If you're getting into The Legend of Zelda for the first time, you've picked a pretty good moment.
Ocarina of Time, one of the most celebrated games ever made, has just received a full Switch 2 remake, nearly 30 years after its original release. Breath of the Wild (2017) and Tears of the Kingdom (2023) offer two enormous modern adventures. And if you prefer something more traditional, there's the lovely 2019 remake of Link's Awakening, originally released for Game Boy in 1993.
That's before we even get into the rest of a series that stretches all the way back to 1986.
The good news is that you really can't go too far wrong. Most Zelda games stand on their own, and there's no need to follow Nintendo's complicated timeline.
The only problem is finding the one that’s right for you.
Which Zelda Game Should You Start With?
For most newcomers, we'd recommend starting with the 2026 Ocarina of Time remake. But depending on what you enjoy, there's a good chance one of these will suit you just as well.
Want the classic 3D Zelda experience? Start with Ocarina of Time (2026 remake).
Love big open worlds and exploring at your own pace? Start with Breath of the Wild.
Want a smaller, more self-contained adventure? Start with Link's Awakening.
Prefer old-school 2D games? Start with A Link to the Past.
Love experimenting and finding creative solutions? Start with Echoes of Wisdom.
And if Tears of the Kingdom, Wind Waker or some other Zelda game is what got you interested in the series, you can absolutely start there instead.
There are better and worse orders to experience certain games, but very few genuinely bad places to begin.
Ocarina of Time (2026 Remake): Start Here for Classic 3D Zelda
Our first recommendation for anyone who wants to experience traditional 3D Zelda; now with modern controls and presentation.
Ocarina of Time was the fifth mainline Zelda game and the series' first 3D adventure when it arrived on Nintendo 64 in 1998. It helped establish the formula that defined Zelda for nearly two decades: exploring Hyrule, discovering new equipment and working your way through increasingly elaborate dungeons full of puzzles, enemies and secrets.
There's a really satisfying rhythm to it. You might find a new item halfway through a dungeon, learn how to use it to solve the puzzles around you, then realise it also opens up somewhere in the wider world that you couldn't reach before.
That's one of the biggest differences from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Those games give you enormous freedom almost immediately. Ocarina takes you on a more structured adventure, gradually opening up Hyrule as you progress through the story.
And now, the 2026 remake makes that experience much easier to recommend to somebody who's never played Zelda before. The visuals have been completely rebuilt, movement and camera controls modernised, and Link can now jump manually. Nintendo has even adjusted some of the more confusing dungeon navigation, including the famously troublesome Water Temple.
The Nintendo 64 original is still available through Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on both Switch generations if you want to give it a shot. There's also the 2011 Nintendo 3DS remake if you're interested in experiencing an earlier version.
If you've got a Switch 2, the 2026 remake is what we'd recommend.
Majora's Mask is the most direct follow-up, while Wind Waker and Twilight Princess offer two very different takes on traditional 3D Zelda.
Breath of the Wild: Start Here if You Love Open Worlds
If you love exploring enormous worlds and figuring things out for yourself, Breath of the Wild might be an even better starting point than Ocarina of Time.
Breath of the Wild gives you an enormous version of Hyrule and an extraordinary amount of freedom to explore it. After the opening area, there's very little stopping you from heading off in almost any direction.
See a mountain in the distance? You can probably climb it. Spot something strange on the horizon? Go investigate! It’ll be worth your time. You might spend an entire evening wandering around, finding hidden shrines, experimenting with the game's physics or getting distracted by something you spotted on your way to do something else.
Breath of the Wild makes exploration itself the adventure, and there's very little pressure to follow the main story in any particular order.
Of course, it won't suit everyone. Weapons break, the world can feel surprisingly empty at times, and players who prefer structured adventures with traditional Zelda dungeons might enjoy Ocarina of Time more.
But Breath of the Wild's freedom is what made it such a landmark game in 2017, and it still looks and plays wonderfully today, particularly with the improved performance of the Switch 2 Edition.
Tears of the Kingdom is the natural next step. You can start with the sequel instead, but we'd recommend playing Breath of the Wild first if you intend to experience both. Tears builds on the same world with more elaborate systems, and seeing how Hyrule has changed is much more rewarding when you already know it.
Link's Awakening: Start Here for a Smaller Zelda Adventure
A charming, self-contained introduction to classic top-down Zelda, without the enormous commitment of an open-world adventure.
Welcome to Koholint Island, a strange little place full of oddball characters and surprisingly tricky puzzles.
It was the fourth mainline Zelda game, originally released for Game Boy in 1993, two years after A Link to the Past. As the series' first handheld adventure, it was also smaller in scale. Nintendo gave it a beautiful Switch remake in 2019, with colourful, almost toy-like visuals that make it feel surprisingly modern. Underneath that new presentation, though, it's still very much an old-school Zelda game.
You explore Koholint from a top-down perspective, working your way through dungeons and gradually getting to know the island. Its inhabitants are wonderfully peculiar, and there's even a lengthy trading quest that sends you running errands all over the place.
Koholint might be small, but there's an awful lot packed into it.
Don't mistake smaller for easier, though. Some puzzles are surprisingly cryptic, and figuring out where to go next can occasionally become a challenge of its own.
If you'd rather experience the original handheld style, Link's Awakening DX, the enhanced 1998 Game Boy Color version, is also available through the standard Game Boy Nintendo Classics library.
A Link to the Past is a natural next step for a bigger take on the same formula, while The Minish Cap offers another excellent handheld adventure.
A Link to the Past: Start Here if You Love Retro Games
If you want to experience the foundations of Zelda without going all the way back to the NES, this is where we'd start.
A Link to the Past opens on a stormy night, with Link sneaking out of his house after receiving a desperate message from Princess Zelda. Before long, you're exploring Hyrule Castle, fighting guards and trying to rescue her.
Originally released for Super Nintendo in 1991 in Japan and 1992 elsewhere, it was the third mainline Zelda game. After Zelda II experimented with side-scrolling gameplay, A Link to the Past returned to the original's top-down perspective and established much of the formula that would define the series for years to come.
But don’t let the simplistic perspective fool you, there's a substantial adventure here. Hyrule is full of forests, mountains, villages and dungeons, and eventually you'll discover the Dark World, a twisted version of the same landscape that completely changes how you explore it.
No full modern remake has arrived to smooth out the rough edges, but the original actually holds up remarkably well. The pixel art still looks lovely, the controls are responsive, and the world is packed with secrets worth finding. Just expect a little more old-school difficulty and considerably less guidance than you'd get from a modern Zelda.
And you don't need an old SNES to play it.
A Link to the Past is included in the Super Nintendo Classics library through a standard Nintendo Switch Online subscription, making it readily accessible on Switch and Switch 2.
If you're exploring the series in its original release order, Link's Awakening comes next. Or, if you have a 3DS, A Link Between Worlds is an excellent later follow-up that revisits the same version of Hyrule with some clever new ideas.
Echoes of Wisdom: Start Here if You Love Creative Problem-Solving
A modern take on classic top-down Zelda that rewards experimentation and finding your own solutions.
Most Zelda games put you in control of Link. Echoes of Wisdom hands the adventure to Princess Zelda herself, who sets out to rescue Link and save Hyrule from a series of mysterious rifts.
Released for Switch in 2024, it was the first mainline Zelda game to feature the princess as its central playable character. It also shares the colourful, toy-like art style of the Link's Awakening remake, although the gameplay takes things in a very different direction. Instead of relying on a sword, Zelda uses a magical staff called the Tri Rod to create copies of objects and enemies she encounters.
Need to cross a gap? Stack up some beds to make a bridge. Having trouble with a monster? Summon another monster to fight it for you. You can even create blocks of water and swim upwards to reach places that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Half the fun is coming up with a ridiculous solution, then discovering that it actually works.
There's still plenty of traditional Zelda here, including towns, secrets and proper dungeons full of puzzles. But you're given much more freedom in how you approach those challenges, making Echoes of Wisdom an interesting middle ground between classic Zelda and the experimentation of Breath of the Wild.
The indirect combat won't appeal to everyone, and managing a long list of copied objects can still be fiddly, even with the updated favourites filter.
If you like the top-down structure, try Link's Awakening next. If the experimentation is what grabbed you, Breath of the Wild takes that freedom into a much bigger world.
What About the Other Zelda Games?
The five games above are our recommended starting points, but they're hardly your only options. Here's where the rest of the mainline Zelda games fit into our recommended playing order.
Tears of the Kingdom (2023)
You can absolutely start here, but we'd recommend Breath of the Wild first if you plan to play both.
Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel, but it tells its own story, and you won't be completely lost without playing Breath of the Wild.
It returns to the same Hyrule, now expanded with floating islands, enormous underground areas and new abilities that let you build everything from simple vehicles to ridiculously elaborate contraptions.
It's an even more ambitious game in several respects, but Breath of the Wild introduces this world more naturally. Knowing Hyrule beforehand also makes it much more interesting to explore again and discover everything that's changed.
Majora's Mask (2000)
Save this one until after Ocarina of Time. It's a direct sequel that takes Zelda in a much stranger direction.
Released just two years after Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64, Majora's Mask follows the same Link into an adventure involving a repeating three-day cycle, a falling moon and characters whose lives play out on a schedule.
Much of the game revolves around learning those routines, collecting masks with unusual abilities and figuring out how to help people before time runs out. The constant countdown can make it surprisingly stressful, and its structure is unlike almost anything else in Zelda.
You don't strictly need Ocarina's story to understand it, but playing that more traditional adventure first gives Majora's Mask a much better foundation.
The N64 original is available through Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. There's also a 2015 remake for Nintendo 3DS, although you'll need older hardware for that version.
Wind Waker (2002)
Another excellent starting point, especially if you want a colourful, charming adventure with a real sense of discovery.
Wind Waker was the third major 3D Zelda, arriving on GameCube in 2002 in Japan. Its colourful, cartoon-like graphics were quite a departure from what players expected after Ocarina of Time, and they've aged remarkably well.
Instead of exploring Hyrule on horseback, you sail between islands across a vast ocean, discovering hidden locations, meeting wonderfully expressive characters and gradually uncovering the story of the world beneath the waves.
The sailing can occasionally feel slow, particularly if you're used to modern open-world games. But the sense of adventure, distinctive art style and memorable characters make Wind Waker an appealing introduction even today.
The original GameCube version is available through Nintendo GameCube Classics on Switch 2 with an Expansion Pack subscription. There's also the enhanced Wind Waker HD on Wii U, although that version hasn't made it to Switch.
Twilight Princess (2006)
A great alternative for anyone who prefers darker fantasy, traditional dungeons and a more serious story.
Originally released for GameCube and Wii in 2006, Twilight Princess went in almost the opposite direction from Wind Waker, with a darker fantasy setting, some genuinely unsettling moments and some of the series' best dungeons.
Link also spends part of the adventure transformed into a wolf, introducing different abilities and changing how you explore Hyrule.
The opening is fairly slow, taking a while before the adventure really gets going. But the bigger obstacle today is actually finding a convenient way to play it.
Twilight Princess HD arrived on Wii U in 2016, but there's still no native Switch or Switch 2 version. That's a shame for a game that would otherwise be a strong recommendation for newcomers drawn to its darker style.
Skyward Sword (2011)
The first game in Zelda's fictional timeline, but not necessarily the first one you should play.
Skyward Sword explores the origins of the Master Sword and some of the mythology connecting the wider franchise. Despite taking place earliest in the official chronology, it wasn't released until 2011 on Wii.
It's one of the more linear 3D Zelda adventures, with a stronger emphasis on story, elaborate dungeons and an unusual sword-fighting system originally built around Wii motion controls.
The 2021 Switch HD remaster added conventional button controls and several other improvements, making it considerably more approachable.
For anyone especially interested in Zelda's lore, Skyward Sword is a worthwhile early stop. Just remember that the fictional timeline and release order are two very different things.
Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons (2001)
Two excellent Game Boy Color adventures that are well worth exploring if you enjoy classic top-down Zelda.
Released together in 2001, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are separate adventures with different worlds, dungeons and challenges.
Ages focuses more on puzzles, letting Link travel between past and present to change the world around him. Seasons leans towards action and exploration, with the ability to change the seasons and transform the environment.
You can play either one first, and linking them unlocks additional story content and a more complete ending.
Both are available through the standard Game Boy Nintendo Classics library on Switch and Switch 2, making them excellent follow-ups to Link's Awakening.
The Minish Cap (2004) and A Link Between Worlds (2013)
Two of the strongest top-down Zelda games outside our main recommendations, and both excellent introductions in their own right.
The Minish Cap arrived on Game Boy Advance in 2004 and remains one of the most charming games in the series. Link can shrink to miniature size, turning ordinary environments into enormous places to explore, and the pixel art is gorgeous.
It's available through Game Boy Advance Nintendo Classics with a Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription.
A Link Between Worlds arrived on Nintendo 3DS in 2013, revisiting the world of A Link to the Past with a clever ability that lets Link flatten himself against walls to solve puzzles and reach new areas.
It also gives you much more freedom in the order you tackle its dungeons, making it an interesting bridge between traditional Zelda and the approach Nintendo later embraced in Breath of the Wild.
Unfortunately, A Link Between Worlds remains tied to 3DS hardware, with no straightforward modern re-release. If you can play it, though, it's one of the strongest recommendations in this entire section.
Phantom Hourglass (2007) and Spirit Tracks (2009)
The two Nintendo DS adventures are worth exploring, particularly if you enjoyed Wind Waker.
Phantom Hourglass directly follows Wind Waker, continuing Link's adventures at sea with touchscreen controls and a central dungeon you revisit throughout the game.
Spirit Tracks takes place much later in the same branch of Zelda's timeline, replacing boats with trains and giving Princess Zelda a more active role in solving puzzles and exploring.
Both make extensive use of the DS touchscreen, which gives them a distinctive feel but also makes them harder to revisit. Neither has received a Switch re-release, so you'll need compatible older hardware.
The Legend of Zelda (1986) and Zelda II (1987)
Want to experience Zelda from the very beginning? Both NES originals are playable on modern Nintendo consoles.
The original Legend of Zelda introduced many of the series' foundations in 1986: exploring Hyrule, finding secrets, completing dungeons and gathering equipment to progress.
It offers very little guidance by modern standards, and figuring out where to go next can be the biggest challenge.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link followed in 1987 and experimented with side-scrolling combat, experience points and a much greater emphasis on action. It's also notoriously difficult.
Both are available through the standard NES Nintendo Classics library on Switch and Switch 2.
Neither would be our first recommendation for a newcomer, but if you're interested in seeing how Zelda evolved, there's something appealing about starting with the originals and working your way forward.
The familiar Zelda formula really began taking shape with A Link to the Past.
Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures and Tri Force Heroes
Zelda's multiplayer-focused adventures are optional detours rather than essential stops in the main series.
Four Swords first appeared alongside the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past in 2002, introducing cooperative puzzles built around multiple Links working together.
Four Swords Adventures expanded the idea into a full GameCube game in 2004, while Tri Force Heroes brought cooperative Zelda to Nintendo 3DS in 2015. Both also offer solo play, although multiplayer is central to their design.
The original Four Swords is available through Game Boy Advance Nintendo Classics, but the others are considerably less convenient to play today.
And beyond those, spin-offs such as Hyrule Warriors and Cadence of Hyrule take Zelda into completely different genres. They're worth exploring on their own terms, but aren't essential to the mainline series.