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Which Zelda should I start with?

4.3K views 62 replies 24 participants last post by  Squall-Leonhart  
#1 ·
I have every Zelda for the NES, SNES, N64, GC, and Wii, here's a breakdown...

Nintendo Gamecube compilation disk Zelda 1 & 2, MM, OoT
Nintendo Gamecube compilation disk 2 Zelda OoT & MQ
Nintendo Gamecube WW
Nintendo Wii TP
Nintendo Game Boy Advance Zelda: LttP
Nintendo DS: PH

So which one is the best to start with?

What order should I play them?
 
#27 · (Edited)
i'll tie him up, you rape him.

Where's Minish Cap?

....minish cap would technically come before OoT.

I finished all expect Wind Waker, TP, and Major's

Your starting should be with Legend of Zelda NES first then Zelda 2 NES then SNES, then game boy and game boy color then n64 then game cube then wii. :)

That's in the order.

That order isn't "order"
order of release is not chronological.
 
#30 ·
no i wont. the game felt ****ing dated even back then when i first played it. i had played the gb game first so i was naturally expecting something much better on the SNES.
i think for what it was i even like the first zelda game on the nes better then the SNES one.

.....son of a..... i can't say what i need to....
 
#31 ·
no i wont. the game felt ****ing dated even back then when i first played it. i had played the gb game first so i was naturally expecting something much better on the SNES.
i think for what it was i even like the first zelda game on the nes better then the SNES one.
Actually, the SNES game was released before the Gameboy one.

Also, you are an awful awful human being.
 
#35 ·
#36 ·
I really liked A Link to the Past, I just got lost when I got into the light/dark world mess...
 
#38 ·
dump an emulate miminari ^_^
 
#39 ·
The GBA ones are great.
 
#41 · (Edited)
Wasn't there an actual list of which Zelda game started first? Last time I checked it was something like LTTP > Gameboy ones fit around here > OOT > MM > TP > WW > PH > Original > Links Awakening > GBA?

Last time I seen a debate it ended like that.
I always thought it started with the Minish Cap and other Four Sword-related titles. These are the "pre-Hyrule reckoning" games.

Somewhere after this the Triforce is formed.

Then the Triforce is first stolen by Ganondorf in The Ocarina of Time. This starts the "post-Hyrule reckoning" games, or the Master Sword series or whatever the hell they call it. This series ends in A Link to the Past when one of the Links finally manages to grab the Triforce and wish well to Hyrule and the Sacred Realm.

Then you have all kinds of complicated stuff like the OOT split timeline and the Oracle games. It gets pretty confusing and I really have no idea where people come up with the time to figure all of this out.

A lot of this is speculative nonsense, but I recall a direct specific reference to the events of Ocarina of Time in A Link to the Past that says the Triforce was first stolen by a thief named Ganondorf Dragmire. I think the weird broccoli-looking guy near the first Dark World dungeon tells you the story.

Some people suggest that all of the Master Sword titles are retellings of the very same legend, but it gets changed through the ages and between different people. I kind of like this one as it gives a rather cultural/mythical feeling to the games.
 
#42 · (Edited)
The triforce is formed when the goddess's leave after creating hyrule.

However the doorway to the sacred realm isn't discovered and sealed via the temple of time till after minish cap

This is the only chronology i will accept.
Minish Cap - Imprisoning War 1(Twili/Zuna) - Four Swords games - OoT(Imprisoning war 2) - Branched

Branch A - Liink returned to Past and ages as normal, Ganon trapped in mirror. Here marks the beginning of the Ancestors of the Hero of time.
Branch B - Ganon sealed in dark world, Link sent back in time, thus ending the Hero of Time line.

Branch A - MM - TP - LTTP - Oo* - LA - LoZ - AoL.
Branch B - WW - PH - ST

Note: Ganon was NOT killed at the end of Twilight Princess, only his body was destroyed. Had Ganon been killed, the Triforce would have combined (since all 3 were in proximity)
Ganon escapes to the Dark Realm, which exists outside of time.
Ganon maintained the Triforce he obtained in OoT because of this fact, as does Link, and Zelda, which is passed down to their children.



Edit.
I have some new information that would explain LTTP / Pig Ganon and how TP Ganondorf didn't die.
Since the Dark/Sacred realm exists outside of time, the effects of OoT are not reversed when Zelda plays the ocarina, Dark realm is still Dark realm. AND Duplicate of Ganon continues to exist in the Hero of Time, timeline. So with this we have Ganondorf in a mirror, as well as Ganon in the Dark Realm.

When Ganondorf is defeated in hyrule fields, his essence is dragged back to the dark realm where it is absorbed by Ganon.

a Sage seal is put on the dark realm doorway post the events of Twilight princess and thus leads to LttP's events.

Twilight Princess and WindWaker occur at the same period of time in seperate universes, which is why There is not suddenly 2 ganons to escape in wind waker.

The Master sword is in the Oracles Games. teleported to whichever land you are in by the triforce.
The Master sword is lost to the sea in the events following which lead up to Links Awakening.

The Master Sword is renamed as Magic Sword in LoZ and is gained from the grave keeper.

More Notes.
The original Temple of Time was in the Lost Woods in OoT, for some reason it was moved to castle town. (see debug rom notes)
OoT, LTTP, and TP have the same map/world layout, if you rotate them slightly.
TP ToT is ruins
LTTP ToT is non existant, only the Master Sword glade exists.

The events of LttP never occur because Links wish is simple, in that it reverses all of that which was done, Ganon is reverted to being a demon king, lacking a triforce, mind you. (he steals that back though)
It is speculated that the Wizards from LttP and AoL are the same.
Thus the Zelda in AoL is really from LttP, or slightly after that.

Though AoL declares it as the original Zelda, this is entirely impossible as the original Zelda is now the Minish cap zelda.
Secondly, it is not until LttP, that the triforce is recombined, and so the placement of the triforce of courage in the great palace cannot be before this, (obviously after link was sent to the locations in Oo*) Otherwise for the first half of the zelda series, there would be no Triforce of courage.

The witches try to revive ganon in Oo* but fail because all they've done is create a mindless clone of him.... hes not dead duhhhhhhhhhhh.....

So while we have Link off waking the wind fish, (remember the events of LttP never happened, so he never met Zelda until Oo*), she is obviously off getting put to sleep, and the triforce sealed away.

Then we come to LoZ, with Links son or grandson travellingthe land where he comes upon impah the nursemaid, who tells him Ganon has returned, taken the triforce of power, and the princess.... so link collects the triforce, owns his ass then rescues zelda and the triforce of power....

thus leading to Link helping this zelda fix hyrule only to get the Triforce of courage mark on his hand, which in all reality the little bastard had the entire time, he just needed to defeat his inner shadow to use it..... and that theres a Zelda asleep in the palace from along time ago.....

End story short.
Nintendo have royally ****ed the initial story they were trying to build, and games that were once considered the end, can definitely not be anymore.
 
#43 ·
The triforce is formed when the goddess's leave after creating hyrule.
D'oh, right. How could I have messed that up?

EDIT: That said, isn't Ganon finally killed in A Link to the Past, as opposed to merely just "sealed away?" This is more reasoning to suggest why LttP is the last installment.

Also: I can't believe I'm discussing this.
 
#44 ·
Yes he is, however, on the naivety of youth, Links wish is made in a manner which brings him back to life, for which Ganon escapes to death mountain and hides there biding his time.

Adventure of link has always been the final installment.

Link to the past is exactly that, it is made to connect the first 2 games to the past of hyrule.
 
#45 ·
Wasn't there an actual list of which Zelda game started first? Last time I checked it was something like LTTP > Gameboy ones fit around here > OOT > MM > TP > WW > PH > Original > Links Awakening > GBA?

Last time I seen a debate it ended like that.
I always thought it started with the Minish Cap and other Four Sword-related titles. These are the "pre-Hyrule reckoning" games.

Somewhere after this the Triforce is formed.

Then the Triforce is first stolen by Ganondorf in The Ocarina of Time. This starts the "post-Hyrule reckoning" games, or the Master Sword series or whatever the hell they call it. This series ends in A Link to the Past when one of the Links finally manages to grab the Triforce and wish well to Hyrule and the Sacred Realm.

Then you have all kinds of complicated stuff like the OOT split timeline and the Oracle games. It gets pretty confusing and I really have no idea where people come up with the time to figure all of this out.

A lot of this is speculative nonsense, but I recall a direct specific reference to the events of Ocarina of Time in A Link to the Past that says the Triforce was first stolen by a thief named Ganondorf Dragmire. I think the weird broccoli-looking guy near the first Dark World dungeon tells you the story.

Some people suggest that all of the Master Sword titles are retellings of the very same legend, but it gets changed through the ages and between different people. I kind of like this one as it gives a rather cultural/mythical feeling to the games.
The triforce is formed when the goddess's leave after creating hyrule.

However the doorway to the sacred realm isn't discovered and sealed via the temple of time till after minish cap

This is the only chronology i will accept.
Minish Cap - Imprisoning War 1(Twili/Zuna) - Four Swords games - OoT(Imprisoning war 2) - Branched

Branch A - Liink returned to Past and ages as normal, Ganon trapped in mirror. Here marks the beginning of the Ancestors of the Hero of time.
Branch B - Ganon sealed in dark world, Link sent back in time, thus ending the Hero of Time line.

Branch A - MM - TP - LTTP - Oo* - LA - LoZ - AoL.
Branch B - WW - PH

Note: Ganon was NOT killed at the end of Twilight Princess, only his body was destroyed. Had Ganon been killed, the Triforce would have combined (since all 3 were in proximity)
Ganon escapes to the Dark Realm, which exists outside of time.
Ganon maintained the Triforce he obtained in OoT because of this fact, as does Link, and Zelda, which is passed down to their children.

Since the Dark/Sacred realm exists outside of time, the effects of OoT are not reversed when Zelda plays the ocarina, Dark realm is still Dark realm.

a Sage seal is put on the dark realm doorway post the events of Twilight princess and thus leads to LttP's events.

Twilight Princess and WindWaker occur at the same period of time, which is why There is not suddenly 2 ganons to escape in wind waker.

The Master sword is in the Oracles Games. teleported to whichever land you are in by the triforce.
The Master sword is lost to the sea in the events following which lead up to Links Awakening.

The Master Sword is renamed as Magic Sword in LoZ and is gained from the grave keeper.

More Notes.
The original Temple of Time was in the Lost Woods in OoT, for some reason it was moved to castle town. (see debug rom notes)
OoT, LTTP, and TP have the same map/world layout, if you rotate them slightly.
TP ToT is ruins
LTTP ToT is non existant, only the Master Sword glade exists.

The events of LttP never occur because Links wish is simple, in that it reverses all of that which was done, Ganon is reverted to being a demon king, lacking a triforce, mind you. (he steals that back though)
It is speculated that the Wizards from LttP and AoL are the same.
Thus the Zelda in AoL is really from LttP, or slightly after that.

Though AoL declares it as the original Zelda, this is entirely impossible as the original Zelda is now the Minish cap zelda.
Secondly, it is not until LttP, that the triforce is recombined, and so the placement of the triforce of courage in the great palace cannot be before this, (obviously after link was sent to the locations in Oo*) Otherwise for the first half of the zelda series, there would be no Triforce of courage.

The witches try to revive ganon in Oo* but fail because all they've done is create a mindless clone of him.... hes not dead duhhhhhhhhhhh.....

So while we have Link off waking the wind fish, (remember the events of LttP never happened, so he never met Zelda until Oo*), she is obviously off getting put to sleep, and the triforce sealed away.

Then we come to LoZ, with Links son or grandson travellingthe land where he comes upon impah the nursemaid, who tells him Ganon has returned, taken the triforce of power, and the princess.... so link collects the triforce, owns his ass then rescues zelda and the triforce of power....

thus leading to Link helping this zelda fix hyrule only to get the Triforce of courage mark on his hand, which in all reality the little bastard had the entire time, he just needed to defeat his inner shadow to use it..... and that theres a Zelda asleep in the palace from along time ago.....

End story short.
Nintendo have royally ****ed the initial story they were trying to build, and games that were once considered the end, can definitely not be anymore.
D'oh, right. How could I have messed that up?

EDIT: That said, isn't Ganon finally killed in A Link to the Past, as opposed to merely just "sealed away?" This is more reasoning to suggest why LttP is the last installment.

Also: I can't believe I'm discussing this.
Yes he is, however, on the naivety of youth, Links wish is made in a manner which brings him back to life, for which Ganon escapes to death mountain and hides there biding his time.

Adventure of link has always been the final installment.

Link to the past is exactly that, it is made to connect the first 2 games to the past of hyrule.
This is ****ing exactly what the **** I didn't want to happen, I've read too much timeline **** for it to even make any sense any more.

That being said, Nintendo "supposedly" has a top-secret file for the Zelda timeline. You know they've ****ed **** up when they're trying to pass it off as a secret file nobody can read.
 
#46 ·
This is ****ing exactly what the **** I didn't want to happen, I've read too much timeline **** for it to even make any sense any more.

That being said, Nintendo "supposedly" has a top-secret file for the Zelda timeline. You know they've ****ed **** up when they're trying to pass it off as a secret file nobody can read.
Woah man, calm down.
 
#49 ·
ocarina of time (or OOT master quest)... the best one.
 
#50 ·
I want an OoT remake which places the temple of time in the right place :p
 
#51 ·
or at least create a new temple of time, it would be the hardest one in the game if actually existed (maybe space limitations on the n64 cart or they just didn't want to create), I believe.