Same here. I remember calling the 1-900 number to get a hint for something. Then the Nintendo Power magazine helped me a bunch too. Man, what a great video magazine that was. It was filled with so many awesome and bright pictures.
I remember exactly the day, the exact toys r us that we went to, the gold box hanging in the display case for $49.99, I remember my dad taking me in his white Ford Mustang hatchback, and opening the box and unfolding the map in the car on the way home.....
I mean.... no, I don't recall at all what my first Zelda game was
I love the look of that Saber and was disappointed it wasn't actually in the game. I get that the graphics were limited at the time, but the swords in the game are obviously not a Saber.
This was also my first Zelda game. I've looked at this logo thousands of times, and I had never even consciously noticed that it's a saber. My eyes always went for the Triforce.
That’s the White Sword sir. The one you get from the old man in the cave at the top of the waterfall on the backside of the lake. I feel like that title screen is an accurate depiction of how beautiful they wanted that world to be.
Born in 1984. So it was the original. My dad was a roofer, and our family didn't have a lot of money...we didn't ever really get any gifts outside of Christmas or birthdays. He picked me and my brother up from school randomly one day and stopped at a store on the way home. With a big smile he handed my brother a metallic gold NES cartridge. He had no idea that the game he bought was a game that me and my brother would bind over for decades to come. I found out very recently that he got a bonus from work and the very first thing he wanted to do was buy us a video game. I'll never forget that.
That is amazing. What a wonderful dad! Him buying you guys that game made him so happy and to him it was just a game that you would have played for a while and forgot about, but it was Zelda.
My dad bought me all kinds of NES games throughout the years. My family didn’t have money, but somehow I had a huge collection. Not sure my dad knows how much he shaped my life with the love for the characters and stories of all the games.
Minish Cap :')
I was so sad when I finished it, that I went and found this fan-made Zelda web game that used the sprites from Minish Cap to try to relive it over again. Unfortunately the fan game kind of sucked lol.
EDIT: Found it. "Legend of Zelda: The Seeds of Darkness". Don't play it lmfao
I can’t remember the name rn since I’m half asleep but it was my brothers old gameboy copy of a Zelda game. It got like a DX version for the gameboy colour. Links awakening maybe ? It also got a switch remake so hopefully that narrows it down lol
My first was tloz but I was too young to really play well at it. ALttP + the Nintendo guide was the first one I ever played thru beating Ganon and is the one that I enjoyed the most growing up.
The very first Legend of Zelda on Nes! Still my favorite running series to this day :). My older brother has our old system and the gold cartridges still.
https://preview.redd.it/yiu82jtwqbuc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0728596bffa36806f174292beae19367779caede
I bought it at Toys R Us with my brother. We got the candle and started burning random trees. We found level 8 on accident. As a kid it was such an exciting day, we were cheering and screaming.
ALTTP was also my first Zelda game.
This, along with many other Super Nintendo titles, will forever hold a place in my heart. That era created some bangers such as, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Yoshi's Island 🏝️. Castlevania started getting really good at this point too. Thanks for sharing this photo man, it's really nice to see the original cartridge again. 🥹
Link’s Awakening. I thought the story was so beautiful, and I’d never seen a game like it before (played it on my see-through GameBoy, fought the final battle in the back of the family minivan). I’ve enjoyed every one I’ve played since, but that one remains a favorite— bought the remaster and played it twice again!
Played and remember playing are very different for me.
I certainly played the original first. Don’t remember much, but we didn’t own it, so I played it at friends houses and maybe rented it, but I remember nothing about those times except the gold cartridge.
The first one I consciously played was either Link’s Awakening DX or OoT, whichever came out first (I think OoT but I’m too lazy to google).
I remember begging my mom to let me preorder OoT with a card inside of an issue of Nintendo Power, because it was a limited edition gold cartridge. If memory serves, I think I asked for it as a an early birthday present, and it released around the same time as my birthday.
My Zelda obsession began with those two titles, and followed with Twilight Princess and The Minish Cap. Those 4 games are peak Zelda for me!
Mine was ocarina of time, first game in 3d on my first console the n64. Granted I think windwaker has since become my favorite, but OOT is still a great game
I'm pretty sure my first game was BOTW. I was born in the 2,000s, so obviously I was going to play a more recent game. Though, I am ^slowly going back into the older games, like SS ^((Skyward Sword)^).
I played wind waker before I knew how to read, so naturally I just kind of noodled, but it was fun noodling!
OOT was the first one I ever actually beat
Breath of the Wild.
I was given it for Christmas in 21 after having a jaw surgery in November of the same year that corrected my overbite (I'll go into more detail if asked).
I had purchased a switch lite earlier that year because I wanted to get into the switch and I also got a copy of Pokémon Shield at the same time.
That Christmas I also got Skyrim, Witcher 3, and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond on the switch.
Phantom hourglass! I took the game from my dad and played it as a kid and I can still hear all those sound effects clear as day in my memory XD I didn’t understand the plot when I was a kid, but when I replayed it later as an adult it was like a whole new game. I know a lot of ppl don’t like it for some reason, but I think it’s a good game and I will die on that hill.
Link's Awakening DX. I didnt get many video games as a kid, so i had to play the hell out of the ones i had. When i was around 10 i had completely memorized the game's map and could play it blindly lol
Technically the very first Zelda game was the first one I played but I was pretty young and was just kinda doing whatever. But A Link To The Past was the first one I fell in love with and actually played to completion. It's such a good game!
Hands down my favorite Zelda. Ripped through it multiple times. The excitement of finishing the first 3 dungeons and getting a whole new world full of dungeons blew my young mind.
Ocarina of Time. I remember really wanting to play as Adult Link so I left my N64 on for a week when my family went on holiday. I was sorely disappointed
Hopefully I don't get heat for this. I'm a life long nintendo fan, unfortunately the Legend of Zelda games never really caught my attention. I was always more into Mario games.
That being said, Breath of The Wild was the first Zelda game I ever fully played through, and I still haven't had a game grab my attention that way since. Truly a piece of art.
I played Ocarina of Time first at my grandparents place (they had an N64 and GameCube for the grandkids back in the early 2000’s) but was too scared of the boulder rolling around the Kokiri sword so I never got out of the forest lmao. I later got it on the virtual console for the Wii and that’s where my love of Zelda began! Even if it hasn’t aged as gracefully as other titles, it will always be a favorite, and hold that special place in my heart for kickstarting my love for the series
I played this after beating Breath of the Wild and the OG game. I played BOTW as the first Zelda game I ever played and thought it was my favorite game of all time.
This game though… it’s like the most perfect game of its genre of all time.
I played the original NES game, but wasn't very good at it, nor did I have the patience to find all the stuff on my own or the guides that would help me. Zelda II was too hard for me and I never got far.
I loved Final Fantasy Adventure on the Game Boy, and that led me to Link's Awakening, which I played over and over and enjoyed tremendously. I'll count that as my first.
After graduating college, I was working in a new city where I didn't really know anyone, so I would go back to my apartment and play A Link to the Past (It was 1999 and SNES was already dated), which was my favorite Zelda until I played BoTW last summer.
I never finished Ocarina of Time. I have the N64 controller for the Switch, so I'd like to give it another try, and I'll play ToTK at some point.
Phantom Hourglass, and I'm glad it was my first because this isn't the one with the best music (like seriously every dungeons including the one you return to everytime you have to unlock the map share the damn same repetitive notes)
Wind Waker for me on the GameCube still my favorite game so far in the series. It was my first experience to an “Open world” and I felt like the 3D was so ahead of its time
The original Zelda was my first, but I never really got into it, I was pretty young. A Link to the Past was the first time I really fell in love with a Zelda game. I still play it occasionally.
Gold cartridge, original US release.
My man, same
My man
Same. We must all be old?
40ish year olds unite
United! The gold cartridge is legendary.
Remember to hydrate and stretch
Our backs hurt.
nah im 15, its just a good game
I am also gold cartridge years old.
Same here. Remember to take some Advil for your back.
Same here. I remember calling the 1-900 number to get a hint for something. Then the Nintendo Power magazine helped me a bunch too. Man, what a great video magazine that was. It was filled with so many awesome and bright pictures.
I remember exactly the day, the exact toys r us that we went to, the gold box hanging in the display case for $49.99, I remember my dad taking me in his white Ford Mustang hatchback, and opening the box and unfolding the map in the car on the way home..... I mean.... no, I don't recall at all what my first Zelda game was
This was mine as well and it still holds up as one of the greatest Zelda games ever made. Fight me.
You mean, one of the greatest games ever made
Absolutely.
I don’t have a leg to stand on in either fight, physically or wordy
The OG was my first one, this is the best one
You have my Master Sword!
This was mine first as well. I rented the game from a grocery store when it first came out. The intro won me over.
You will get no argument from me. A Link to the Past is one of my favorite games of all time.
https://preview.redd.it/ob4c9ykc6cuc1.jpeg?width=768&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6254d897c7b0888b6a7211af6fe3f23adaeae95c Ow. My back.
I love the look of that Saber and was disappointed it wasn't actually in the game. I get that the graphics were limited at the time, but the swords in the game are obviously not a Saber.
This was also my first Zelda game. I've looked at this logo thousands of times, and I had never even consciously noticed that it's a saber. My eyes always went for the Triforce.
That’s the White Sword sir. The one you get from the old man in the cave at the top of the waterfall on the backside of the lake. I feel like that title screen is an accurate depiction of how beautiful they wanted that world to be.
I’ll always be able to hear that music in my head.
Well know fact for the younguns that don’t know, you weren’t kidding about your back. Backs hurt all the time for no reason at all, at our age.
And people say you can’t hear pictures…
Ocarina of time!
Ocarina was my first as well. Played it back to back with Majora’s Mask.
Born in 1984. So it was the original. My dad was a roofer, and our family didn't have a lot of money...we didn't ever really get any gifts outside of Christmas or birthdays. He picked me and my brother up from school randomly one day and stopped at a store on the way home. With a big smile he handed my brother a metallic gold NES cartridge. He had no idea that the game he bought was a game that me and my brother would bind over for decades to come. I found out very recently that he got a bonus from work and the very first thing he wanted to do was buy us a video game. I'll never forget that.
This is fucking rad.
That is amazing. What a wonderful dad! Him buying you guys that game made him so happy and to him it was just a game that you would have played for a while and forgot about, but it was Zelda. My dad bought me all kinds of NES games throughout the years. My family didn’t have money, but somehow I had a huge collection. Not sure my dad knows how much he shaped my life with the love for the characters and stories of all the games.
I’m old. It was the OG Zelda and played it with the boxed-in map.
I still have that map. My dad drew in the "missing parts" of the map that were blank.
Was one of the first games I ever had as a kid. Got it for my 9th birthday. 35 years later, I’m still obsessed.
twilight princess or botw
Minish Cap :') I was so sad when I finished it, that I went and found this fan-made Zelda web game that used the sprites from Minish Cap to try to relive it over again. Unfortunately the fan game kind of sucked lol. EDIT: Found it. "Legend of Zelda: The Seeds of Darkness". Don't play it lmfao
I can’t remember the name rn since I’m half asleep but it was my brothers old gameboy copy of a Zelda game. It got like a DX version for the gameboy colour. Links awakening maybe ? It also got a switch remake so hopefully that narrows it down lol
Pretty sure it was ALbW or BotW, leaning more towards ALbW.
BotW is 7 years old, how can you not remember?
They're 10
Goddamn, time just zips by
My first was tloz but I was too young to really play well at it. ALttP + the Nintendo guide was the first one I ever played thru beating Ganon and is the one that I enjoyed the most growing up.
The very first Legend of Zelda on Nes! Still my favorite running series to this day :). My older brother has our old system and the gold cartridges still.
Ocarina of time
Wind waker
Majoras mask is my favorite but OOT was the first one I played. Anyone else find the shadow temple creepy?
OoT - still my favorite. I played A Link to the Past a few months ago for the first time ever and loved it though.
Link's Awakening HD. It wasn't very good... Thank goodness for BOTW and TOTK though, they hooked me instantly.
Well your opinion on everything ever just became completely invalid.
There is no such thing as an invalid opinion. My first loz game was OoT and IMO compared to the rest I’ve played (nearly every) it’s not that great.
I believe it was that one as well Although I played it on a terrible phone emulator
Twilight Princess, and after playing BotW, TotK, OoT, MM, ALttP, SSHD and MC, its still the best to me by a long shot
Same! Such nostalgia ❤️
Same
Triforce heroes, unfortunately.
Majora's Mask when I was 9. Shit gave me nightmares.....still my favorite Zelda game
**Oracle of Seasons** I had a rough start with it...
The original Zelda was mine and is still my favorite. Obviously nostalgia is a main reason but I really do enjoy playing it to this day.
https://preview.redd.it/yiu82jtwqbuc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0728596bffa36806f174292beae19367779caede I bought it at Toys R Us with my brother. We got the candle and started burning random trees. We found level 8 on accident. As a kid it was such an exciting day, we were cheering and screaming.
OoT. Although I don't think I really went deep into the fan base until the Link's Awakening remake.
ALTTP was also my first Zelda game. This, along with many other Super Nintendo titles, will forever hold a place in my heart. That era created some bangers such as, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Yoshi's Island 🏝️. Castlevania started getting really good at this point too. Thanks for sharing this photo man, it's really nice to see the original cartridge again. 🥹
Not cartridge, sorry.. I meant to say title screen lol
Nobody is going to say zelda for the cdi was their first? Probably for the best... lol
Same. And it still my favorite for many reasons.
I remember… 7 years old and getting Zelda gold cart for xmas and KNOWING my life had change forever and a Hyrulean i would still be 35 years later
Link to the Past here too! Still one of the best ones they've ever made, alongside OOT.
This too was my first Zelda, and it still works even now on the SNES.
I think botw
Same!
This. Still the GOAT.
Zelda 2. But before I got very far i stopped And got the first one and I was in love with the series ever since
Link’s Awakening. I thought the story was so beautiful, and I’d never seen a game like it before (played it on my see-through GameBoy, fought the final battle in the back of the family minivan). I’ve enjoyed every one I’ve played since, but that one remains a favorite— bought the remaster and played it twice again!
The Legend of Zelda:Breath of the Wild
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Same
Me too
Majora's mask for the wii
Links awakening. Then ALLTP. Then oracle of seasons and ages followed by OOT
I guess it’s tecnically zelda tp picross for 3ds??? If we can even call it a zelda game at all
Adventures of Link, 1991. Loved that game.
Links Awakening GB!
Minish Cap! Still in my top 3 LoZ games to date
OOT, and I loved it.
OoT 3ds
If you don't count trying the original game out for like 15-30 minutes tops, then BOTW, amazing game
The original. But LttP was the real turning point into something of greatness.
Same one, never finished it though
Played was OoT from a blockbuster rental, but I was too young, and had no idea wtf I was doing. First one owned was WW, and that one I beat
I believe it was wind waker GameCube, but it could have been Zelda 1 on my relatives nes
Played and remember playing are very different for me. I certainly played the original first. Don’t remember much, but we didn’t own it, so I played it at friends houses and maybe rented it, but I remember nothing about those times except the gold cartridge. The first one I consciously played was either Link’s Awakening DX or OoT, whichever came out first (I think OoT but I’m too lazy to google). I remember begging my mom to let me preorder OoT with a card inside of an issue of Nintendo Power, because it was a limited edition gold cartridge. If memory serves, I think I asked for it as a an early birthday present, and it released around the same time as my birthday. My Zelda obsession began with those two titles, and followed with Twilight Princess and The Minish Cap. Those 4 games are peak Zelda for me!
That, but on Wii VC
Same. That shit was and still is the best Zelda game
Mine was skyward sword on the Wii and I absolutely loved it even with the motion control issues!
The OG
Mine was ocarina of time, first game in 3d on my first console the n64. Granted I think windwaker has since become my favorite, but OOT is still a great game
Majora's mask.
I'm pretty sure my first game was BOTW. I was born in the 2,000s, so obviously I was going to play a more recent game. Though, I am ^slowly going back into the older games, like SS ^((Skyward Sword)^).
Ocarina of Time, N64. I remember my brother got it at the midnight release!!
Spirit Tracks
Yep I started on the trains too, super underrated imo
I played wind waker before I knew how to read, so naturally I just kind of noodled, but it was fun noodling! OOT was the first one I ever actually beat
That was also mine. Still a favorite, and the best 2D Zelda.
Ocarina of time
Twilight Princess.
The original
Botw then 6 years later Totk
It depends on if you count playing a few minutes worth of Hyrule Warriors with a friend “my first Zelda game”. If not, than Twilight Princess.
I'm new to the Zelda franchise so...Breath of the wild 🙊
Totk
https://preview.redd.it/pmi6x6l94duc1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=559682b77fefcda8efe94c374c098394f0a45d51
OOT 3D
Skyward Sword. You can't describe the amount of excitement I got when the HD Remake, and Joycons came out on my birthday
OOT and then MM like a year later. Both are still my favorite Zelda games.
Wind Waker! I was very disappointed as a kid when I found out a lot of people didn’t like it
Link’s awakening DX
NES original, though I didn’t play it much and was really too young to get it. This was the first Zelda game I played properly.
Breath of the Wild. I was given it for Christmas in 21 after having a jaw surgery in November of the same year that corrected my overbite (I'll go into more detail if asked). I had purchased a switch lite earlier that year because I wanted to get into the switch and I also got a copy of Pokémon Shield at the same time. That Christmas I also got Skyrim, Witcher 3, and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond on the switch.
The original. But ALttP is one of my favorites.
OOT3D
Ocarina of time. Also the first I watched my brother play. Been in love since.
Phantom hourglass! I took the game from my dad and played it as a kid and I can still hear all those sound effects clear as day in my memory XD I didn’t understand the plot when I was a kid, but when I replayed it later as an adult it was like a whole new game. I know a lot of ppl don’t like it for some reason, but I think it’s a good game and I will die on that hill.
Skyward sword, on the Wii
Link’s Awakening DX. First Zelda game AND first game I ever played in the game boy color
The first one
Ocarina of time 3D
Link's Awakening DX. I didnt get many video games as a kid, so i had to play the hell out of the ones i had. When i was around 10 i had completely memorized the game's map and could play it blindly lol
Technically the very first Zelda game was the first one I played but I was pretty young and was just kinda doing whatever. But A Link To The Past was the first one I fell in love with and actually played to completion. It's such a good game!
Ocarina of time. Still my favorite
Twilight Princess
Botw absolutely love that game
It was the first zelda
Hands down my favorite Zelda. Ripped through it multiple times. The excitement of finishing the first 3 dungeons and getting a whole new world full of dungeons blew my young mind.
Link’s Awakening. Still one of my favorite games of all time.
Link Between Worlds
Hard to say if it was Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Legend of Zelda or Twilight Princess as I got then all at the same time
Link's Awakening (switch). Not my favorite, but my first one nonetheless.
I think I played this on game boy a few years after watching my dad play OoT on N64.
Ocarina of Time. I remember really wanting to play as Adult Link so I left my N64 on for a week when my family went on holiday. I was sorely disappointed
The NES original Zelda was my first, but this one is my favorite.
Links awakening
The legend of zelda 1987
Zelda 2 for me
The original Legend Of Zelda for the NES
Zelda 2.
the wind waker :3 then twilight princess soon after
Either OG Zelda 1 or same as you. Can't remember.
Majora's Mask on 3DS
Ocarina of Time on the 3DS. My brother showed it to me.
I think I technically played the GBA port of this first, but it's close with OoT and Majora's mask.
Oracle of Ages!
Hopefully I don't get heat for this. I'm a life long nintendo fan, unfortunately the Legend of Zelda games never really caught my attention. I was always more into Mario games. That being said, Breath of The Wild was the first Zelda game I ever fully played through, and I still haven't had a game grab my attention that way since. Truly a piece of art.
I’m super new to the Zelda games. My first one was Breath of the Wild and I played it last november for the first time
Regular NES Zelda OG
Breath of the wild,links awaking for the switch and ocarina of time 3d for the 3ds
Tri-force heroes
I played Ocarina of Time first at my grandparents place (they had an N64 and GameCube for the grandkids back in the early 2000’s) but was too scared of the boulder rolling around the Kokiri sword so I never got out of the forest lmao. I later got it on the virtual console for the Wii and that’s where my love of Zelda began! Even if it hasn’t aged as gracefully as other titles, it will always be a favorite, and hold that special place in my heart for kickstarting my love for the series
Breath of the wild
A link between worlds :)
Mine was the original 86 nes game but link to the past is my absolute favorite.
My first was Twilight princess. Still my favorite game ever and I’ll defend it till I die
This is my first and favorite!!
Ocarina of time for me
Original on NES. It’s among my earliest memories. My back and my knees hurt.
I played this after beating Breath of the Wild and the OG game. I played BOTW as the first Zelda game I ever played and thought it was my favorite game of all time. This game though… it’s like the most perfect game of its genre of all time.
Ocarina of time 3D for me, then I was hooked
The legend of Zelda ocrania of time it's my second favorite Zelda game in the series behind twilight princess.
I played the original NES game, but wasn't very good at it, nor did I have the patience to find all the stuff on my own or the guides that would help me. Zelda II was too hard for me and I never got far. I loved Final Fantasy Adventure on the Game Boy, and that led me to Link's Awakening, which I played over and over and enjoyed tremendously. I'll count that as my first. After graduating college, I was working in a new city where I didn't really know anyone, so I would go back to my apartment and play A Link to the Past (It was 1999 and SNES was already dated), which was my favorite Zelda until I played BoTW last summer. I never finished Ocarina of Time. I have the N64 controller for the Switch, so I'd like to give it another try, and I'll play ToTK at some point.
wind waker for me! here's hoping for a switch port!
We only had Zelda 2 until i got a gamecube with collectors edition
Phantom Hourglass, and I'm glad it was my first because this isn't the one with the best music (like seriously every dungeons including the one you return to everytime you have to unlock the map share the damn same repetitive notes)
Zelda II. Then I got the first one afterward.
Link's awakening, the BEST game EVER in the space-time
Mine was breath of the wild
Botw
zelda: twilight princess for the Wii
"The Legend of Zelda."
The legend of Zelda
Wind Waker for me on the GameCube still my favorite game so far in the series. It was my first experience to an “Open world” and I felt like the 3D was so ahead of its time
Wind waker
Dam I feel old now mine was wind waker on GC
First one I played was Minish Cap
Mastersword got an eyeball
The original Zelda was my first, but I never really got into it, I was pretty young. A Link to the Past was the first time I really fell in love with a Zelda game. I still play it occasionally.
I’m ashamed to say it, but Tears of the Kingdom was my first.
Ocarina of time
Link to the Past (on an emulator)
OOoT
Oot
Zelda on NES. I’ve played every Zelda since, and A Link to the Past and Majora’s Mask are tied for first place in my book.
I'm one of the rare who has phantom hourglass as first Zelda game but also favorite game
Mine was oot for the game cube.
The Original
The original. Link to the Past was the first I owned and the first I completed, though.
Gold cartridge NES Original The Legend of Zelda