Complete Listing

The Games

Four titles across three platforms, 1986–1993. All box art sourced; no entry without its cover.

Showing 4 entries

The Legend of Zelda - NES gold cartridge and North American box art (1987)

1986 · Japan  |  1987 · NA

The Legend of Zelda

NES / FDS GBA

The game that invented the action-adventure genre. A vast overworld of 128 screens and nine dungeons with no prescribed direction, a battery-backed save, and a gold cartridge in North America that became one of gaming's most iconic artefacts.

World Structure

  • 128-screen overworld — fully explorable from the start
  • Nine labyrinths hiding the Triforce of Wisdom fragments
  • Second Quest: all nine dungeons rearranged and harder

Key Items

  • Wooden Sword → White Sword → Magical Sword
  • Bow & Arrow, Boomerang, Bombs, Candle
  • Raft, Ladder, Recorder (Whistle), Power Bracelet
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - NES North American box art (1988)

1987 · Japan  |  1988 · NA

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

NES / FDS GBA

The radical sequel. A hybrid of top-down overworld navigation and side-scrolling action-RPG combat. Link levels up Attack, Magic, and Life through experience points; spells are awarded by wise men in Hyrule's towns. Dark Link is the final boss.

World Structure

  • Top-down overworld map for navigation
  • Side-scrolling combat in towns, dungeons, and random battles
  • Six palaces leading to the Great Palace

Key Spells

  • Jump, Shield, Fire, Reflect
  • Fairy, Life, Thunder, Spell
  • Experience-based levelling for Attack / Magic / Life
A Link to the Past - SNES North American box art (1992)

1991 · Japan  |  1992 · NA

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

SNES GBA

The definitive 16-bit action-adventure. The Light World and Dark World are parallel versions of the same Hyrule — one sunlit, one corrupted by Ganon. Ten dungeons, the Master Sword's debut, and a score by Koji Kondo that remains definitive.

World Structure

  • Light World — three temples: Eastern Palace, Desert Palace, Tower of Hera
  • Dark World — seven palaces: Dark Palace through Ganon's Tower
  • Parallel geography: each Light World location mirrors a Dark World counterpart

Key Items

  • Master Sword (Blade of Evil's Bane)
  • Hookshot, Pegasus Boots, Flippers, Moon Pearl
  • Power Gloves, Titan's Mitt, Ether & Bombos Medallions
Link's Awakening - Game Boy box art (1993)

1993 · Japan & NA

Link’s Awakening

Game Boy GBC (DX)

The most emotionally resonant early Zelda. Marooned on Koholint Island, Link must collect the eight Instruments of the Sirens to wake the Wind Fish — whose dream, it transpires, is the island itself. Developed as an unofficial side-project; the saddest ending in Nintendo history.

World Structure

  • Self-contained Koholint Island — no Hyrule
  • Eight instrument dungeons, each yielding a Siren's Instrument
  • DX version (1998): Color Dungeon added, photo album side quest

Notable

  • Mario crossover characters: Goombas, Piranha Plants, BowWow
  • Marin — the female lead who wishes to become a seagull
  • Wind Fish — the island's guardian deity, sleeping in an egg on Mt. Tamaranch