The Legend of Zelda series

This article is a short summary of The Legend of Zelda series. Zelda Wiki features a more in-depth article.

The Legend of Zelda

ゼルダの伝説

Creator: Shigeru Miyamoto First game: The Legend of Zelda (1986) Best-selling game: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (8.39 million copies) Latest game: Hyrule Warriors (2014) For in-depth information: is dedicated to chronicling the The Legend of Zelda series. For additional information: is another wiki dedicated to {{{niwa2-purpose}}} the The Legend of Zelda series.

The Legend of Zelda (Japanese: ゼルダの伝説 Zelda no Densetsu) is a Nintendo franchise that debuted with a title on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986 (Japan release) and 1987 for American and European gamers. Nintendo has managed to release a title of the series for each handheld and console system, except the short-lived Virtual Boy.

Titles in the series typically follow the adventures of a young man named Link as he journeys throughout a land (often Hyrule), battling monsters to ultimately save the captive Princess Zelda, who is often being held by the wicked Ganondorf. Retellings, often with artistic liberties, of the games' plots are available through several paperback novels and mangas. Original stories can also be found as paperback novels.

Developers

Shigeru Miyamoto is known to be the primary creator of the series and its characters. He has said that he was inspired by the Lord of the Rings saga and his own exploration of caves near his childhood home. Eiji Aonuma has taken lead development roles on each game since Majora's Mask, with Miyamoto watching over the games' development to see how it goes.

Capcom and Flagship, two third-party developers, are responsible for the games which appeared on the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, while Nintendo of America is typically credited with creating the pseudo-minigame Link's Crossbow Training.

Three games released for the Philips CD-i were created by Animation Magic (Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon) and Viridis (Zelda's Adventure) and published by Philips Media, due to a broken deal with Philips to produce a CD-based addon to the SNES. These games are considered by most fans to not be canon and have yet to be acknowledged as such by Nintendo, though many find the poorly-animated cutscenes to be the source of many laughs in remixes posted on YouTube.

Games

Game	JP release	NA release	EU release	AUS release	KOR release	Platform
00 Main games
The Legend of Zelda	1986	1987	??	??	??	Famicom Disk System/NES
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link	1987	1988	??	??	??	Famicom Disk System/NES
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past	1991	1992	??	??	??	SNES
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening	1993	1993	??	??	??	Game Boy
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	1998	1998	??	??	??	Nintendo 64
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask	2000	2000	??	??	??	Nintendo 64
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons	2001	2001	??	??	??	Game Boy Color
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages	2001	2001	??	??	??	Game Boy Color
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords	2002	2003	??	??	??	Game Boy Advance
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker	2002	2003	??	??	??	Nintendo GameCube
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures	2004	2004	??	??	??	Nintendo GameCube
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap	2004	2005	??	??	??	Game Boy Advance
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess	2006	2006	??	??	??	Nintendo GameCube/Wii
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass	2007	2007	??	??	??	Nintendo DS
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks	2009	2009	??	??	??	Nintendo DS
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword	2011	2011	2011	??	??	Wii
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds	2011	2011	2011	??	??	Nintendo 3DS
The Legend of Zelda	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	Wii U
00 Non-canon / spin-off games
Zelda	N/A	1989	N/A	N/A	N/A	Game & Watch
The Legend of Zelda Game Watch	N/A	1989	1992	N/A	N/A	{{{7}}}
Link: The Faces of Evil	N/A	1993	1993	??	??	Philips CD-i
Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon	N/A	1993	1993	??	??	Philips CD-i
Zelda's Adventure	N/A	1995	1995	??	??	Philips CD-i
BS The Legend of Zelda	N/A	1995	N/A	N/A	N/A	BS-X Broadcasting System
BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets	N/A	1997	N/A	N/A	N/A	BS-X Broadcasting System
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland	2006	N/A	??	??	??	Nintendo DS
Link's Crossbow Training	2007	2008	??	??	??	Wii
Tingle's Balloon Fight DS	2007	N/A	??	??	??	Nintendo DS
Color Changing Tingle's Love Balloon Trip	2009	N/A	??	??	??	Nintendo DS
00 Ports and remakes
BS Zelda no Densetsu	1997	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Satellaview
Famicom Mini: Zelda no Densetsu 1	2004	N/A	N/A	N/A	??	Game Boy Advance
Classic NES:The Legend of Zelda	N/A	2004	2004	2004	??	Game Boy Advance
Famicom Mini: Link no Bōken	2004	N/A	N/A	N/A	??	Game Boy Advance
Classic NES Series: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link	N/A	2004	2005	2005	??	Game Boy Advance
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D	2011	2011	2011	??	??	Nintendo 3DS
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD	2013	2013	2013	??	??	Wii U
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D	2015	2015	2015	2015	??	Nintendo 3DS

Related Imagery

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External links

• Wikipedia Article
• StrategyWiki Series category

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