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Jon-Erich on 01 January 2015
pitzy272 said:

Okay, so I've never been a Nintendo gamer. Even back to the Sega Genesis vs. NES days, I owned the Genesis. I am now, however, rather intrigued by The Legend of Zelda, due to the massive hype this series gets. What pushed my interest in this series over the edge is how beautiful the upcoming game looks. 

So, I have a couple questions. 

1. Bc there appears to be so many offshoot Zelda games, what are the staple games in the series--the games I absolutely must play in order to enjoy and understand playing thru the upcoming/new Zelda game for Wii U? The less games the better, here. I already have such a big games backlog:/

2. If I were to buy a Wii U, am I able to play all the staple games in the Zelda series on the Wii U? If not, what are my options? (Also, is Wii U BC with the Wii?)

3. Is there any other controller I can use to play on the Wii U? That effing thing seems so awful.

4. Are the Zelda games really so long???? I looked up some of the games on howlongtobeat.com, and they typically range from 15-30hrs! Is this accurate?? If so, it would be quite overwhelming to hop into this series at this point:(


1. I would say try at least one 2D Zelda and one 3D Zelda. A Link To The Past and Ocarina of TIme would be a good combination, although if you were using a Wii U to play it, you would have to purchase Ocarina from the Wii's e-Shop since N64 games aren't available on the the Wii U e-Shop yet.

2. If you were to purchase a Wii U, you could play Zelda 1, Zelda II, A Link to the Past, The Minish Cap, Wind Waker HD, and since it's backward compatible with the Wii, you could also play Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword as well. If you were to pick up a 3DS, you could play Ocarina of TIme 3D, Zelda: Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, and Maora's Mask 3D pretty soon. Between those two systems, you'll be able to play every game in the series except for The Four Swords Adventure which was on the GameCube.

3. You can use other controllers, although I can't speak for the upcoming game. Also, the Wii U Gamepad is not a bad controller. I use it all the time.

4. Zelda games are long because you get your money's worth. From the PlayStation/N64 era up until the 7th generation, games between 15 and 30 hours were quite common. I still remember Donkey Kong 64 took me almost 60 hours to beat on the first try. Personally, I'd rather pay $60 for a 30 hour game than $60 for a 5 hour game....and then pay additional money for DLC.



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ibrahimman0 on 01 January 2015

You don't need to play any previous games in the series, but I recommend starting with Ocarina of time, but that is not available on the WiiU I Think.

They all usually take from 15-30 hours that's true, but Skyward Sword is like 40-50 hours and Twilight Princess is like 50-70 hours.

I think with both a 3DS and a WiiU u will be able to play all Zelda games.



IMSM

Metallox on 01 January 2015

You must play Twilight Princess because it's the closeste to Zelda U, I'm pretty sure of that. Might recommend you to check the original NES game, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

Try to play Wind Waker at the end of your playthrough because you could get bored of having to sail from certain distance to other, and play the HD version as well, so otherwise you will have to change wind's direction every 2 minutes.



My bet with The_Liquid_Laser: I think the Switch won't surpass the PS2 as the best selling system of all time. If it does, I'll play a game of a list that The_Liquid_Laser will provide, I will have to play it for 50 hours or complete it, whatever comes first. 

QUAKECore89 on 01 January 2015

You have only 2 best Zelda games, A link to the past(SNES) & Ocarina of time(N64), not to mention on Majora's Mask(N64), i still love it personally.

It's kinda weird, a lot of Zelda fanbase 100% suggested Ocarina of time while the rest communities wanted Majora's Mask remake so bad, i have no idea what's wrong with those people.

Oh yeah, #4 your question: Are the Zelda games really so long?. The answer is, it depends on your gamestyle, some people finished the game just main quest usually 3-8 hours then turn off console without doing sides & some of them took a while doing side quests & explore secrets to complete, i don't know how long it takes but still depends. Wind Waker is only i completed 100% everything... I think took me a month lol, the rest of them i finished just main quest because i'm too lazy.

Advice: Do not watch let's players walkthrough on youtube.



Frogger on 01 January 2015

Don't play OoT. This is an Aonuma Zelda. If you want to get how this one will play, play WWHD and ALBW. Their focus lies more on exploration than OoT of ALttP, which is the major focus of Zelda U. He specifically used these games as influential to his direction for the Wii U game. 

Also, OoT is extremely over rated. Don't let yourself become underwhelmed with the franchise because of it.



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archer9234 on 01 January 2015

Play any of the games. Nothing really connects like Lost or something. Even Majora's Mask can play without you playing OOT.



pitzy272 on 01 January 2015

Thanks everyone for the answers!!

I obviously didn't know much about Zelda. It's good to hear I can play the new one without even playing the previous iterations. Though I'll probably try to play at least 2 of the most common games that were recommended in this thread.



pitzy272 on 01 January 2015
Hiku said:

1.) Don't have to play any other Zelda game to (almost) fully enjoy Zelda U. The only thing you'd be missing out on is references to other games. The story and characters should be stand alone from the rest of the series, as pretty much always. In case you don't know, it's always a new Link and Zelda every time. (With the exception of actual sequels, like Majora's Mask.)
But to get an appreciation of the Zelda world, I'd say Ocaina of Time and A Link to the Past are the main staple games that best represent the series, and it'll give you a broader appreciation of the Zelda world and history.

4.) Yeah they're adventure games, similar to rpgs, so expect that kind of game time.


Always a NEW Link and Zelda? New as in different? Could u elaborate on this?



Ezquimacore on 01 January 2015
KyleeStrutt said:
1) I don't think you need to play any other, every Zelda game is accesible to new players, however if you want another title to introduce you to the series Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past are the places to start.

2) Pretty much yes, both NES titles are on VC, so are the N64 titles and the SNES title, Wind Waker was remade for the system and is backwards compatible so you can play Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword too.

3) We don't know but I doubt it.

4) Yes, they're supposed to be huge adventure games, they're usually very long.


this.



Ezquimacore on 01 January 2015

Play A link to the past, then ocarina of time. the majora's mask, wind waker and TP in any order. the handheld versions are great experience too but you can play those in any order imo.