There are many reasons to replay a video game.The Legend of Zeldaseries offers up some of the best games of all time, making it natural that people would want to treasure them for decades. Part of it comes down to nostalgia. If a game was good as a child, replaying it, again and again, may bring back some warm fuzzy feelings in this crumbling world of ours.
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Trophies are another reason why games get replayed. Unfortunately, the Switch still doesn’t have an internal system like that. The following examples inThe Legend of Zeldaseries run the gamut from nostalgia picks to multiplayer games to games with tons of content. There is something here for everyone and from all eras of this classic franchise from the well-known titles to themore forgotten ones.
7The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildis the biggest gamein the seriesthat has ever been made. The game launched alongside the Switch, five years ago, and people are still playing it. There is an endless amount of content to dive into with a giant open-world RPG like this along with new ways to play. Will the sequel live up to this game’s reputation? It’s hard to say but this is without a doubt a game that is worth every penny.
6Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamitywasa surprise prequeltoBreath of the Wildthat no one saw coming. It is a sequel toHyrule Warriorswhich was itself a spinoff of theDynasty Warriorsseries. The hack and slash gameplay translated well into theZeldaformula but it wasn’t based on any one game in the series.
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That’s one reason whyAge of Calamitywas a surprise. The other reason is that it felt like Nintendo made it. The visuals looked similar and the story was surprisingly robust. It’s not set in an open-world likeBreath of the Wildbut the game is still packed full of content.
5Hyrule Warriors
Hyrule Warriorsdeserves its own entry on here because of how well executed it was. It was a side story imagining a new world wherein Link, Zelda, and other familiar faces were being invaded by original villains made for the game.
These new villains pulled in other bad guys from the franchise like Ganondorf and Zant. Link was aided by various versions of himself along with a cavalcade of other heroes. It was a celebration of the series up to that point, with lots to do and unlock besides the main campaign.
4The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventureswas the second game, technically, that was part of this short-lived multiplayer series. The first was an add-on toA Link to the Past’sGBA port. This game was instead for the GameCube and expanded the ideas over the original.
The game itself was relatively short for a Zelda game but the reason why the replay value is so high is because of its solid gameplay.Short co-op games like thisare meant to be replayed again and again with either the same group of friends or new ones. It’s a shame Nintendo hasn’t re-released this GameCube classic yet but maybe one day they will.
3The Legend Of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroeswas the last multiplayer-focused game in theZeldafranchise. BothHyrule Warriorsgameshad two-player co-opwhich is nice and does indeed add to the overall value. However, the co-op wasn’t the focus whereas it was inTri Force Heroes.
It whittled the four-player co-op ofFour Swords Adventuresdown to three which was probably the better idea since the screen is so small on the 3DS. It didn’t get the love it deserved at the time but that might be because 3DS fatigue was rolling in. Either way, this is another great co-op game that is still fun to bust out with two other buddies every now and again.
2Cadence Of Hyrule: Crypt Of The NecroDancer Featuring The Legend Of Zelda
Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zeldais a mouthful of a name but it is also brimming with content. It is a sequel toCrypt of the NecroDancerwhichwas a roguelikemixed together with a rhythm game. Players had to move to the beat to slay monsters and it was hard to master but equally hard to put down.
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That game, and this, have amazing soundtracks. PlayingCadence of Hyrulerepeatedly is like wanting to re-listen to your favorite album only there is some interactivity with this game. As a bonus, it too features co-op although timing the beats with a partner is more tricky than it is worth.
1The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past
The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Pastis one of the best games in the series. As the thirdZeldaentry, it changed things for the better and evolved almost every aspect that came from the two NES games. It seemed like a lengthy quest at the time but it is relatively short all things considered now.
Still, as an instant classic, it’s one of those games that is invaluable and can be played on repeat like a yearly tradition. The same could be said aboutOcarina of Time, but things about it don’t hold up as well mechanically. SNES games, on the other hand, were born to be evergreen.
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