I have a long, long way to go on this.

The last Zelda / Link game I finished was Ocarina of Time like 25 years ago.

I am entering into a six month sabbatical from my career, and I plan on doing a lot of fishing, writing, and other stuff, but I want to play some games in the evening. I always enjoyed Zelda games, and want to go that direction.

What is f30's suggestion on the titles that I can't miss, and the best investment in consoles to get there. I have budget for a new console, and possibly also a used console if I need an older one to play an older title.

What say you f30? Where do I spend my time / money?

Get a Switch. Switch 2 is supposed to be coming soon, but no date yet and not enough details even if there are rumors of backward compatibility.

Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are the newer 3D Zelda games that mastered exploration even if they broke the mold of the Zelda dungeons. Brilliant, beautiful games
Links Awakening remake for switch is traditional top down Zelda. Great remake
New game coming out soon is Echoes of Wisdom. You actually pay as Zelda with a mix of traditional Zelda top down gameplay with some of the innovations of TOTK.

Pretty much any classic Zelda game is available for online purchase through the Nintendo store on Switch.

https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/explore-some-of-links-earlier-adventures-available-now-with-nintendo-switch-online-and-nintendo-switch-online-expansion-pack/?srsltid=AfmBOopOoTp-AMjVMjKS58Yoj5OHXkGDkJdSwWIngWnqoxQHxxAukACT

I'd start with tears of the kingdom

Hard to recommend BOTW as well since tears uses the same overworld. They are kind of redundant

They are very long games, so be warned

Sure, start with Tears of the Kingdom, but when you start missing the tried and true Zelda formula with actual dungeons, transport yourself back to 1999 and play Majora's Mask. It is such a great game with an amazingly deep and dark story.

I would play Windwaker after that, followed by Twilight Princess.

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons on Game Boy Color are also very good.

AggiEE said:

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I'd start with tears of the kingdom

Hard to recommend BOTW as well since tears uses the same overworld. They are kind of redundant

They are very long games, so be warned

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I second this and would even go as far to say that BOTW has aged the worst out of all Zelda games to date. It was an incredible experience when it launched. But to your point, it's the same overworld as TOTK and TOTK improves on what BOTW offered in every single way.

Lathspell said:

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I completely disagree with those above and think Breath of the Wild is better than Tears of the Kingdom.

Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece. Then, in Tears of the Kingdom, they just stick a bunch of other crap onto it... pretty much literally.

I also love the story/idea behind Breath of the Wild. It is a game you can let yourself get lost in, and just enjoy exploring Hyrule without so much **** you have to do or check off a list.

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I agree with this wholeheartedly. I got bored with totk and didnt finish it. I think the Botw story is better, but I am apparently in the minority.

On some level it is fun to tinker with zoani devices, but I find it such an odd addition to the game and dont understand how it fits into the story and it gets in the way of gameplay.

Does the switch have ports of Twightlight Princess or Windwaker?

When I think of an old school gamer like myself who stopped at Ocarina, I think the most natural and enjoyable path would be to pick up those two games, but I'm not sure if the Switch offers them.

Buster, not sure if you are tech savvy at all, but there are a lot of great handhelds out there for installing emulators and playing old games (The Ayn Odin 2 is really popular). It requires some setup, but there are great youtube video tutorials for this if you don't mind investing some time to figure it out. I personally have a Steamdeck and have a ton of old games / old systems loaded up and play them all the time. Good stuff!

BOTW first

If you haven't played a Zelda game in that long it'll blow your mind

1 - Get a Switch, there's still no firm idea of when a Switch 2 is coming out.
2 - Get Breath of the Wild. I think the step up from everything you've played will really help you appreciate it. It's an incredible game.
3 - Get Link's Awakening. I just got done with this recently and loved the old school gameplay. Plus it's a good reset button after BOTW.
4 - Get Tears of the Kingdom. TotK is like new game plus for Breath of the Wild. They take the same bones but add so much to it between the depths, the sky, and all the new mechanics. I also feel like if you skip BotW you might never come back it to and that game is basically what got me hooked on the Switch and I stopped playing my Playstation.
5 - Echoes of Wisdom, I have it but haven't played yet. Work has been too busy for me to have enough free time to get to play it.

Lathspell said:

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I just loved the simplicity and open feel of BotW. You literally get your main quest at the beginning of the game, and everything else is up to you. There are quests you can find, but they are very rare and are just side things you don't need to do.

With TotK, there are like 4 mandatory quest lines, and so much crap you have to collect or points of interest you have to go to.

The creation of weapons is an interesting mechanic, but I get tired of having to craft every weapon I use.

Honestly, I just get overwhelmed with it all in TotK. I never felt that with BotW.

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This is fair, I still feel like BOTW is a shell of what TOTK is though. In BOTW, Hyrule is vast but it felt empty to me. TOTK improved on that aspect too for me.

I've had so much fun in TOTK hunting down all the clothes cosmetic options. I love expanding my Zonai batteries too.
What you can do is almost limitless in that game.

And that's one of the biggest reasons I prefer BotW. I get very OCD about having to go around and hunt every single piece of gear or do every quest in the quest log, and then I get burnt out and step away from the game.

I know of some people who didn't care for BotW but did like TotK, so definitely a personal preference based on what type of game you prefer. I loved the more empty feeling of the world in BotW because it literally felt like I was exploring a real land that was nearly torn apart a century ago, and has slowly been rebuilding.

I loved every second of BotW and got so completely bored with TotK until the very end. The final boss sequence and ending was so freaking incredible for TotK that it almost made up for the rest of it not being very interesting to me.

bthotugigem05 said:

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I loved every second of BotW and got so completely bored with TotK until the very end. The final boss sequence and ending was so freaking incredible for TotK that it almost made up for the rest of it not being very interesting to me.

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Maybe I should pick it up again because I think I am close to the end.

I'm not kidding when I say it may be my favourite final sequence of any game ever. Up there with Final Fantasy VII and Sephiroth, if that means anything to you.

Lathspell said:

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I just loved the simplicity and open feel of BotW. You literally get your main quest at the beginning of the game, and everything else is up to you. There are quests you can find, but they are very rare and are just side things you don't need to do.

With TotK, there are like 4 mandatory quest lines, and so much crap you have to collect or points of interest you have to go to.

The creation of weapons is an interesting mechanic, but I get tired of having to craft every weapon I use.

Honestly, I just get overwhelmed with it all in TotK. I never felt that with BotW.

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This is exactly me. I still prefer BOTW as a more focused, well-crafted and enjoyable experience.

BOTW final boss sucked IMO.

Late to this, but get a Switch and buy BotW. Also buy the Switch Online + Expansion Pack. It gives you access to NES, SNES, Game Boy, GBA, and N64 games. That's:

Legend of Zelda (NES)
Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link (NES)
A Link to the Past (SNES)
Link's Awakening (GB)
Ocarina of Time (N64)
Majora's Mask (N64)
Oracle of Ages (GBC)
Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Minish Cap (GBA)

Play Breath of the Wild first. It's arguably the greatest video game ever created. You'll be able to sink a ridiculous amount of hours into it.

Also hold out hope that the rumors of remastered Wind Waker and Twilight Princess that have been going on for 6 years eventually come true. Wind Waker is fun and Twilight Princess is the most underrated title in the series. Such an amazing game and a much darker tone than other Zelda games have

Totally agree.

Appreciate this thread. I've been thinking about this same topic because I'm bored with gaming right now. The only thing I absolutely want to play is BG3, and I'm waiting on a new rig before I play it.

But I've heard about BOTW for years and always wanted to play it. I'm probably older than even the OP as I haven't played a Zelda game since the very original one.

What are the best Zelda's between Twilight Princess and BOTW? That's my Zelda black hole. Anything from after Gameboy Color, really.

There wasn't a whole lot of "new" during that time tbh.

There is Skyward Sword, which is a very good game but got a lot of hate for the Wiimote waggle sword controls. It's one of the longer Zelda games.

A Link Between Worlds was the major portable entry during this time. I liked it OK like a modern day take on ALttP.

Spirit Tracks on the DS also released during this time. If you liked the series of windwaker style clones on DS, you'd like this.

As for remakes, they re-released Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on 3DS which are both excellent 3D ports, Windwaker HD and Twilight Princess HD.

Ghost of Bisbee said:

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There wasn't a whole lot of "new" during that time tbh.

There is Skyward Sword, which is a very good game but got a lot of hate for the Wiimote waggle sword controls. It's one of the longer Zelda games.

A Link Between Worlds was the major portable entry during this time. I liked it OK like a modern day take on ALttP.

Spirit Tracks on the DS also released during this time. If you liked the series of windwaker style clones on DS, you'd like this.

As for remakes, they re-released Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on 3DS which are both excellent 3D ports, Windwaker HD and Twilight Princess HD.

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3DS has several great games, it's worth having for the Zelda games alone: A Link Between Worlds, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are so good on it.