Release Order Recommended
0 / 21 playedEvery mainline game in the order it was released.
Official Timeline Order
0 / 20 playedNintendo's own chronology, as laid out in Hyrule Historia. Ocarina of Time's ending splits into three parallel branches, so items sharing a branch happen in different possible futures rather than one after another. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom sit after all three branches converge.
Before the split
Branch: Child (hero returns as a child)
Branch: Adult (hero remains an adult)
Branch: Downfall (hero is defeated)
After the branches converge
About The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda does not tell one continuous story the way most watch order guides assume. Most entries stand on their own, and Nintendo has only ever confirmed an official timeline once, in the 2011 art book Hyrule Historia, which splits into three parallel branches after Ocarina of Time depending on how that game's ending is interpreted.
That structure makes the timeline optional reading rather than a requirement. New players usually start with Breath of the Wild, Ocarina of Time or A Link to the Past, and none of those three assume you have played another entry.
Good to know
New to the series? Release order is the easier, and honestly more common, way in: most games barely reference each other, so you can start with a recent entry like Breath of the Wild or a classic like Ocarina of Time without missing context. The timeline order below is for players curious about the lore, not a requirement for enjoying any individual game. A Nintendo Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time is scheduled for November 5, 2026.
