The Legend of Zelda franchise is among the most revered in gaming. Year after year, generation after generation, Nintendo's crack team of developers releases consistently great entries that are almost always Game of the Year contenders.
For the purpose of remaining focused on the core entries of The Legend of Zelda franchise, several spin-offs and obscure titles are omitted. Titles like Hyrule Warriors, Link's Crossbow Training, Cadence of Hyrule, and the CD-i games are left off. Even with those missing, we still have 21 games where Link battles the forces of evil to save Zelda, Hyrule, or whatever equivalent exists in that respective game. Since the series has been running for more than three decades, we must consider both legacy and impact, as well as how much fun the games are to play today.
Despite the large number of releases over the course of more than three decades, the Zelda franchise has yet to strike out. Even the lowest-ranked games on this list are worth playing. Because of this, the order of this list was highly contested from top to bottom.
21
Tri Force Heroes
As a game that encouraged players to work together to solve fun puzzles and progress through a colorful world, Tri Force Heroes is a fine game. Unfortunately, when stacked against the rest of the core Zelda titles, Tri Force Heroes isn't up to snuff. The humor and puzzles serve as the highlight, but the forgettable action sequences and repetitive gameplay loop prevent it from standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the other games in Zelda's storied franchise.
You can read our review of Tri Force Heroes head here.
20
Spirit Tracks
Spirit Tracks stands out as a different take on the series that delivered inconsistent results. Using touchscreen controls, players guide Link as he travels by train from location to location. The dungeons and combat are generally improvements over the previous Zelda game on DS, Phantom Hourglass, but by having Link ride the Spirit Tracks in the overworld, the game removes one of the best parts of the series: the exploration. When combined with an inconsistent quality of level design, this makes it one of the lesser entries in the series.
You can read our review of Spirit Tracks head here.
19
Zelda II: Adventure of Link
After the original Legend of Zelda game captured players' imaginations through stellar exploration and great top-down combat, the dramatic change in direction that took place with Zelda II: Adventure of Link was a shock to the system. While some of the side-scrolling areas were enjoyable, the overworld navigation was not nearly as fun or rewarding as its counterpart in the original game. Still, those who braved the maddening difficulty found a uniquely engaging experience that put some good ideas to use.
To read more about the history of Zelda II, with quotes from Shigeru Miyamoto about its development, head here.
18
Four Swords
Taking several cues from A Link to the Past, Four Swords delivers strong gameplay, but the multiplayer focus made it difficult to play due to the hoops to jump through to connect four Game Boy Advance systems. In addition, the randomized dungeons sometimes led to poorly conceived designs. To make it even more of an uphill battle, Four Swords was packaged with the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past, putting it in direct comparison with that beloved entry. Despite this, Four Swords is a strong entry point for the series, possessing surprising depth and fun multiplayer. For those who want to play it now, the Anniversary Edition added a single-player mode and additional content.