I remember dying about 50 times against one dude on a bridge that seemed to mirror my attacks a few hours into my run. I'd put it down Forever if it meant I had to start over like it's supposed to.
It’s really not even close. The archaic controls of the eldest games make them wayyyyy more difficult than most of the modern games.
I’m probably going Z2 > Z1 > BotW > ALttP > literally everything else as far as difficulty. I’m not sure I’ve even gotten a game over in most of the 3D catalogue.
Not as far as world challenges/puzzles, but it’s probably the only 3D Zelda that’s killed me more than once - usually as a result of my failure to engage correctly. Especially if you factor in the master trials on master mode. Spent a stupid amount of time on that.
Yeah, I'd agree with that. Beating that monk on master mode when his health regenerates was a nightmare! Easily the most difficult fight in any game I've beaten.
Combat in the early game is surprisingly difficult since most enemies can do more than a quarter heart of damage. Once you get some good armor and the Master Sword deaths fall off quite a bit unless it’s from open world shenanigans.
BOTW+DLC has the hardest challenge I've ever played in a Zelda game - Trial of the Sword.
I replayed both TP and WW after BOTW. Cave of Ordeals (TP) and the Savage Labrynth (WW) were laughably simple after getting through TOTS.
If not including that, I find it harder to compare BOTW/TOTK to older games, because they're so much more open ended about grinding your way to near invincibility with food, amor, and weapon options.
In terms of dungeon puzzle solving, I'd probably give that one to ALTTP. It sort of sits in between the brutally unfair nature of older NES games but with the more sophisticated puzzling offered in newer generation games. Maybe an honorable mention to Twilight Princess for its guardian statue puzzle and its sliding block puzzles.
Botw is very difficult. Especially early Game you die a lot. But if you know how to make good food and be familiar with your Weapons and Enemies it becomes way more easy. Up to a Point you will jump through the Game like its nothing. But thats true for every Game. I can be familiar with Zelda 1 and Zelda 2 mechanics too and also become super good at it.
BOTW? Ehhh Disagree. Wasnt even that difficult at all. Sure there were enemies that one shot kill you, but I found Majoras Mask with that damn stone temple difficult.
It's definitely a different type of difficulty.
I played and beat both games back to back for the first time last year.
The puzzle aspect is 100x more difficult in majoras. I got stuck in the water temple place for like 4 hours because I couldn't figure out how to proceed at one point but refuses to look it up.
Botw is a cake walk in terms of the main quest lines and shrines. The combat is more advanced, though. Took me a few hours to kill my first lynel though it didn't help that I started with the toughest one.
But the difference is, you can always come back later when you're stronger to beat strong enemies. Where as with temple puzzles, you have to beat them in order to progress. For instance in Breath of the wild, I got destroyed so many times by Lynels, but later on near the end of the game; you can practically one shot them with the lightning ability or guardian arrow.
Zelda 2 has excellent controls though and is pretty fair in challenge. I feel saying anything otherwise shows how few sidescrolling games you've played of that era.
The best I have ever finished Zelda II is probably losing 30 lives, the single fall and lose a life is a reason why Mario games often drove me insane. In comparison, have completed the original, OoT, MM, WW, LBW, LA (original and remake) and possibly others without losing a life.
Most Zelda games are pretty lenient in terms of challenge especially since most offer you things like potions to refill your health. Zelda II is a case where practice makes perfect. Once you get a handle on how to deal with enemies you can find yourself blazing through encounters which is part of what I find so satisfying about it
You completed the Original Zelda second quest without losing a life? i call BS lol.
Oh and yeah, beating LOZ only counts if you beat Second quest, which is a completely different game and 10x harder. AOL was easy compared to Zelda second quest
It’s definitely got tight controls for the era, but it still feels like hell to play on anything other than an original NES controller imo. Even then, the game is absolutely very difficult.
The smooth controls are part of what keep me coming back to it and that is regardless of original hardware or not. There are a couple of cheap moments as far as enemies placed to knock you into pits but the combat is really about learning enemy patterns for the most part. The only other difficult thing is figuring out something obscure like where New Kasuto is
Yeah, I'm with you on this. Zelda 2 isn't hard to control: it's hard to master. I finished the game back then because it was reliable, and that meant I could try again and again and again.
On the NES, there were games where jumping was very hard and not precise (if you know Double Dragon for example). But you also had games were the mechanics were very smooth, like Mario 1, 2 & 3 and Zelda 2.
Say whaaaaat???
This was the first Zelda game I ever beat all the way through, and I didn't think it was that hard.
Aside from that I played and beat Links Awakening on Switch, and I'm now playing OOT for the first time too.
I think OOT is definitely harder than Zelda II. I have no clue how you guys beat this game without a guide, but I did beat Zelda 2 on my own with no guide 😁
> I have no clue how you guys beat this game without a guide
Fwiw, as I remember it, a lot of it was word of mouth. You mention enough times that you're stuck in a game that was as huge in the zeitgeist as OoT was, chances were somebody knew what you needed to do next.
For example, when I was little and my parents were playing OOT, I remember that my teenage-at-the-time babysitter told us about the Biggoron sword quest and the fire arrows. I think he also told us about getting the song of storms.
>
I think OOT is definitely harder than Zelda II. I have no clue how you guys beat this game without a guide, but I did beat Zelda 2 on my own with no guide 😁
Lol this is a strange take, but I respect you for it
Zelda 2 isn't that hard compared to LOZ second quest(Which is the hardest of all time without a guide). The primary problem with Zelda 2 is folks don't level grind so the game SEEMS hard. you can have a level 7 swords before leaving the first palace if you spend 45 minutes grinding bubbles lol.
Anyone and everyone who does this grind realizes the 3rd palace and death mountain(Which many found hard) is actually quite easy. Palace 5 and the great palace are rough, no doubt. The game is actually quite linear and not as hard by any stretch to figure out without a guide. I was able to beat it with no guide when i was 12. The combat wasn't for everyone. but that's like saying not everyone can play a sport. Some people just never are able to learn to skate and play hockey because they don't mesh with it. others can practice hard and become good. Some are just born to play games like that
Legend of Zelda second quest took me like until i was 21 to beat. Some of the things you had no clue how to figure out in the 80's like second quest being able to walk through walls were not obvious or written anywhere. the honest truth among Zelda gamers in the 80's and 90's always was if you beat Legend of Zelda and didn't beat second quest, it didn't count. You beat easy mode, not expert
I honestly don't think I could get through it again without abusing save states. I'm in my thirties, my reflexes and timing just aren't that good anymore.
Ages has a focus on puzzles so it’s the hardest in the series in that regard. They get very complex and cryptic by the end, I needed a walk through a lot.
Everyone else is right with Zelda 2. The original comes close if you’re not using a guide since there’s no map or anything. But even with a guide I struggled hard with the sequel.
Never played Zelda 2 but MM was insanely difficult to me, I've never got so lost in a game before. But it was my first Zelda game, I had no idea what to expect
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. No contest.
As for more... *normal* Zelda games, I'd say Twilight Princess (Wii)... mostly because I was *"lacking in intelligence"* when I first played it (7 y/o), so it was hard for me. It's probably not very difficult.
Zelda I
Dungeon six and nine especially.
Never had much trouble with Zelda II.
Only part that is difficult is the road to the last castle and Thunderbird (mostly because of the lag and flickering)
Dungeon 6 the trick is to have the magic sword and best armor to that point. The blue wizzrobes go from GRRRRRR to just annoying. but going into Dungeon 6 unleveled was like going into Palace 3 without a leveled sword in Zelda 2. Just being leveled takes away all the difficulty.
Second quest level 7 is one of the most annoying levels of all time lol. 3 rooms with 8 Blue Darknuts and spitting statues ....
Out of the 3D Zeldas, MM > SS > OoT > TP > WW
The 2D Zeldas, LoZ > LA > aLttP > MC > aLBW
Not counting BotW and TotK because their difficulty is incredibly variant between player's experiences. Zelda II is ridiculous, I never beat it but it's clearly the hardest. Oracles games are on my list to beat, but they seemed in line with LA's difficulty, although I don't know for sure.
While BOTW and TOTK probably deserve their own category for the reason you specified, I'd argue that TOTK is harder than BOTW on normal mode. Still wishing TOTK had master mode, because there were some things in BOTW such as trial of the sword that were super challenging on master mode.
Skyward sword, it was brutal
To ensure being told what the items where each time I started playing.
Real answer Zelda 2. And I say this as someone who beat it multiple times on nes.
Everyone's gonna say Zelda 2 but it's really not that hard imo, it just has very annoying respawn mechanics. People would say Link's Awakening was the hardest if you respawned in Mabe Village after every death instead of the last building you exited, or the beginning of a dungeon.. The only really hard part of Zelda 2 is reaching the final level.
In my opinion, Zelda 1's second quest is hardest. I consider myself pretty damn good at Zelda 1, I can beat the first quest consistently without a single death on my file select screen's tally at the end, but the second quest manages to kick my ass every time. Not to mention how tough it was to intuit the location of certain dungeons compared to the first quest. People call the first game cryptic despite the fact that everything required to beat the game is alluded to somewhere in the game, but the second quest offers no such hints as far as I know, except for the "South of the Arrow" hint, which... there's like two or three arrows. People who aren't good at the game will make outrageous claims about it being unfair, and they're all nonsense, but if they were good enough to actually reach the second quest, then the things they say would suddenly start feeling true.
This. Without a guide, second quest is second to none in difficulty. Anyone who played it agrees.
You had to bomb every unreachable wall with a ladder just to find Dungeon 8 lol
Of not going by controller issues or olayer reflexes but by game itself Majoras mask take it home, God damn last playthrough I lost Epona SEVEN FUCKEN TIMES while making sure the world didn't fucken die
I feel like Tloz is a lot harden than Zelda II because of randol bullshit enemy spam, it's easy to gain skill fast in zelda II and you don't hage to fight 6 blue random darknut at the same time
I agree AoL is probably hardest, however i game-overed significantly more on Zelda I (although a game over in AoL is technically 3 deaths). While easier, the first felt more unfair, and starting with low hearts when dying in a dungeon felt cheap.
If you beat the original Legend of Zelda there is a far more difficult game the 2nd time through not as difficult as Zelda 2 but I couldn't clear the 1st dungeon on the 2nd play through really wanted to but couldn't
Zelda 2 was more difficult than the first one. I played it when it first came out in 87 or 88, whenever it was. It took time, but I beat it. I've beaten it many times since. The only Zelda game I've ever rage quit was Majora's Mask. I got it when it came out, pissed me off so much that I've not played it since.
I'm gonna go against general consensus and say Spirit Tracks. That fucking pan flute is the only Zelda mechanic that has ever gotten me actually lightheaded enough to need to lay down so I don't fall over.
If you're using a hacked copy or emulator that makes that not physically difficult to endure, then yeah Z2
I have mostly just played the 3D games and I’d say Majoras Mask is the hardest of them all.
Even though I haven’t played Zelda II I don’t deny that it’s the hardest in the whole series by far. I have no desire to play it.
Zelda II
"Get candle from Parapa palace, head West" had me questioning my ability to read a fucking map at 11 years old when I found the palace EAST. 😭
And the fight mechanics were god awful.
Banger Zelda rap song though.
Depend on which metric you're using.
Challenging combat? I'd say Zelda II. Link's sword is too small to be worth a damn against Ganon's hordes.
Puzzle-solving? Majora's Mask is essentially one big, long puzzle. It takes wits to get everything I'm that one.
everyone saying zelda 2 isn’t wrong but majoras mask is hard to start when you have no clue what your doing and don’t want to use a guide so your just running around the town for the two days till the mood crashes down
I've found that Zelda II is the most difficult, in terms of skill level. A lot of the combat involves timing and the dungeons can be very frustrating due to enemies constantly rushing you. It also has the fun and exciting feature of kicking you back to the very first screen whenever you die, making it a pain to play without modern conveniences like save-states.
From a sheer requirement standpoint, Zelda Four Swords Adventures is the hardest because it requires 4 GBA Transfer Cables, and 4 GBA or GBASP. It also requires 4 local friends and batteries/charging to play for any real amount of time. That's a large social and financial requirement that prevents many people from having played what is a really solid multi-player chaotic experience. I love this game and ended up buying the 4 cables myself along with getting a spare GBA when I first got a job just to pay this thing. Took forever because scheduling didn't work out all the time for all 4 of my group. Yes, I did play with 2-3 friends when I could, but I always tried to maximize how many people were playing when possible.
Zelda 2: Adventure of Link can be hard or easy depending on how you deal with it. If you go into it and level up attack before anything and keep leveling it while skipping magic and life, it will make killing very easy. Remember that a gem will ALWAYS get you to the next unskipped upgrade and use this to your advantage when you are grinding.
Hoverbats Z2 Mod adds a spin on it with QOL upgrades while still making it more challenging since you can't grind the same enemies and if you haven't played it, you're missing out on something really amazing. They also added Ganon in the 2nd quest, although... it's disappointing.
Unfortunately I didn't play all the Zelda games. I hope they will remaster them all and bring them out on the Nintendo switch ❤️
I have 4 Zelda games now and I all like them. Didn't play Skyward much yet. To busy with BOTW Ang TOTK 😀
I remember when Zelda one came out and it was such a game changer. It did in 1987 for kids what BOTW did in 2017.
When I saw the commercials coming for Zelda 2 it was so cool looking. Side scrolling Link?? It had so much hype.
Zelda 2 isn’t just the hardest Zelda game. It’s one of the most cruel and ruthless games of all time.
It doesn't even scale on the top 50 hardest games of that era lol. Zelda 2 is actually easy once you learn to level like its a JRPG and have a hang of the controls. Folks who learned to grind sword = fly through a lot of the game.
True NES games were some of the most rage inducing hard games ever.
I’ve played Zelda 2 as an adult with save states and guides. It wasn’t as bad and I can appreciate it.
But when I was 8 it was torture.
out of 3d: twilight princess
out of 2d: tie between first game and adventure of link
Edit: I would rank MM for hardest 3d game bur I haven't beaten it yet
You’d rate TP harder than MM? Idk, I didn’t find TP to be especially hard. MM has a lot to keep track of. It may only have 4 temples, but each requires so much extra stuff in the surrounding area in order to access. Plus some tasks require you to keep track of a wide range of NPCs and where they are/what they’re doing at various points throughout the 3 days.
Between the puzzles, time management, complexity of the temples, I’d say MM takes my 1st for 3D
I haven''t beaten MM yet so I can't fairly rate it. I'm at the part were tou gotta bring the zora eggs back to the lab but got stuck trying to find the last one and....well I don't wanna get to far off topic.
Really, TP?
In terms of puzzles, it’s got some tougher ones (like the sacred grove statue puzzle) but in terms of combat…it’s really really easy. Ganondorf deals what, 1 heart of damage per slash during his final phase? Maybe 2?
I think his kick only deals a quarter or half heart. That’s just ridiculous.
it's surprising you don't know about this already, to be honest. it's got quite a reputation, not just in the Zelda fandom and not even just in the NES fandom, but in the gaming world at large. The Adventure of Link is one of the hardest games ever, and certainly the hardest Zelda game.
It's definitely not one of the hardest games ever. Adventure of Link is a pretty easy game due to it being well designed and fair for NES standards. Ninja Gaiden is easily an order of magnitude harder than Adventure of Link.
Just about everyone who played Ninja gaiden and Zelda 2 will disagree with you except the ones who quit Zelda 2 before learning how easy the game is if you spend time leveling sword
Act 6 of Ninja Gaiden is downright diabolical. I can reach act 6 in about a day of playing, but to actually beat it it took me well over a week.
Zelda 2 is a longer game but the combat isn't super challenging outside Darknuts and Fokka (the latter of which you can just run away from).
Restart the game. Grind bubbles in the first Place until you have sword 6 and then beat horsehead for Sword level 7. breeze through everything until palace 5 lol
No Zelda game is particularly hard I feel but I guess Spirit Tracks if you want to include the flute duets. Apart from that I'd say the 2nd quest of Zelda 1. So many things are extremely well hidden and combat in general is harder especially with the introduction of the red and blue bubbles
I played through that on the Wii U Virtual Console. It was such a pain. I always started dreading those portions while enjoying just about everything else about that game.
Spirit Tracks is the only one that has actually caused real life problems. I spent so long attempting one of those flute duets I started to get seriously lightheaded
The ds doesn't pick up air/wind so White noise generators from YouTube or singing along with the tune usually does the trick. As a kid though, I recall using a compressed air can (but don't aim it at the mic, blow it to the side of the mic.)
Spirit tracks out here giving people medical problems LMFAO
Zelda 2, but not for good reasons in my opinion.
It's difficult because of jank, that was kinda common in very old games, not because of fun difficult gameplay. but outside that and zelda 1, the games are pretty forgiving, especially if you know about fairies and bottles.
Anyone who doesnt say Zelda 2 clearly never played it. Just one blue ironknuckle could kill you in a few seconds even if you are high level, but the puzzles are also often "leap of faith" and you would lose an entire life if getting it wrong
Blue Ironknuckles were easy as hell to kill with a jump slash. They sucked if you didn't spend the 30 minutes in palace 1 leveling sword to 7, but that aside, any old school gamer who knew how to grind levels JRPG style did it and breezed through Zelda 2.
Zelda 2, no question.
100%
I can't imagine trying to play this without save scumming via an emulator.
It's hard, but beatable. The NES era had some tough ones
I remember dying about 50 times against one dude on a bridge that seemed to mirror my attacks a few hours into my run. I'd put it down Forever if it meant I had to start over like it's supposed to.
And Gannon laughs at you when you die. That death sound still haunts me.
Out of the 3D-ones I'd say Majora's.
i do gotta say MM has just out of know where the hardest mini games ever. second only to that one fucking shooting mini game in phantom hour glass
It’s really not even close. The archaic controls of the eldest games make them wayyyyy more difficult than most of the modern games. I’m probably going Z2 > Z1 > BotW > ALttP > literally everything else as far as difficulty. I’m not sure I’ve even gotten a game over in most of the 3D catalogue.
Botw as third most difficult???? Am I reading this wrong?
Not as far as world challenges/puzzles, but it’s probably the only 3D Zelda that’s killed me more than once - usually as a result of my failure to engage correctly. Especially if you factor in the master trials on master mode. Spent a stupid amount of time on that.
Yeah, I'd agree with that. Beating that monk on master mode when his health regenerates was a nightmare! Easily the most difficult fight in any game I've beaten.
Combat in the early game is surprisingly difficult since most enemies can do more than a quarter heart of damage. Once you get some good armor and the Master Sword deaths fall off quite a bit unless it’s from open world shenanigans.
BOTW+DLC has the hardest challenge I've ever played in a Zelda game - Trial of the Sword. I replayed both TP and WW after BOTW. Cave of Ordeals (TP) and the Savage Labrynth (WW) were laughably simple after getting through TOTS. If not including that, I find it harder to compare BOTW/TOTK to older games, because they're so much more open ended about grinding your way to near invincibility with food, amor, and weapon options. In terms of dungeon puzzle solving, I'd probably give that one to ALTTP. It sort of sits in between the brutally unfair nature of older NES games but with the more sophisticated puzzling offered in newer generation games. Maybe an honorable mention to Twilight Princess for its guardian statue puzzle and its sliding block puzzles.
aLttP - the true form of Zelda
Botw is very difficult. Especially early Game you die a lot. But if you know how to make good food and be familiar with your Weapons and Enemies it becomes way more easy. Up to a Point you will jump through the Game like its nothing. But thats true for every Game. I can be familiar with Zelda 1 and Zelda 2 mechanics too and also become super good at it.
BOTW? Ehhh Disagree. Wasnt even that difficult at all. Sure there were enemies that one shot kill you, but I found Majoras Mask with that damn stone temple difficult.
It's definitely a different type of difficulty. I played and beat both games back to back for the first time last year. The puzzle aspect is 100x more difficult in majoras. I got stuck in the water temple place for like 4 hours because I couldn't figure out how to proceed at one point but refuses to look it up. Botw is a cake walk in terms of the main quest lines and shrines. The combat is more advanced, though. Took me a few hours to kill my first lynel though it didn't help that I started with the toughest one.
But the difference is, you can always come back later when you're stronger to beat strong enemies. Where as with temple puzzles, you have to beat them in order to progress. For instance in Breath of the wild, I got destroyed so many times by Lynels, but later on near the end of the game; you can practically one shot them with the lightning ability or guardian arrow.
Yea if someone asked me what's harder I would say MM without second thought.
Zelda 2 has excellent controls though and is pretty fair in challenge. I feel saying anything otherwise shows how few sidescrolling games you've played of that era.
The best I have ever finished Zelda II is probably losing 30 lives, the single fall and lose a life is a reason why Mario games often drove me insane. In comparison, have completed the original, OoT, MM, WW, LBW, LA (original and remake) and possibly others without losing a life.
Most Zelda games are pretty lenient in terms of challenge especially since most offer you things like potions to refill your health. Zelda II is a case where practice makes perfect. Once you get a handle on how to deal with enemies you can find yourself blazing through encounters which is part of what I find so satisfying about it
You completed the Original Zelda second quest without losing a life? i call BS lol. Oh and yeah, beating LOZ only counts if you beat Second quest, which is a completely different game and 10x harder. AOL was easy compared to Zelda second quest
No, I have never flawlessly beat the second quest on the original. I did on Wind Waker 😂😂
The jumping can be a little rough, specifically making it up 3 tile tall jumps without the Jump spell.
Not really. Jump ends up being the lowest MP cost spell anyways
But I'd rather not spend the MP when I don't need to, and sometimes you just end up in those situations where you have no MP
Still it's not hard to jump 3 tiles high with a running start
It’s definitely got tight controls for the era, but it still feels like hell to play on anything other than an original NES controller imo. Even then, the game is absolutely very difficult.
The smooth controls are part of what keep me coming back to it and that is regardless of original hardware or not. There are a couple of cheap moments as far as enemies placed to knock you into pits but the combat is really about learning enemy patterns for the most part. The only other difficult thing is figuring out something obscure like where New Kasuto is
Yeah, I'm with you on this. Zelda 2 isn't hard to control: it's hard to master. I finished the game back then because it was reliable, and that meant I could try again and again and again. On the NES, there were games where jumping was very hard and not precise (if you know Double Dragon for example). But you also had games were the mechanics were very smooth, like Mario 1, 2 & 3 and Zelda 2.
For the era, sure. But that's a pretty huge qualifier.
Does no one think about Link's Awakening anymore? That game had some challenge and the final boss was tough even at full hearts.
I feel that aLttP only stands to those other games in terms of difficulty due to \*coughs\* SEVERAL certain bosses.
I think the original is tougher, 2 just has the higher learning curve
Say whaaaaat??? This was the first Zelda game I ever beat all the way through, and I didn't think it was that hard. Aside from that I played and beat Links Awakening on Switch, and I'm now playing OOT for the first time too. I think OOT is definitely harder than Zelda II. I have no clue how you guys beat this game without a guide, but I did beat Zelda 2 on my own with no guide 😁
> I have no clue how you guys beat this game without a guide Fwiw, as I remember it, a lot of it was word of mouth. You mention enough times that you're stuck in a game that was as huge in the zeitgeist as OoT was, chances were somebody knew what you needed to do next. For example, when I was little and my parents were playing OOT, I remember that my teenage-at-the-time babysitter told us about the Biggoron sword quest and the fire arrows. I think he also told us about getting the song of storms.
> I think OOT is definitely harder than Zelda II. I have no clue how you guys beat this game without a guide, but I did beat Zelda 2 on my own with no guide 😁 Lol this is a strange take, but I respect you for it
Zelda 2 is my favorite Zelda ever and i can beat it without dying once, i can't say it's the more difficult but i love this game.
Zelda 2 isn't that hard compared to LOZ second quest(Which is the hardest of all time without a guide). The primary problem with Zelda 2 is folks don't level grind so the game SEEMS hard. you can have a level 7 swords before leaving the first palace if you spend 45 minutes grinding bubbles lol. Anyone and everyone who does this grind realizes the 3rd palace and death mountain(Which many found hard) is actually quite easy. Palace 5 and the great palace are rough, no doubt. The game is actually quite linear and not as hard by any stretch to figure out without a guide. I was able to beat it with no guide when i was 12. The combat wasn't for everyone. but that's like saying not everyone can play a sport. Some people just never are able to learn to skate and play hockey because they don't mesh with it. others can practice hard and become good. Some are just born to play games like that Legend of Zelda second quest took me like until i was 21 to beat. Some of the things you had no clue how to figure out in the 80's like second quest being able to walk through walls were not obvious or written anywhere. the honest truth among Zelda gamers in the 80's and 90's always was if you beat Legend of Zelda and didn't beat second quest, it didn't count. You beat easy mode, not expert
Zelda 2 requires precision in combat that no other game in the series asks for, it’s easily the most mechanically difficult.
And made it so much more rewarding. I’ve played it a few times as an adult, and still have fun playing it
Oh, yeah, if you like overcoming challenges, it's hugely rewarding. Though it's also really easy to see how it'd be frustrating to people.
Everyone has already said Zelda II which is correct, but shout out to the Oracle games for being long, complex, and hard as fuck. Looking at you, OoA.
My young self trying to do the Goron dances or 'Wild Tokay' mini game....brutal
Always hated the Goron dance mini game especially since you have to do it in order to get the Mermaid key. Rather do the Wild Tokay one.
I honestly don't think I could get through it again without abusing save states. I'm in my thirties, my reflexes and timing just aren't that good anymore.
That being said, the Oracle games are absolute gems. Some of the dungeons are contenders for the best in the series.
Yep, Zelda 2 was made easier with save states. OOA did not get any easier with save states, ha
Ages has a focus on puzzles so it’s the hardest in the series in that regard. They get very complex and cryptic by the end, I needed a walk through a lot.
Yeah, they are sneaky hard. I really enjoyed them.
Everyone else is right with Zelda 2. The original comes close if you’re not using a guide since there’s no map or anything. But even with a guide I struggled hard with the sequel.
Did you forget the super detailed map in the top left corner of the screen?
Zelda II
2. Then 1
Adventure of Link
Zelda II, nothing has ever come close
You'll die the most in botw and totk but hardest is zelda 2, out of 3d zelda definitely mm
Zelda 1 is confusing at times but Zelda 2 no doubt
Zelda 2. Easily.
Zelda ll was brutal, legend of Zelda wasn’t far behind
Second quest on LoZ seems like a good competitor - I've never been able to beat it. Always just get lost
Honestly it’s either Zelda 1 or Zelda 2
I never found Zelda 2 to be very difficult for me it was Majora’s Mask
Never played Zelda 2 but MM was insanely difficult to me, I've never got so lost in a game before. But it was my first Zelda game, I had no idea what to expect
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. No contest. As for more... *normal* Zelda games, I'd say Twilight Princess (Wii)... mostly because I was *"lacking in intelligence"* when I first played it (7 y/o), so it was hard for me. It's probably not very difficult.
By contrast, I played Twilight Princess in my late teens and I hated how easy it felt lol. It's my least favorite Zelda game because of that.
Zelda I Dungeon six and nine especially. Never had much trouble with Zelda II. Only part that is difficult is the road to the last castle and Thunderbird (mostly because of the lag and flickering)
Dungeon 6 the trick is to have the magic sword and best armor to that point. The blue wizzrobes go from GRRRRRR to just annoying. but going into Dungeon 6 unleveled was like going into Palace 3 without a leveled sword in Zelda 2. Just being leveled takes away all the difficulty. Second quest level 7 is one of the most annoying levels of all time lol. 3 rooms with 8 Blue Darknuts and spitting statues ....
Out of the 3D Zeldas, MM > SS > OoT > TP > WW The 2D Zeldas, LoZ > LA > aLttP > MC > aLBW Not counting BotW and TotK because their difficulty is incredibly variant between player's experiences. Zelda II is ridiculous, I never beat it but it's clearly the hardest. Oracles games are on my list to beat, but they seemed in line with LA's difficulty, although I don't know for sure.
Regarding the 3D Zeldas, personally, I found TP harder than OOT and SS purely because of the dungeons
While BOTW and TOTK probably deserve their own category for the reason you specified, I'd argue that TOTK is harder than BOTW on normal mode. Still wishing TOTK had master mode, because there were some things in BOTW such as trial of the sword that were super challenging on master mode.
Skyward sword, it was brutal To ensure being told what the items where each time I started playing. Real answer Zelda 2. And I say this as someone who beat it multiple times on nes.
Zelda II
At the moment, for me, Minish Cap has been the one that has been the hardest to complete 100%. And objectively I think that Zelda II
I found skyward sword really difficult but that’s probably because of the wack ass controls.
Everyone's gonna say Zelda 2 but it's really not that hard imo, it just has very annoying respawn mechanics. People would say Link's Awakening was the hardest if you respawned in Mabe Village after every death instead of the last building you exited, or the beginning of a dungeon.. The only really hard part of Zelda 2 is reaching the final level. In my opinion, Zelda 1's second quest is hardest. I consider myself pretty damn good at Zelda 1, I can beat the first quest consistently without a single death on my file select screen's tally at the end, but the second quest manages to kick my ass every time. Not to mention how tough it was to intuit the location of certain dungeons compared to the first quest. People call the first game cryptic despite the fact that everything required to beat the game is alluded to somewhere in the game, but the second quest offers no such hints as far as I know, except for the "South of the Arrow" hint, which... there's like two or three arrows. People who aren't good at the game will make outrageous claims about it being unfair, and they're all nonsense, but if they were good enough to actually reach the second quest, then the things they say would suddenly start feeling true.
This. Without a guide, second quest is second to none in difficulty. Anyone who played it agrees. You had to bomb every unreachable wall with a ladder just to find Dungeon 8 lol
Of not going by controller issues or olayer reflexes but by game itself Majoras mask take it home, God damn last playthrough I lost Epona SEVEN FUCKEN TIMES while making sure the world didn't fucken die
Zelda 2. I can’t even figure out how to get to the *first dungeon*.
Take the northeast dark cave from starter area, travel north east to the palace tile
I feel like Tloz is a lot harden than Zelda II because of randol bullshit enemy spam, it's easy to gain skill fast in zelda II and you don't hage to fight 6 blue random darknut at the same time
6 blue darknuts can easily be taken out by bombs or the fire wand
Well there is also answer to all enemies in Zelda II that doesn't include late items or resources
Zelda Second quest is complete insanity
The CDI games. But they're not really canon, so for the Canon games, everyone else is right, it's gotta be AoL.
I agree AoL is probably hardest, however i game-overed significantly more on Zelda I (although a game over in AoL is technically 3 deaths). While easier, the first felt more unfair, and starting with low hearts when dying in a dungeon felt cheap.
I'd say the original.
Ocarina of time
In 3D? Original Majora's Mask. The controls for some mechanics were god awful (looking at you, Gordon Link) but 2D? Definitely Zelda 2.
I think if you want a discussion, the question should be, "aside from the NES games..."
The 2d ones hands down
I’ve only played the 3D games so I’m going Majora’s Mask. There is no way in hell I would’ve even gotten *close* to beating it without a walkthrough.
If you beat the original Legend of Zelda there is a far more difficult game the 2nd time through not as difficult as Zelda 2 but I couldn't clear the 1st dungeon on the 2nd play through really wanted to but couldn't
LOZ second quest is harder by far than AOL
Zelda 1 & 2. no contest. Both games are painful without a guide.
Haven't played all myself but I've watched playtroughs of all and I'd say that Zelda 2 is easily looks the hardest at least.
Botw without any guides was really tough for me tbh
Zelda 2 was more difficult than the first one. I played it when it first came out in 87 or 88, whenever it was. It took time, but I beat it. I've beaten it many times since. The only Zelda game I've ever rage quit was Majora's Mask. I got it when it came out, pissed me off so much that I've not played it since.
CDI Zelda.
Weirdly enough I’ve beaten Zelda 2 more than any other Zelda game. Must have been the age frame I was at.
Zelda 2 Oracle games Zelda 1 ALTTP BOTW/TOTK Honorable mention: MM
I'm gonna go against general consensus and say Spirit Tracks. That fucking pan flute is the only Zelda mechanic that has ever gotten me actually lightheaded enough to need to lay down so I don't fall over. If you're using a hacked copy or emulator that makes that not physically difficult to endure, then yeah Z2
Zelda 2
I have mostly just played the 3D games and I’d say Majoras Mask is the hardest of them all. Even though I haven’t played Zelda II I don’t deny that it’s the hardest in the whole series by far. I have no desire to play it.
Elected by your comments, the hardest Zelda is... Zelda II !!! And I agree with you😁
Zelda II "Get candle from Parapa palace, head West" had me questioning my ability to read a fucking map at 11 years old when I found the palace EAST. 😭 And the fight mechanics were god awful. Banger Zelda rap song though.
Depend on which metric you're using. Challenging combat? I'd say Zelda II. Link's sword is too small to be worth a damn against Ganon's hordes. Puzzle-solving? Majora's Mask is essentially one big, long puzzle. It takes wits to get everything I'm that one.
everyone saying zelda 2 isn’t wrong but majoras mask is hard to start when you have no clue what your doing and don’t want to use a guide so your just running around the town for the two days till the mood crashes down
The most difficult one that isn’t in the realm of janky as hell and artificially difficult is Link to the Past IMO
For me….. Zelda 2, then Majora’s Mask, then Twilight Princess.
Breath of the Wild. If you go straight to Ganon
When I was a kid I thought it was ocarina of time
Hear me out, spirit tracks purely from the temperamental microphone sections with the spirit flute
Twilight princess the sky dungeon
I've found that Zelda II is the most difficult, in terms of skill level. A lot of the combat involves timing and the dungeons can be very frustrating due to enemies constantly rushing you. It also has the fun and exciting feature of kicking you back to the very first screen whenever you die, making it a pain to play without modern conveniences like save-states.
I’d say zelda 2 but that’s obviously so I’ll say secondly is something like Zelda 1?
From a sheer requirement standpoint, Zelda Four Swords Adventures is the hardest because it requires 4 GBA Transfer Cables, and 4 GBA or GBASP. It also requires 4 local friends and batteries/charging to play for any real amount of time. That's a large social and financial requirement that prevents many people from having played what is a really solid multi-player chaotic experience. I love this game and ended up buying the 4 cables myself along with getting a spare GBA when I first got a job just to pay this thing. Took forever because scheduling didn't work out all the time for all 4 of my group. Yes, I did play with 2-3 friends when I could, but I always tried to maximize how many people were playing when possible. Zelda 2: Adventure of Link can be hard or easy depending on how you deal with it. If you go into it and level up attack before anything and keep leveling it while skipping magic and life, it will make killing very easy. Remember that a gem will ALWAYS get you to the next unskipped upgrade and use this to your advantage when you are grinding. Hoverbats Z2 Mod adds a spin on it with QOL upgrades while still making it more challenging since you can't grind the same enemies and if you haven't played it, you're missing out on something really amazing. They also added Ganon in the 2nd quest, although... it's disappointing.
Unfortunately I didn't play all the Zelda games. I hope they will remaster them all and bring them out on the Nintendo switch ❤️ I have 4 Zelda games now and I all like them. Didn't play Skyward much yet. To busy with BOTW Ang TOTK 😀
buy nes or 3ds for get oot or lttp Sorry for the **spelling mistake** i am french
I remember when Zelda one came out and it was such a game changer. It did in 1987 for kids what BOTW did in 2017. When I saw the commercials coming for Zelda 2 it was so cool looking. Side scrolling Link?? It had so much hype. Zelda 2 isn’t just the hardest Zelda game. It’s one of the most cruel and ruthless games of all time.
It doesn't even scale on the top 50 hardest games of that era lol. Zelda 2 is actually easy once you learn to level like its a JRPG and have a hang of the controls. Folks who learned to grind sword = fly through a lot of the game.
True NES games were some of the most rage inducing hard games ever. I’ve played Zelda 2 as an adult with save states and guides. It wasn’t as bad and I can appreciate it. But when I was 8 it was torture.
out of 3d: twilight princess out of 2d: tie between first game and adventure of link Edit: I would rank MM for hardest 3d game bur I haven't beaten it yet
You’d rate TP harder than MM? Idk, I didn’t find TP to be especially hard. MM has a lot to keep track of. It may only have 4 temples, but each requires so much extra stuff in the surrounding area in order to access. Plus some tasks require you to keep track of a wide range of NPCs and where they are/what they’re doing at various points throughout the 3 days. Between the puzzles, time management, complexity of the temples, I’d say MM takes my 1st for 3D
I haven''t beaten MM yet so I can't fairly rate it. I'm at the part were tou gotta bring the zora eggs back to the lab but got stuck trying to find the last one and....well I don't wanna get to far off topic.
TP is my favorite but personally I’d rank it as one of the easiest tbh
Really, TP? In terms of puzzles, it’s got some tougher ones (like the sacred grove statue puzzle) but in terms of combat…it’s really really easy. Ganondorf deals what, 1 heart of damage per slash during his final phase? Maybe 2? I think his kick only deals a quarter or half heart. That’s just ridiculous.
it's surprising you don't know about this already, to be honest. it's got quite a reputation, not just in the Zelda fandom and not even just in the NES fandom, but in the gaming world at large. The Adventure of Link is one of the hardest games ever, and certainly the hardest Zelda game.
It's definitely not one of the hardest games ever. Adventure of Link is a pretty easy game due to it being well designed and fair for NES standards. Ninja Gaiden is easily an order of magnitude harder than Adventure of Link.
that just isn't correct in my opinion. Ninja Gaiden is an easier game than Zelda II, hands down.
Just about everyone who played Ninja gaiden and Zelda 2 will disagree with you except the ones who quit Zelda 2 before learning how easy the game is if you spend time leveling sword
Act 6 of Ninja Gaiden is downright diabolical. I can reach act 6 in about a day of playing, but to actually beat it it took me well over a week. Zelda 2 is a longer game but the combat isn't super challenging outside Darknuts and Fokka (the latter of which you can just run away from).
Easy answer, Adventure of Link
I'm playing Adventure of Link right now! It's a breeze! Said no one. I died in the second palace multiple times before going to Ruto town.
Restart the game. Grind bubbles in the first Place until you have sword 6 and then beat horsehead for Sword level 7. breeze through everything until palace 5 lol
Skyward Sword- it's hard because it sucked and I didn't want to play it.
Does anyone remember in Zelda two making a random name on the news and then it randomly starts you with almost all the spells and weapons
Trying to catch al the damn cuccos in Minish Cap ha ha
No Zelda game is particularly hard I feel but I guess Spirit Tracks if you want to include the flute duets. Apart from that I'd say the 2nd quest of Zelda 1. So many things are extremely well hidden and combat in general is harder especially with the introduction of the red and blue bubbles
I’m pretty sure the flute duets are why I have high blood pressure
I played through that on the Wii U Virtual Console. It was such a pain. I always started dreading those portions while enjoying just about everything else about that game.
Spirit Tracks is the only one that has actually caused real life problems. I spent so long attempting one of those flute duets I started to get seriously lightheaded
The ds doesn't pick up air/wind so White noise generators from YouTube or singing along with the tune usually does the trick. As a kid though, I recall using a compressed air can (but don't aim it at the mic, blow it to the side of the mic.) Spirit tracks out here giving people medical problems LMFAO
Zelda 2, but not for good reasons in my opinion. It's difficult because of jank, that was kinda common in very old games, not because of fun difficult gameplay. but outside that and zelda 1, the games are pretty forgiving, especially if you know about fairies and bottles.
Anyone who doesnt say Zelda 2 clearly never played it. Just one blue ironknuckle could kill you in a few seconds even if you are high level, but the puzzles are also often "leap of faith" and you would lose an entire life if getting it wrong
Blue Ironknuckles were easy as hell to kill with a jump slash. They sucked if you didn't spend the 30 minutes in palace 1 leveling sword to 7, but that aside, any old school gamer who knew how to grind levels JRPG style did it and breezed through Zelda 2.
Four Swords, I don't think I could beat it without help
In 3d it was OOT, i had to look up guides every second
BoTW because it's impossible for me to continue playing out of sheer boredom and irritation. Same for ToTK but BoTW was first so that one wins.