SJReiter on 01 January 2015
Yeah, as stated above, you don't really NEED to play any previous Zelda game in order to enjoy the series. However, since you asked what the staple games of the franchise are, I would say basically all of the home console releases (excluding maybe the original LoZ and Zelda II). So that would be A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, & Skyward Sword. But like I said, you shouldn't feel like you need to play ALL those games in order to enjoy Zelda Wii U. And yes, you can play all of those games on the Wii U with Virtual Console and backwards compatibility.
