The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom finds its place on the official series timeline, and it comes right before the events of the first game

gamesradar.com:

Nintendo has revealed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom's official place on the Zelda timeline, and it turns out that the princess's adventure happens directly before the events of the first game.

The Zelda timeline is, frankly, rather confusing – there's a whole timeline split after the events of Ocarina of Time depending on whether or not Link is defeated, so certain games only fit into the equation in one of these realities. Echoes of Wisdom, it turns out, is one of these. As spotted on ResetEra, the official Japanese Zelda history page has now been updated to include the series' latest 2D romp, and it turns out that it's part of the 'Hero is Defeated' branch.

Specifically, it's sandwiched between The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (the co-op-focused 3DS game) and The Legend of Zelda (the first one), although it's also worth noting that the "Decline of Hyrule Kingdom" is slotted in directly after Zelda's own adventure. The timeline doesn't explain how many years each of the games are separated by, which could help explain a plot discrepancy some have pointed out on ResetEra which – without getting into spoilers – relates to the knowledge (or lack thereof) of the Triforce in the games in question. 

As you'd expect, this timeline is constantly changed as more Zelda games are released, so it won't remain in this exact state forever. Recently, Nintendo also altered it so that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were totally separated from the rest. Obviously, those two games are connected, with the latter being a direct sequel to the former, but Nintendo hasn't offered any explanation as to how their existence could tie into the events of the rest of the series. Maybe another game will be released later down the line that could help make the connection.

Legend of Zelda mastermind Eiji Aonuma says he always focuses on gameplay before story: "I've never really made a game where you think of the story first."

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