Where should I start?
Where should I start?
play the series chronologically. ignore every other answer.
Link to the Past, OoT, or Windwaker
A Link to the Past, OoT, or BotW
Go and play them in any order after that
I'd save the original for last because it can turn new people off. It's not that great. Zelda II is unique enough and better than the first so I'd suggest trying that eventually. It gets shit on because of casuals
Play any other ARPG and you'll get the exact same experience, it doesn't matter.
This is kind of something with a clear and obvious answer.
Good luck with the series though. Just keep in mind there's basically no point in playing through everything, half of it are basically weaker, redundant takes on the better games.
Link to the Past for the 2D games, Ocarina of time for the 3D games. They're almost like separate series. And BotW is different enough that it might as well be it's own thing as well.
If you know Metroid games, then ALttP is Super Metroid and OoT is Metroid Prime.
WINDWAKER BOOIII
Zelda 2. Ignore all others.
Please name these other ARPGs then. Even something as good as Dark Souls lacks the variety of interaction that is basically unique to Zelda. Nothing so far has successfully copied Zelda's gameplay structure to the same extent.
This is the most autism inducing shit.
Like everyone's saying, Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. After that I'd say go for Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask. Once that's done it doesn't really matter.
Link to the past, then ocarina. If you liked 2d zelda better, play those and vice versa
Ocarina of Time is not only the best Zelda, but the greatest and highest rated game ever made. That's the one you want.
majoras mask > ocarina
Ocarina Of Time wouldn't be a bad starting point honestly. For the 2D games A Link To The Past is the obvious choice, but my favourite is Minish Cap.
As much as I love them, don't start with Zelda 2, Majora's Mask or Breath Of The Wild. They're all very different from the rest of the games in the series.
Forgot to add that TP was my first Zelda game and I loved it (still do). Probably won't have the same affect on you as it did to a 10 year old in 2006 though.
>Zelda II is unique enough and better than the first so I'd suggest trying that eventually. It gets shit on because of casuals
Good taste, however, BotW would be the worst place to start since it doesn't resemble any other zelda.
That's kind of an expansion pack of OoT, he might as well play the game before it with ganon and zelda and all that classic stuff.
Wind Waker is probably the most comfy and palatable for newcomers if you don't mind the sailing
If you start with Ocarina you'll need a certain perspective appreciating the context of it's release and what it did for the industry or you probably won't get what all the fuss is about, but it's still a decent stating point.
If you're more interested in the 2D games, Link to the Past or Link Between Worlds, pick your poison.
Zelda 2 is really fun but I'm too much of a casual to ever beat it.
This leads me to a weird thought. It's fair to feel MM is a better game than OoT but I'm not sure I could say "If you only play one Zelda, make it MM" like I could OoT. It just isn't right.
As for the OP I don't think my opinion will add much at this stage of the thread but like many others have said OoT and LttP are probably the best places to start. Check out the first game, Zelda 2, MM, and WW if you enjoy either.
Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time.
Wind Waker's boring as fuck and has no difficulty, and it's a lame add-on story to Ocarina of Time.
Zelda 2
>Left - Actual Timeline
>Right - Natural Split from OoT
>Middle - Anouma's bullshit fanfic canon
I think that sums it up fairly well.
>Start with Skyward Sword
Left is the only canon I care about.
wand of gamalon