The Legend of Zelda series 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, but multiplayer is an aspect that hasn’t caught on as much as some would expect for a franchise of this caliber.
Legend of Zelda games which have been hugely praised in recent times, such as Tears of the Kingdom, have retained their single-player status. But even so, there are a few games in the history of The Legend of Zelda that have been multiplayer or have added extra multiplayer modes and features.
7 Wind Waker
While Wind Waker is generally considered by fans to be one of the best and most uniquely designed Legend of Zelda games, it isn’t quite as well-remembered or revered for the multiplayer aspects. While other Legend of Zelda games 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 Tuner to 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 Waker is generally played in single-player format but can be done multiplayer to help players gain extra potions and drop more bombs.
6 Four Swords Adventures
The Four Swords games were one of the biggest attempts to gain popularity in the idea of multiplayer Legend of Zelda content. This game followed on from the experience of Four Swords, allowing fans of the Legend of Zelda games to play with up to three friends in a four-player multiplayer campaign that resembled the normal style of other Zelda adventures.
The advantage of the main Four Swords Adventures campaign 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 overall Zelda experiences.
5 Phantom Hourglass
While Phantom Hourglass features 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 from Wind Waker goes on an adventure to save his friend Tetra, similar water and island-based gameplay from Wind Waker is the focus of the campaign.
But in another mode, two players can battle over the Nintendo DS Wireless Link in an arena-style battle. Again, like Wind 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 Hourglass was a well-praised game, but again it was a little lacking on the multiplayer side.
4 Spirit Tracks
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Spirit Tracks was supposed to be a quickly produced sequel to Phantom Hourglass and Wind Waker but ended up having quite 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.
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 other Zelda games.
3 Hyrule Warriors
A strange entry in the Legend of Zelda franchise, Hyrule Warriors isn’t even canon in the Zelda franchise’s history. However, the hack-and-slash game which took inspiration from the Dynasty Warriors franchise is more of a hack-and-slash game that focused more on combat than other aspects known from the other Zelda games.
Hyrule Warriors doesn’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 addition that already garnered one sequel.
2 Four Swords
Four Swords was a multiplayer game centered on similar gameplay as A Link To The Past but 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 of Ocarina 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 Swords did a great job at enabling players the opportunity to play a proper multiplayer campaign in the Legend of Zelda franchise for the first time in history.
1 Tri-Force Heroes
The most recent and most overall successful attempt at creating a Legend of Zelda game with a multiplayer campaign, Tri-Force Heroes allows 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, made Tri-Force Heroes easily the best of the Legend of Zelda multiplayer experiences to date.
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