#tried majora and botw and twilight princess

[slasherflicks999]

……………..who was gonna tell me the BEN drowned arg was gonna make me weirdly emotional huh

[ivaalo]

Introduction

This is a fan analysis about the results of 24 polls posted on Tumblr by the user @zeldatourney. Huge thanks to them to have organized this tourney.

(Keep in mind my first language isn't English, so I might make some minor mistakes)

This is a long post with multiple graphs, so I'm putting a "Read more" button here!

For each game, the question asked was "How high does [game] rank?" with 7 answers possible to choose:

S tier (One of the greatest)

A tier (A favorite)

B tier (I like it)

C tier (Meh)

D tier (I'd rather play something else)

F tier (AWFUL)

I haven't played this game

The poll started on the 2nd of December 2024 and ended the 9th of December 2024.

Disclaimer: This is not a representation of the Zelda community as a whole, but a result of people who saw and voted for the polls between those previously quoted dates.

For the rest of this post, I will simplify each game's name by its abbreviations. For example, "A Link To The Past" will be named "ALTTP". The polls didn't specify if it contains the original games or both the original games and the remakes. They will be named as such:

[TLOZ] The Legend of Zelda

[AOL] Adventure of Link

[ALTTP] A Link to the Past

[LA] Link's Awakening (DX) (+ the unnamed 2019 remake)

[OOT] Ocarina of Time (3D)

[MM] Majora's Mask (3D)

[OOS] Oracle of Seasons

[OOA] Oracle of Ages

[FS] Four Swords (Anniversary Edition)

[TWW] The Wind Waker (HD)

[FSA] Four Swords Adventures

[TMC] The Minish Cap

[TP] Twilight Princess (HD)

[PH] Phantom Hourglass

[ST] Spirit Tracks

[SS] Skyward Sword (HD)

[ALBW] A Link Between Worlds

[HW] Hyrule Warriors (Legend / Definitive Edition)

[TFH] Tri Force Heroes

[BOTW] Breath of the Wild

[COH] Cadence of Hyrule

[AOC] Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

[TOTK] Tears of the Kingdom

[EOW] Echoes of Wisdom

Collected data

Each poll being independent from each other, the number of votes varies from one poll to another.

For each games, I added the percentage (as picked up from the HTML for a better precision). The result is either 99.999, 100 or 100.001, so I sometimes cheated to add or remove 0.001 somewhere. Tumblr doesn't give you access to the exact numbers of vote per option.

So before ranking the games, I have to show you first what games are the most played. Adding all answers and doing:

Played (%) = 100 - "I haven't played this game" (%)

I'll use colours to differentiate 2D games (in terms of gameplay) to 3D games. I'll also highlight spin-off games and multiplayer games.

Here are the games played by more than 75% of players:

We can already see a huge pattern. All the 3D games are there. And the only 2D Zelda game to be played by 75% of players is ALBW. BOTW and OOT are the most played games of the sample, as those were huge turning points and both cultural and commercial success.

We can also notice the difference of 5% between the least played 3D game (MM) and the most played 2D game (ALBW).

Let's continue to look at the other played games:

EOW is most likely low as it's the most recent game, at this time, but also because it's not a 3D game. And the hype train was low compared to TOTK. (3 months of anticipation compared to 4 years)

And finally, the multiplayer games are the least played games, excluding COH. Also worth noting that all the spin-off games cited can also be played with another player, but it wasn't the main focus of the communication. COH being a musical tactical rogue-lite only appealed to a specific part of Zelda fans.

If these polls contained the CD-i Zelda games, Link's Crossbow Training and Tingle games, the score would probably be under COH, but we never know!

I'll keep these colours as labels, to recognize them better in the next images.

Alright. Time to share the ranking. Here is the global result, sorted by release date in North America:

It's kind of a lot to see! Overall, the games are pretty liked. So first, let's take a look at the disliked games:

Please note that the X-axis was zoomed, so we can see the result better.

We can already notice that AOL makes a huge contrast. As this game is considered as the black sheep of the franchise because of how different it is, its reputation mostly came from the difficulty of that game.

Almost a factor of 0.5 divides the first disliked game to the second. TFH the second disliked and the original TLOZ follows.

ALBW is the least disliked, with under 1%, counting D tier and F tier.

But notice the F-tier (red) line. It varies a lot, so let's take a look at the most hated games:

Yep, TOTK is third, this time. As I don't personally think it's awful, it definitively disappointed many by being too close to BOTW and having a lot of issues BOTW didn't have.

Nobody voted "F tier" for ALTTP nor OOT. Same for OOS but keep in mind this game was the least voted one too!

Alright, enough for the hate! Let's look at the most appreciated Zelda games.

Yep, the majority of Zelda fans like 22.5 out of 24 of the games! (TFH being exactly 50, I half-counted it!)

TWW is being almost unanimously appreciated, with almost 97%, and the second one to get this score is TMC, a 2D game, with more than 96%!

You can notice some gaps, like between ST and COH, and then between the Oracle games and TOTK.

Now let's look at the most loved games:

5 3D games are in the top 5, except for SS and TOTK. TMC is very close to beat BOTW and remains the most loved 2D Zelda game. Notice how SS and TOTK make a huge gap between the game before and the game after, like voters use them as references. The two Hyrule Warriors games are, in a funny way, between the Oracle ones.

Let's add a step forward and look at the S tier only:

Nothing changes for the top 9 games. However, EOW seems more nuanced and is less considered as best than TOTK.

Final results

And finally, let's rank them using the Majority Judgment:

The Majority Judgment was created to propose a more democratic way to vote. Each candidate has multiple mentions, and you (the elector) must attribute one mention to each candidate. Since this poll uses this exact method of vote, I decided to rank them all using the Majority Judgment. To count using the Majority Judgment, you must focus on the 50% axis, and look at the category that crosses it (more than 50%). That gives you the tier, and the best tier wins.

When two or more candidates get the same tier, there are multiple ways to rank:

The first way is to put a line at the middle and see which line has the higher percentage. (Less precise but more simple)

The second way is to divide it into multiple tiers by doing the first method again and again until each candidates has a unique tier. (More precise but less simple)

But since I didn't want to compare B++++ to B+++-, I used the first method. It's my democracy and I do whatever I want!

Just keep in mind that depending on the way to count these games may be swapped:

ALTTP and LA

OOA and PH

AOC and HW

SO, for the data. Top 5 is TWW, MM, TP, OOT and BOTW. To be honest, I imagined MM to be a more nuanced game, or at least more controversial, since it has a unique concept.

The A tier only contains 2D games, except SS. TMC, ST and ALBW are the favourite 2D games. ALTTP and LA are always very close. The last one of the tier is EOW.

Only mainline games are in the S and A tier.

The first game of the B tier is a spin-off game, followed by TOTK.

TFH was one vote away from being in the B tier. And no surprise, AOL is the last one.

To sum up, according to the participants who voted for these polls:

S tier

🥇 The Wind Waker

🥈 Majora's Mask

🥉 Twilight Princess

⭐ Ocarina of Time

⭐ Breath of the Wild

A+ tier

The Minish Cap

Spirit Tracks

A- tier

A Link Between Worlds

Skyward Sword

A Link to the Past

Link's Awakening

Echoes of Wisdom

B+ tier

Cadence of Hyrule

Tears of the Kingdom

Oracle of Seasons

Oracle of Ages

Phantom Hourglass

B- tier

Age of Calamity

Hyrule Warriors

Four Swords Adventures

Four Swords

The Legend of Zelda

C+ tier

Tri Force Heroes

C- tier

Adventure of Link

Thank you for reading! ~

[laverrepalette]

ok in my immense love for nintendo and hsr heres a "what would every hsr characters favorite nintendo series/game be"

thank u thank u hope yall enjoy

more specifications and notes under the read more

-while cipher wouldve fit in a greed focused game (ie: wario) i think back to her desiring to be a hero made me imagine like. aglaea gives little cipher a 3ds with fire emblem awakening and it is life changing and theraputic for her

-yanqing and yunli have complete opposite zelda tastes. yanqing loves ocarina of time, wind waker, and botw while yunli loves majoras mask, twilight princess, and totk. they argue endlessly. jingliu loves spirit tracks

-the whole genius society loves pikmin. ruan mei owns so many pikmin plushies and tried to create a real pikmin. screwllum would also be in pikmin tier

-sparkle is the best mario party player. qingque and aventurine try to get chance time every turn possible

-had to restrain myself from putting robin and serval in "ELITE BEAT AGENTS" tier and went for a more known and recognized rhythm game. ily though rhythm heaven

-yukong literally is a star fox lol

-silver wolf would probably specifically most enjoy splatoon and pokemon. shes the fourth member of the three in splatoon tier. sometimes rappa drags boothill into playing in place of hook.

-welt yang loves all of them but i can see him more specifically enjoying the mainline mario series, pikmin, and xenoblade. he rly likes multiplayer games the most though

-tingyun and fugue may both be in mario tier but theyre two very different experiences. after ruan mei created fugue she gave her a copy of paper mario the thousand year door. it was more lifechanging than actively being revived

-animal crossing would fix sunday

[yan-loves-ganondorf]

i finally tried to animate in flipnote 3ds, it was a lot of fun, i also love that you can make your drawing 3d.

im doing some wind waker fan stuff rn cause i recently 100% the gamecube ver. i love the designs of ww fairies and heart containers (i even have that strange cup that shaped like a ww heart container, i was surprised that stuff like this is available in my middle of nowhere)

i 100% completed wind waker 1-2 days ago (not the nintendo gallery tho, i will try to do it later) so i'm drawing some wind waker stuff rn.before that i 100% ocarina and majora 3d (i won't 100% n64 ver cause i hate non gyro aiming). i will be 100% my favourite zelda games (even botw with all korok seeds) (i also 100% the ww hd ver), next will be twilight princess hd

i also animated my OC Lily and princess Hilda turn around

[crosslinks]

Hello! This is CrossLinks, an AU for the Legend of Zelda where the various heroes of Hyrule all meet and interact. Focusing on the various different versions of Link and Zelda living in the House of Hylia, their mission to protect the various timelines, as well as their everyday life and the chaos that comes with it. 

Whilst this is similar in premise to other such Link-Meet AU’s; I am keeping it as something distinct, and will be putting my own spin on things. 

A brief introduction to the world of this AU, plus some additional character notes, are also available here on A03.

⚔️ Synopsis 

The events of CrossLinks occur outside of any one timeline or continuity, starting some time after all the different universes of the LoZ series became connected. Some characters, like Luci (Time), Levi (Sky), Ludo (Worlds) or Ravio are able to travel freely between universes thanks to magic. Others meanwhile rely on gateways/rifts/portals/etc.

They operate out of a shared base known as ‘The House of Hylia, a confusing five-story mess of a building constructed around a great Deku Tree that kept on having increasingly-unstable extra rooms added on as more Links joined the group, bringing pieces of their homeworld with them. It’s located in a small forest somewhere in the Sacred Realm, because it allows for easy access to different universes. 

With their powers combined: they are the CrossLinks (cue credits). A giant, chaotic found family of Links, Zeldas, and a Ravio! Their main objective is technically to use their combined forces to help protect each of their individual universes from harm, as well as help with general timeline upkeep- but if there’s one thing every Link is great at, it’s getting distracted doing sidequests, so about 90% of their time is instead spent doing shenanigans instead.

⚔️ Who are the Links?

There are 15 major members of the CrossLinks, with representatives from every mainline game. The big difference you might notice is that they each have names now! It takes some getting used to, but I personally prefer it to referring to each one by their title. Nothing against those that prefer titles- but having characters called ‘Legend’, ‘Hyrule’ or ‘Time’ just seemed awkward when I tried to write it. It’s a purely personal preference, but it does mean that I’ll be calling them different things. They are still named ‘Link’- they just picked nicknames for convenience; and they all start with L because ~theming~ They’re names are as follows:

Sky: Levi (Skyward Sword)

Minish: Lilian/Lil (Minish Cap)

Four Swords: Leon (All of ‘Four Swords’)

Time: Luci (Oot + Majora)

Legend: Lukan (LttP, Oracles, Awakening)

New Hyrule: Ludo (LbtW + Triforce Heroes)

Hyrule: Lorin (LoZ + Adventure of Link)

Twilight: Lyka (Twilight Princess)

Wind: Luca (WW + Phantom Hourglass)

Trains: Lawrence (Spirit Tracks)

Wild: Luz (BotW + TotK)

Wisdom: Leif (Echoes of Wisdom)

And the same is true for the Zeldas; namely Zeta (BotW) and Zaria (EoW). Other characters who already have names, like Ravio, as well as Shiek or Tetra will just go by their existing ones. 

⚔️ What to expect 

Fics, currently. I can’t draw, or do much creatively, but I can write! How often I do this is going to vary a lot, depending on time/motivation/etc. 

CrossLinks currently has no plot. It’s just episodic, slice-of-life stuff focusing on the Links, their missions, and the dynamics they have with one another. Whilst generally on the lighter side, with more comedy or ‘fluff’- I still might go into some darker/more serious themes, and might even get slightly serialised in the form of some multi-part fics, or some light continuity over time. But generally, I think the fics should be able to be read in any order. 

Thank you for taking the time to read that, and I hope you enjoy the AU!

[ryttu3k]

If I've never played Zelda before, do you think it's OK to start with one of the current games?

Yeah, absolutely! If we're going for an ideal first game, I'd be looking for three things: 1) it's not heavily dependent on having already played or knowing a great deal about another game, 2) it's still got a consequential amount of story and a familiar structure to introduce you to the rest of the greater history of Hyrule (assuming you want to get into the series and not a single game), and 3) it doesn't have a completely different playstyle (like Echoes of Wisdom's Echo-based gameplay, or Majora's Mask's time mechanics).

With those in mind, Breath of the Wild is an ideal first game to play, because it doesn't have any firm connection with other games in the timeline, but instead stands entirely on its own. It has enough Zelda traditions to lead you into the other games, and it's just huge and gorgeous and expansive. Skyward Sword would also be great, it's the earliest in the timeline, fits a lot of the established Zelda structure, and the remastered version avoids a lot of the issues the original had with motion controls. Both have beautiful stories, incredibly engaging characters, and are 'complete packages', story-wise.

For the most recent release, I wouldn't start with Echoes of Wisdom, because it's extremely different, gameplay-wise, to any other Zelda game and is much less expansive. Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild (...sort of) and so is also best left to afterwards, too. Ocarina of Time would be a solid option for a first game; I'd probably leave Wind Waker and Twilight Princess until after playing Ocarina.

So, for a first game and introduction to the series, I'd recommend:

Ideal as first game: Breath of the Wild (huge, expansive, breathtakingly gorgeous game, suitable setting to introduce you to the series), Skyward Sword (another beautiful game, first game chronologically so not dependent on others, remaster fixes a lot of control issues)

Good as first game: Ocarina of Time (nods to earlier lore but not heavily dependent, introduces a lot of series tropes, but not quite as huge and expansive as BotW; this was my first game!), Link to the Past (dated, but the first heavily lore-based game, also introduces a lot of series tropes)

Has issues as first game: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess (better to play after Ocarina of Time but certainly doable), The Legend of Zelda (first-released game, but very dated), Link's Awakening (direct sequel, but still independent enough to possible to play as first), Oracle of Ages and Seasons, Minish Cap (lighter stories, but less suitable as an introduction to the series)

Avoid as first game: Adventure of Link (direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda, mechanically very different, dated), Majora's Mask (direct sequel to OoT, mechanically different), Four Swords / Four Swords Adventures (light on story), Phantom Hourglass (direct sequel to WW, Temple of the Ocean King would probably turn you off the series entirely), Spirit Tracks (sequel to WW/PH), A Link Between Worlds (sequel to LttP), Tears of the Kingdom (direct sequel - sort of - to BotW), Tri Force Heroes and Echoes of Wisdom (mechanically extremely different, gives a different impression of the series)

tl;dr the best games to start with are Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword (specifically, the remastered version). Of the two, I'd recommend Breath of the Wild. Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past also are solid options. Avoid the direct sequels and the games with very different mechanics, and a lot of the smaller games don't give a good impression of the series overall.

That said, this is solely based on my opinion! I know people who started with games like Majora's Mask or Link Between Worlds and had an absolute blast, I just personally feel I got more out of those games due to knowing the earlier games.

Happy playing!

[tashacee]

Which hero is which Link?

Just finished your fic (amazing. phenomenal. stupendous.) and I’m trying to make a list bc I have a horrible memory lmao

Like. I know Wild is BOTW/TOTK Link and Time is OOT Link

But I have full knowledge of that and OOT and vague knowledge of the rest so.

HELLO FRIEND!

Firstly: Thank you so much! I'm so honoured that you enjoyed and glad to share this journey with you!

Second: here is my Link to game list!

Time: Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask/was a dopey kid in Hyrule Warriors

Hyrule: The Legend of Zelda (1986)/The Adventure of Link

Legend: A Link to the Past/Link's Awakening/Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages/Link Between Worlds/Tri-Force Heroes (someone give the boi a break)

Sky: Skyward Sword

Four: Minish Cap/Four Sword

Twilight: Twilight Princess

Warriors: Hyrule Warriors

Wild: Breath of the Wild

Age: Age of Calamity

Wind: Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass/was a dopey kid in Hyrule Warriors

Spirit: Spirit Tracks

First: That one manga at the back of hyrule historia that changed my brain chemistry

I think that's every Link i've ever written about in any of my fics? Does Ravio count? He's in A Link Between Worlds.

Thank you!

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

What’s the evidence for SS/BOTW/TOTK/ST Zelink being the most canon? I firmly believe in all of them myself but I like hearing other’s takes on this topic so I’m just curious

Ooh, yeah, I'll get into this.

Skyward Sword: This is such a slam dunk. It's as explicit in the text as it can be without Zelda saying "Link, you are my boyfriend, I love you." Groose is jealous of Link for his closeness to Zelda. Throughout the series, Link has gone through hell and back to save the people he cares about, not necessarily love interests (his sister in Wind Waker, the Ordon kids in Twilight Princess, etc). However, consider what Zelda says to Link when they talk in the Sealed Temple:

"I knew that if it meant saving Zelda, you would throw yourself headfirst into any danger, without even a moment's doubt."

She groomed him to be the chosen hero by baiting him with the person he loved most. Then, later:

"While it's true that I am Hylia reborn, I'm still my father's daughter and your friend... I'm still your Zelda"

She does say "friend," but this is the fledgling start of their romance. After the wing ceremony and Link and Zelda are flying together, she was a hair's breadth from admitting her true feelings for him. That's right there in the text. And come on, tell me "I'm still your Zelda" isn't loaded with deeper-than-friendship meaning. This is the kind of language that is absent in most Zelda games.

BotW/TotK: This is the next biggest slam dunk. Zelda could not for the life of her awaken her divine powers through prayer and practice. What finally activated them was a moment of desperation to save the person she loved: Link. Further, her journal details how close the two are personally. Closeness does not necessarily mean romance, but it is conducive to it. Link is comfortable enough are her to actually speak, which was originally nearly impossible from the trauma caused by the pressure to be her appointed knight and the Hylian Champion. Let's also not forget the look she gave him after he saved her from the Yiga assassins.

Now, that's all just in BotW. TotK easily cements it. Link and Zelda live together. They're in their early 20s living in the same house, a house with only one bed. Come on. That's solid proof right there that at the very least, SOMETHING is going on.

Spirit Tracks: This is less solid than the other two but still more explicit than the other 18 games in the series. The very first time Link lays eyes on Zelda, he blushes and audibly gasps. He is straight up taken aback by how attractive she is. He also blushes later when she hugs him. Oh yeah, the hug. The first thing she does once she has her body back is hug him. Then at the very end, as they watch the Lokomo depart from Hyrule and ascend to another realm, they hold hands. The devs specifically modeled hands for Zelda so they could hold hands. Come on. Confirmed.

If anything, I feel more strongly that other Zelinks aren't likely. Note that these are predicated on the idea that Link going to great lengths to save her is not necessarily indicative of romantic feelings. Skyward Sword is different because Hylia targeted Link for it. Anyway:

The Legend of Zelda: Zero chemistry. They only meet at the end.

The Adventure of Link: Zero chemistry. They only meet at the end.

A Link to the Past/Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages: Barely any interaction, no indication they're more than acquaintances or, at best, friends.

Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask: Okay, this is maybe the strongest case here. Link does spend a fair deal of time with Zelda/Sheik. In Link's later interactions with the Sheik persona, he actually tries to chase after her. Is this because he simply wants a friend? Or has he developed feelings for this mysterious young man? Man, OoT is startlingly sparse on textual evidence for Link's feelings. The writers get closer to establishing something in MM, what with Link and Zelda spending several months together following his return to his home era.

But I headcanon it a specific way, largely because of a particular video essay. In this interpretation, Link is desperate for companionship from someone who truly understands who he is and what he's been through. That's why he goes to such lengths to find Navi. She was his sister in arms and the only one who witnessed his heroism. Zelda was the closest thing to someone who understood, but not quite there. So, less than likely.

Also, they're 10. I was interested in romance when I was 10, but I still consider my first serious relationship, at 19, as the beginning of my true understanding of romantic love. I don't attribute much value to the *very* young love 10 years may have for each other, no matter how traumatized and mature for his age one of them is. That actually raises another question. Is Link mentally 17 by the time he slays Ganon? Or was he mentally a child the whole time? Because the 17/10 thing actually does make a difference here. Um. Moving on.

Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass: There is also something to be said here in that Link and Tetra actually do have chemistry. She's seems to be a bit older than him, just enough that she initially looks down on him as a stupid kid. Then again, at 14 and even to an extent 13, I did see most 12 year olds as being much less mature than me. Then again then again, I was a very pretentious preteen. Okay, so maybe Tetra is initially just as pretentious in that sense. Anyway, she does view him as an equal by the end and fights alongside him like a badass. Hm. Right so there's some stuff here. Like how Link goes to such lengths especially in Phantom Hourglass to save her. At that point they aren't playing parts in a legendary conflict, he's just trying to save her. But once again, that doesn't really mean romantic love.

Four Swords: No chemistry seen, barely any interaction. That's a nah from me.

Four Swords Adventures: There's a TINY bit more here, because Link and Zelda are childhood friends. Still not much here. The Minish Cap: Barely more than FSA. Childhood friends, more interaction, but still not much chemistry.

Twilight Princess: Okay this might be my hottest take here. Not only do I not think it is evidenced by the canon text, I actually don't like this one. Even ignoring that Link has infinitely better love interests in Ilia and Midna, he has no chemistry with her at all. They barely interact. On top of that, and this is the biggest thing for me, she is 20. He is 16/17. A three year age gap at that point is uncomfortably large. I've dated people three years younger than me, but we were both adults. It's just a little icky.

A Link Between Worlds: I feel like a broken record. Barely any onscreen interaction, no chemistry. Just ain't there.

Echoes of Wisdom: Not to get too into spoilers here, but I agree with that post going around that Zelda probably has a big crush on Link. But that's just a headcanon and not really evidenced by the text.

All of this said, I don't think you're wrong or bad or anything for liking more Zelinks than I do. These are just my opinions and frankly I'm too old to be engaging in shipping wars. Then again, hey, you asked for my opinions. Oh yeah, and sorry for taking so long to respond. Whoops.

[marinsawakening]

A while back I calculated the fandom distribution in the LOZ & Related Fandoms tag on AO3, if you filter out Linked Universe. Then I got curious what would happen if you didn't filter out Linked Universe and counted it as a fandom in its own right. So here it is: fandom distribution in the LOZ & Related Fandoms tag on AO3, including Linked Universe fics. As with last time, I did not account for fics tagged with more than one fic.

Note: getting an idea of how many Linked Universe fics there are is kind of difficult, as LU does not have a dedicated fandom tag. Under the cut I explain the numbers I worked with and my methods for obtaining them.

Now without further ado: the numbers.

BOTW/TOTK: 41,29%

Linked Universe: 29,07%

Ocarina of Time: 7,12%

Twilight Princess: 6,86%

Skyward Sword: 5,21%

Four Swords: 2,99%

Majora's Mask: 2,91%

Hyrule Warriors: 2,76%

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity: 2,71%

Wind Waker: 2,03%

A Link Between Worlds: 1,61%

Four Swords Adventures: 1,44%

Link's Awakening: 0,83%

Minish Cap: 0,81%

A Link to the Past: 0,79%

Zelda 1: 0,59%

Spirit Tracks: 0,52%

Phantom Hourglass: 0,49%

Zelda 2: 0,34%

Echoes of Wisdom: 0,29%

Oracle of Ages: 0,24%

Oracle of Seasons: 0,22%

Cadence of Hyrule: 0,15%

Tri Force Heroes: 0,14%

For reference, here was the calculation that filtered out LU. The two lists are not 1:1 comparable as there have been fics written in the space between this calculation and the last, but I'm inclined to believe the general trends probably hold.

Total number of fics in the LOZ & Related Fandoms tag as of today, 12/6/2025: 49.374

LU calculation: What I did was a multi-step process, starting by filtering for fics tagged 'Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)', an additional tag on AO3. Then I filtered that out, and started filtering for fics tagged 'Legend (Linked Universe)'. Then I filtered him out and filtered for 'Wild (Linked Universe)', and so on and so forth. I tallied up the number of fics each search gave me to come to the final total.

Total number of LU fics: 14.355

Why make it so complicated: the LU additional tag currently has 8.679 fics in it. The total number of LU fics I calculated was 14.355. This is a very significant statistical difference resulting from the inconsistency with which the LU additional tag is used within the fandom.

Everything else I did according to my last post.

[hyrulianhistorian]

Hi!

This might be a weird ask. I have never played a Zelda game except for Breath of the Wild. Or - I tried to. I get extreme motion sickness when playing 3D games and nothing helps. But I would like to know the story 😭

Do you maybe know of a resource where I can sort of read the plot? Or a video that just explains the story? Even just watching videos with gameplay give me motion sickness :/

Thank you so much!

Omg I have no idea how old this is sorry!!! Hope it's not too old 😭 this might be a bit long let's a go!

I'm not sure if you're asking for the plot of a specific 3d game or just in general so I'll have a more general answer.

Hmmmm for videos I know zetlink and nintendoBlackCrisis have lore based videos, tho many are about theories I do believe they have some basic lore/timeline videos!

Otherwise the twilight princess manga is great!! It's 11 volumes long, if you don't want to buy it yourself then check out what programs your local library has to request books! (Or pirate it but I'm in favor of supporting stuff when possible)

The other Mangas can be hit or miss in terms of how well they match the games, as the artists are given a decent amount of creative freedom. For example in the oracle of ages manga they made up a character (raven I believe was his name?), but I still love the ooa manga so worth the read! On the other hand the wind waker manga is a bunch of comedy strips, and does not explain the plot really at all (still great tho).

Plot wise, I think ocarina of time and majoras mask are the most accurate of the 3d game Mangas (there is not one for skyward sword unfortunately)

The simple answer I suppose would be to read the Wikipedia pages tho, I've found Wikipedia usually has a section that outlines the entire stories for media. Alternatively if you engage with enough fans and ask (like this!) A lot of people will be more than happy to share!

You only mentioned getting motion sickness from 3D games, the 2D games in the series hold up fairly well in my opinion (if those don't have the same effect). Personally the minish cap is my fave 2d game, and while the 3d remake for links awakening is adorable, it is incredibly faithful to the original 2d version!

If anyone else has any ideas that I missed, feel free to add on!

(Edit, JUST realized it seems like you specifically wanted the plot for botw 🤦‍♀️ my b, for botw specifically I'd say listen to a lore video from the youtubers I mentioned, fairly sure one of them has a botw story video, and then if you can watch basic cutscenes look up a compilation for the menories and post boss cutscenes. Botw is very light on plot, as most of the plot happens in the past and is shown through the memories. If you have questions you're more than welcome to ask! I am very obsessed with the series and love to share!)

[ravio-the-cabinet-man]

whats your favourite zelda game and why?

twilight princess All The Way. it was my first zelda game, it came out the year i was born, my mom printed out the entire guide because we had spotty internet and baby ravio Needed to watch her play it.

i have wonderful memories of just messing around on our finished file, running around and scaring townsfolk as an angry little puppydog.

but also the story and aesthetic.. the golden skies of the twilight realm, the sense of home from ordon village, the castle being Dead Silent in the courtyard, aside from the rain.

don't get me started on midnas lament or midna in general. ive always thought she was really cool. shes sassy and absolutely isnt helping you for the right reasons at first, but then she changes. and shes still sassy, but she cares.

also you can pick up the cats. important. you can also play fetch with the dogs. also important.

i have other faves, botw was solid for me, windwaker is a classic and i adore the style and story of that as well, majoras mask has vibes for days too, but twilight princess has been and always will be my favorite zelda game.

ive never beaten it myself though, actually. i tried, but our wii broke when i got to gerudo :/

[margindoodles2407]

I’m desperately trying to remember who some of your links and zeldas are but alas I can’t find the post where you named them…

Wel do not fear, my friend! I'll simply make a new one right here!

Skyward Sword

Link: Forger

Zelda: Goddess

Minish Cap/Four Swords

Link: Fractal (the color names are the same)

Zelda: Radiance

Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask

Link: Orpheus (MY BOY!!!!!)

Zelda: Sonata

Twilight Princess

Link: Dawnbringer

Zelda: Eos

Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass

Link: Awakener

Zelda: Tetra (obviously)

Spirit Tracks

Link: Engineer

Zelda: Phantasma

A Link to the Past/Oracle Games/Link's Awakening

Link: Odysseus

Zelda: Visionary

A Link Between Worlds/Tri Force Heroes

Link: Graffiti

Zelda: Iconography/Icon

The Hyrule Fantasy/The Adventure of Link

Link: Genesis

Zelda: Dawn

Zelda the First: Somnia

Hyrule Warriors

Link: Paladin (MY GUY!!!)

Zelda: Valkyrie

Pre-BotW

Link: Slayer

Zelda: Sealer

Breath of the Wild/Age of Calamity/Tears of the Kingdom

Link: Luminary

Zelda: Sunshine

Hope this helped! BY THE BY, if you have any questions about why I chose certain names, I'd be more than happy to answer (PLEASE pleasepleaseplease letmeinfodump i'm going FERAL)!

[skyloftian-nutcase]

What Zelda games have you played?

Games I've played, in the order that I played them:

Breath of the Wild - found this sucker when I was on break in nursing school and tried it out and loved it. My first switch game, and my first modern game in like... idk close to a decade? So it was a really good one to get back into gaming. The graphics have improved quite a bit!

Ocarina of Time - Through BotW I stumbled on to Linked Universe. I knew that there was an entire Zelda franchise, but not much about it. I kind of thought they were all like parallel worlds, like none of them were connected ,just same kind of premise. So when I found LU I got super curious about the other Links! Time intrigued me the most, so I played OoT next. Love this game! Struggled with the controls as it was on the switch, so I think I would've appreciated it more if it was a bit more playable, but I adore the story and Time is one of my favorite Links.

Skyward Sword - My sister got it for me since I was getting into Zelda, so I said sure, why not. Boy do I love this game. My absolute favorite Zelda game ever.

Age of Calamity & Majora's Mask - Somewhere in this period was when I started playing these games, though I haven't finished either. AoC is fun, but I can only tolerate thirty minute battles for so long lol, so I've just been slowly making my way through it for years. I much prefer open world wandering. Which is why I also kind of gave up Majora, love the premise and the game mechanics but I have enough stress in my life, so I don't want a time crunch hanging over me while I try to goof around and figure things out, especially since I have th same struggle as with OoT in trying to figure out the controls on the switch.

Twilight Princess - This game is so fun!! And it's made me appreciate TP Link so much. I want to finish it, just need to set my gamecube back up after the move I had recently. Currently stuck in the giant house in Snowpeak.

Tears of the Kingdom - Played it, loved it, still playing it for funsies <3

[bluesdesk]

Every round, the fear that my least favorite Zelda game will be crowned the favorite sets in. What games are you surprised are still in it, or that have been booted early? I'm looking forward to our winner!

Well! My absolute favorite is Skyward Sword, followed by Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess and A Link Between Worlds (those 3 in no particolar order).

While I think botw and totk are amazing games on their own, they don't fit the Zelda experience mostly for the lack of dungeons and great story, and can't stand against those I mentioned. Moreover, Totk ruined the timeline by adding the Zonai and those sages and Ganondorf, Zelda's story was amazing tho. Anyway I wouldn't be surprised if botw ends in the first 5 because it's liked by a lot of people and it's the first Zelda of many younger fans, it's definitely in my top 10 but not top 5.

Another game I didn't like is Link’s Awakening (I played thedx version on nso), I got bored after 3 dungeons, maybe because I know it's a dream, maybe because there isn't a fast travel option , or because nothing really happens in the story if not for the beginning and the ending. I was surprised it only left during the 7th round!

While I never thought Hyrule Warriors (wiiu/3ds/switch) was so hated, I really like it! Also Spirit Tracks, I thought it would leave a bit later. Tbh I thought TotK would have stayed more too 🤔

I know SkSw is hated by many, but I also know many of those haven't even tried it and just assumed it was bad because of the motion controls that I instead loved so much because I really felt part of the adventure! Also the dungeons are amazing, the story is complex and full of events, the art style is outstanding... And Sksw Zelink is the best, that Zelda is the best. We see her many times, Link interacts a lot with her, she has her own adventure, she's Hylia!

I really hope it ends at least in the top 5, I'm hoping in Linked Universe fans XD

Poll link!

https://strawpoll.com/DwyoD5WzDnA

[gust-jar-simulator]

Y’know what would be fun and fucked up.

Since I’m still full of spite about Dark being a costume gimmick instead of grabbing BOTW!Link by the throat and giving him the perfect identity crisis gut punch, I think I deserve to dial up the angst knob.

I already have an idea for how to write Dark as a satisfying, if still obviously gimmick fight, but I just remembered that the Palace of the Four Sword is a thing.

The Four Sword Sanctuary kind of moves around between games, but it’s meant to be in the center of Hyrule, that center just changes because the map is insane. In Minish Cap, the sanctuary is in a courtyard in the center of Hyrule Castle, behind an invisible door.

In Link To The Past, if I recall right, the Palace of the Four Sword is a secret dungeon in the base of the Pyramid of Power, which is the Dark World’s substitute for Hyrule Castle.

So.

Let’s play a game.

We could put this either in the undercroft of Hyrule Castle in BOTW, or roughly under it in TOTK, since I do like the idea of The Depths being used as that game’s version of the Dark World. Four Swords and Four Swords Alliance seem to depict the ruins of the sanctuary slightly open to the elements, so it might not be perfectly under the castle this far down the timeline- we could even move it somewhere closer to the Minshi Woods. The Palace of the Four Sword, to me, is either one of two things: the corrupted remains of the Four Sword sanctuary, or a separate location constructed specifically by the royal family to imprison all the loose ends. I lean towards the first option.

You want your gimmick gear? You want Majora’s Mask?

Fight the shade of the Hero of Time for it.

You want the Bow of Light?

Fight the shade of Twilight Princess Zelda and her wolf for it.

You want the sailcloth?

You’ll have to rip it out of the cold dead hands of the man who killed a god.

If you’re like me, and you want some Four Swords rep or even just a singular crumb of Vaati, I think having a location like that- a hero’s tomb of some sort under the palace where you do a boss rush to mug them for their stuff- is a fun reference to start with, but apparently in development they tossed around the idea of Minish Cap’s shrinking mechanic. I am pouncing on this idea like a feral wolf because absolutely nothing recontextualizes mob threat assessment like that first boss battle in Deepwood Shrine.

The reason I shouldn’t be put in charge of writing videogames is because I’d make a gimmick dungeon in the Minshi Woods where you get shrunk to Tom Thumb size and then have to fight a keese.

The reason they should hire me anyway is because in a game where weapon durability is a mechanic and yet there are No Blacksmiths, I’d make a questline where you have to visit the fae folk to bring back the secrets of metallurgy, just one sidequest of many to help rebuild what Hyrule has lost in the wake of the Calamity. The Minish are the ones who forged the Picori Blade, after all, you can play a whole game about it.

Also, just to round the whole thing out, while I like the fact that the Master Sword tries to murder you in BOTW I think it would have been cool to fight the shade of you from 100 years ago in the Lost Woods as a trial before you earned the right to wield her. Our lad has too many hangups and issues, make him stab them in the face.

[candy8448]

Had a crazy dream that could actually be a pretty decent story/fanfic:

So there are a bunch of characters from video games or shows and stuff (most i think i might hv made up) and they are all on an island. They are all somewhere different on this massive island and there is a huge mountain that also has some hollowed out bits and tunnels.

So during the dream, some people were in different situations and they basically started to pair up and stuff. The things i remember most are there was a boy who kept on being trased becausd he kept on making bread buns but someone always savotaged it without him knowing so people would always force him to eat the altered bread buns. On this island he is told by two knights who tell him to make bread buns as a joke so he goes into a kitchen inside the mountain to make the buns. Some other character has sypathy and goes in to help him, breaf bun boy also has flashbacks to when a girl who my mind said was Marin from links awakening but looked older and more mature and a bit more like Malon, about her giving him an actually nice bread bun for once. She also sings her song.

Camera then cut to Aurora from sleeping beauty that kinda also looked like Princess Peach who was singing that song too but in kinda shock, as if she unlocked a memory and i think she realised that she was Marin or something? She is near the top on the mountain in a little open cave near the top. Now that i think of it, Aurora was probably based off of botw link in my mind because in this context, they both were put to sleep, slept for 100 years and woke up and both unlocked memories on who they used to be

There is a character who kinda looks like imp Midna from twilight princess and she pairs up with a character who is also tiny, also floats but she like ladders because they make her tall, and she is just pale white, everything is white but she also reminded me of super paper mario chaeacters and also Cia from hyrule warriors in the luttle map story time cut out style from the begining of the game. They pair up eventually but i dont think they were getting along, it was just kinda out of nessesity.

So eventually, i think different groups were starting to find eachother (there were a lot more people, i just couldnt remember)

Then camera cut to Ray fron TPN who is in a slowly flooding tunnel in the mountain. He tried to get out but the tunnel is completely flooded and he is taken by the current. Also there is a fairy who looks like Tael from Majora's mask and she is unafected by the water. She tries to lead Ray out. When they are getting away, Teal is running way ahead while Ray is kinda still stuck in the current. She runs into bread bun boy and guy helping him and warns them to leave the tunnel now. She opens the door to the tunnel (dorr cassually in the side of a mountain like in minecraft) and the tunnel water floods out into the river on the island. We see a guy, i dont remember who he was, but bread bun boy and other helping guy manage to leave the tunnel before the water catches up to them and calmly go down. Midna and other imp also find these three, running up to them while also yelling at eachother. The water then bursts out of the tunnel and Ray in in the middle of the river and rescued. They all start to hear Ray's tragic backstory and apparently the water in that tunnel was acutally some kind of black oil that felt like water but he couldnt rrally see in the tunnel cuz it was dark.

And then i woke up and started noting this down because this is an actually pretty good story. Also im not spell checking this and the spelling is all over the place cuz i litterally just opened my eyes