Key Takeaways
- While the most recent Zelda games might have been easy for you, particularly Echoes Of Wisdom, there’s a good chunk of tough titles in the series.
- We would argue that Twilight Princess is when things start to get more challenging on our list. Especially with Cave of Shadows, the optional dungeon.
- Naturally, you’ll find more difficult Zelda games as you go further back in time, to the first NES titles.
The Legend of Zelda series has had a very long and storied history, with each game boasting its own unique mechanics and narrative beats. The series’ biggest variable, however, is arguably the difficulty level of each entry.
Related
How Long Would It Take You To Complete Every Zelda Game?
It’s a long, long, long legend.
Beginning on the NES, games were often more difficult to cover for the fact that they were fairly short, due to technological limitations. You may have heard the term ‘Nintendo hard’, and it ain’t kidding. As consoles have grown more advanced, and the gaming scene more accessible, the way that difficulty is implemented into games has changed drastically; so which Zelda games stick out for testing you as a true hero?
Updated on October 10, 2024, by Bobby Mills: The Zelda franchise continues to expand, with every new entry casually obliterating boundaries and revolutionizing genres. While this list already covers many of the popular mainline games, in the time since its last update, Nintendo dropped a massive bomb: Echoes of Wisdom, a brand spanking-new 2D adventure, in which you actually play as the titular princess. Amazing it took this long! Enjoy seeing where it slots into the ranking.
A few of the entries in this list detail specific dungeons or boss fights within the Zelda franchise. If you want every one of the (many, many) Ganon encounters to be a surprise, tread with caution!
26 Echoes Of Wisdom
Wake Up Impa, We’re (Not) Going To Gamelon
Astonishingly, it has taken over 30 years for a Zelda game to star Zelda. It may sound obvious in hindsight – but barring a sidekick turn in Spirit Tracks (and a couple of legendary Phillips CDi titles that only the most persnickety of fans would dare to call canon), the powerful princess had yet to assume the spotlight until Echoes of Wisdom rolled around.
Being that Zelda relies on her brains rather than outright brawn, Echoes is one of the simplest titles in the franchise in terms of raw difficulty. Conjuring up a swarm of Peahats, a Lynel, or a Wizzrobe or two will dispatch most foes and bosses with ease, all while you sit back and observe from a safe distance.
Likewise, many puzzles and platforming challenges can be circumvented with canny use of water blocks, trampolines, and Platbooms. Echoes of Wisdom is an absolute hoot, to be sure, but don’t go in expecting a challenge… unless you toggle on the optional Hero Mode, at which point you’ll get your royal rump handed to you.
25 A Link Between Worlds
Breezier Than Its Older Cousin
The sequel to A Link to the Past we never knew we needed feels like a bit of a breeze at times, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The game has some tremendously offbeat dungeons and clever puzzles with the new wall-merging mechanic, but most enemies are on the weaker side.
The game loads you up with plenty of new upgrades and hearts as it goes on, too. This gives you some great freedom to play around but means you’re very rarely mortally challenged. Perfect for long commutes.
24 Minish Cap
A Di-Minished Difficulty Level
Traveling between bite-sized and life-sized worlds makes adventuring with our cute hero (and his chatty hat, years before Cappy stole the limelight) a blast. Minish Cap has a super limited amount of dungeons, and each one only feels a little harder than the last.
While some of the puzzles require a bit of critical thinking, most are a breeze. Minish Cap does have some stellar sidequests, though, and plenty of them to boot. And now it’s easier to access than ever with Nintendo Switch Online.
23 Wind Waker
Softer Visuals, Softer Difficulty
Zelda fans have definitely grown on this beloved classic, and it now stands as one of the most popular games in the series. Criticism often arose around its ‘childish’ art style (which just highlights the insecurity of mid-2000s gamers), and worry surrounding the game’s difficulty wasn’t uncommon.
4:25
Related
I Don’t Even Want Wind Waker On Switch Any More
I can sense the monkey paw curling…
While not a cakewalk by any stretch, the linear combat and more simplistic dungeons might never let you see the game over screen, especially without Wind Waker HD’s Hero Mode. Those sumptuous aesthetics make it all worthwhile.
22 Link’s Crossbow Training
A Glorified Minigame Collection
This fun little side game came bundled with the Wii Zapper, a sort of classic Nintendo gun accessory that works great for FPS games. It seems that the intent was to make a game in which Link runs around shooting things with a crossbow easier/more immersive, but that might have backfired.
While most people wouldn’t call this game difficult by any means, some have been frustrated by the controls. A Zelda game about shooting targets and enemies is an interesting idea, but not one that stuck around. And for good reason: its overly simplistic gameplay, and rampant repetitiveness, might be the cause.
21 Phantom Hourglass
Boating On The Go
Acting as a direct sequel to Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass was released as a DS game in 2007 with the same gorgeous art style. In it, you control a steamboat, the S.S. Linebeck, and plot journeys across the world using the touchscreen.
Despite its laidback difficulty, Phantom Hourglass is home to one of the toughest Heart Pieces to collect in the entire series. The archery minigame demands a perfect score, and with the divide between the top and bottom screens, aiming is tough. If you’re going for 100 percent, bump Phantom Hourglass up one or two spots on this list.
Being a handheld entry, the game is a bit on the easier side, with relatively harmless enemies but decently challenging dungeons. The hardest aspect of the game is likely adjusting to touch-based controls over the more traditional variety.
20 Spirit Tracks
Getting Things Back On… Well, You Know
Where Phantom Hourglass was a sequel to Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks is a sequel to the former. So it’s a Wind Waker… threequel, then. The game plays very similarly to Phantom Hourglass, if not identically given that it’s in the same engine, albeit with a train this time aboard land.
Related
7 Best Characters In The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom
Meet the colourful cast of characters in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.
As such, its difficulty is fairly on par with its predecessor as well. This time around you might at least be more used to the touch controls, but it also adds some new challenges by way of passengers and goods Link needs to transport. When did he become Hyrule’s courier?
19 Hyrule Warriors
Hours And Hours (And Hours) Of Fun
As a solid addition to the Nintendo Warriors subgenre of games, Hyrule Warriors is a thrilling endeavour, but not really all that difficult. There are a few tricky missions in both the Adventure and Challenge modes, but even the majority of those are easy if you know what you’re doing.
The game’s main campaign tells a unique timeline-crossing story for the Zelda series, so it’s worth experiencing, even if you likely won’t have a tough time with it. You can play on the hardest difficulty for a real challenge, but people who are used to these games will have little trouble. The actual tedium comes if you pursue the Adventure Maps, of which there is a gargantuan number and which will propel your playtime into the 300-hour region if you take the plunge.
18 Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity
A Calamitous Sequel, In A Good Way
After opening its series up to more developers, Nintendo has found great success (for the most part; see the CDi games below). The most successful of these have ended up being Warriors games, one of the most acclaimed being Age of Calamity, a prequel to Breath of the Wild. Its canonicity remains the subject of debate.
The difficulty of the game is a bit mixed. For seasoned players of the musou genre, it’ll be a breeze and not too demanding. However, it is precisely nothing like your standard Zelda game, and may take some adjusting to understand if you skipped the OG Hyrule Warriors.
17 Breath Of The Wild
The Game That Defined Its Generation
The Switch’s first Zelda game was ‘wildly’ (ahem) different from any other game we’d seen thus far, and had some interesting levels of challenge. By taking the series in a completely different direction, some of the conventions of the series suffer.
6:28
Related
10 Best Games With Zelda-Like Dungeons
We love good level design, so we love (most of) The Legend of Zelda’s dungeons throughout the franchise. Here are some other IPs that do a great job.
Breath of the Wild’s combat is more varied and complex than any other game, but enemy AI leaves a lot to be desired, meaning once you get decent armour there’s little reason to engage with these mechanics. Foes will mostly just stand in place and accept a spear to the face, ragdolling helplessly with every blow. Being able to replenish your health with a nice home-cooked meal in the middle of combat also takes out some of the stakes of engaging a group of angry Bokoblins.
16 Tears Of The Kingdom
Not So Tough It’ll Draw Tears
Exactly how difficult Tears Of The Kingdom is for your personal playthrough will come down to a variety of things. With a massive world, thousands of things to collect, and a thrilling story to uncover, you might feel overwhelmed right from the start, causing you to beeline for the main missions and ignore the tougher offerings. Many players will roll the credits without ever setting foot in the cavernous Depths, for instance.
Surprisingly, a number of enemies will one-shot you early on, which does add a bit to the overall difficulty. It almost turns TOTK into a stealth title for a brief moment – but it doesn’t last. Once you’ve really dug into the world, the game does become much easier as your arsenal once again balloons beyond any hope of retaliation; but it is safe to say it has a bit of a steeper difficulty curve than Breath Of The Wild, especially with all that building gubbins.
15 Cadence Of Hyrule
Feel The Beat, Link
Many people will have heard of the game Crypt of the Necrodancer. It’s a beloved indie rhythm hit about moving to the beat to defeat your enemies. Meanwhile, Zelda games are hailed for their iconic music; so the two mixed together get you the perfect combo, Cadence of Hyrule.
Cadence of Hyrule is not an easy game, per se. To jump right into it is hard, as you have to pay close attention to everything. Rather helpfully, though, being a big fan of Zelda music will probably make it quite a bit easier to follow along with the music without as much need for the on-screen guides. Who in their right mind could ever forget how Gerudo Valley goes?
14 Twilight Princess
Caught Between Two Halves
The second GameCube title (which also was a half-hearted Wii launch title) boasts a bit more challenge than the first, but our hero is particularly buff this time around, with a plethora of Hidden Skills in his arsenal. Twilight Princess has some fantastic dungeons with some fairly challenging puzzles.
The Wii U remaster of Twilight Princess adds the Cave of Shadows, a hard-as-nails optional dungeon with few checkpoints and an unrelenting onslaught of enemy waves. It singlehandedly boosts the difficulty level, so think carefully about whether to try it out.
The game has a similar predicament with its enemies as Wind Waker, as foes are a bit aloof and are taken out quite easily by our favorite ranch hand and his muscles. Wolf Link’s combat, too, boils down to ‘hold the attack button until the glowy ring is big enough, then release to kill everything.’ Did Sonic do the werewolf brawling better? You decide.
13 Skyward Sword
But Not Skyward Difficulty
Skyward Sword is one of the most divisive games in the entire series, often criticized for its motion controls and overworld. That said, it also finally gave a full chronology to the world and had some of the best dungeons in the series; and its HD Switch remaster addresses almost all its technical shortcomings.
Related
The Legend Of Zelda: 23 Memorable Quotes From The Series
The Legend of Zelda games are timeless (except for the ones that literally deal with time travel), and these quotes share the same quality.
One area that Skyward Sword does particularly well in is its dungeons, where it has some of the most challenging and inventive ones the series has to offer. Enemies are still no match for our Skyward Hero, but they at least have the ability to block and counter to put up a fight. Waggle away, and enjoy fighting the Imprisoned no less than four times!
12 Four Swords Adventures
Madcap Multiplayer Mayhem
Originally released in a bundle with the Game Boy Advance version of A Link To The Past, Four Swords was the Zelda series’ first foray into multiplayer. It was a neat little game and was followed up with the GameCube sequel and successor, Four Swords Adventure.
The game is by all means built for multiplayer, so much of your success would rely on having good teammates; though it’ll be relatively easy with good ones (younger siblings are another story entirely.) Single-player is far tougher, with maps being only slightly adjusted to adapt to just one lone hero, making the difficulty fall squarely on your own ability.
11 Tri Force Heroes
Not To Be Confused With Four Swords
The next dedicated multiplayer Zelda entry came in 2015 for the 3DS, with Tri Force Heroes. Here, each player controls a dedicated Link and helps each other to defeat enemies and complete puzzles. It’s almost entirely reliant on online co-op, so good luck extracting much playtime from it these days with the servers down.
Like Four Swords Adventure before it, much of the difficulty is eased with helpful companions. The single-player, however, is functionally the same as multiplayer, with you having to control all three Links to play, which is a massive jump in terms of required hand-eye co-ordination.
10 Ocarina Of Time
A Timeless, Tough Classic
Despite being the first 3D Zelda game, and an extremely early entry in its genre at that, Ocarina of Time did an astounding job of creating a beloved experience that is still praised to this day. You won’t find many ‘greatest games of all time’ rankings without this bad boy on it somewhere.
The controls are slightly primitive compared to later titles, in particular those for the camera – but Ocarina of Time may have the best balance of difficulty in the series, with a great gradual increase in the dungeon and boss difficulty, culminating in a hair-raising Ganondorf duel. It perfectly mirrors Link’s own coming of age arc.
9 Majora’s Mask
Outer Wilds Before Outer Wilds
Using the same engine as Ocarina of Time, it’s quite understandable for Majora’s Mask to feel similar in terms of difficulty. In fact, its turnaround time was less than a year, so it’s a wonder it innovates as much as it does. There are significantly fewer dungeons this time around, but each one feels like a significantly bigger challenge that can take a while to complete.
The game is also playing out across three looping in-game days, and working around the apocalyptic clock also adds an extra layer of needing to complete your tasks before the world resets. Good thing the 3DS port added a diary and the ability to warp to specific times.
8 Link’s Awakening
And So Is The Difficulty
We’re now at three existing versions of this GameBoy classic, and each one provides a significant challenge and a wonderful new art style to boot. The dungeons are lengthy with complex puzzles, and come on, it’s difficult to beat up Kirby without feeling bad. Yes, that Kirby; did we mention the game’s riddled with Nintendo cameos? Goombas, Chain Chomps, and even Yoshi himself put in appearances.
2D Zeldas are traditionally a bit harder than 3D titles, and Link’s Awakening is a great introduction to the classic Zelda challenge. We particularly recommend the Switch remake, as it’s done in an adorable claymation style that takes the edge off the trickier portions.
7 A Link To The Past
The Title Is Now Very Literal
The third installment in the series (though taking place before the first two chronologically) still remains one of the most universally beloved, as it was a massive step up from the previous titles in terms of gameplay, graphical capabilities, and story. It cemented the mould that would remain unchanged for decades.
Related
10 Rarest Zelda Games And How Much They’re Worth
Maybe just buying the Master Sword replica is actually a better investment based on some of these prices.
Without straying away from the amount of skill needed to traverse a massive world with your own two feet, A Link to the Past is everything fans loved about the original and more – just without the ‘guide dang it’ tier difficulty and a more soothing atmosphere.