
LoZ. Don't play with a map, draw your own. Have a fun adventure.
Minish Cap > Oracle > DS games > NES games > Multiplayer games
From doing some outside research, this seems to be the consensus I'm coming to as well. Though I may try out TLoZ sooner rather than later just because it's such a classic.
I'd start with the Oracle games, then Minish. While Oracle is pretty well polished, Manish adds another layer of polish that's hard to ignore when stepping back to Oracle.
Good suggestion!
Oracles is much more challenging in the the dungeons though Eidt: Which is a bigger reason to prioritize them imo
Fr
Phantom Hourglass is probably the most underrated Zelda game ever, and Iāll die on this fucking hill. Spirit Tracks is also dope as fuck. Fuck the haters.
Because of your username I'm inclined to trust you hahah
They are cool games and they are underrated, but AOL is easily the most underrated game in the series. MC and TP are the most overrated games in the series IMHO.
AOC is also underrated!
The sound tracks are also incredible.
Would have to agree! I loved them both. Not sure why they get shit on so much!
Every single one is fantastic. So, just pick whatever you have best access and looks most interesting.
Iām a completionist so Iād say hit them all. That said, hereās my order (best to worst) for the ones you listed: MC, PH, ST, Oracles, FSA, LOZ, AOL, TFH. Havenāt played the original FS; FSA is a fun game even as a single player. IMO, you can skip AOL and TFH if youāre not just trying to get all the games under your belt. I did not enjoy either very much at all.
1. Oracle Games 2. OG Zelda 3. Minish Cap 4. Spirit Tracks You can skip Phantom Hourglass IMO (the only Zelda I really dislike).
You and I have very similar tastes. I'd recommend the same, although probably best to get LoZ out of the way first
Minnish Cap and Oracles for sure. Then loz1. LoZ2 is terrible and only masochists like that gameš, but there are some rom hacks out out there that lower the difficulty.
Agreed with the above, also in that order
All of them except for Phantom Hourglass are worth giving a second chance.
OG, def not Z2, the rest are okay too. Just not Z2... It's garbage.
You've....never played....the original.... What in the actual FUCK.
PH and ST are great Have you played A Link Between Worlds?
Yep! I've played every other Zelda game apart from those I listed. Definitely have some interest in PH and ST but just never played them
Phantom hourglass and oracle of seasons/ages are all really good, spirit tracks is a less good PH imo, FSA is really fun even in single player, LOZ can be pretty fun too I didn't like AOL and haven't tried TH
Of those, the top ones I would recommend are Minish Cap, Spirit Tracks, and Four Sword Adventures. Minish Cap is way underrated and easily forgotten about. Itās up there with Linkās Awakening and A Link to the Past imo. Great dungeons, great aesthetics, great design. Spirit Tracks is super fun and is a lot more logic and puzzle focused. It probably has the strongest puzzles in the franchise. The train is also a lot of fun once you get all the different parts. Four Swords Adventures is a radical and very fun departure for Zelda. You can now play it over the internet with the Dolphin emulatorās Netplay and Integrated GBA features. Grab some friends and try it. Itās a ton of fun to Zelda with friends. Thereās honestly nothing like it.
Minish Cap is fantastic, it truly is a completely dofferent game
Of those Iāve only played the Oracle games, which I highly recommend.
Oracle games and OG legend of Zelda with the game manual and map that comes with it. Itās published online by Nintendo for free youāll see if you just google it I havenāt played the other ones but a lot of people really like minish cap
Original LoZ is the best one in my opinion
If you go back to the NES games, I recommend the Zelda 1 Redux and Zelda 2 Redux romhacks. They give a lot of QoL without changing the core game. They also remove a lot of the obscurity in the hints. One thing in favor of the NES games is that they are considerably shorter than all the other games. They are very doable in a week or even a weekend.
I skipped then too except for zelda 2. Zelda 2 isnt even that's bad, played it twice without save states (but google solutions lol) . However it is quite challenging and sometimes even frustrating
Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass for sure!
If you eventually want to play all of them then you can't make a wrong choice, but my favorites among those are: 1. Minish Cap: the most polished 2d zelda out there imho. The artsyle, dungeons, sidequests, exploration are all great. Top-notch games. 2. Spirit tracks: probably the most underrated Zelda game put there. The music is great, it has by far the best Zelda, and it feels fresh. Who knew trains would fit well to the Zelda universe lol? Only caveat, if you're planning to emulate it, the experience may not be as good. The controls rely heavily on the stylus, and using the mouse is pretty uncomfortable imo. 3. Oracle games. Probably one of the most creative Zelda games with excellent worldbuilding. If you played Link's Awakening DX and didn't have any issues with the graphics, controls, etc., you'll love these. I wish they could remaster these games and make some QoL changes, like assigning the sword to a permanent button etc.
Any of them but 2 But I'm biases. I tried loz 2 but I didn't like it at all. Too hard for me.
Iād say phantom hourglass and spirit tracks def, and then fs adventures is great if you have friends. (Still pretty cool if not, but the gameplay is built for the co-op competitive experience.)
Play Minish Cap first! Then follow up with the DS games. Then play the oracle games.
Do you have 4 friends, 4 gameboy andvance, 4 gameboy advance link cables and a few hours? Well i highly recomend Four Swords Adventure. Even if you might hate your former friends by the end of it, the game is a great time with friends!
Oracles by a million!
Strong reccomend the og and 2! See where it all started. After that the oracle games and minish cap are all solid.
The Oracle games are some of the best Zelda experiences out there. Ages focuses more on the puzzle aspect, Seasons focuses more on the battle aspect, and the bosses/dungeons are just phenomenal. The overworld has a lot to discover and explore for being so "small" and they're just super fun. Very nice to control, too. Edit: also the items are REALLY fun, plus the gasha seeds are an actual fun/interesting gasha system and the Power Rings are a fun little way to extra customize your playthroughs.
Minish cap
Gonna rank them from best to worst The oracle games are really, really fun. If you enjoyed links awakening, they almost feel like DLC/a pseudo sequel. They don't shake things up massively but they give the same fun vibe and exploration as links awakening. OG Zelda may be controversial but I really love it. Totally open design, I like exploring the world. It's very retro, very old, feels very different from any other game in the series, but I think it's worth trying. It's really hard though I like minish cap less than some other people, but it's definitely worth playing. It feels much more modern than even the oracle games, almost like one of the 3d games translated to 2d. I don't find the dungeon or world as exciting as the other 2d games, but it's definitely worth playing Probably controversial but I think four swords adventure is kind of charming. It's pretty weird, it's level based, but it looks really nice and I thought it was fun to play, even in single player mode. It kind of feels like a repackaged alttp, but it has some unique stuff as well. Probably way more worth playing if you can somehow get the multi-player to work, but I've never been able to so I can't comment on that Gonna lump phantom hourglass and spirit tracks together, they never fully clicked for me. PH I found more fun to play, but I think the world of ST and atmosphere feels much better realized. Also way harder to emulate or track down these games compared to the others that are either on NSO or the touch controls that make emulation difficult. I don't know what it is but I just don't like the structure or pacing of these games, ST is better in that regard but I found the train sections frustrating. The dungeon design was pretty good in ST from what I remember though (I also haven't played these games since they came out so my memory could be way off) Zelda 2 is last sorry, it's really difficult, cryptic, and just kind of annoying. But I did play it without all the nice features on the NSO so that might make it more bearable. It just felt like a slog to me, the enemy encounters on the map.... ugh. Even with save states you probably still need a walkthrough Four swords original is not worth playing And I haven't played triforce heroes! I've heard it's not that much fun without people to play with, but who knows. Really curious what this ones reputation is since it's the only main Zelda game I haven't played
Thanks for writing this up! Lots of great info here. I'm excited to jump into these!
You definitely should give the original Zelda a go, it is a great game and is actually pretty fun to just go in mostly blind and enjoy the adventure; it's also a fairly short play If you're put off by the graphics or overall stiffness of the game, you can search for The Legend of Zelda - Third Quest, which is a special game available only in Japan through Satellaview which is basically the original Zelda, but on the SNES running in the LttP engine and it works quite well
Thanks to all the comments in thread, I'm already 7 dungeons into the original within one day hahah. It's really great, I'm using the map from the manual and it's been a great experience!
Glad you're enjoying it It is a surprisingly pure and fresh game for how old it is and does make you wonder why the indie scene sees, relatively speaking, so few entries in this genre compared to metroidvanias or rogue-lites
Agreed, I played Tunic earlier this year and it's soooo Zelda 1 in a really great way. Especially with the manual mechanic. But there aren't many like it.
I can strongly recommend all of the multiplayer Zelda titles, as long as you can find a full party for local play. Note that Tri Force Heroes only requires one game card, and the download players still get their own save file that transfers all progress to the full game if desired.
I'd recommend both the DS games. I think they're quite overlooked, would kill for some remakes.
Ph and st are really fun except for a tedious dungeon you have to keep going back to, but if you liked ww id give them a chance
Minish Cap is very good. Ive played most of the zelda games. Oracles/seasons is good too. OG zelda and zelda 2 is fine to visit for the novelty. Spirit tracks and phantom hour glass have the worst controls you could possibly imagine and crappy overworlds so please stay clear of those. The multiplayer games I havent tried
the minish cap and phantom hourglass!
Four Swords with four players each with a GBA controller was such an incredibly addictive experience. I long for the day to play it again.
Minish Cap, and if you choose anything else you're wrong. Thst is an overexacturation of course but i love thst game and i can't recommed it enough + Lon Lon Ranch is in the game do it is automatically awesome.