How Many Hours Do You Need To Complete Every The Legend Of Zelda Game?

Key Takeaways

• The Legend of Zelda franchise boasts 18 mainline single-player adventures across nearly 4 decades.
• The length of time to play all titles ranges from 5-10 hours for the original to 50-100 hours for Breath of the Wild.
• Echoes of Wisdom adds to the list with 15-20 hours of playtime, bringing the total duration to just under 500 hours.

The Legend of Zelda franchise is one of the most seminal works in the gaming sphere. From introducing the basic concept of open-map exploration with the NES original; to revolutionising the 3D action genre with Ocarina of Time; and then casually reinventing what a videogame can be with Breath of the Wild, it deserves its place atop the pantheon of greats.

Link’s adventures take in 18 mainline entries across four decades – and that’s without considering all the remasters and assorted spinoffs. The question, for the inquisitively-minded, becomes: how long would it take to play them all? If one were to embark on the gargantuan task of toppling Ganon 18 times, how many hours could one expect to sacrifice? Wonder no longer, O number crunchers of Hyrule: we’ve got the answer.

Some quick ground rules: in the interest of cohesion, we will only be considering mainline, single-player adventures for this breakdown. This means no multiplayer titles, like Four Sword Adventures and Triforce Heroes; and no spinoffs like Link’s Crossbow Training or (gulp) Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland.

Each game’s canonicity is determined by its place in the Hyrule Historia, an official Nintendo document charting the timeline of the Zeldaverse. While the Four Sword duology is technically canon, it’s sufficiently different from the main games (and has so much of a multiplayer slant) that we won’t be including it. Sorry, Vaati!

Updated November 6, 2024 by Bobby Mills: Nintendo send Zelda fans worldwide into a stupor when they casually announced Echoes Of Wisdom earlier this year. Not only was this a brand-spanking new top-down 2D Zelda (in a market where you could be forgiven for thinking that format had been left behind), but it actually stars the titular princess herself. For the first time. Not counting Wand Of Gamelon, obvs. It’s canon, so into our breakdown it goes!

The Legend Of Zelda

5-10 Hours

We’ll kick off with the 1986 NES classic that started it all: The Legend of Zelda. Appropriately enough, this one is a bit of a wildcard. Your mileage in terms of playtime will vary heavily depending on how tuned-in you are to the game’s cryptic hints and, at times, dated design. Have fun figuring out what to feed the Moblin guard, for instance.

The original Zelda is pretty much the epitome of a ‘guide game.’ What was once intended to be an experience you chipped away at over a period of weeks or months, taking notes and swapping hints with friends on the playground, can feel frustratingly hands-off in the modern age.

Even if you’re using a walkthrough, you still must contend with its unrelenting difficulty – so expect to spend six or seven hours, and maybe a couple more if you’re going for all the Heart Containers.

Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link

10-15 Hours

The brutal sequel, The Adventure of Link, follows in much the same fashion as its predecessor when it comes to tedium. Keen to not rest on their laurels, Nintendo completely tossed out the top-down exploration of the original and shifted Zelda II to a sidescrolling platformer, with a few dashes of RPG-lite elements like EXP and MP.

We won’t mince words. Zelda II is unimaginably difficult. Many of your hours spent here will be on retreading your steps alone, from all the deaths you can expect poor Link to suffer over the course of the campaign. Death Mountain is a nightmare, as are a good portion of the palaces. Obtuse puzzle solutions further bloat the runtime – so you’re likely to clock in around ten or 12 hours, and up to 15 if you are going for full completion.

Take our advice: use a guide, and the Switch Online version’s rewind feature. It simply isn’t worth it, blowing a blood vessel. These welcome assists can halve your time spent on Zelda II.

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past

15-20 Hours

Perhaps realising the folly of uprooting what made the first game so beloved, Nintendo returned to the old-school top-down perspective for the SNES prequel A Link to the Past. A wise choice: this is regarded as one of the finest in the Zelda lineup, and an excellent starting point for newcomers unwilling to face the relentless cruelty of the NES entries.

A more relaxed, exploratory affair, Link to the Past is perfectly content to let you take your time and wander Hyrule at your own pace. Whether you’re hopping between both the regular and dark versions of the kingdom, tackling the exquisite dungeons in whatever order you fancy, or burning time chatting up the lively NPCs, every playthrough will be slightly different.

On average, however, you can expect this one to take you around 15 hours for basic completion, and up to 20 if you opt to hoover up all the Heart Pieces. One of these pieces is entirely RNG-based, from the digging game; so if you’re unlucky, this could bolt a couple extra hours onto your 100 percent run.

The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

10-15 Hours

The fourth entry in the series, and the first to launch exclusively for a handheld system, Link’s Awakening feels (perhaps inevitably) a bit more lightweight than its cousins. It’s a brief, breezy tale that sees Link wash up on the enigmatic Koholint Island, where most of his days are spent away getting to know the twee civilians rather than roughing up Octoroks. It does make that plot twist sting all the more.

It’s also not particularly hard. Even first-timers should face no difficulty rolling the credits in around ten hours, perhaps even less. Those who choose to rinse Koholint of all its secrets, including those pesky seashells, will be around a bit longer, but still no more than 15 hours. The Switch remake comes especially recommended!

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

25-35 Hours

What is there left to say about Ocarina of Time that hasn’t already been said a thousand times over? It’s a masterwork, and a defining, formative text in the action-adventure genre that countless games continue to imitate to this day. Sure, it’s beginning to show its age in its clunky controls and awkward lock-on system; but that puzzle design, soundtrack, and narrative pacing will never be matched.

Ocarina marks the first 3D Zelda outing, and also the point at which the series began to railroad its players a bit more explicitly down its intended path. Freeform exploration is lessened, you have a detailed map, and there’s a designated order to most of the dungeons.

Frustrations borne of the Water Temple notwithstanding, you’ll conquer Ocarina in around 20 to 30 hours, but will push 35 if you go on the (ill-advised) Golden Skulltula hunt.

The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

20-30 Hours

Majora’s Mask is a unique member of the Zelda family for a number of reasons. For one, it’s unreservedly dark and depressing, with the central goal of the game being to prevent a gigantic, angry moon from obliterating the people of Termina (most of whom have made gloomy peace with their fate.) Additionally, many mainstay characters, like Impa and even Zelda herself, are AWOL.

It’s also another case where each individual playthrough can differ drastically in terms of length. If you know what you’re doing, you can bumrush each of the four mandatory dungeons, rather than taking several in-game time-loops to figure out the unlock requirements (as the devs intended).

In this way, you could easily take down Skull Kid within ten hours – but more realistically, on a first playthrough, you’ll be here for 20+. If you choose to attend to all of Termina’s side troubles, you can slap an extra ten hours onto that, too.

The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons/Oracle Of Ages

15-20 Hours Apiece

In the late 90s and early 2000s, there was one business model you wanted to replicate if you were on the handheld gaming scene: Pokémon. Blatantly mimicking that series’ dual release pattern (which presumably increased profits by 100 percent) were Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, a pair of GameBoy Color adventures that were launched simultaneously.

The two games are very, very similar, with the differences being largely in difficulty, map layout, and the characters you’ll meet. Ages has a more puzzle-oriented focus than Seasons, as well. The actual engine, gameplay, and progression are pretty much identical – though you do get a neat bonus final boss against Ganon if you connect the two games together via a password.

All told, if you only plump for one of the two, you’re looking at 15 to 20 hours; but if you choose to play them back-to-back, you’ll need to commit somewhere in the region of 40 hours.

The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker

25-30 Hours

As the series continued its gradual descent into maudlin, dour themes (and with its audience rapidly growing up), it seemed the Zelda franchise was primed to take a step into more mature waters than it had yet charted. Such a bold move seemed to be imminent when an E3 tech demo showed off a rugged, hyperrealistic Link doing battle with Ganondorf.

Enter Wind Waker. Its candy-coloured pastel hues and cel-shaded character models were not at all what had been promised, and many gamers felt gypped. Once the shock had worn off, though, Wind Waker’s virtues were allowed to shine through – and it’s now considered a classic. Toon Link is adorable, the ocean sailing is as whimsical as it gets, and the artstyle has aged phenomenally.

Alas, though the loading-screen-free open ocean was an impressive technical feat back on the GameCube, it does have a nasty habit of inflating the runtime. Hours will be blown (heh) on changing the wind direction to sail to your next destination, and then actually navigating there. On a first playthrough, expect to be out on the waves for 20-25 hours, and up to 30 if you want to visit every possible island for their Heart Pieces.

If you can, we recommend you experience this classic via its ground-up Wii U remaster. Not only do the colours truly pop in crisp HD, but it features numerous extra bells and whistles that enhance the QoL.

Chief among these is the Swift Sail, an optional attachment for your boat that doubles your speed and ensures the wind is always at your back! This alone will shave at least five hours off your time.

The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap

10-20 Hours

Fans who had been hoping Toon Link would be a one-and-done deal were in for a nasty shock. The very next mainline title, Minish Cap on the GBA, proved he was here to stay, and did so with panache. It’s an endlessly inventive adventure that sees Link gain the ability to shrink to the size of a pin at will – and even explains why every Link wears a green hat in the process!

Minish Cap’s runtime is tough to quantify. If you stick strictly to the main story, you’ll be out the door in less than ten hours. Hyrule is not super-expansive, and there are only a handful of dungeons. However, woe betide all those who decide to go for 100 percent. The last Heart Piece is sealed behind a gacha figurine machine which you must grind an ingame currency to operate.

You require all 136 figurines before the shopkeeper hands it over, and it’s often cited as being the toughest Heart Piece to obtain in the entire franchise. Expect your playtime to soar over 20 hours should you take the plunge.

The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess

40-50 Hours

Unable to ignore the demands of the market any longer, Nintendo at last delivered a Zelda game practically dripping in grit, Twilight Princess. Its washed-out colours and drab, sepia-toned environments make its goals transparent.

Make no mistake, though: Twilight Princess’ darkness is only skin-deep, for the purposes of the trailers and cover art. Otherwise, this is a bog-standard family-friendly Zelda, complete with wacky side characters, a quirky core gimmick (this time turning into a wolf), and a simple tale of earnest heroism. It’s a true epic, too – Nintendo went out of their way to ensure fans would have a lot of content to gnaw at.

Merely reaching the credits will last you around 40 hours, as the game is chock-full of padding and backtracking. Going for all the collectibles, which include the usual Heart Pieces and now both a bug and fish collection, will take you upwards of 50.

The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

15-20 Hours

Yet another installment in the Toon Link timeline, Phantom Hourglass makes ingenious use of its hardware, the DS. You can scribble on your map with the stylus, and several puzzles employ the system’s features, like fans that must be blown with the mic and stamps on the top screen that can only be applied by closing the console’s clamshell lid.

Though it shares the basic nautical concept with Wind Waker, it’s executed in a far less time-consuming manner. All you do is chart your course on the sea map, and Captain Linebeck will automatically chug you to your destination. A frustrating and repetitious central dungeon that hinges on stealth mechanics isn’t enough to prevent Phantom Hourglass from lasting a slight 15 hours or so. 100 percent, meanwhile, will take you anywhere between 20 to 30 hours.

Phantom Hourglass is home to another legendarily difficult Heart Piece. A shooting gallery on Molida Island, played using Link’s bow, demands a perfect performance before the goodies are relinquished. The dead space between the DS’s top and bottom screens makes this a nightmare.

The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

20-25 Hours

You just can’t keep Toon Link down. This time, he’s a train engineer, introducing steam power and travel to Hyrule. Rather than your typical, more organic mounts like Epona, in Spirit Tracks you’ll be tootling your way along a series of railway lines, blowing your whistle and hauling cargo.

Spirit Tracks can perhaps best be described as a streamlined version of Phantom Hourglass. The overworld is more restrictive and linear (train tracks VS the entire ocean, after all) and while there’s still a core dungeon you keep returning to, the drudgery is alleviated by the ability to skip sections with new abilities. Plus, having Zelda follow you around in a dirty great suit of armour helps.

Overall, this locomotive adventure will run you about 20 hours, placing it a hair ahead of its predecessor. Should you elect to become Hyrule’s resident freight service, and indulge in all the train-based assignments that entails, you’re looking at 25+.

The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword

30-40 Hours

The final ‘traditional’ 3D Zelda before Breath of the Wild would completely upend the formula a whopping six years later, Skyward Sword took its era out with a bang. It’s the prequel to all other prequels – the very first game in the Zelda timeline, establishing the origins of Link, Ganon, and many famous series tropes besides.

The major focus here is motion controls. By attaching the mandatory Wii Motion Plus add-on, Link’s sword swipes become mapped precisely to your movement, making battling even the wimpiest foes a workout. Air cannons, bug nets, whips, and robotic beetles were just a handful of the gadgets this wagglefest had on offer.

Skyward Sword is a staggeringly large game. Though there are only three main areas, plus the vast sky and Skyloft hub, you’ll be revisiting each one multiple times. The campaign alone will need you to sink 30 to 35 hours in, and you’ll be hovering near 40-50 for 100 percent.

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

20-25 Hours

Fans had a long wait on their hands between Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild; so Nintendo opted to ease the thumb-twiddling with another ‘classic’ 2D Zelda, A Link Between Worlds. It’s no game-changer, and it remains firmly married to a decades-old structure, but it has that Zelda magic nonetheless.

A Link Between Worlds is a direct followup to A Link to the Past, as the title similarity would perhaps indicate. The map’s layout is unaltered, and the game’s structure – three tutorial dungeons, Master Sword, then into a dark version of Hyrule for the proper seven dungeons – rings hauntingly familiar. New wrinkles, like the ability to transform into a painting and travel along walls, make use of the 3DS’ 2D/3D conceit.

A Link Between Worlds is a mite longer than its SNES bedfellow, clocking in at 20-ish hours. If you’d like to see all there is to see (or perhaps sink some time into the irritating baseball minigame), it’ll be stretched to 25. Rentable items are handy for reducing the bloat.

The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

50-100 Hours

And so we come to the big one. The critical darling, the commercial juggernaut, the award magnet that redefined what could be done with an open-world game: Breath of the Wild. Everyone and their mother owns a copy, and has already sung its praises, so we won’t waste your time with that.

What we’re here to sort out is: how long can you expect to spend in Hyrule for your sixty shiny dollars? Well, once again, it’s difficult to say. Technically speaking, the game can last as little as two hours if you’ve got the skillset of a speedrunner. All you need in order to roll the credits is to finish the Great Plateau tutorial shrines, then make a beeline for Hyrule Castle and take out Calamity Ganon. Granted, you’ll be rocking a grand total of three hearts and zero decent weapons or armour, but it’s doable.

Most players, however, will not be doing this, and instead will be taking in every nook and cranny this gorgeously rendered world has to offer. The main story, which powers you up for the aforementioned Ganon fight, will run you 40-50 hours. Devoted warriors who seek out every single shrine and sidequest will soon find their file reading 100+ hours; and closer to 200 if all the Korok Seeds are gathered.

There’s no real one way to experience Breath of the Wild, nor an average runtime, and that’s the beauty of it. If you fancy honing your reflexes and going straight to Ganon, that’s cool – but if you’d rather spend 400 hours snapping photos of every blade of grass, we won’t judge either.

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

50-100 Hours

Originally conceived as a DLC expansion for Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom got promoted to full-fledged sequel status when it became apparent to Miyamoto and Aonuma that the ideas being floated would take too much development time. All the same, this 2023 follow-up bears the evidence of its origins. Breath of the Wild’s map is effectively copy-pasted here, with all settlements, minibosses, and landmarks being exactly where they were before.

So what’s new? There’s a pitch-black underground spanning the entirety of the kingdom, which you must switch phosphorescent trees on to illuminate. You can now head skyward and explore a smattering of sky islands. Link can glue objects together to fashion crude contraptions. It all works marvelously, it just doesn’t feel quite as fresh.

There’s a sense of ‘been there, done that’ to Tears of the Kingdom, then – but it remains a stellar gaming experience purely due to the strength of the foundation on which it builds. Much like Breath of the Wild, expect the central campaign to last in the region of 40-50 hours (it should be noted that, again, you can head straight to the final boss if you’re so inclined).

Quest completists will be wanting to set aside 100+ hours, and Korok Seed hunters 200+. Deja vu, eh?

The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom

15-20 Hours

After spending some thirty years filling the ‘damsel in distress’ slot, it was well past time for Princess Zelda (you know, the lass with her name plastered on the cover of every game in the franchise) to have a turn in the drivers’ seat. Echoes Of Wisdom pulls a switcheroo in its opening act; you start off as Link, brawling with Ganon as per usual, only for the green-clad hero to be spirited away to a forboding alternate dimension.

In his stead, Zelda’s got to step up to the plate – but despite what Hyrule Warriors would have you believe, she isn’t about that sword-swinging nonsense. She favours brains over brawn, and so her combat involves making magical copies of environmental objects (and enemies) and turning them to her advantage.

Horde of Bokoblins in your way? Sic a Lynel on ’em. Cliff to scale? Not a problem when you can conjure a stack of five trampolines. Blazing inferno barring your path? A few ice Wizzrobes will sort that out for you.

This does have the effect of making Echoes Of Wisdom feel a bit passive at times, and the bosses certainly aren’t going to go down in the Hyrule Historia as any all-time greats. Still, the novelty of controlling Zelda keeps it afloat, as does the wide-open 2D map that marries the best of Breath Of The Wild with the classic formula.

Given the simplicity of the adventure, you can expect to roll credits inside of 20 hours. Gamers bent on finding all the Echoes and Heart Pieces might squeeze 25 to 30 out of it.

What Is The Total Number Of Hours Every Zelda Game Will Take You?

For those who have simply scrolled down to this part, welcome back. It’s now time to tot up the total and answer the burning question we’re all on tenterhooks over. Kindly avail of this handy chart:

This brings the grand total to 489 hours. That makes out to 20 days and 9 hours, meaning that if you were truly dedicated (and scarcely slept) you could pull off a comprehensive Zelda marathon in less than a month.

Of course, this number is far from definitive. Experienced speedrunners will likely be able to put that total to shame, while more casual players might take even longer. It’s merely an average, an amusing thought experiment – but rest assured, every hour you tarry within this truly magical gaming universe is one well spent.

Hopefully, our breakdown proves a useful companion for those seeking to check such a Goron-sized project off their bucket list. It is, after all, dangerous to go alone. Just don’t ask us how much time Hyrule Warriors would add into the mix!