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Wow I must be the old dude…. 1 here. I remember opening it for Christmas in the mid 80’s! Never forget how cool the gold cartridge looked.

Hello fellow dinosaur! It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this! *passes you ibuprofen*

Ibuprofen is also my master sword that conquers all ancient demons in my body. 1 here, too.

Ditto. I didn't get the game until like 92 or 93, so I was late to the party, but from then on I was obsessed.

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The ibuprofen comes in red and blue. Buy the extra strength red, so you get another use out of it. Waffles I really needed the laugh this morning thanks!

Saturday: * 5mg delta 8 thc. * Three to four hours of yardwork. * 100mg Ibuprofen * Four to five hours of Tears of the Kingdom

I'm gonna need 2, since I'm going to throw my back out reaching for the first one.

Can’t take ibuprofen anymore cuz of my blood thinners. (Moans in T. rex)

Same for me!

I finally got my copy of ‘The Legend of Zelda’ a year after it came out. I remember buying it with birthday money from a store called Service Merchandise…(they displayed electronics behind glass and then you had to pay and wait for the merchandise to brought out to you.) But played the hell out of that game. I was so terrible at it, those endless screens of hedges or rocks with a specific pass through pattern. Only way I figured half it out was with Nintendo Power magazine lol Shit. I’m old.

You're not old. As a LOZ 1 veteran like yourself (complete with using the player's choice guide to finish the game), I prefer the term "seasoned" instead of old to describe the type of player we are. 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

While I didn't play it in the 80's, the OG was my first as well. I didn't get very far in it though

I remember watching my parents play until I was old enough to play myself

6th birthday present, still got it, still as shiny and precious as day one

1 gang, rise up!

Same. I’ve even got an original beach towel and small statue from Nintendo Power How’s your 401k this year? I wish the Switch cart was in gold

I get so depressed when people bring up Nintendo Power. Partially because of nostalgia and missing it, but even more so in the same context as 401ks… I had the original issue and the vast majority of the first several years, but stupidly tossed them in my 20s.

Truth, it was gold! How is that not full of magic!

Same here. Christmas gift. Week after week of trying things out, dying, repeat. The vibe of it at the time was so beautiful. The music is beautiful. Just brilliant. The fact that you could save your progress without writing down a long password was huge.

The experience I remember most was delicately unfolding the over world map so it wouldn’t rip again

I absolutely played the OG Zelda sitting on a large towel on the living room floor because the controller cords weren't long enough.

Yup samsies! I couldn't believe it when I actually got it. I still have it to this day. I read the manual so many times. I was like 8.

Definitely a 1. Golden since the beginning.

My grandma bought this game for me even thought I have no idea it existed, I still remember reading the booklet while I was waiting to go home and finally play..

Rawr! Dinosaur clan rise up! Got the LoZ and been a casual gamer ever since.

Yep, me too, and then my dad hogged the Nintendo to play it!

Link to the past on SNES. What a game

Same, and man, did it kick my ass as a kid.

Yeah that game is brutal

Playing it as a 5-6 year old is rough. But I did it. Love it and ALBW so much.

Without being able to save at any time, It still can kick your ass. I definitely beat 1 and Lotp easier with emulators.

I played the GBA version, but I loved it. I still hold it dearly to my heart, I also bought the comic book of ALttP, I just love the story in general.

The gba port was not only my first zelda, but the first game I ever played, I love the other zeldas but damn, nothing has hit harder for me than when you thought u beat the game after defeating the wizard, only to be transported to the dark world and u find out u have like 8 more dungeons to go. Classic.

Such a great game. Probably the one I have the most time in. We didn’t have any guides. It was just half of the family playing on the same save trying different things until we figured it out. It was just brute forcing the way through the game.

There was a little book with hints, I so wanted to open it but I held out until I reached the Ice Dungeon block puzzle 🤣 To this day this is still my Number 1 Zelda, beating OoT and even BotW and TotK

TotK is the most inspired by LttP it seems.

Let me tell you the tale of the Imprisoning War... Also isn't the grass in the depths purple?

This is THE Zelda game for me. I’ve mostly only done one play through of every Zelda game but Link to the Past gets a play through every handful of years.

OoT. I still play it to this day. Wonderful story.

Me too

Same here, I was like 7 when I was introduced to it and ngl it creeped the hell out of me. Fun times though. My favorite thing to do was go to the lost woods, cut grass, and listen to the background music.

I did this as a kid aswell, until i randomly found the right way to the sacred forest meadow. The two wolfos spawned and I shit my pants that hard I never finished the game until I was like 12.

Hah, I started playing it when I was 8 and I remember freaking the fuck out at the Gibdos in the Kakariko graveyard playing as kid Link. For years, I would only get the sun's song only as adult Link because of the damn Gibdos.

I think the ones in Kak are redeads, right? or am I misremembering Still horrifying though. Same experience. Although as a Kid when I unlocked Sun's song and discovered it froze them I felt like I found the cheat codes to beat the game haha.

You're right, the gibdos are the mummified ones.

I bought an ocarina just so I could learn to play that theme. It's the only one I know how to play

The golden age of being an ocarina maker. Raked in the dough, retired, 99% of your clients never learned to play.

Same, the shadow temple trying to play that at night time omg it creeped the shit out of me. Definitely my favourite zelda as well.

Was introduced to it at 5 when I was watching my brother and his friend play. I watched them complete the entire game. I was terrible at gaming but I loved watching. 10 years later I finally beat the game myself, as well as many other Zelda games.

OoT. I rented it from Family Video because Banjo-Kazooie wasn't available.

I love this sentence

The copy of OoT that I own is that first one I rented from Family Video; I bought it when they replaced their N64 section with GCN.

Same here. I was pretty young when I played and the ReDeads gave me literal nightmares. To me, there was nothing scarier that I have seen back then than ReDeads.

God, the first time I encountered one under that grave in Kakariko is one of my earliest memories of being jump scared

Playing through it again right now on the deck, having modern camera control and some upgraded textures makes it fully stand up to the test of time. What a wonderful game.

Same. One of the few to make me tear up at the end

Same. I used to feign a tummy ache to stay home from school and play it. Fast forward a few decades and I was absolutely delighted to discover how awesome the speedrunning of it is and how wonderfully broken the game is in terms of glitches. The all dungeons SRM run is just absolutely wild

Ironic that it's called Ocarina of Time, because it is truly timeless.

Phantom hourglass

Phantom Hourglass was my first too. I was like 7-9 years old when it released and got stuck at the part of the game where you had to close the DS to mark your map with a marking that was on the wall in the game. I did not know this though at the time and gave up until I discovered youtube walkthroughs a year or so later and then finished the game 😂

I was like 6 and got stuck at the starting island because i was too scared to continue in the first cave, i think i never finished it also

We all lived the same lives

Phantom Hourglass had a lot of cool functions with the DS hardware. I remember blowing away dust on a map, and also screaming really loudly for some reason lol.

OoT, but my man your missing 5 games on there. Specifically Oracle of Ages, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, Link Between Worlds, Triforce Heroes.

Yeah Phantom Hourglass was my first lol

Phantom Hourglass gang! I was SO impressed back then when it knew my name, couldn't figure it out. (Of course it just read it in from the DS)

That damn puzzle where you had to close and reopen your DS, I only solved it by accident.

oh god I remember that, little me asked my mom for help as one does at a young age and she sarcasticly said "why dont you try closing the thing", and by god I thought she was a bloody genious that day

Same slammed tye thing closed in frustration.

Bro I stopped at that puzzle for a year

Links Awakening was my first but Phantom Hourglass was my most memorable and played it a lot. The dungeon puzzles and ship related exploration and customization were all super cool.

Yeah it’s a weird omission considering how big the DS was. For a certain age group I think those two games were probably the most common introduction to the series. Phantom Hourglass was mine too.

Hell yeah, same. The first time I ever passed out was from lying upside down on the couch playing it on my DS and standing up too fast. Memories.

Same! I loved those games, but PH and ST were the only ones I had access to when I was younger. In the past 5 years, I've been able to play 8 more, I love them all.

Link between worlds was my first

Same

They forgot all the really duly great ones like Wand of Gamelon and Faces of Evil

Not even 5.5- Ages is a whole-ass game, separate from Seasons. I think a lot of people assumed at a glance that it was like Pokemon Red/Blue and the two games had minor differences, but no- it's a completely different story, different overworld, different dungeons, different bosses, and (mostly) different gameplay mechanics. They just came out together. Anyway, Ages was my first Zelda game, so I've got good reason to defend it!

4 ❤️

Me too! I got a clear Game Boy and Links Awakening for fifth grade graduation. :)

The clear pocket version? Man I thought they were cool looking back in the day. I had the OG grey brick. I remember kids bringing them to school thinking we’d play at recess only to realize no one could see the screen outside.

Me too. My first Zelda and the first at all I can remember.

Same here! First game I can remember beating. I remember finishing it and that final cutscene feeling so bittersweet!

Don't worry, Marin wanted to be a seagull!

I'm pushing 40, played through it on switch a few weeks back, and the ending still chokes me up. 😭 The wind fish is cool as hell though haha. Like a cross between something out of South Park and futurama. (Staying vague to not ruin it for anyone who's never played).

Same, I feel like I got the same thing most people describe getting from Ocarina of Time from that little 2D top down game.

Yes! I was 9 when starting LA, and there was a strategic wall u need to bomb in a room with a big gap you need to pegasus jump to advance in Turtle Rock, took me years to figure that out.

Yeah. The select + A screen skipping was a blast.

Who needs the roc feather? I’ll just warp across the screen oh wait I’m stuck in the side of a cliff.

Link’s Awakening is probably my favorite one. But that would be a weird one to start with. What was it like playing other games and how long was it until you realized that a “regular” Zelda game is much different than LA?

Welcome to the "no, you can't have a weird video game thing that plugs into the TV, you already have a gameboy" club

Wind waker. Absolutely loved it as a kid, probably my most played game. Until my sister gave it to our friend who’s sister broke her copy in like 2008. Spent years hunting and found one at a retro game store while on vacation in 2013 EDIT: I should also mention that I totally remember the commercial with the kid in the hood talking about the legends. That and playing the demo at Circuit City, was obsessed with the Gohma demo

I love the new games but Wind waker is forever my #1 go to for Zelda❤️

I played OOT first, but I was 6 and didn’t really figure out a ton of it and just kinda went through the motions. WW was the first game I got sucked into, looking for all the treasure charts, heart pieces, exploring every single island and getting it marked on my map. Put so many hours into it and was just such an experience

my first and also definitely my most played game because my parents could not understand at the time why i needed a memory card for the gamecube. i remember for months i would wake up as early as possible on the weekend and try to speed run through what i had already previously played in an effort to get to new content that day

Same, I always look back and think it was a perfect way to start off with its cartoony graphics. Although as a kid some of the sailing can get especially monotonous.

Don’t you know you’re supposed to keep jumping to dodge the white sea foam lines?

So it *wasn't* just me!

Passing out at stupid’O’clock on a school night and waking up somewhere in the middle of the ocean is one of my more nostalgic memories about the game!

1. I got a Nintendo for Christmas in 1987 when I was 10. It came with Mario Bros and The legend of Zelda. I remember I was so happy when I found out I could actually *save my game* in Zelda, and continue where I left off. Good times!

When people talk about the impact of games on the games in the future, I think this one is often understated. The Legend of Zelda was the first home console game to have a legitimate save function. That allowed for a good user experience and the idea of more than 1 sitting of content per game. It’s easily the thing that exploded the popularity of games and made the value proposition much more reasonable to most people.

No love for Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass? ...having Zelda as a companion across the game was a great change, also train goes CHOO CHOO

Also no Link Between Worlds, which is in my opinion one of the best games in the franchise.

Never owned a 3DS sadly, almost considering looking for one now given the catalogue of great games I seem to have missed out on

100% worth itDS+3DS libraries... that's thousands of titles with countless good games that are still very playable to this day. Plus emulating the console's dual screen is average at best, and emulating the 3D effect practically doesn't happen. This console ages incredibly well.

The experience emulating a 3ds is drastically different than playing on the console itself honestly. The games look decently sharp on its own screen

I won't lie. Even when new, I've always found my 3DS XL very uncrisp

Anything 3D looks horrible there to my eye. But it SHINES with anything 2D, pixel art, etc.

I will say, I never use the 3D on mine, I think it is fine but it only works at specific angles and can be a hassle to use imo. That being said, I do love the 3DS.

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Bought the 3ds specifically for this game and it was 100% worth it

Worth it for a link between worlds alone. 100% agree it's one of the best games in the entire series. There are tons of other great 3ds games as well, that console is severely underrated.

That one was a lot of fun to play.

An actually underrated game. Amazing from start to finish!

Phantom Hourglass was my first, I feel cheated.

same here!

The music is awesome too.

Right!?! I haven't played Spirit Tracks in maybe a decade but I can still hear the theme at any given moment

Funnily enough phantom hourglass was my first Zelda game. Liked it and got the sequel spirit tracks then the OOT and MM remakes on DS and just kept going.

Yeah the apparent lack of any kind of DS coverage on this list is a pretty big oversight IMO. If this were a Pokemon list people would be foaming at the mouth lol

These were my first zelda games as a ds kid, I thought they were great.

Absolutely, and all the cartoon Link games just ooze charm

yea my first was Phantom Hourglass but I didnt even get a number to choose I was like aw man

Did Spirit Tracks as my first, fell in love from there

I got the gold Zelda DS with Phantom Hourglass. I still have it. An amazing way to experience my first game.

>having Zelda as a companion across the game was a great change It definitly was something great, ST Zelda best Zelda >also train goes CHOO CHOO Nah, screw that slow piece of junk, I am sure Link can run faster than that 😒

Definitely one of the best. And whilst the train may have been slow, it still went CHOO CHOO. You could build a bullet train in TOTK, but with the current lack of a horn device, it will never go CHOO CHOO

Also the amazing overworld theme

Yeah! Spirit Tracks was my first! Close second was Twilight Princess, and I've watched my mom play most of them too

Thank you! I never got the hate for Navi as I loved them in Phantom hourglass and the music in Spirit tracks was some of the best in the series.

CHOOOOOOO CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

7. Both oracles are two of that games that i'll remember forever, have too many wonderful memories exploring Labrynna and Holodrum

Yup, same. Was obsessed with Zelda after seeing my friend play Ocarina at his house. I had a gameboy, but my parents didn't want me to have a home console that young. Regardless, I lost so many hours to Ages and Seasons, and later Awakening.

Oracle of Ages was the first game I completed entirely on my own, no game FAQs or older brother beating something for me. It probably took me an entire year (I remember spending like a month on the island where you shipwreck and lose all your items) but good god I loved it so much.

Same, I played the Oracle games after Link's Awakening. Had so much fun playing those games as a kid.

Tbh I think they hold up substantially well today. They don't feel clunky at all, and still have some really good puzzles

Link to the Past!

Same. It's still one of my favorites

Phantom Hourglass

Number five. It was a blessed day that day my mom came home from the flea market with that game in 1999. Edit: fixed formatting.

Name checks out

At a flee market after 1 year? Nice find by your mom!!

12. Et the time I thought it was a little dark but I liked it very much

Tp is literally a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned

https://youtu.be/kAwwQ7dTjRY

Skyward Sword - Actually the first video game I ever played!

Breath of the wild although I do want to try some of the older gamea

Link to the past is a top choice

Regularly cited as one of the best games ever made. If you're going 2D Zelda, it's the top dog.

My personal recommendations for older games to newer players: 3D style (like breath of the wild): Wind Waker - Great for getting familiar with how 3D variations of the game used to be developed (if you are looking to play OoT eventually) with some polished mechanics and a "large map" (considering the limitations at the time). Not as easy to get a hold of this game unless you have a Wii-U, GameCube, or (a legally acquired version of the game 😉) + emulation tools 2D style (overhead view): Link's Awakening for Switch - A great remaster of the original 2d game with 3d models. Plus, you have a switch already 2D style + Retro Style: A link to the Past - As I saw u/zactodactyl mentioned, A stable well developed Zelda game that captures the essence of what a 2D Zelda game really is. Sets a lot themes that are even used in the 3D games. Soundtrack 💯, Gameplay 💯, Pink Hair 💯 Unique pick: (platformer): Zelda 2 NES - use emulation tools like rewind and save state to counter the game's difficulty. You can play this with Nintendo Online or (a legally acquired version of the game 😉) + emulation tools Personal Favorite: Ocarina of Time - Even if some of the mechanics are outdated (such as the Z - Targeting camera) This was the first time a 3d Zelda game was released. This soundtrack slaps. Because it's other people's favorites as well, a lot of themes from this game carry over into other games. I have heard people complain about the switch online version of the game (although it may not be so bad)... So I recommend if possible to play the PC port, Wii VC, or GameCube w/ master quest versions of the game. Don't judge my baby too harshly or I will cry 😭

Most issues with the Switch OoT was that it gave a slightly worse playing experience, and it was basically unusable for glitches and speed runs. But for casual play, it is fine of that is most convinient. The 3DS remake of OoT is also quite good imo.

Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages don't get a lot of hype but I love them.

Try oot on switch

Phantom hourglass for me.

Adventure of Link, I was around 2. I only remember it because it was my cousin's NES, and he proceeded to tickle me until I peed myself. Later I played ALttP many years later on my aunt's SNES when I was around 7. Didn't really get into Zelda until I was about 10 in 2000 when I rented OoT, proceed to get MM right after when it came out, and the rest is history.

Adventure of Link was my first Zelda game too. I remember as a kid I had seen screenshots of The Legend of Zelda and it really captured my imagination - a top down game (instead of a platformer, I was tired of platformers) where you could explore a land? With swords and monsters? Yeah it looked like everything I wanted, so I asked my mum for "the Zelda game" and ended up getting Adventure of Link. My disappointment was immeasurable. Eventually, a couple of years later, I managed to borrow the original Legend of Zelda game, and it was everything I wanted it to be. After that I got A Link to the Past on the SNES, and my love of Zelda grew. Only at that point did I go back and learn to appreciate the Adventure of Link.

I was looking to see if there were any other poor souls like me who ended up with this as their first zelda as a kid.

My story is similar, minus the peeing part. 😄 I have vague early memories of watching my cousin play Zelda II, but I didn’t get into any of the games myself until much later.

Ocarina of Time

Phantom hourglass which you didn't decide to include

12. One of my all time favorite games

The talking hat

First time I played another Zelda game I was confused why the hat didn't talk to you

So technically the first Zelda game I owned and I got to play myself was a Link Between Worlds. My parents weren’t big on video games so my first device was a DS in middle school then later a 3DS in high school. Though I did play bits of the earlier games including Wild Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward sword at a friends house getting me into the series.

Technically Oracle of Seasons, but I consider Ocarina of Time as my first Zelda game since it was the first one I completed.

skyward sword on wii

Where is Tri-Force Heroes? Is it safe? Is it alright?

Oot but I’ve played them all since (except four swords)

Phantome Hourglass but it apparently don't existe in your world

Majoras mask in a wiiu

Collectors edition was the first game I got bundled with my Gamecube. Played mostly Oot and loved the heck out of it. Loz and Links adventure were too hard and oldschool for 8 year old me. Majoras Mask was too confusing with the time travel. I did play alot of the Windwaker demo too, seeing how far I could get within the time limit.

I can’t believe you didn’t list A Link Between Worlds which was my first Zelda

3. And what a great journey it was !

Skyward sword was the first one I actually owned, I had played some of the other games on my brothers Nintendo consoles, but on my 10th birthday I got skyward sword (it actually released on my birthday I think) Shortly after I got diagnosed with cancer so I completed the whole game in hospital while I was getting chemo therapy.

12 — Twilight Princess is the first I can remember playing, and I still love it.

Why no Oracle of Ages, (I know Seasons is its companion but they are still different games) Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks or Tri-Force heroes? I know they aren't the greatest but they are still Zelda games that some really do love and belong on this list.

Also, there is no link between worlds.

I hate the way you made this list, with the numbers l going vertical instead of horizontal. But my first game was Ocarina of time

OoT was the first one I ever played, but ALttP was the first one I ever owned. Both I’ve beaten more times than I can count!

A Link to the past

14 because I thought zelda games were pokemon-type rpgs

3

8.5 my first zelda game was the four swords anniversary edition on the DS

Spirit Tracks.

None of those listed. It was actually A Link Between Worlds

I think it must've been Twilight Princess actually- although I never made it past the forest temple. My first \*proper\* Zelda experience was a classic- Ocarina of Time on the 3DS.

Phantom hourglass! I got it for Christmas with my DS

1

A Link Between Worlds

Ocarina of Time or Oracle of Time, I can't remember which I played first.

Link to the Past, i think

5.i love oot, and I would play it again and again if I had the time to kill😅

OoT

BOTW! And I just started playing recently!

10

Ocarina of Time

3. Got A Link to the Past on release day at Toys R Us.