"First" Zelda

[SuperNova]

   Suna is here fellow humans, again.

   Weeelllll, no intros needed I'll get straight to my point. Recently I made a topic like this about Fire Emblem and I can say it was really helpfull. So this is a topic like this for Zelda. 

   Well, I have a story with Zelda, I first played Spirit tracks but got bored of it and I stuck. After that I never played Zelda again. Two days ago I started playing Ocarina of time and I liked it. 
   Well here's the question is this a good choice for my first game? What games should I play next ( I would prefare games that I can emulate )? About BotW ( breath of the wild ) should I buy the switch for it? What are the differences between this and the other Zeldas? 

[Combat]

Ocarina of Time is a fine "first" Zelda. If you want an easier one, go with Wind Waker. Some people hate the style, but I love the toony vibe. Phantom Hourglass is also a good game (and is much, much better than Spirit Tracks.) Twilight Princess is universally well received, and although I think it gets a little too much hype, I also enjoyed it.

 

Most of the game boy Zeldas are kind of hard, so I wouldn't recommend starting there. In fact, anything before Ocarina is kind of difficult.

 

Link Between Worlds is great if you want to play an easier version of Link to the Past, and is unique enough to warrant being its own game.

 

Only play Majora's Mask after you beat Ocarina. It's a direct sequel, and has a new mechanic to it.

 

If you don't have a Switch or a Wii U, wait to buy Breath of the Wild. The Switch will probably get a new, superior version of itself in a year or two that will have a better battery life, be bigger, ect. I've only heard good things about Breath of the Wild.

[mde2001]

Ocarina of Time is a pretty good starting point if you want to go with the 3D Zeldas (which are generally more fun in my opinion). The rest of the 3D ones (Majora's Mask, Windwaker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword) are all pretty fun, although Twilight Princess would be my personal favourite. BOTW is technically a 3D zelda as well, but its whole format is completely different. I also am not really far enough into it to give it a proper recommendation. 

 

In terms of 2D Zeldas, my personal pick would by Minish Cap. It isn't too difficult or long, but it has a lot of charm and fun dungeons and items. 

[SuperNova]

Well the problem is that I don't want to buy a wii that can't be found today I want sth free for an emulator so Twilight princess and skyward sword not fon now. What about the first Zelda?

[mde2001]

I haven't played it, but the original Zelda is meant to be quite open world and difficult. So if you like that kind of thing it might be fun, but it doesn't follow the typical zelda format as far as I know. 

[Cyanna Cyril]

Ocarina of Time is a good place to start the series. It's basically the central point in the timeline where different futures happen based on the events at the climax of the game. In terms of 2D Zelda, my personal favorite and recommendation is Oracle of Seasons if you can obtain it. It's very fun and connects directly to its sister game, Oracle of Ages. 

[Wolfox]

I would say Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess are good follow ups. while not the best by reputation(Skyward Sword gets more hate then it deserves) they are both really fun and good games

[Animefan666]

GBA

 

Link's Awakening (GB)

Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Minish Cap
A Link to the Past ( SNES too)

 

 

N64

 

Ocarina of Time

Majora's Mask

 

 

Game Cube

 

Twilight Princess

Windwaker

 

 

DS/3DS

 

Phantom Hour Glass

Spirit Tracks
A Link Between Worlds
Four Sword Anniversary Edition (This is the single player version) <---this one is vastly different from the others. More of an arcade style.

 

 

Pretty much every game in the series except Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. This one is just plain horrible.

Edited March 30, 2017 by Animefan666

[Godot]

First 2D Zelda should be either Link to the Past or Minish Cap.

First 3D Zelda should be Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess.

 

Windwaker and BotW are cool but untraditional.

[CrossImpact]

let's see I haven't played too many Zeldas, and only the N64 3d ones, so Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are a start I would also recommend.

if you feel comfortable to take on a rather puzzly-difficult challenge, try games older than those - like Oracle of Ages (original for Gameboy Color - first one I ever played, gave me more than one headache).

The Minish Cap (GBA) is a rather cute adventure and not too difficult, but lots of fun! 

[Godot]

Let me elaborate on some other titles...

 

OG Zelda and Zelda II on NES are skippable but ok.  Play if you are bored.

 

Link to the Past and Ocarina are essentials to the series.  Most of the games make referance to them. Lore-wise, Overworld-wise, and Music-wise.

 

Link Between two Worlds, Four Swords, and Twilight Princess make referance to Link to the Past.

 

Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Oracle of Seasons and Ages, Twilight Princess, Breath of the Wild, and Skyward Sword make reference to Ocarina of Time.

 

Oracles and Skyward Sword makes reference to Link's Awakening, which is a just for fun series, not a must play.

 

Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks make reference to Wind Waker but are both w/e games.  Wind Waker is good though.

 

Breath of the Wild makes reference to OG Zelda, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword.

 

Lastly, Minish Cap is fun and it's own thing, but is a love letter to Link to the Past.

[Commander]

Minister Cap is honestly a love letter to the whole franchise. Very fun game worth playing.

 

As for Zelda to try, Ocarina of time is the best one to get into the series. WW is the next one to pick up as I love that one. TO drags on, and Skyward Sword is gimmicks galore.

 

Breath of the Wild is a black sheep. Definitely not for a first time zelda fan as it is hard. A link to the past also is on the harder side of zelda. Phantom hourglass was...awful controls. Spirit tracks was slightly better, but WW controlled the best.

 

Here is a good 2d to start out though. Link's Awakening. Hella fun game.

[Godot]

The only good thing I hear about Skyward Sword is the story and characters.  None of which did anything for me when I played it.  I mostly finished it just to say I did.  The ending was kinda silly and neat.

[Daniel Blackworth]

My first Legend of Zelda game was The Minish Cap. The graphics were quite cute and I love its mechanics. It was also an interesting challenge, but I had to use a walkthrough to either solve some of the puzzles or find where I should go next. The additional features which include the heart pairing up thing and the heart pieces are also interesting to keep up with.

 

The second game I played was A Link to the Past. I love its style of a story wherein you are first asked to go to a few small dungeons, until you reach the Dark World wherein you have to save the 7 princesses. It's also quite hard, but if you want better graphics, gameplay, and new features, then you should play its remake, a Link Between Worlds.

 

Other Legends of Zelda games I've played only include the ones on the older consoles. I would have wanted to play the DS games but they're hard to play in an emulator, while I'm not too keen to spend money on the 3ds games.

[Chase]

My favorite Zelda is Majora's Mask, followed by Twilight Princess. I have always associated it as a better open world game than a puzzle solver.

 

So in my opinion, you should play Ocarina of Time. Screw Sequelitis.

 

(L2TP is still a great game though.)

[Another Felix]

Ocarina, Majora, Wind Waker, Twilight princess, Skyward Sword. In that order.

[SuperNova]

Propably, not the place place to ask but how can I play wii games like twilight princess without buing a wii and this wii equipment?

Edited March 31, 2017 by SuperNova

[Maelstrom]

I wouldn't know.

 

I've played maybe two zelda games to completion and a smattering of some others. The ones I played were Link's Awakening (GB) and Oracle of Ages (GBC, though it was paired with Oracle of seasons which was definitely different as far as gameplay puzzle and exploration tools).

It's been such a long time since I played either so I really couldn't describe 'em to you.

 

I've started a bunch of the 3D zelda games and I lost interest fast. They all start off super slow and it mostly just bored me. There were dungeons and areas that just dragged on too long or there was way too much backtracking across the map and revisiting places with newly acquired items. Travel is just a pain in the ass, but that was all somewhat true for the 2D games as well. The thing about the 3D games that bugged me was that the action was very simple and limited without being exciting. BotW is a step of improvement in that regards but it still looked very underwhelming to me.

[5hift]

Wind Waker is by far my favorite.

 

Really wouldn't go as far as to say its "nontraditional" I mean all the Zelda games have their sort of twists that make them unique and fun. I really enjoyed art style of the game, it just feels very charming and fun while being intense as hell at some points.

 

Use the Dolphin Emulator, it should run GameCube games well enough depending on what sort of setup you're running. Emulators are highly reliant on CPU rather than fancy graphics cards. My laptop is running an i3 which is pretty much shit-tier but it still manages to run Wind Waker pretty well.

 

My first Zelda game would be the Minish Cap. Also very cute and fun game and its very easy to emulate. I think I actually got pretty close to totally completing the game but stopped because I got into something else.

Edited April 10, 2017 by 5hift