What the 5 Best The Legend of Zelda Games taught me

Talking about The Legend of Zelda is not just about analyzing a game or its graphics. For those who grew up holding a controller, the journey of Link and Zelda has been part of our lives and our history for many years.

Looking at the five highest-rated titles in the franchise according to Metacritic, I also realized that they brought innovations, new mechanics, and stories that make us reflect, even at different stages of life.

In this article, I am going to share what I learned from each of them, the stories of the games themselves, and the new mechanics they introduced. Let's get to it!

5 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Release Date: December 2, 2006 (Wii / Nintendo GameCube)

This game delivers a much more mature and darker aesthetic. We follow Link, a young wrangler from Ordon Village who sees his peaceful life fall apart when shadow creatures invade his lands and kidnap the local children. While trying to rescue them, Link is pulled into the Twilight Realm, a distorted dimension that is basically devoid of light, where he transforms into a sacred wolf. Imprisoned, he meets Midna, a sarcastic and mysterious creature from this twilight realm. Together, they form an alliance to free the kingdom of Hyrule from the tyranny of the usurper Zant and save both worlds from darkness.

The greatest triumph of Twilight Princess was expanding the classic 3D formula with gameplay based on the duality of forms. The transformation into Wolf Link introduced scent-tracking mechanics, a spiritual vision to solve puzzles, and agile, dynamic combat.

When in human form, the game refined sword combat by introducing Hidden Skills, which are advanced moves that brought even greater depth to the battles. Furthermore, the game stood out due to its dungeon design, such as the frozen mansion Snowpeak Ruins, and by introducing us to Midna, who broke the pattern of informative companions and became a more active presence in both the narrative and the gameplay.

Something that deeply touched me in this game was the evolution of the relationship between Link and Midna. Empathy is born when we choose to carry each other's burdens, and even though they are basically opposites, the two coexist and find a balance to solve their problems together.

4 - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Release Date: April 27, 2000 (Nintendo 64)

Following the events of Ocarina of Time, Link sets out on a journey in search of a lost friend. Along the way, he is ambushed in the woods by Skull Kid, who is under the influence of Majora's Mask. The villain steals Link's belongings and casts him into a parallel world called Termina.

Upon arriving there, the hero discovers a desperate reality because the local moon has gained a terrifying face and has been drawn by the mask to crash into the earth in exactly three days, destroying everything.

This game brought one of the most complex and daring systems in Nintendo history, which is the real-time NPC routine system tied to a time loop. The entire game runs in a continuous 3-day cycle, which is about 54 minutes in real life. Every inhabitant of the world has a strict schedule of what they do each hour of those three days.

A major novelty of the game was using the Ocarina to play the Song of Time and return to the first day with the information acquired, allowing you to alter people's fates. In addition, the mask system completely changed Link's physics, weight, gameplay, and abilities, transforming him into a lightweight Deku who glides, a heavy Goron who rolls, or an agile Zora in the water.

This entire dynamic is something that enchants us while playing the game, and even with all of this happening, Link is still the same Link.

3 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Release Date: December 13, 2002 (Nintendo GameCube)

In a world where the ancient and legendary Hyrule was submerged by water and forgotten by time, people now live on small islands scattered across a vast ocean. The story follows a younger Link who lives a peaceful life on Outset Island. Everything changes on his birthday when his younger sister is kidnapped by a giant bird under the orders of a resurgent evil force. To rescue her, Link allies with a group of pirates led by the fearless Captain Tetra and gains the help of a talking boat called the King of Red Lions.

In addition to using the cel-shading technique, which gave the game a cartoon look that never seems to age, The Wind Waker introduced sensational map navigation. At a time when consoles struggled to load large environments, the game's immense ocean served as an invisible loading screen.

The core mechanic revolved around controlling the wind with a magical baton, forcing the player to understand the direction of sea and air currents to explore the world. Another innovation was the expression in Link's eyes, which glanced very subtly in the direction of secrets or hidden enemies on the screen, helping the player navigate.

This is a game that, underneath the surface, shows that the important thing is to keep moving forward. Life is like an ocean, and we do not always know where it is going, but to sail, you must learn to read the currents and the water, as well as the subtle things in life, along with all the paths it has to offer.

2 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom

BOTW: Released on March 3, 2017 (Nintendo Switch / Wii U)

TOTK: Released on May 12, 2023 (Nintendo Switch)

In Breath of the Wild, Link awakens with no memories in a devastated Hyrule after a hundred-year sleep. He discovers, through the spirit of King Rhoam, that civilization was destroyed by Calamity Ganon. While Link was recovering from his injuries in the Shrine of Resurrection, Princess Zelda used her sacred powers to contain the creature inside the kingdom's castle.

Guided by the instructions of the elder Impa in Kakariko Village, Link sets out on a journey across the continent to reclaim his lost memories. His primary objective is to travel through the four major regions of Hyrule to purify and retake control of the Divine Beasts, which are war machines corrupted by Ganon's evil power.

As his memories are gradually recovered with the support of the new leaders of the kingdom, Link frees the spirits of the ancient Champions who piloted the mechanical titans. Strengthened and with his arsenal fully restored, the hero invades Hyrule Castle, annihilates Calamity Ganon with the cover fire of the Divine Beasts, and frees Princess Zelda so they can rebuild the kingdom together.

In Tears of the Kingdom, about five years after the defeat of the calamity, Hyrule is going through a period of reconstruction. However, during a scientific exploration in the catacombs beneath Hyrule Castle, Link and Zelda accidentally awaken the mummified corpse of the ancient villain Ganondorf. The Demon King attacks them with a corrosive energy that destroys Link's arm and shatters the Master Sword, triggering a cataclysm that causes the castle to levitate. In the chaos, Zelda falls into an abyss and disappears in a beam of light, while Link is saved by a mysterious hand.

Link wakes up on floating islands in the sky and discovers that his injured arm has been replaced by the mystical limb of Rauru, the first king of the ancient Zonai civilization. While exploring the continent and the skies for clues, the hero discovers that Zelda was sent to the distant past, where she sacrificed herself through the process of draconification, swallowing her Secret Stone to transform into the Light Dragon and restore the Master Sword over the millennia.

In the present, Link assembles the new sages of Hyrule and retrieves the restored legendary sword from the dragon's head. He descends into the depths of the earth for a new confrontation against Ganondorf, who transforms into the Demon Dragon. With the help of the Light Dragon in an aerial battle, Link destroys the villain permanently and, thanks to a final spiritual miracle, manages to bring Zelda back to her human form.

The duology delivers an open world and allows for an immense amount of exploration through incredible and lively landscapes. In addition, the games bring many puzzles and mysteries to find on the maps, which is highly satisfying for players who enjoy exploring at their own pace, while also providing the benefit of making Link stronger.

Watching Link start all over again makes me think that, sometimes, we need to restart from scratch with nothing to guide us, finding our way as we go. Being able to choose your own path, even without knowing where it leads, and making mistakes without a heavy penalty is what made me marvel at BOTW, which was actually the reason I bought a Switch back then. Exploring for hours on end and finding hidden puzzles, along with the Koroks, is deeply satisfying.

1 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Release Date: November 21, 1998 (Nintendo 64)

The adventure introduces us to Link, a boy living in the isolated Kokiri Forest who discovers he is the chosen one destined to stop an evil force from dominating the kingdom of Hyrule. After meeting Princess Zelda, he sets out in search of the spiritual stones to obtain the legendary Master Sword. However, upon drawing the blade, Link ends up trapped in a sacred sleep and awakens seven years in the future. Now an adult in a world devastated by the villain Ganondorf, he must gather the Sages of Hyrule to bring peace back to the kingdom.

This Nintendo 64 classic was the great pioneer of the industry because it dictated the rules of how an adventure game should behave in three dimensions. It introduced the Z-Targeting mechanic, which locks the camera onto enemies and solved the 3D camera issue in a brilliant way that is still used today in almost every action game.

In addition, Ocarina of Time brought the concept of context-sensitive buttons, where the same button makes Link jump, open doors, or roll depending on the situation. The use of the Ocarina as an active gameplay mechanic in which you need to play the right notes to travel through time, change the weather, or summon your horse seamlessly united the narrative and the gameplay.

Ocarina of Time is a classic that holds a special place in the heart of everyone who has played it, and it shows that growing up hurts, and life often demands responsibilities from us before we are ready. Playing it, we understand that time does not stop, but our courage today is the only thing capable of fixing tomorrow. And that is exactly what we do in the game.

Recently, Nintendo officially announced a full remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2, scheduled for late 2026, though without a predefined date. I believe many people will want to play the N64 version before the premiere to relive the nostalgia!

The Legend of Zelda is a game that has defined and continues to define generations. It is an absolute pleasure to talk about this saga that I love so much, which has been a part of my life and my very first video games.

I hope you enjoyed it! And for you, which is the best The Legend of Zelda game?

Note: If you want to play these games, the classics Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and The Wind Waker are available in the Nintendo Switch Online catalog. Meanwhile, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are exclusive to the Switch.