RSEagle said: dsister44 said: Wow.. What could have driven them to make the timeline so convoluted?

OoooOooo! Can we start a random timeline fight? I love those.  

OT: Play them in chronological order. 

Play them in the order of release. The amount of appreciation you will gain for each game is awe-inspiring - it is like a flower of design that blooms endlessly, blossoming out into hundreds and then thousands and then millions of petals, layers and layers of intuitive dungeons and worldbuilding and narrative forms that as a body may be incomparable in the medium.

And get Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. They're worth playing if only because they represent an entirely new school of design for the series, which may be more or less charming to you depending on your tastes.

chronological order, that ya you can appreciate the series innovations more

Guys am I wrong here? I take "chronological order" to mean according to some timeline. That is why I say "order of release"

I would just recommend you dont play OoT and MM back to back. The same engine and similar elements makes the replaying them consecutivly kind of droll.

When I attempted to order the timeline of the legend of zelda, I felt like I was Josh Nash from a beautiful mind XD. There were papers all over my room, and all my planning only led to giving me a headache :P . I say just enjoy the ones you want to play the most, and perhaps that will lead to your own unique order.

Order of release. The games play off each other the best that way. Also, the only Game Boy Zelda you need is Link's Awakening. It was made by Nintendo. The two Oracle games and the Minish Cap were made by Capcom. So while they're still pretty awesome, I'd say they're optional. They're like Capcom's tributes to the Zelda franchise, like really good quasi-official fan-made games.

So I'd say play them in this order: LOZAOLLTTPLAOOTMM4SAWWTPLCTPHST.

Play them in order, unless you find a timeline that you believe in.  There are many out there and I never thought one to fit my own opinion but then I stumbled upon this one.

 I blame the OP for saying "chronological of release," he got that in my head. -_-