Evolution of The Legend of ZELDA [1986-2023]

The Legend of Zelda is one of the most loved franchises in the world, with the release of Tears of the Kingdom, it’s time for the Evolution of The Legend of Zelda!

00:00 Intro
00:59 Origins
04:02 The Legend of Zelda (1986)
06:40 Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987)
09:35 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991)
12:48 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993)
15:11 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
19:34 The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (2000)
22:00 The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages (2001)
22:56 The Legend of Zelda: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (2002)
24:12 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002)
28:13 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2004)
29:54 The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (2004)
31:20 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)
35:44 The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007)
37:01 The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2009)
38:30 The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011)
42:07 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2013)
44:25 The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (2015)
46:18 The Legend of Zelda: Zelda Spin-Offs
51:14 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)
58:51 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
01:00:45 Squarespace (sponsorship)

Credits
by RetroGame

by IGN

by RetroGame

by Myron Reyes

by Alberto Guzman

by Nintendo3DSuk

by ZorZelda

by World of Longplays

by ZeldaCentral

by NintenDaanNC

by MGT

by Tsunao the Faker

by GameSpot

by Numeric Theories

by Ember Lab

by Speejays 2

by KevinZeF

by Archive 64

by Noire Blue

by packattack04082

by BeardBear

by kittykatstar

by Indigo Babies

by Zelda CDi Reanimated

by the 7th gamer

by Nintendo Unity

by Nassi

by Pixels Lw

by GameXplain

by Polygon

[Zazzaro]

People just can’t understand how insane that first Zelda was unless you were there at release. Going from Atari, intellevision and collecovision to a game that was big enough that you needed to save progress. Blew my 7 year old mind. It’s why to this day I explore every corner of the map because I burned every bush, bombed every wall and pushed every grave 10xs over.

[ranbirbhatia]

I’m forever grateful there’s a channel like yours I love it! Good job flatlife!

[danandtab]

I love hearing about the inspirations for some of these games. I was 8 years old when first shown NES Zelda and it was mind blowing.

[rikublaze]

The reason Link is my favorite VG protagonist is for the fact that besides getting new items, link is just raw strength. No super form, no power ups, no goddess summons... Just a Dude has a sword, a shield, and a mission.

[OddOlly]

I absolutely love the depth you go into and how I can just let these videos of things I love roll for hours!! Great job guys

[SamRegan]

Aside from the mispronunciation of Gerudo (hard G, Urbosa says it multiple times in BotW), this is a fantastic recap of my favorite video game series. Masterfully done!

[harpuavids]

Flatlife should have millions of subscribers! So much effort was put in, and it deserves to be seen!

[chris_h]

I've been a fan of the Zelda games since I first played A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo. Each game feels like I'm being reintroduced to the franchise. Breath of the Wild was a breath of fresh air in my opinion.

[boi]

“Ganon dorf, king of the jerudo tribe”

[GamingintheAM]

An impressive thing about Link to the Past is that it stayed on Nintendo's "Top Games" list every month for literal years after it released, even after the N64 and Ocarina of Time had come out. It stayed relevant throughout the entirety of the SNES' life cycle and a few years into the next console generation. It had incredible staying power.

[metagod_]

I remember when I had just discovered your channel when you had around 30k subscribers! Your channel still slaps to this day.

[hugovega]

Awesome vid. I'm actually hurt finding out about Majora's Mask "failure". No doubt Ocarina is Top 1, but Majora is easily my Top 2, being young link and being able to ride Epona was my dream as a kid. As well as turning into a Rockstar Fish with the Zora Mask and finally converting into powerful adult Link thanks to Fierce Deity's Mask. Awesome. But at the end, Majora's lack of sales was because it came to close to the release of Ocarina. Players where still trapped in the Water Temple from Ocarina and had no time to go and buy Majora's Mask.

[uimasterroshi]

16:33 I love the change in your voice between the 2 timelines, it made me laugh more as it probably should xD Also spitting facts

[DanielGuzman]

When I was 6 years old, I wanted to be Link for Halloween. My mom said she didn't want me dressing up like Peter pan.

[Yang_Mulia]

skyward sword is my favorite many people hate it, but for me able to role playing as link and swing a sword is what make this game so special

[solgaliosgaming]

1:00:03 I SWEAR I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT THIS WAS A 1 HR VIDEO!!! I thought this was a 22-24 or maybe even 30 min video X)

[MiichaeI]

That music just brings back so many memories.

[strwbryjamn]

so funny bc the cartoonlikeness of windwaker is what made me play and get into zelda when i was a kid

[FilipWinther]

That was a fantastic video! Great job!!

[kingvr_]

I’m mad this man deserves AT LEAST 3.5 million subs. Like these videos are quality