1986 - NES - The Legend of Zelda
This game was a revolution in lots of ways. It�s the first ever Zelda game and the first ever game that allowed you to save. The game itself was nothing special, it certainly doesn�t match-up to the newer Zelda�s. The game had no real story, basically kill bad guys but don�t get killed yourself - it actually got quite challenging.
1987 - NES - Zelda II: The Adventures of Link
With the Legend of Zelda being such a success it was pretty obvious their was going to be a sequel, Nintendo decided gameplay more like Mario Bros was needed for the series to move on. This didn�t work and the game was considered average, Nintendo had the formula right first time round so this wasn�t a good time to go experimenting.
1991 - SNES - 2002 GBA - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Link to the Past is battling it out with Ocarina of Time for the award of best Zelda game ever, the opinions of the gamers seem show a 50:50 split. Naturally this means a Link to the Past is an superb game. For the SNES the graphics were amazing, and at last a decent story line broke through. The combat engine worked so well, it was just pure gaming perfection. What makes this game work so well is the replay value, you have loads of engaging dungeons and the quest itself is very long.
1993 - GB - The Legend of Zelda: Link�s Awakening
This game was excellent, the thing that stopped it ranking up their with Link to the Past and Ocarina of time was the fact that this game had nothing to do with Hyrule. Link was stuck on an island and had to return to Hyrule (But of course that�s easier said than done). For Zelda�s fourth adventure and first handheld outing this was quite a treat.
1995 - SNES - BS The Legend of Zelda (Japan Only)
BS standing for Bandai Satellaview, this Zelda outing was a remake of the original. Naturally it had a pretty big make over and looked just as good as A Link to the Past in the end. The downside to this game was that Bandai Satellaview bit, basically the thing was a add-on which allowed you to download games but in this case you had to download hacks to be able to access the final bits of the game.
1998 - N64 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Ocarina of Time was a pretty big risk for Nintendo, transferring a class franchise into the 3D world was never going to be an easy task. Somehow Nintendo came up with Ocarina of Time, a gaming experience that alone justified the purchasing of a Nintendo 64. This game simply gleamed with character, the open environments and the colours of the sky just made this game a revolution.
2000 - N64 - The Legend of Zelda: Majora�s Mask
After the Ocarina of Time their was a huge roar for a sequel, Nintendo had an even harder task than the last one, this time they had to better Ocarina of Time. It�s fair to say they failed, Majora�s Mask was just missing that something.
2001 - GBC - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages / Oracle of Seasons
This Zelda wasn�t developed by Nintendo, it was developed by a branch of Capcom. That didn�t stop this game from being top quality though, this was another great Zelda handheld. Both games were similar in appearance although they�re story lines were different. Seasons was more about the fighting side of Zelda yet Ages was more about puzzle solving, you probably don�t want to splash out the cash twice so just pick what aspect you like about Zelda best!
2002 - GC - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The cel-shaded visuals were the big talking point of this game and they turned out marvellous, it was like the characters were painted onto your screen, really lovely stuff. The adventure itself wasn�t as epic as it should have been though, that�s probably why this title is not ranked amongst the likes of Ocarina of Time. Never-the-less this was a must own title for the GameCube.
2004 - GC - The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The second GameCube Zelda outing wasn�t what most people thought it would be. The graphics could fool anyone into thinking it was a GBA game. The game all about multi-player and it was excellent, but the thing that killed this title off was the cost. Every player needed a GameBoy Advance and the GC-GBA link cable, if you got the cash this is a worthy investment though.
2004 - GBA - The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Capcom return with another handheld outing, and this time they nailed the formula to make a perfect Zelda game. Many believe this to be the best GBA game yet, some even believe this is the best Zelda. What ever way you look at it there can be no doubt that this was an amazing game. The ability to turn super-small was a neat idea but the amount of effort that went into the visuals (best on GBA without a doubt) made this game stand out from the crowd, this title will not disappoint.
And that�s that. Zelda continues to be one of the most popular gaming franchises to this very day and more and more games are being released, in fact if a new one comes out remember to email us to add it to the list!
This page was written by
SupremeLink4312