For a series named after her, Zelda doesn't always get much time in the spotlight. Sometimes she’s a pirate, a sage, or even a sidekick, but in some games, she doesn't r𓆏eally show up at all!

I went through every mainline Zelda title to figure out just how much screentime the princess actually gets.💞 That means counting cutscenes, playable mome🍷nts, and even those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos. Of course, this varies from player to player, so I've made my best estimates. Here's how every Zelda game ranks based on the amount of screentime she actually gets.

20 ꧂ 𒀰 Tri Force Heroes

• Estimated Screentime: 0 minutes

Zelda is completely ab𓃲sent from Tri Force Heroes, making this the rare Zelda game where she doesn’t show up at all.

The focus is on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:multiplayer action and puzzle-solving with Link and friends, so don’t expect any💖 royal cameos heꦬre.

19 Link's Awakening

• Estimated Screentime: 0 minutes

Zelda’s name might be on the box, but she doesn’t appear in this dreamy 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Game Boy adventure at all. Marin fills the “Zelda-shaped” role, 🐎and the game makes a point of saying shꦓe looks like Zelda (just in case you were confused).

This is Link's story through and through, a♔nd Zelda is nowhere to be found.

18 Majora's Mask

• Estimated Screentime: A few seconds

Zelda appears in a singular flashback at the very beginning. If you blink, you might miss it! This is Termina’🦩s weird, wonderful🅠, and Zelda-less world.

Her short appearance is more symbolic than anything 🌜else. It reminds us (and Link) what he's fighting for before things start getting strange.

17 Oracle of Ages & Sꦏeasons 🦩

• Estimated Screentime: A few seconds

Technically, Zelda does appear, but only in the Linked Game ending (after you've beaten both titles and entered a password). Even then, her role is very small. She's captured and saved, all in ဣa few cutscenes.

If you don't link the gams, you could ve𒆙ry well never know she's there at all.

16 Zelda 2: The Adventure🐻🥃 of Link

• Estimated Screentime: 1 minute

Zelda shows up very briefly 🤪at the beginning and end of the game, mostly to get the quest moving along.

The game's main focus is on Link's journey to awaken her, but she is ab📖sent from practically all ꦓof the gameplay.

15 The Legend Of Ze🎐lda

• Estimated Screentime: 2 minutes

The original Zelda game really doesn't show Zelda at all, exce🌱pt at the very end when Link rescues her from Ganon's castle.

Bey𓃲ond๊ that, she's mostly an unseen goal rather than an actual character, and her screentime is very limited.

14 🦂 Four Swords

• Estimated Screentime: 3-4 minutes

Four Links, a plot that barely exists, and barely Zelda in sight. She gets captured early and po🐬ps back in for the ending, but that's about it.

The game focuses more on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:multiplayer mayhem than on any real story. She's technically im🃏portant, 🐭but only on paper.

13 ♏ Four Swords Adventures 𓃲

• Estimated Screentime: 5-6 minutes

This one does give Zelda a little bit more scree♍n time. But that's mainly thr🥀ough cutscenes where she gets magically sealed away.

Still, she's not 🍸much of a presence, and the game doesn't build any emotional connection to her. It's better than the other Four Swords, but only barely.

12 🌊 A Link To The Past♐

• Estimated Screentime: 6-8 minutes

Zelda kicks things off in a priꩵson cell and appears in a few key scenes, but she quickly fades into the background as Link rescues six other maidens.

By the time you reach th﷽e end, it's easy to forget that she's the one who started the whole t🃏hing.

11 🅰 The Minish Cap 🌄

• Estimated Screentime: 8 minutes

Zelda has a big opening, and then is immediately turned𝓀 into stone. She reappea🦂rs briefly in visions and cutscenes, and gets another short moment at the end.

It's a classic "save the princess game," which lea▨ds to very little actual screentime for the princess.