What's the recommended order to play The Legend of Zelda games?

[HonorVex]

I've finished Ocarina of Time yesterday, the next game I'm going to play is Majora's Mask but I want to know a correct order to play the games. I was thinking to play them by story timeline order but I don't know... I read that OoT is one of the bests to start in the saga and that's why I started playing this game, it's is beautiful and I loved it, and that's why I care to keep a good order in the games, to have the best experience playing them. What you guys think?

 

[Deleted User]

Their timeline is unimportant with a few exceptions:

- Play Ocarina of Time before Majora's Mask, which you already have.

- Play Phantom Hourglass before Spirit Tracks.

- Play A Link to the Past before A Link Between Worlds.

- Play The Legend of Zelda before Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, better to skip these two games they haven't aged well.

Even in these cases the timeline is rather minor and you'll still understand most of the story playing them out of order.

 

[HonorVex]

Their timeline is unimportant with a few exceptions:

- Play Ocarina of Time before Majora's Mask, which you already have.

- Play Phantom Hourglass before Spirit Tracks.

- Play A Link to the Past before A Link Between Worlds.

- Play The Legend of Zelda before Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, better to skip these two games they haven't aged well.

Even in these cases the timeline is rather minor and you'll still understand most of the story playing them out of order.

Thank you! I was worried about the order and what can happen if I play a game like BotW before Wind Waker and miss something

 

[Zense]

Basically what the guy above said if you care about timeline or in other words getting the small references between games. BotW should probably come last seeing it is the latest and therefore prone to have more references/nostalgic nods. I'm trying not to spoil anything.

Personally I'd also say there's a point to be made about whether you want to play the traditional top-down games or only the 3D ones. They are all Zelda with many of the same elements, but it comes down to whether you prefer 3D or 2D, or if you're okay with both.

 

[AmandaRose]

Here is the official Zelda timeline. But as others have said the order you play them really doesn't matter much.

 

[RichardTheKing]

There's pretty much no interconnecting narrative (it's not Mass Effect), and there's only a handful of reoccurring Links.

The five games I personally recommend playing are Twilight Princess, The Wind Waker, Majora's Mask 3D, Link's Awakening (Switch, but DX via 3DS Virtual Console is a good choice too), and A Link Between Worlds.

The rest of the games tend to have frustrating gimmicks and design decisions that just kill my personal interest - Skyward Sword has shield fragility, far-too-limited Pouch, repetition, dysfunctional motion controls, stamina, repetition, slow flying, timed Tear-collecting sequences with reset conditions, and repetition. The Oracle duo (via 3DS VC) are large games heavily limited by the GBC; they seriously need the remake treatment (Link's Awakening DX managed to be fun despite the GBC due to its simplicity). The Nintendo DS duo have that stupid stylus restriction, despite the handheld having buttons galore; idiotic designers...Ocarina of Time has an overwhelmingly slow beginning, and Link to the Past is archaic and has enemies that deal far too much damage in the Dark World.

Oh, and Breath of the Wild...I heavily recommend against buying and playing this disaster. Equipment fragility, stamina, resource grinding, slow and tedious world traversal, bland and empty open-world, repetitive shrines, overpowered enemies, and a dearth of tools compared to actual Legend of Zelda games. Oh, and slow and clunky combat.
I managed to slog my way through Skyward Sword a handful of times over the years, despite that shitstain's many flaws and anger-inducers. I only managed to play a few hours of Breath of the Wild before I got absolutely sick of it, ejected the preowned cartridge, and threw it in a drawer somewhere. Almost nothing redeemable here.