How to buy and play every Legend of Zelda game before Tears of the Kingdom

FANS are excited for the upcoming release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, coming this May.

However, over 20 Zelda games have been released before, and very few have played them all.

If you want to catch up on every Legend of Zelda game, almost all of them are currently available one way or another.

Here’s how to buy and play every Legend of Zelda game before Tears of the Kingdom.

The Legend of Zelda: Nintendo Switch

A number of Zelda games have already been released for Nintendo’s current console, the Nintendo Switch.

These can easily be purchased physically in stores or bought online via the eShop.

Each of these games is the most current release, and you will need to find other methods to play the older games.

These are the games you can buy for Nintendo Switch:

• Breath of the Wild
• Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
• Link’s Awakening *remake
• Skyward Sword HD

The Legend of Zelda: Nintendo Switch Online

If you subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, it further expands the number of Zelda games that you can play on the Switch.

Games from the NES, SNES and the Game Boy are all available to stream directly from your console.

In order to do so, you need to download the app for each console, and play the game through the app.

Here is the full list of Zelda games available from Nintendo Switch Online:

• The Legend of Zelda (NES)
• The Adventure of Link (NES)
• A Link to the Past (SNES)
• Link’s Awakening (Game Boy)
• Oracle of Seasons (Game Boy) *upcoming
• Oracle of Ages (Game Boy) *upcoming

The Legend of Zelda: Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack

If you subscribe to Nintendo’s more expensive package, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, there are more Zelda games you can play.

These are often considered some of the series’ best games and are well worth trying out if you haven’t already.

The Expansion Pack contains games from the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Advance libraries.

Here are the games you can play on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.

• Ocarina of Time (N64)
• Majora’s Mask (N64)
• Minish Cap (GBA)

The Legend of Zelda: WiiU and Nintendo 3DS

The remaining Zelda games that are still available can be purchased via the Nintendo eShop on your Wii U or 3DS.

These stores will close on Monday, March 27, 2023, so you need to ensure you make your purchases before this date.

Once you have purchased them, you can download and play them at a later date.

The Oracle games are also available on Wii U, if you cannot wait for them to come to Switch Online.

Here is the list of Zelda games, only available for the Wii U or 3DS:

• Twilight Princess (Wii U)
• Spirit Tracks (Wii U)
• Phantom Hourglass (Wii U)
• The Wind Waker (Wii U)
• Triforce Heroes (3DS)
• A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

The Legend of Zelda: Unavailable games

There are only a few Legend of Zelda games that cannot be purchased via any of these methods.

Four Swords is unavailable, probably due to the multiplayer nature of the game.

The other games missing are the ones for the Phillips CDi, which are so terrible Nintendo likely wants us to forget they exist.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.