10 Most Underrated The Legend Of Zelda Games (2024)

The Legend of Zelda rarely misses when it comes to delivering high-quality games that feel innovative and unique. Each entry often builds its story or gameplay around a specific mechanic, such as time travel or sailing the open seas, to make each title feel distinct.

While most people have heard of or played the biggest games in the series, such as Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild, there are plenty of excellent Legend of Zelda games that don't get brought up as often as they should. If you're looking for more adventures starring Link while you wait for the newest entry, these underrated titles are worth checking out.

10 Link's Crossbow Training

Ready, Aim, Link!

If you've ever wanted an on-rail first-person shooter set in Hyrule, your dream surprisingly came true with this short game that was only available as a bundle with the Wii Zapper accessory. It's only an hour or two long, but Crossbow Training is still a fun ride if you're nostalgic for classic point-and-shoot arcade games.

Set in the world of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Crossbow Training features nine levels with different objectives. Target shooting will test your accuracy when you attempt to hit static and moving targets, while the defender and ranger missions require you to take on hordes of enemies at a time. It might not be as impressive as Tears of the Kingdom, but it's still fun for an hour or two.

9 The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Come Sail Away

Phantom Hourglass serves as a sequel to Wind Waker, one of the most beloved Zelda games ever made. While it features familiar locations, characters, and mechanics, the most polarizing aspect of the game is how much it relies on the DS’ touchscreen for everything from moving Link around to attacking enemies.

The touchscreen mechanics of Phantom Hourglass will either make or break the experience for most people, but if you don't mind using a stylus for the entire adventure, there are plenty of memorable dungeons and a great story waiting for you. It would be great to see a Phantom Hourglass remake for modern consoles, but the original is still a treasure worth seeking.

8 The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap

More Than A Tiny Adventure

The Minish Cap is the sole Zelda game developed exclusively for the Game Boy Advance, excluding the Four Swords add-on to the Link to the Past port, and includes a “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” mechanic that allows Link to change his size to explore the space between blades of grass. Not only is this idea used creatively and consistently throughout the adventure, but the new perspective makes Hyrule almost feel brand new again.

Developed by Capcom, Minish Cap contains a fascinating cast of characters, mind-bending dungeons, and a timeless art style that makes it easy to play even 20 years after it launched. The Minish Cap almost feels like more of a forgotten Zelda game because, unlike games like Phantom Hourglass, it has zero connection to any other title in the series.

7 The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Open Your Eyes To The Truth

Link's Awakening is certainly one of the strangest entries in the series, as it's one of the few games to take place outside Hyrule and doesn't even feature an appearance by Princess Zelda herself. Instead, Link finds himself washed up on the shores of Koholint Island and must solve its many mysteries to find a way back home.

Koholint Island is full of fascinating and memorable characters and even features cameos from other Nintendo characters like Kirby and Chain-Chomp. Inspired by Twin Peaks, the developers wanted to create something strange and Kafkaesque, and Awakening is full of so many surprises and little details that eventually culminate in one of the most emotional endings in the series.

6 Cadence Of Hyrule

Dance Party

If you enjoy the world, music, and characters from The Legend of Zelda, Cadence of Hyrule blends all of these elements together to create a hypnotic rhythm-action game that is full of fun Easter eggs and surprises. Developed by Brace Yourself Games, the team behind Crypt of the Necrodancer, Cadence fuses elements from both that game and the Zelda series to create a unique foot-tapping adventure.

You can choose to start your musical journey as either Link or Zelda and must clear dungeons and face instrumental bosses to reach the end. While Capcom has worked on a handful of Zelda games, it's extremely rare for Nintendo to allow a studio as small as Brace Yourself Games to work with an IP as valuable as Zelda, which means it clearly saw the appeal of the product and believed in it enough to publish the game in most countries.

5 The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Master Quest

A True Challenge

Ocarina of Time is often in the discussion for the best Zelda game ever made, and it earns that spot with its engaging story, fantastic dungeons, and challenging yet rewarding puzzles. During the GameCube era, Nintendo remade Ocarina of Time and included a new mode for anyone looking for a tougher adventure - the Master Quest.

The Ocarina of Time: Master Quest ups the ante by making enemies tougher, mirroring the game map, and dungeons have been redesigned to be more difficult. Sure, the story and basic flow remain the same, but these extra challenges require you to replay the classic title with a completely different mindset. This mode makes Ocarina of Time feel more like Dark Souls in the best ways possible.

4 The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

The Power Of Friendship

Four Swords Adventures is another GameCube-era Zelda game that feels like it's been unfairly forgotten over time. The original Four Swords was a fun multiplayer mode attached to the port of Link to the Past for the Game Boy Advance, but Four Swords Adventures includes a full campaign that you tackle either solo or with a few friends.

At roughly 15 hours long, the campaign in Four Swords Adventures is larger than most would think for a multiplayer-focused journey. When you're not working together with your friends to save Princess Zelda and Hyrule from perpetual darkness, you can also face off against each other in Shadow Battle, a mode that puts the Links against each other in combat, or compete in mini-games together.

3 Hyrule Warriors

Everyone Is Here

Even if you're not a fan of the Dynasty Warriors formula, you should certainly dive into Hyrule Warriors if you have any nostalgia or love for The Legend of Zelda. Not only does it feel great to slaughter hundreds of enemies at a time with gorgeously animated special attacks, but the amount of Easter eggs and references to the series' history is truly incredible.

While Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity acts as a prequel to Breath of the Wild, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition for the Nintendo Switch (which includes all the content from the Wii U and 3DS versions) is just a massive celebration of the Zelda IP in the best ways possible. With the option to play as niche characters like Agitha from Twilight Princess and the hundreds of hours of content to play through, this is a party you won't want to leave anytime soon.

2 Zelda 2: The Adventure Of Link

Link's Hardest Adventure

After the success of the original Legend of Zelda for the NES, Nintendo took the series in a completely different direction with the arrival of The Adventures of Link. While the world map is presented in the traditional top-down perspective, fighting enemies and exploring dungeons switches to a side-scrolling format which can be simultaneously refreshing and frustrating.

If Fromsoftware was developing Soulsbourne games for the NES, that probably would have made something that resembles Zelda 2. Between the tough bosses, vague narrative, and RPG elements like experience points and deciding which stats to level up, this adventure is not for the weak of heart. Still, with the Nintendo Switch’s handy rewind and save state features on NSO, it's never been easier to complete this undervalued gem.

1 The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Ages And Oracle Of Seasons

Creative, Innovative, Timeless

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages might be some of the most ambitious games in the entire series, but the gamble pays off significantly as both games contain exciting journeys that eventually culminate in a true ending once you beat both titles. Launching alongside each other like Pokemon Red and Blue, these two games are both worthy of your time and energy.

Though the aesthetic is similar between Ages and Seasons, the two titles couldn't be more different. Each has its own world to explore, dungeons to conquer, and unique items like the Harp of Ages and Rod of Seasons that have world-altering effects when used correctly. Ages focuses more on puzzles, while Seasons puts more of an emphasis on combat, so you really do have the best of both worlds with these two excellent and underrated Zelda games.