Summary

• The Legend of Zelda franchise boasts 18 mainline single-player adventures across nearly 4 decades.
• The length of time to play all titles ranges from 5-10 hours for the original to 50-100 hours for Breath of the Wild.
• Echoes of Wisdom adds to the list with 15-20 hours of playtime, bringing the total duration to just under 500 hours.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Legend of Zelda franchise is one of the most seminal works in the gaming sphere. From introducing the basic concept of open-map exploration with the NES original; to revolutionising the 3D📖 action genre with Ocarina of Time; and then casually reinventing what a videogame can be with Breath of the Wild, it deserves its place atop the pantheon of greats.

Link's adventures take in 18 mainline entries across four decades – and that's without considering all the remasters and assorted spinoffs. The question, for the inquisitively-minded, becomes: how long would it take to play them all? If one were to embark on the gargantuan task of toppling Ganon 18 times, how many hours could one expect to sacrifice? Wonder no longer, O number crunchers of Hyru♚le: we've got the answer.

Some quick ground rules: in the interest of cohesion, we will only be considering mainline, single-player adventures for this breakdown. This means no multiplayer titles, like Four Sword Adventures and Triforce Heroes; and no spinoffs ꦐlike Link's Crossbow Training or (gulp) Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland.

Each game's canonicity is determined by its place in the Hyrule Historia, an official Nintendo document charting the timeline of the Zeldaverse. While the Four Sword duology is technically canon, it's sufficientl🙈y different from the main games (and has so much♔ of a multiplayer slant) that we won't be including it. Sorry, Vaati!

Updated November 6, 2024 by Bobby Mills: Nintendo send Zelda fans worldwide into a stupor when they casually announced Echoes Of Wisdom earlier this year. Not only was this a brand-spanking new top-down 2D Zelda (in a market where you could be forgiven for thinking that format had been left behind), but it actually stars the titular princess herself. For the first time. Not counting Wand Of Gamelon, obvs. It's canon, so into our breakdown it goes!

The Legend Of Zelda

5-10 Hours

We'll kick off with the 1986 NES classic that started it all: The Legend of Zelda. Appropriately enough, this one is a bit of a wildcard. Your mileage in terms of playtime will vary heavily depending on how tuned-in you are to the game's cryptic hints and, at times, dated design. Have fun🌳 figuring out what to feed the Moblin guard, for inst𒁃ance.

The original Zelda is pretty much the epitome of a 'guide game.' What was once intended to be an experience you chipped away at over a period of weeks or months, taking notes and swapping hints with friends on the playground, can feel frustratingly han🔴ds-🌼off in the modern age.

Even if you're using a walkthrough, you still must contend with its unrelenting difficulty – so expect to spend six or seven hours, and maybe a couple more if you're going for all the Heart Containers.

Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link

10-15 Hours

The brutal sequel, The Adventure of Link, follows in much the same fashion as its predecessor when it comes to tedium. Keen to not rest on their laurels, Nintendo completely tossed out the top-down exploration of the original and shifted Zelda II to a sidescrolling platformer൲, with a few dashes of RPG-lite elem▨ents like EXP and MP.

We won't mince words. Zelda II is unimaginably difficult. Many of your hours spent here will be on retreading your steps alone, from all the deaths you can expect poor Link to suffer over the course of the campaign. Death Mountain is a nightmare, as are a good portion of the palaces. Obtuse puzzle solutions further bloat the runtime – so you're likely to clock in around ten or 12 hours, and up to 15 if you are going for full completion.

Take our advice: use a guide, and the Switch Online version's rewind feature. It simply isn't worth it, blowing a blood vessel. These welcome assists can halve your 🅘time spent on Zelda II.

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past

15-20 Hours

Perhaps realising the folly of uprooting what made the first game so beloved, Nintendo returned to the old-school top-down perspective for the SNES prequel A Link to the Past. A wise choice: this is regarded as one of the finest in the Zelda lineup, 🍒and an excellent starting point for newcomers unwilling to face the relentless cruelty of the NES entries.

A more relaxed, exploratory affair, Link to the Past is perfectly content to let you take your time and wander Hyrule at your own pace. Whether you're hopping between both the regular and dark versions of the kingdom, tackling the exquisite dungeons in whatever order you fancy, or burning time chatting up the lively NPCs, every playthrough will be slightly different.

On average, however, you can expect this one to take you around 15 hours for basic completion, and up to 20 if you opt to hoover up all the Heart Pieces. One of these pieces is entirely RNG-based, from the digging game; so if you're unlucky, this could bolt a couple extra hours onto your 100 percent run.

The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening

10-15 Hours

The fourth entry in the series, and the first to launch exclusively for a handheld system, Link's Awakening feels (perhaps inevitably) a bit more lightweight than its cousins. It's a brief, breezy tale that sees Link wash up on the enigmatic Koholint Island, where most of his days are spent away getting to know the twee civilians rather than roughing up Octoroks. It does make that plot twist sting all the more.

It's also not particularly hard. Even first-timers should face no difficulty rolling the credits in around ten hours, perhaps even less. Those who choose to rinse Koholint of all its secrets, including those pesky seashells, will be around a bit longer, but still no more than 15 hours. The Switch remake comes especially recommended!

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

25-35 Hours

What is there left to say about Ocarina of Time that hasn't already been said a thousand times over? It's a masterwork, and a defining, formative text in the action-adventure genre that countless games continue to imitate to this day. Sure, it's begin𒅌ning to show its age in its clunky controls and awkward lock-on system; but that puzzle design, soundtrack, and narrative pacing will never be matched.

Ocarina marks the first 3D Zelda outing, and also the point at which the series began to railroad its players a bit more explicitly down its intended path. Freeform exploration is lessened, you have a detaiౠled map, and there's a designated order to most of the dungeons.

Frustrations borne of the Water Temple notwithstanding, you'll conquer Ocarina in around 20 to 30 hours, but will push 35 if you go on the (ill-advised) Golden Skulltula hunt.

The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask

20-30 Hours

Majora's Mask is a unique member of the Zelda family for a number of reasons. For one, it's unreservedly dark and depressing, with the central goal of the game being to prevent a gigantic, angry moon from obliterating the people of Termina (most of whom have made gloomy peace with their fate.) Additionally, 🏅many mainstay characters, like Impa and even Zelda herself, are AWOL.

It's also another case where each individual playthrough can differ drastically in terms of length. If you know what you're doing, you can bumrush each of the four mandatory dungeons, rather than taking several in-game time-loops to figure out the unlock requirements (as 🐓the devs intended).

In this way, you could easily take down Skull Kid within ten hours – but more realistically, on a first playthrough, you'll be here for 20+. If you choose to attend to all of Termina's side troubles, you can slap an extra ten hours onto that, too.

The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons/Oracle Of Ages

15-20 Hours Apiece

In the late 90s and early 2000s, there was one business model you wanted to replicate if you were on the handheld gaming scene: Pokémon. Blatantly mimicking that series' dual release pattern (which presumably increased profits by 100 percent) were Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, a pair of GameBoy Color adventures that were launched simultaneously.

The two games are very, very similar, with the differences being largely in difficulty, map layout, and the characters you'll meet. Ages has a more puzzle-oriented focus than Seasons, as well. The actual engine, gameplay, and progression are pretty much identical – though you do get a neat bonus final boss against Ganon if you connect the two games together via a password.

All told, if you only plump for one of the two, you're looking at 15 to 20 hours; but if you choose to play them back-to-back, you'll need to commit somewhere in the region of 40 hours.

The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker

25-30 Hours

As the series continued its gradual descent into maudlin, dour themes (and with its audience rapidly growing up), it seemed the Zelda franchise was primed to take a step into more mature waters than it had yet charted. Such a bold move seemed to be imminent when an E3 tech demo showed off a rugged, hyperrealistic Link doing battlಌe with Ganondorf.

Enter Wind Waker. Its candy-coloured pastel hues and cel-shaded character models were not at all what had been promised, and many gamers felt gypped. Once the shock had worn off, though, Wind Waker's virtues were allowed to shine through – and it's now considered a classic. Toon Link is adorable, the ocean sailing is as whimsic🍌al as𝐆 it gets, and the artstyle has aged phenomenally.

Alas, though the loading-screen-free open ocean was an impressive technical feat back on the GameCube, it does have a nasty habit of inflating the runtime. Hours will be blown (heh) on changing the wind direction to sail to your next destination, and then actually navigating there. On a first playthrough, expect to be out on the waves for 20-25 hours, and up to 30 if you want to vis🐻it every possible 🧸island for their Heart Pieces.

If you can, we recommend you experience this classic via its ground-up Wii U remaster. Not only do the colours truly pop in crisp HD, but it features numerous extra bells and whistles that enhance the QoL.

Chief among these is the Swift Sail, an optional attachment for your boat that doubles your speed and ensures the wind is always🐻 at your back! This alone will shave at least five h🥀ours off your time.

The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap

10-20 Hours

Fans who had been hoping Toon Link would be a one-and-done deal were in for a nasty shock. The very next mainline title, Minish Cap on the GBA, proved he was here to stay, and did so with panache. It's an endlessly inventive adventure that sees Link gain the ability to shrink to the size of a pin at will – and even explains why every Link wears a green hat in the process!

Minish Cap's runtime is tough to quantify. If you stick strictly to the main story, you'll be out the door in less than ten hours. Hyrule is not super-expansive, and there are only a handful of dungeons. However, woe betide all those who decide to go for 100 percent. The last Heart Piece is sealed behind a gacha figurine machine which you must grind an ingame currency to operat🤡e.

You require all 136 figurines before the shopkeeper hands it over, and it's often cited as being the toughest Heart Piece to obtain in the entire franchise. Expect your playtime to soar over 20 hours should you take the plunge.

The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess

40-50 Hours

Unable to ignore the demands of the market any longer, Nintendo at last delivered a Zelda game practically dripping in grit, Twilight Princess. Its washed-𝔍out colou🌃rs and drab, sepia-toned environments make its goals transparent.

Make no mistake, though: Twilight Princess' darkness is only skin-deep, for the purposes of the trailers and cover art. Otherwise, this is a bog-standard family-friendly Zelda, complete with wacky side characters, a quirky core gimmick (this time turning into a wolf), and a simple tale of earnest heroism. It's a true epic, too – Nintendo went out of the🐼ir way to ensure fans would have a lot of content to gnaw at.

Merely reaching the credits will last you around 40 hours, as the game is chock-full of padding and backtracking. Going for all the collectibles, which include the usual Heart Pieces and now both a bug and fish collection, will take you upwards of 50.