The best games in The Legend of Zelda series
The top 3 according to 482 votes from people: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time · The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild · The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. (Updated Sep 29, 2024.)
Every main Zelda game with a strong critic score, ordered by Metacritic as compiled by Metacritic itself and Game Rant. Remakes and remasters of the same game count once.
Top 12
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1
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Nintendo 64, 1998. Metascore 99, the highest of any game: Z-targeting, the ocarina and Link's leap to 3D.
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2
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Switch and Wii U, 2017. Metascore 97; the open-world reinvention of the series.
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3
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Switch, 2023. Metascore 96; sky islands, the Depths and building with Ultrahand.
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4
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
GameCube and Wii, 2006. Metascore 95; the darkest, most realistic Hyrule, with wolf Link.
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5
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Nintendo 64, 2000. Metascore 95; three days before the moon falls on Termina.
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6
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
DS, 2007. Metascore 90; the Wind Waker sequel controlled with the stylus.
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7
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
GameCube, 2003. Metascore 96; cel-shaded sailing across the Great Sea.
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8
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Wii, 2011. Metascore 93; motion-controlled swordplay and the origin of the Master Sword.
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9
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Nintendo, 1991. The 2D blueprint of the series, with its Light and Dark Worlds.
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10
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Game Boy Advance, 2005. Metascore 89; Link shrinks to the size of the tiny Minish.
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11
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
3DS, 2013. Metascore 91; a sequel to A Link to the Past where Link turns into a wall painting.
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12
The Legend of Zelda
NES, 1986. The original: open exploration of Hyrule from the very first screen.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 12… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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13
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Game Boy, 1993, remade for Switch in 2019 (Metascore 87); Link stranded on Koholint Island.
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14
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
DS, 2009. Metascore 87; Link as a train engineer, with Zelda as a spirit sidekick.
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15
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
1987 NES sequel with side-scrolling combat and RPG levelling, the black sheep of the series.
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16
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
2024 Switch game where Zelda herself is the playable hero, using echoes of objects and monsters.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (17)
Majora's Mask is the darkest and best, the three-day cycle is brilliant.
Spirit Tracks with a train, underrated.
A Link to the Past invented the Zelda formula.
Tears of the Kingdom at #3, Ultrahand is genius.
A Link Between Worlds is such a perfect handheld Zelda.
Ocarina is #1 for history, BOTW for how fun it still is.
Phantom Hourglass over Minish Cap? No way.
Phantom Hourglass's ocean temple was annoying but the stylus controls were cool.
Where's Link's Awakening? The original Game Boy one is a masterpiece.
Majora's Mask at #6 is too low, it's the most unique Zelda.
Ocarina of Time at #1, still the GOAT after all these years.
Twilight Princess is so underrated, the Midna ending 😭
Breath of the Wild changed open-world games forever.
Missing Zelda II! The black sheep but still a classic.
Wind Waker HD aged beautifully, that art style is timeless.
Skyward Sword motion controls were a pain but the story is great
Link's Awakening remake is so cute