What to Read if You Grew Up Playing “The Legend of Zelda”

For nearly four decades, the video game franchise has emphasized exploration and the joy of discovery. Millions of fans hope that the newest entry, Tears of the Kingdom, will push the boundaries of what an open-world game can be.

Where does Tears of the Kingdom fit in the convoluted plot?

From NES to Switch, our picks for the best legends in the 35-year-old iconic adventure saga.

Developed as the opposite of Super Mario Bros., which led you on a linear path from left to right, the original Zelda gave NES owners an open world they could explore at will from the very beginning, offering a level of freedom rarely seen prior to 1986.

Even if you spent hours with the iconic gold cartridge loaded into your NES, you can probably still learn a few things about Link’s epic adventure.

As far as the history books are concerned.

If you’ve ever sat there angrily stabbing the A button while trying to skip the obligatory tutorial section of a modern Zelda game, spare a thought for those who didn’t have the luxury of such mentoring back in the day.

Three decades after its release, it's easier than ever to appreciate the many ways A Link to the Past offers the quintessential Zelda experience.

Link’s Awakening was the fourth entry in the game’s lineup and would go on to change future games going forward.

Thanks to the power of aggregators like Metacritic to calculate consensus, the revolutionary 3D adventure is remembered as a benchmark achievement that will likely never be replicated.

Existential, human, experimental. There’s not been another Zelda game quite like it.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was ahead of its time. But like all such things, it took us a while to realize that.

The franchise’s evolving complexity, its young protagonists, and its accessibility make it a particularly apt reflection of entering adulthood.

When winter made its second pandemic appearance here in Montana, I found myself pining to relive my first experience with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Looking back at the Symphony of the Goddesses tour, which helped usher in a new era of respect for video game music.

The Zelda TV adaptation that took inspiration from Moonlighting and a 16-year-old girl’s D&D games