Every Legend of Zelda Game, Ranked

by Fox Van Allen, for Metacritic – March 7, 2017

Updated May 2023 to add Tears of the Kingdom.

The Legend of Zelda, now over 35 years old, is one of Nintendo’s strongest, most popular and longest-running franchises. The latest Zelda title, Breath of the Wild for the new Nintendo Switch console, has drawn rave reviews from critics, with many giving it a perfect score.

Is Breath of the Wild just a great Zelda game … or the greatest Zelda game of all time? To answer that question, we have ranked every Zelda game by Metascore. (Note that some of the older titles are not available on Metacritic, and in those instances we have used scores from our sister site, GameRankings.)

Additional content by Jason Dietz

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Nintendo Switch, 2023

The sequel to 2017's Breath of the Wild is another massively acclaimed entry in the legendary franchise. Critics have praised the game's scale, creativity, and variety of gameplay, though it lacks just a bit of the novelty present in its slightly higher-scoring predecessor—according to some (but not all) reviewers. Still, it's a massive achievement; writes Inverse, "It’s an instant classic — and a testament to the unmatched ingenuity of Nintendo’s game design."

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