Summary
- Rare Zelda games like Wind Waker HD and Ocarina Master Quest are elusive treasures for collectors and fans.
- Limited releases like The Legend Of Zelda: Collector's Edition and strange titles like Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love hold value.
- Infamous CD-i games like Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure are both rare and costly collector's items.
The history of The Legend Of Zelda games is vast, with titles becoming all-time classics that are featured in everybody's library. However, over the decades, Nintendo has released games that either fell into obscurity or the circumstances of their release have made them relics of the past.
From forgotten remasters to Japanese exclusives, certain Zelda games have become rarities that force collectors and fans to spend exuberant amounts of money just to own them. That's not including the games locked to a certain console that may or may not even exist anymore, forcing the world of emulation to maintain history.
The Legend of Zelda: 10 Most Underrated Games
These are some of the most underrated titles in the Legend of Zelda franchise.
8 The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
A Great Remaster But Released On The Wrong Console
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
- Released
- September 20, 2013
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EAD
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Wii U
Despite being the home of several strong titles, the Wii U was one of the few times Nintendo's console flopped. When the Switch came about, The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD would suffer as it is still only available for the Wii U, so finding a way to play it is difficult.
Even finding a copy of The Wind Waker HD can be taxing with prices ranging from $70 to over $100 for a copy online through stores like eBay. The open-world sea adventure was remastered and improved in almost every way with the Wii U version, and it's a shame that Nintendo has not ported it to the Nintendo Switch as they've done with several Wii U games.
7 The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time - The Master Quest
Harder To Play, Harder To Find
Exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube, The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time - The Master Quest seemed like nothing more than a port of Ocarina Of Time from the Nintendo 64. That was not the case as it was a redesigned version with a new and more difficult layout of dungeons.
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Players who enjoy The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time can find similar experiences in the following games.
Finding a copy of The Master Quest is not easy, especially if someone is looking for the original case and manual; the few copies available on eBay range from $70 to $90, not including shipping fees. Even if someone manages to snag a copy, the game is only on the Nintendo GameCube, so it becomes another challenge just to play it.
6 Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love
Strange Adventure Exclusive To Japan
Though it may not seem like a Zelda title, the strange Tingle is a recurring character from The Legend Of Zelda franchise who somehow got his own spin-off. Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love is the second game in the series, but it was only released in Japan thus rendering it one of the rarer games released for the Nintendo DS.
In fact, Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love is known mostly through emulation with a full fanmade translation version released in 2018. Even the very few options for buying an original copy online are only playable with Japanese region versions of the Nintendo DS.
5 The Legend Of Zelda: Collector's Edition
Four Games In One Collector's Item
The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition
- Released
- November 14, 2003
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo, Nintendo EAD
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Platform(s)
- GameCube
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
More or less a direct port of Ocarina Of Time, The Legend Of Zelda: Collector's Edition was already a limited release for the GameCube that celebrated years of Zelda by combining it with the original Majora's Mask as well as two classic NES video games: The Legend Of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link.
Four games in one package was a big deal at the time, which is why The Legend Of Zelda: Collector's Edition runs from $90 at the minimum online to almost $300. In a way, it has a fitting title, since it is now more of a collector's item rather than a game of celebration.
4 Zelda: Wand Of Gamelon
The Game That YouTube Made Famous
Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon
- Released
- October 10, 1993
- Franchise
- The Legend of Zelda
- Platform(s)
- PC, Philips CD-i
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
- Developer
- Animation Magic
- Publisher
- Philips Media
For the first time in The Legend Of Zelda history, fans could play the titular princess in Zelda: Wand Of Gamelon. Unfortunately, it is an infamously ridiculed game thanks to the animated cutscenes that were the source of many memes across the internet for years.
Quality of the game aside, Zelda: Wand Of Gamelon has the unfortunate luck of being exclusive to the Philips CD-I, a console that was already over-expensive for the common gamer in the 90s. It is rare to find a CD-I in the modern age, let alone a working one. Copies of Wand Of Gamelon sell for $725 and up to the egregious price of $4,500.
3 Link: The Faces Of Evil
More Memes Means More Money For Scalpers
Link: The Faces of Evil
- Released
- October 10, 1993
- Platform(s)
- PC, Philips CD-i
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
- Developer
- Animation Magic
- Publisher
- Philips Media
With Link speaking for the first time, for better or worse , Link: The Faces Of Evil is the sister game to Zelda: The Wand Of Gamelon released on the same day. It is the same lacklustre 2D side-scrolling adventure with poorly animated cutscenes but in a new location featuring different characters and villains.
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The Legend of Zelda franchise has witnessed plenty of villains, so it's unsurprising that some of them flew under the radar.
Somehow, The Faces Of Evil manages to be worse due to Link's obnoxious voice, yet prices for it are just as ridiculous as Wand Of Gamelon. Fans are expected to pay from $300 to $2,795, that is when copies are not completely sold out.
2 Metroid Prime & The Wind Waker Combo Pack
Link & Samus Together In A Single Package
Nintendo is no stranger to combo game packs, with a prime example being the Super Mario Bros. And Duck Hunt combo for the original NES. However, Nintendo boldly put two legendary titles from the GameCube library together: The Wind Waker and Metroid Prime, two completely different but beloved games in the Metroid series and Zelda.
Even on the initial release, the Metroid Prime & The Wind Waker combo was not common, but now, it is even rarer to find, which has resulted in it being found on eBay for over $1000 for a copy. Fans would have better luck just buying copies of both games separately.
1 Zelda's Adventure
The Game Even Fans Don't Know
Zelda's Adventure
- Released
- June 5, 1994
- Platform(s)
- Philips CD-i
- Developer
- Viridis Corporation
- Publisher
- Philips Media
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
Not that anyone would want to play Zelda's Adventure, since it is often considered the worst of the CD-I trilogy of games. It swapped from the infamous cartoon art style to live-action actors for both the gameplay sprites and the FMV cutscenes that 90s games loved, which in some ways look better but are still considered ugly to the eyes.
The CD-I rarity aside, very few fans even know that Zelda's Adventure even exists; on eBay, the game's lowest-priced listing is $1,100 while the most common listing is $1,500. Since Nintendo and Philips no longer have any sort of partnership, it is unlikely that the CD-I games will ever see a modern release outside of emulation.
The Legend of Zelda: Every Non-Canon Game, Ranked
These games may not be canon to the Zelda timeline, but plenty of franchise fans have fond memories of these titles.