Game entry

The Legend of Zelda

1986 · Action-adventure · NES, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U · Nintendo

GameForever voters place The Legend of Zelda no. 81 in the world ranking, with 1,857 ELO points and 69% of wins across 306 duels settled. Call of Cthulhu is the rival it has faced most: 3 duels, 3 wins and 0 losses. Its best standing outside the world ranking: no. 1 out of 19 (1986).

World rank

no. 81 =

ELO score

1,857

Wins

69%

Duels played

306

Join the debate · 29

About The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda is the first title in the Zelda series, it has marked the history of video games particularly for it's game mechanics and universe. The player controls Link and must make his way through the forests, graveyards, plains and deserts of the Otherworld to find the secret entrances to the eight dungeons and try to restore the broken Triforce. Among the game's mechanics, it was the first time we saw a continuous world that could be freely explored, power-ups that permanently enhanced the main character's abilities and a battery save feature that allowed players to keep their progress instead of having to start over. The gameplay balanced action sequences with discovery, secrets and exploration.

The community says

I keep coming back to this one every couple of years, not out of obligation but because the sense of discovery still works on me even now, and I think that's…

ELO progression

Score moved from 1,500 to 1,857 ELO points over the last 215 days.

Head-to-head

Direct record on the most played match-ups.

against Call of Cthulhu 100% 3 duels played · 463 points ahead
against God of War III 33% 3 duels played · 15 points ahead
against Portal 2 100% 3 duels played · 36 points behind
against The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 67% 3 duels played · 7 points ahead
against Dark Souls III 67% 3 duels played · 30 points ahead

In the same genre

All Action-adventure games →

Keep exploring

Ranking of action-adventure games All-time best Nintendo games Ranking of NES games All-time best Wii games Ranking of Nintendo 3DS games Best games on Wii U Best games of the 1980s Ranking of 1986 games Every The Legend of Zelda game, ranked

Around this spot

The games The Legend of Zelda sits between in the world ranking.

More games from Nintendo

Released in 1986

The standing

Where The Legend of Zelda ranks

The world rank mixes every family of games. Here is where The Legend of Zelda stands in each of the ones it belongs to. Its best standing, all families considered: 1 out of 19 (1986).

Where The Legend of Zelda ranks
Ranking	Position	Games competing
World ranking	81	5,110
Action-adventure	15	332
1980s	2	154
1986	1	19

The community

The debate

29 comments

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NovaOwl

I keep coming back to this one every couple of years, not out of obligation but because the sense of discovery still works on me even now, and I think that's rare enough to count for something, especially when you put it next to something like Red Dead Redemption where everything is mapped out for you from the start.
UlicesByte

Even back then I remember thinking the maze forest and the silence made it feel more mysterious than fun, if that makes sense. I was maybe eight, at a cousin's place, and I still think it gets ranked higher out of memory more than anything else.
roob_joe

Compared to Dark Souls III it feels ancient in every way, but the exploration loop it invented is still the blueprint everyone copies.

FrameKid2

Entiendo lo del molde, aunque más que blueprint yo diría que es el punto de partida. ¿Vos lo jugarías hoy sin guía?
ComboLegend

Bon, comparer ça à God of War III c'est comme comparer un vélo et une fusée, les deux t'emmènent quelque part mais pas à la même vitesse.
Aaron_85

Me parece que está un poco alto en el ranking (aunque quizás sea porque no lo viví en su momento).

Moral2003

Yo también anotaba todo en cuadernos, como tantos en esa época. Comparado con lo de ahora parece de otro planeta, y sin embargo ahí sigue.

ArcadeKnight

Yo lo jugué poco, o más bien a ratos, y algo tiene igual.

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