The Legend of Zelda

For other subjects of the same name, see The Legend of Zelda (disambiguation).

The Legend of Zelda is a long-running video game franchise from Nintendo and is one of its flagship series like the Mario franchise as well as Pokemon. Introduced in 1986 under the Nintendo Entertainment System title The Legend of Zelda, it stars the main protagonist Link on many quests to rescue Princess Zelda from the clutches of the main antagonist Ganon (or his human alter-ego Ganondorf) to save the Kingdom of Hyrule in most games, though some titles take place in other lands with different lead antagonists (such as Majora's Mask or Demise). The series has crossed over with Mario in every Super Smash Bros. series game and sometimes the franchise itself. It is also represented within the NES Remix series, and Warioware has a few microgames themed around a certain The Legend of Zelda game.

While it is not technically considered a Mario spin-off unlike the Donkey Kong, Yoshi, or Wario series, as their settings are entirely different and the gameplay were specifically designed to be polar opposites (Mario focuses on linearity while Zelda does not), The Legend of Zelda is widely known as its partner franchise. This is because the two iconic series were originally created by the same development team at Nintendo, which continued in some later games (especially the NES to N64 eras), and both have many parallels between each other, coincidentally or intentionally, whether it is the main characters, events of their core series games, or even elements, normally as Easter Eggs. For example, the Recorder in Super Mario Bros. 3 is actually a key item from the original The Legend of Zelda. In addition, major media of both franchises were released nearly concurrently since their origins. Despite it has never been stated outright by Nintendo, due to the frequent connections with Mario and Zelda seen throughout either series over the decades, it is suggested that they share the same universe, with the Mushroom Kingdom and Hyrule simply being extremely far away. Their main protagonists, Mario and Link, although they have technically met each other since the NES era as early as Tetris through a cameo, the Super Smash Bros. series and Mario Kart 8/Deluxe are the most prominent cases.

The Legend of Zelda introduces some of its enemy species that are either relatives or notable members of Mario ones, such as the Manhandla, a species of large Piranha Plants, and Head Thwomp, a notable Thwomp who is a boss in Oracle of Ages. Some recurring Super Mario enemies such as Bob-ombs and Cheep Cheeps are also an enemy within The Legend of Zelda series, which even consists of some of their earlier appearances, such as Chain Chomps in A Link to the Past. Link's Awakening notably has many enemies from the franchise itself appearing as foes for Link and even has guests from other Nintendo series, including Kirby. On the other hand, Zelda enemies have rarely been introduced into Mario, but the Galaxy games does have a notable species called the Octoomba, which are a mix between a Goomba and an Octorok.

Two recurring Mario elements, Chain Chomps and Fire Bars, were actually originally created for The Legend of Zelda series, but were given to Mario franchise instead by the development team, as they find the latter to be more appropriate.

As of November 2024, there are 21 core games released for the series and sold over 164 million copies (though pales in comparison to Mario's 879 million).

Mainline games by console[]

Nintendo Entertainment System[]

Super Nintendo Entertainment System[]

A Link to the Past (otherwise known as The Triforce of the Gods in Japan)

Game Boy[]

Link's Awakening (otherwise known as The Dreaming Island in Japan)

Nintendo 64[]

Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask

Nintendo DS[]

Phantom Hourglass
Spirit Tracks

Wii[]

Twilight Princess (shared with GameCube)
Skyward Sword

Nintendo 3DS[]

Wii U[]

Breath of the Wild (shared with Switch)

Nintendo Switch[]

Breath of the Wild (shared with the Wii U)
Tears of the Kingdom
Echoes of Wisdom

Related appearances[]

Mario franchise[]

Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars (cameo)
Mario Kart 8 (The Legend of Zelda x Mario Kart 8)
Super Mario Maker
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Super Mario Maker 2

Donkey Kong series[]

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (cameo)

Super Smash Bros. series[]

Trivia[]

The main characters of The Legend of Zelda - Link, Princess Zelda, and Ganon, can be considered a mirror to Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser, respectively, due to the fact each shared a very similar longtime role in their core games' plot.
Some Zelda games featured characters that resemble certain Mario ones. For example, Talon and Ingo in Ocarina of Time are based on Mario and Luigi, respectively.
Much like Mario with Bowser, although the Final Boss in The Legend of Zelda series' games is normally Ganon in various forms, others have different antagonists who comes from stranger worlds and have twisted appearances or personalities.
One particular game of the series, The Legennd of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, released on the Nintendo 64 in 1998, is widely considered the greatest video game of all-time, surpassing even Mario's Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Galaxy.