The Legend of Zeldaseries is one of the most famous in gaming history. For decades, the evolution of video games has been tracked through the latest entries in this franchise, butmultiplayeris an aspect that hasn’t caught on as much as some would expect for a franchise of this caliber.
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Legend of Zeldagames which have been hugely praised in recent times, such asTears of the Kingdom, have retained their single-player status. But even so, there are a few games in the history ofThe Legend of Zeldathat have been multiplayer or have added extra multiplayer modes and features.
7Wind Waker
WhileWind Wakeris generally considered by fans to be one of the best and most uniquely designedLegend of Zeldagames, it isn’t quite as well-remembered or revered for the multiplayer aspects. While otherLegend of Zeldagames give a second player the opportunity to play another version of Link, Wind Waker’s second player can join the game and control the Tingle Tunerto help make the game easier.
This could be controlled by a second player through a GameBoy Advance, while the first player played on the GameCube itself. A little-known feature,Wind Wakeris generally played in single-player format but can be done multiplayer to help players gain extra potions and drop more bombs.
6Four Swords Adventures
TheFour Swordsgames were one of thebiggest attempts to gain popularityin the idea of multiplayerLegend of Zeldacontent. This game followed on from the experience ofFour Swords, allowing fans of theLegend of Zeldagames to play with up to three friends in a four-player multiplayer campaign that resembled the normal style of otherZeldaadventures.
The advantage of the mainFour Swords Adventurescampaign was that it could be played in single-player form. But it also had the capability for players to join together and continue on their Game Boy Advance when they went off the main Game Cube screen. A hugely exciting development, this worked well but unfortunately didn’t produce one of the better overallZeldaexperiences.
5Phantom Hourglass
WhilePhantom Hourglassfeatures a main campaign that is completely single-player in nature, there is another way for friends to get involved with each other through the game. While the same Link fromWind Wakergoes on an adventure to save his friend Tetra, similar water and island-based gameplay fromWind Wakeris the focus of the campaign.
But in another mode, two players can battle over theNintendo DS Wireless Linkin an arena-style battle. Again, likeWind Waker, this felt like a minor attempt to give the game a multiplayer flair without working too much on it. One player would control Link and the other would control three Phantom Guardians trying to stop Link from recovering force gems.Phantom Hourglasswas a well-praised game, but again it was a little lacking on the multiplayer side.
4Spirit Tracks
Spirit Trackswas supposed to be a quickly produced sequel toPhantom HourglassandWind Wakerbut ended up havingquite an extended production process. Similar to those games, Link travels in an overworld, this time on a train as opposed to a boat, to adventure around New Hyrule between different towns and dungeons.
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This game again included a battle mode for multiplayer as opposed to multiple players being allowed to get involved in campaign play together. The battle mode used the DS Download Play and could involve up to four players as they all took control of a version of Link and tried to collect as many force gems as possible. This mode was praised for having a lot more fun to it than previous similar additions to otherZeldagames.
3Hyrule Warriors
A strange entry in theLegend of Zeldafranchise,Hyrule Warriorsisn’t even canon in theZeldafranchise’s history. However, the hack-and-slash game which took inspiration from theDynasty Warriorsfranchise is more of a hack-and-slash game that focused more on combat than other aspects known from the otherZeldagames.
Hyrule Warriorsdoesn’t have a traditional multiplayer mode, but with the Wii U Gamepad two players were able to play together in an asymmetrical form. This mode allowed players to join together to battle armies of enemies, which made for a surprisingly fun multiplayer additionthat already garnered one sequel.
2Four Swords
Four Swordswas a multiplayer game centered on similar gameplay asA Link To The Pastbut enabling up to four players to work cooperatively together to make their way through a series of dungeons. The idea of the game was that before the events ofOcarina of Time, Link had to use the “four sword” to create three copies of himself which would help him save Zelda.
The gameplay was fun and for being released originally in 2002,Four Swordsdid a great job at enabling players the opportunity toplay a proper multiplayer campaignin theLegend of Zeldafranchise for the first time in history.
1Tri-Force Heroes
The most recent andmost overall successful attemptat creating aLegend of Zeldagame with a multiplayer campaign,Tri-Force Heroesallows three players to come together to fight enemies in a campaign set in the same universe as the “A Link Between Worlds” version of the leading character.
The campaign is a fairly gentle, humorous adventure that features Link saving a local princess from a fashion curse. The ways in which three players must work together to use items and solve puzzles, as well as sharing a single health meter, madeTri-Force Heroeseasily the best of theLegend of Zeldamultiplayer experiences to date.
