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

8 of 20

#12 (tie): The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

DS, 2007

Set months after the events of The Wind Waker, Link finds himself washed ashore on a new island, separated from Tetra. Saving the day requires you to defeat the monster Bellum, hiding deep inside the game’s massive central dungeon, The Temple of the Ocean King.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was Metacritic’s 2007 DS Game of the Year.

Where To Buy