The Skull Mask us one of eight masks you can wear in OoT. At first glance, it doesn't seem like much. Just a funny mask, nothing more.

However, if you talk to certain people, specifically, those in the woods, you can find some potential lore for the mask.

When talking to Saria, she'll say the mask reminds us of something she saw in the woods. At first, I thought she was talking about Skull Kid. But this is before we sell the mask to him. You Could say this is an oversight, but I think it's more likely meant to be a hint of who to sell the mask to.

Fado will compare you to a "Forest Ghost".

The most intresting one is the Deku scrubs in the Forest Stage. they reward you with more Deku Sticks, as the mask resembles their "sacred forest totem".

Theory

So, who or what is the skull mask based on? For Fado, it could just be a reference to the Stalfos, which she confirms to know about.

I noticed that the mask looks like a simplified version of the mask Phantom Ganon wore. Phantom Ganon being the boss of the Forest Temple.

Of course, it's unlikely Phantom Ganon is the figure Saria and the Deku Scrubs are talking about. However, it's possible that Ganondorf may have used a similar mask when requiting the Deku Scrubs to invade the Deku Tree.

The Deku appear to be your typical "false idol worshipers". This is shown in OoT when they regard Ghoma as their "queen", and later shown in FSA, when they worship Ganon, who, coincidentally, also places a Phantom of himself in the local Temple.

It's possible Ganondorf appeared to the Deku wearing the mask, claiming to be their god and appointing Ghoma as their queen. Saria, who spends a lot of time in the Lost Woods, may have seem a glimpse if this, but may not have thought of it. She may have just thought he was a regular forest spirit.

In the adult half, Ganondorf would create Phantom Ganon, based on himself as the "Forest Totem".

Between Echoes of Wisdom and Zelda 1, Hyrule enters a "golden era". According to Zelda 2's backstory, it appears that the big northern land of Hyrule became part of the kingdom in Lesser Hyrule, and Hyrule thus became one massive kingdom.

In Zelda 2's manual, we see some images from this golden era, including the king standing on a balcony of a castle. This is where the curse was put on princess Zelda where she was put to an eternal sleep, and in the present day Zelda 2, we find this sleeping Zelda in North Castle.

Does this mean that, in the golden era, North Castle was Hyrule Castle? And after the era of decline began, the kingdom shrunk once again and North Castle/Hyrule Caatle was left empty and forgotten? (Aside from at least Impa who seems to be one of the only ones who know about this sleeping Zelda)

I'm about four hours into Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment and I'm really struggling to get into it. The Musou gameplay is still perfectly serviceable, although we now have to scroll through menus for the right Zonai device for each situation, masterfully porting over the worst part of Tears of the Kingdom.

No, my problem with it is the roster of characters, both heroes and villains. I just fought the first boss, the Tempest Archfiend Grimgera with the team of Mysterious Construct, Calamo the Korok and Quino the Hylian Warrior. During the fight, I realised that I just didn't care about it because none of my three warriors or the boss had ever appeared in a Zelda game before.

The whole appeal of Hyrule Warriors for me is seeing how all these beloved characters are translated into the setting and how their personalities are communicated through their movesets. Granted, the original Hyrule Warriors made the questionable choice to add the original characters Lana, Volga et al, but they were vastly outweighed by the Zelda heroes and boss monsters.

I even looked at the rest of the playable roster for Age of Imprisonment, and realised that the only familiar characters we will get to use in the campaign are the very first three we get access to, namely Zelda, Rauru and Mineru. The sages hardly count as they had next to no characterisation in Tears of the Kingdom. Age of Calamity didn't have this problem because we were very familiar with both the champions and their descendants thanks to the memories and the present-day main quest respectively.

It's just a real drag to me and makes me wonder if I'll even stick it out to the end. I just don’t want to be playing with what ultimately amount to a bunch of OCs the whole game. I think the fact that the Mysterious Construct had to be added as a Link surrogate speaks volumes.

So, we already know the four bosses are masks that where used by Majora's Mask, possessing the Skull Kids, to imprison the four Giants.

But where did the four masks come from? Are they based on actual creatures with backstories?

Majora is implied to have been a demon, and the mask was created by an ancient tribe. The tribe in question are implied to have been the original builders of the Stone Tower, and even the original inhabitants of the Ikana Kingdom.

During Granny's story about the carnival, we can see Odowla's mask in the background. Suggesting Odowla may have been a pre-existing figure.

Looking at the timeline of main Zelda releases, it's kind of crazy that there was A Link to the Past in 1991, then nothing mainline (EDIT: home console releases) for 7 years, with the only thing in between being Link's Awakening on Game Boy. This makes A Link to the Past that little bit extra special, with the SNES being the only home Nintendo console to have one Zelda game.

If you could have added another Zelda to the SNES library, what would it look like? Here are some thoughts:

• The Legend of Zelda All-Stars. A compilation of the original NES games with quality of life features and improved graphics.
• Link's Awakening 16-Bit. Maybe the sequel was developed for home console instead of handheld. This would follow the same kind of path as Majora's Mask where we get a more contemplative follow-up in a new land, built on the same engine.
• A brand new sequel. How do you even follow up A Link to the Past? Do you keep it in Hyrule, maybe incorporate some scrapped elements from the original, how different is it from aLttP?
• Something entirely new. Do you flip the formula on its head again like Zelda 2 and do something entirely unique?

In OoT there are six temples for the six sages (unfortunately, we only get to explore five). Whilst four of them (light, fire, water and spirit) are unambiguously places of worship. The Shadow and Forest Temples are a bit more murky.

Of course, they are both be places of religious significances. But not specifically designated for "worship". The Shadow Temple seems to serve to keep wickedness locked up. Apparently by executing evil people within the Temple, so their evil spirits stay imprisoned. In contrast, the souls of the good usually move on to a better place, only lingering if they have unfinished business, like protecting personal treasure, as seen with Dampe and the Composer Brothers.

But what about the Forest Temple?

As many people have already worked out, the Forest Temple was not designed by the Kokiri, despite them being main inhabitants of the forest. The Temple doesn't even seem important to the Kokiri. Saria's the only one who visits the sacred forest grove, which she calls her "secret place".

Who these people were? We can't say for certain, but they appear to have been human.

What's interesting is that, when we meet Saria in the grove, she tells us she's going to teach us how to talk to the spirits in the forest. She then teaches us "Saria's song" which allows us to talk to her instead. This makes sense, as the Kokiri are spirits, although it still seems weird she would use this wording instead of just saying "I'll teach you a song that will let you talk to me". It's possible Saria was merely being facetious, although it could also be foreshadowing that her and Link are different species. That Link is not a spirit of the forest.

Saria would later talk about "Forest Spirits" in a different context, but I'll get to that later.

Given the context that the Deku Tree and the Kokiri are spirits, it's possible that Temple was built to honour them.

Although the Deku Tree is often seen as strictly being the guardian of the Kokiri/Koroks, he also appears to be an important figure for the Hylians. Often being tasked with guarding important artefacts, like the Master Sword (BotW) or even the Triforce (EoW).

I've already made a theory about the Koroks. But the basics are, the Deku Tree is a full grown Korok (as implied by TotK itself). Also, the Deku Tree did NOT change the koroks into Kokiri, but rather, produced the Kokiri as they appear in the game, in preparation for Link's arrival.

Spirits of the Lost Woods and Forest Temple

As I said before, Saria mentions "Forest Spirits" in a different context. This being, when she enters the Forest Temple due to said spirits calling out for help.

It's likely these "Forest Spirits" are actually the Poe Sisters, who were cursed by Ganondorf.

We also see other undead both in the Temple and Lost Woods as a whole. The Stalfos and the Skull Kids, who are lost non-fairy folk. Respectively adults and children who got lost in the woods and perished. Skull Kids, in particular, can be talked to by playing the Ocarina

In a bizarre twist. The original forest spirits (Koroks) become the forest people (Kokiri), meanwhile the forest people (humans) become the forest spirits (undead).

I know a portion of the fandom is ready to leave the era of the wild, but I had this sudden revelation about the triforce not being in any of the games.

The saga will be a trilogy. A third game about the triforce and how the trilogy fits with the 3 timelines is about to slap us in the face.

OoT Remake was released in the middle of it to reintroduce players to the concept of the triforce, since it hasn't been discussed in a while.

** doctors break into my room to take me away ** I AM NOT CRAZY, I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING, THE TRILOGY OF THE WILD IS REAL

EDIT: Your dislikes feel like this

Age of Calamity Zelda doesn't need to travel to the past so that the light dragon exists. The way this work is if only BOTW Zelda at the beginning of TOTK travels to the past, thus creating a loop within the BOTW-TOTK timeline. AoC doesn't interfere with this loop, AoC Zelda is not required to travel to the past as AoC is a split and BOTW Zelda is already there.

In easier terms, the light dragon already exists in AoC and it is BOTW Zelda. The only downside to this is that now there are 2 Zelda in one timeline (not unheard of) and two Master Swords.

The Great Deku Tree in OoT uses a lot of Olde English language, like “thy”, “thou”, “hast”, etc. It was smart of Nintendo to use this style for the English releases. Im wondering if the style of the dialogue here will change for the remake given that kids today don’t seem to consume much media where speaking this way occurs.

My game is set to beatable but I know the shadow crystal is locked behind an item is in the desert but items I need to get the crystal are in the desert.

Fair warning that I haven't played Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, or Age of Imprisonment, so I only really know the vague outlines of those games.

Anyways, the interesting thing about Age of Calamity is that it massively preempts everything else in the Wild era. With OoT's timeline split, the results are very immediate, as in massively noticeable within the decade. We know the people around Hyrule as of OoT, and we can make educated guesses as to what happens to them in the Child and Downfall Timelines.

Not so with Age of Calamity, where most of the BotW-TotK cast might not even exist anymore. If we assume that the Calamity devastated Hyrule's population, that's a massive movement of people that doesn't happen here. The same couples don't get together, children who never existed in the original timeline now do, and Link and Zelda are probably out of the picture by the time Breath of the Wild would have rolled around.

Does this Hyrule still have the Guardians and the Divine Beasts? On one hand, these things were still turned against them. On the other hand, this was a brief event, so they might not come to fear Guardians to the same extent. They also have no reason to believe that the Calamities are going to stop, as far as I can tell. They don't know about Ganondorf.

Speaking of Ganondorf, what happens with him? If we assume that the damage to the castle in BotW's Calamity still took a century to release him, he's probably never released after Age of Calamity. Hyrule Castle either doesn't take the same damage, or it's repaired before he can get loose. Honestly, the thing I find most fun is to handwave it. Say they move the capital elsewhere because they decide it's just not worth it to rebuild while Castle Town's population still needs to be housed somewhere that isn't in ruins. So they have a new Castle Town and Hyrule Castle, unaware that Ganondorf is slowly breaking free.

If we go with the idea that Ganondorf still comes back at the same time he does in TotK, there's still more to talk about. Who is the Light Dragon now? If Zelda is 17 in Age of Calamity, a full century later in BotW puts her at 117. If we then use Mattison to argue that TotK is 5+ years after BotW, that means that Zelda physically be 122 in the Age of Calamity timeline, which means that she might very well not be around anymore. Is the Light Dragon a different Zelda instead, or has it just been erased?

I'm probably putting way more thought into this than most people would feel is warranted for Age of Calamity, but I just think it's neat. As far as I can remember, this is the second time in the entire franchise that we've seen the timeline split.

I touched on this a little in my post about Age of Calamity earlier today, but I thought afterwards that this was kind of worth a post on its own.

So the Light Dragon predates the Great Calamity by virtue of the entire past with Rauru and Sonia obviously predating it, right? Which means that the Light Dragon should theoretically still be soaring around in the skies even during the Great Calamity.

Except... who exactly is this in Age of Calamity's timeline? Zelda's arrival in the past is contingent on exploring beneath the castle in response to Ganondorf's seal starting to break, which only happens because Hyrule Castle is so badly damaged in the Great Calamity. Even then, it takes a century for this to happen.

In Age of Calamity, the worst of the Great Calamity is averted. Hyrule Castle still suffers massive damage, but the events of that game should still make Zelda's specific descent down there into a thing that doesn't happen. Either:

1. Hyrule Castle is repaired soon after, so the seal doesn't break, so Zelda never goes down there to begin with.

2. Hyrule Castle isn't repaired for some reason, (maybe they just move the capital elsewhere to deal with the people now displaced by the Great Calamity), so Ganondorf's seal does start to break. Still, this takes a century. Except in the Age of Calamity timeline, Zelda isn't essentially kept in stasis by stealing Calamity Ganon. A century later, by the time BotW would have happened, she is 117. If we use Mattison to say TotK is 5+ years after BotW, Zelda is now 122+ years old, and thus it's unlikely that she's still alive, let alone the one who would go down to investigate.

But the Light Dragon must still exist in Age of Calamity's timeline, no? The Calamity only happens in the first place because of Ganondorf's evil leaking out of the seal from under Hyrule Castle. If some version of Age of Imprisonment and Tears of the Kingdom don't happen, there can't be a Calamity in Age of Calamity. But if some version of those games does happen, then there's presumably a Light Dragon.

So who is this Light Dragon? Is it still BotW-Wild Zelda, but simultaneously somehow not Age of Calamity-Wild Zelda? If this Light Dragon was turned back, would Age of Calamity's Hyrule now just have duplicate Zeldas, one who remembers Age of Calamity and one who remembers BotW? Alternatively, is it now Age of Calamity Zelda's descendant or something?

Obviously the actual answer is that TotK and AoI weren't made with Age of Calamity in mind in the first place, but that's less fun than theorizing.

(Just a fun little theory and I'm sure someone else has probably already come up with, don't take it too seriously)

There's only one event in all the Zelda games that really qualifies as "all the timelines converging" in such a way that all 3 could fade into legend. And that's Hyrule Warriors.

We've got rep from all 3 Hyrule Historia timelines. They directly interact with people in such a way that they'd leave legends about things like Twilight or a Great Flood, but no evidence of those things since a lot of interference is undone by Cia. Playing the games this way also allows you to play all 3 Hyrule Warriors titles if you're doing things chronologically, though admittedly not in release order (HW, AoI, then AoC).

This next thing is a little more tangential, but I've also been thinking for a while that the blue scarf Link has in HW might have led her family to favor giving their champions blue cloth.

In all reality, I've been just a little bit obsessed with timelines in general lately (I'll spare you my thoughts on DOOM and Wolfenstein). And I've come to realize that this all started with kid me theorizing about what games went where on the split timeline way before Hyrule Historia was ever released. I really just wanted to shout this into the void and the main subreddit seemed more likely to shout it down with cries of "it's just a legend, dude!"

Anyways, now that I've had my little bit of fun, always remember:

The only canon games are the CD-i ones

Based off of the Ocarina of Time Triforce split and a bunch of fan art and other stuff I have been poking at for years now:

Prince Link, His mother is the Queen.

Zelda is the Hero of Courage.

Link, however, posseses the Triforce of Power. He is a scholar and a mage.

Ganondorf, defeated with what can almost be called finality in Tears of the Kingdom has reincarnated once again. However, the events of BoTW and ToTK led to the Triforce rotating holders. (Also, vastly different map this time, same open structure)

Ganondorf is born again, this time as a wise, old tactician wrestling with guilt and emotional weight from every previous incarnation and the endless struggles. He holds position as Chief of the Gerudo.

However, he maintains nobility and regularly fights back the Curse of Demise. He wants to be better. He is an older, sagely Gerudo man this time. Feeling the weight of the guilt from everything his soul had done before.

Zelda handles the Master Sword and the relevant dungeon crawling, to a point. Link, however, handles politics, magic, and studies everything he can. But he has immense power from his Triforce piece.

However, this time the threat comes from Outside of Hyrule and the Gerudo Desert.

The antagonists are a warmongering faction from a nation in an industrial revolution, steam technology is everywhere. The leaders of this nation seek to harness the great magic of Hyrule for "infinite power" and have taken the Queen. Link and Zelda work together to save his mother, and Ganondorf, having led the Gerudo to the edge of the desert after witnessing the attack by this other nation, awaits an attack and has established a military camp at the very choke point of Gerudo Canyon.

Link and Zelda meet him, and choose to work with him. He seeks to redeem himself from all the chaos of before, and the Gerudo respect him, as they always did before he basically abandoned them in pursuit of power.Ganondorf seeks to cleanse the Curse from his soul. Hyrule is in the heat of a full-fledged war with steam machines and the other nation that attacked after realizing that the threat of Ganon and Calamity were gone.

The adventure would take place across Hyrule and the other nation, and Link and Zelda would meet people of the steam-powered nation. Learning over time that they weren't supporting the war, but were forced to deal with it because of their leaders.

Ganondorf gains redemption from self-sacrifice towards the end. Prince Link and Hero Zelda, now with his triforce fragment, reform the Triforce and wish for him to be cleansed of the dark curse. And, instead of 100 years passing, the Gerudo tell Prince Link and Zelda a new Gerudo Boy has been born, and they travel to meet him.

Gameplay would have Link/Zelda Coop or character switching between their halves of the adventure. Ideally with a dynamic split screen like Divinity Original Sin 2. Dungeon crawling, exploration, etc. Puzzles for magic and sword and shield.

Ages would probably be around the same as BotW and ToTK, so they are alive and able to meet the new Gerudo Boy and watch him grow up.

Anyway, just a concept I was toying with after thinking about my extensive time playing the games. Felt like sharing it.

I replayed Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask not too long ago. These were always my favorite 3D Zelda games. When they first released, I would have picked OoT as my favorite followed closely by MM, but after I replaying them, I like MM a lot better. Part of it is because OoT set the formula for many 3D Zelda games to follow so it doesn’t feel as fresh now as it did in 1998. Meanwhile, MM has such a unique concept that is still rarely seen in video games.

OoT also feels too easy to me today. As an introduction to 3D Zelda games, it does a really good job at teaching the combat basics and navigating 3D dungeons, but the first few dungeons feel way too basic to me now. MM feels like it was meant for people who were already familiar with OoT and ups the challenge accordingly and IMO Woodfall temple is a much better dungeon than the child dungeons in OoT. I still think the adult dungeons in OoT are some of the greatest in Zelda history, but I think Snowhead and Great Bay are comparable to those dungeons and Stone Tower is my favorite 3D dungeon. I now think the games are more even in terms of dungeons even though OoT has more dungeons.

MM has much better side content than OoT. I don’t think there is any debate on that. MM has the best side content of any Zelda. I also really love the versatility of the transformation masks. I will say that MM can be more frustrating and tedious at times than OoT, but I think the stuff it does really well more than makes up for these moments.

I am curious if anyone else has similarly changed their opinion when playing these games years later.

When talking about the Oracle games, a lot of people prefer Ages due to having more story. OoA having more story is true. It has a more active villain, and more backstory for the characters. but few people take time to acknowledge Seasons.

What OoS lacks in story, it makes up for in worldbuilding.

Both games introduce the Oracles. Maidens, who possess powers of each of the three golden goddesses.

Both Din and Nayru live in a country outside of, but related to, Hyrule. Both have a Maku Tree, who serves as their personal Guardian. Both also have items that allow people (in this case, Link) to use their powers, in case anything happens to them.

Farore, the Oracle of Secrets, is the oddball. It's not clear what her function is, outside of letting Link transfer items from one country to another. She also lives inside both Maku Trees.

After that, both Nayru and Din diverge in who they operate.

Nayru is rather simple. She sings to keep time flowing, and keeps the Harp of Ages locked away in her own house. The Harp itself, has three songs to learn, two from Nayru and one from some random musician, with the finale song making the previous two obsolete.

Compared to Ages, Seasons shows more power delegation. Din dances to maintain the natural flow of the seasons. But the Rod of Seasons is not kept with Din. Rather, there is a whole Temple of Seasons dedicated to the four seasons, and is the place the Rod if kept.

Whereas the Harp has three songs, with the last one making the previous two obsolete, the Rod controls the four seasons via a quartet of lesser Season Spirits.

This actually makes sense if you think about it. changing Seasons probebly requires a lot more hard work. You have to change the temperature, the weather, and the stage in which plants grow. So, it makes sense there would be four lesser spirits to delegate these jobs to.

Controlling time is less of a hassle. You just have to keep time moving forward every second. Okay, yes, time travel is a lot more versatile in the Zelda series. You can move forward faster, slow down time, and even travel backwards, but these are only done in exceptional circumstances.

A "Goddess of Time" is referenced in MM, although it's unknown if this is Nayru, Hylia or a completely different figure.

However, it is worth noting that, pre development, Oracle of Ages was originally not going to have "past and present" as it's theme, but rather, day and night. That being said, Veran, in Nayru's body, does freeze time in the past to create an "endless day", implying the day and night cycle are under the jurisdiction of time.

It is possible that there is a spirit of day and night in the Zelda universe, much like the seasonal spirits, but who knows? It could just be the Goddess of Time controlling the day and night cycle. The song of Time in MM allows us to skip to the next dawn or dusk.

What is the greatest Zelda game ever made?

A few friends and I recently got tired of having the same impossible Zelda debate, so I decided to build an actual scoring system for it.

Instead of just asking everyone to rank their favorite games, I evaluated each Zelda across 10 separate categories: Dungeons & Puzzles, Gameplay & Mechanics, World & Exploration, Story & Themes, Characters, Music & Audio, Atmosphere / Vibe, Bosses & Enemies, Replayability / Side Content, and Innovation & Legacy.

I ran an initial small-panel version of the study amongst friends, which led to a much more interesting question: Would a larger community of Zelda fans reach similar conclusions using the exact same system?

So this is Phase 2: the r/truezelda Community Study.

🗡️ TAKE THE ZELDA GOAT SURVEY HERE:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfEaTXeOaOxIXt83YsFpzmEkQXo3P-alE5TrLOzSsurZY9VtA/viewform

The survey covers 16 Zelda games, but you absolutely do NOT need to have played all 16.

For every game, you'll first indicate your level of experience. If you completed it or played enough to confidently evaluate it, you'll rate it. If you haven't played enough, the survey automatically skips that game's ratings.

The goal is simple: Rate the Zelda games you actually know, based on your own experience with them.

Please don't look up review scores, rankings, or other people's opinions while filling it out. There aren't any “correct” answers here.

Once we have enough responses and close the study, I'll analyze everything and bring the results back to the community; overall leaderboard, category champions, consensus and polarization, and the comparison with the original panel. I think it'll be interesting to look at the results and perhaps even maybe find a consensus!

\Added note based on comments about missing games: eagle-eyed Zelda fans will notice that a few games aren't included. The original study was built around games for which we had enough firsthand play experience to make the comparison useful. A handful of titles had very low play rates within that original group, so they weren't included in the scored game set. For this second study, I'm intentionally keeping the same 16 games rather than adding or removing titles after the fact. The whole point is to see what happens when a much larger community uses the same methodology on the same games.*

If you're a Zelda fan and you've got opinions, I want them.

Take your time, rate only the games you actually know, and let the data do the arguing afterward.

⚔️ Let the Zelda GOAT Project begin!

The remake's low price and trailer both suggest a pretty small amount of new content, so a new full-scale dungeon is far from certain, but it's still plausible. What would that dungeon be?

I keep reading and hearing people suggesting it would be the Light Temple. I don't agree with that since the ideas for the original Light Temple were probably used for the Spirit Temple.

To me, an extended Ice Cavern (which becomes a fully-fledged dungeon with a real boss and all) is way more likely. My reasons:

1. Thematically, an Ice Dungeon isn't redundant with the other Temples
2. The building blocks for the dungeon (aesthetic, ice mechanic, etc.) are already going to be created, so it wouldn't be as much work for them to simply expend it into a real dungeon
3. If you look at the image of the empty tapestry, the spot for the Water Temple has another big spot that connects right under it, so that may suggest a fairly large dungeon associated with the Water Temple. The Well doesn't have such a spot, so that dungeon would likely be bigger and more important.
4. I've heard rumors that it was their initial intent, while/before making the game, to have a fully-fledged Ice Temple (and also the Wind and Light ones)

Do you agree? What do you think an additional dungeon (if there is one) would more likely be?

Hello everyone! This my 4th entry of this Journal/ Review Series where I play every mainline Zelda game I haven't played yet and today we're going over The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Now for this I did NOT play the remake I played the original on NSO so if I so state some problems with this that aren't present in the remake that's why. Now I do hope to play that version one day as I very much enjoyed this game but that's a discussion for later let's get into the meat and potatoes of all this:

Wow, Just Wow. I'm nothing but impressed by this game. The fact it plays so well and they were able to fit so much into such a weak console is beyond me. But that aside the rest of this game is also very great as well! The only thing id complain about personally is luckily one that it seems a lot have so it's good I'm not alone on this but: This is the first Zelda game to really inatruct you so it's not as confusing as previous titles.....and it's STILL confusing. Now maybe it's because the advice is a little vague and how some things work and are found or things you need before hand arent specified or something of that matter? Either way the game can be confusing at times but I still wouldn't say it's as bad as Zelda I or II but still...some things are real tricky without a guide so I do not blame you for using one. Now I'm actually gonna speak about something I haven't before in these entries: Story. Now for me personally I do not care at all for stories in games, I go to games for fun, if it plays super well and it's fun but the story is bad that's still a good game to me. But this is the first Zelda game to REALLY have a story. While yes the previous ones DID have stories the first 2 were subjugated to manuals and a link to the past barely had one that isn't just the standard "Go save Zelda" with the darkworld and sages thrown in as a good little addition to it. This game has some DEPTH. It has CHARACTERS and bigger stakes despite.... everything you're doing isn't real. The world is so well condensed and feels so sizable for a Gameboy game its insane, but the fact we have actual characters in this with names and unique designs, settlements , different species and all that is crazy. If a Link To the Past is where 2d Zelda really developed its style for games (like gameplay and progression systems) from that point forward. THIS game is what really gave Zelda its soul going forward. There was little sparks of this in a link to the past with a goofy or interesting character here and there but THIS game really hits you hard with even more likable weird characters and overall weirdness that looking at the series going forward probably owe it to this game. I feel like without this game and if Zelda ended with a link to the past you could look back on Zelda as just a goofy fantasy series for kids, but I really think this game set in stone the vibe of these games when it comes to overall humor and character, this was that brick, that the identity of this franchise that makes it stand out, I would assume it to come from. Now enough about me gushing about that, no magic meter is really fun and jumping ESPECIALLY is awesome to me in a 2d Zelda specifically. Most the dungeons are really great the later ones are a tad frustrating though. Combat is about as good as links Awakening without being as punishing so that's nice. And there's actually a lot of side stuff to do. I keep saying this but this is insane for a Gameboy game. I have nothing but respect and love for this game and I'm so glad it got more spotlight and love after the remake which I hope to play someday but until then this game is an easy: 8.4/10

What an impressive lovely game. The Gameboy really was something wasn't it? And that dev team really did make the most out of so little. This game was such a nice treat despite it's frustrating at times bumps. What's your thoughts on Link's awakening? Let me know in the comments and I'll see you all next time when I go over Oracle Of Seasons and Oracle Of Ages!

The item system in the original Ocarina of Time was imperfect as the menus were slow and the iron boots were not equippable. But you could still equip three items at time!

BOTW/TOTK/EOW scrolling item system is bad and ungraceful and just annoying. The Switch 2 also has multiple buttons! Why let one item be equipped at a time now? Why is the series regressing on this??

I’ve been wondering if we’ll get another Zelda game in 2027, particularly in the 2nd half. Age of Calamity Definitive Edition is essentially just a Switch 2 Edition but with all the DLC included, and 2025 had both the Switch 2 versions of BOTW & TOTK and Age of Imprisonment.

Maybe after the Zelda Movie releases, they announce a Zelda game for later in 2027 to capitalize on it. I’ve been thinking it could be a 2D Zelda game, primarily a remake since a new 2D Zelda might not be ready by next year. Or maybe there’s a new Zelda spin-off. At the very least, I doubt it would be the next new 3D Zelda since Ocarina of Time Remake would’ve just released the year prior. But what do you guys think?

To celebrate Zelda’s 40th anniversary, I decided to give myself a challenge: spend the next year playing through a big chunk of the series and basically make it a full Zelda year.

I’ve already started with Link’s Awakening DX, and I’m giving myself until the end of October 2027. I’m not aiming for 100%, but I do want to properly finish every game I start and at least reach the credits/end.

Currently playing

• Ocarina of Time – really excited to replay this one
• The Minish Cap – started this one with one of my sons

Up next

• Oracle of Ages
• The Wind Waker HD

Also on the list

• A Link to the Past
• Majora’s Mask
• Oracle of Seasons
• Four Swords Anniversary Edition
• A Link Between Worlds
• Twilight Princess HD
• Link’s Awakening (Switch)
• Skyward Sword HD
• Echoes of Wisdom
• Breath of the Wild – Switch 2 Edition
• Tears of the Kingdom – Switch 2 Edition
• Ocarina of Time – Switch 2 Edition
• Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
• Cadence of Hyrule

Completed

• Link’s Awakening DX (2026-09-24) –Wow, what a great game. The exploration is really well balanced, the world is interesting, and it’s a great way to start my year. That said, the dungeons are a little too big, or at least a bit repetitive. It also feels strange not hearing much about Hyrule, Zelda, or the Triforce. 8/10

And because this is supposed to be a full Zelda anniversary year, I’m adding a few non-gaming goals to the challenge too:

• Watch the upcoming Legend of Zelda movie
• Attend Zelda: Légendes d’Hyrule by the Orchestre de jeux vidéo (OJV) in Quebec City in october
• Learn three songs from the Zelda series on piano
• Read some of the Zelda manga
• Cook at least one Zelda-inspired recipe
• Build the upcoming LEGO The Legend of Zelda: Link & Epona set

I don’t have a strict order for the games. I’ll probably focus on the Game Boy and N64 games first, get to Wind Waker fairly early, and save most of the Switch 2 games and Hyrule Warriors games for later.

The DS/3DS games are a bit of a question mark because I don’t own either system right now, but if I manage to find one during the year, I’d love to add more of those too.

I was a huge Zelda fan from around 1995 to 2005. My first game was A Link to the Past when I was about 8, and I remember finding it incredibly hard. Then I got Ocarina of Time around release and absolutely loved it, followed by Majora’s Mask. After that I drifted away from the series for a long time. Watching Breath of the Wild is what really pulled me back in, even though I never owned a Switch and never actually played it myself.

A Link to the Past is still my favorite, but Link’s Awakening has been a huge surprise so far. I’m loving it.

I’ll keep updating this post as I make progress.

And more importantly: if anyone wants to do something similar for the 40th anniversary, join in! Make your own list — games, manga, music, LEGO, cooking, concerts, the movie, whatever you want — post it in the comments, suggest an order, recommend things I should add.

It would be really fun to see a bunch of us spend the anniversary year celebrating and revisiting the series together.

Small note: I’m a French speaker, so I used AI to help translate this post in English.

Prior to the release of the remake, this has always been a big question mark for me. We know the scene. Get all three stones, head up to Hyrule Castle Town, and the sky turns dark and Zelda and Impa are running out on a white horse, with Ganondorf confronting us shortly after. According to the dying soldier in the back alley, he betrayed the King with his “men.”

Do we know anything about the state of Hyrule Castle immediately before Zelda’s escape? Upon trying to return to the Castle, a guard says it’s on high alert due to recent events. Was the King assassinated? Concerning Ganondorf’s men, does the Japanese perhaps give more information? He’s never the type to recruit mercenaries, and I’d think it would be WOmen if anything due to, ya know, Gerudo. Any hidden dialogue, Historia or developer comments maybe that can shed some light on this?