These are the 10 Zelda games you should play before ‘Tears of the Kingdom’ releases

wegotthiscovered.com:

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is just over a month away, and it looks like the Breath of the Wild sequel will definitely live up to the massive expectations set by its predecessor. 

Although the game will be keeping most of the gameplay mechanics from the first one (including the dreaded weapon degradation system), there are also a lot of new toys for players to mess around with — most importantly, the fuse ability that will allow players to create almost anything from their own weapons to their own vehicles. 

While there’s still so much we have yet to find out about the much-anticipated game, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the more “old school” games — the games that gave us a more linear story, and weapons and items that didn’t fall apart after 10 minutes of fighting. It’s time to delve into the pool of nostalgia and look at some of the best Zelda games you might want to play before you inevitably sink your teeth into Tears of the Kingdom.

We’re kicking things off with the one that started it all. Although the game itself is almost 40 years old, you can still see so many of the tropes and mechanics that have persisted for four decades: There’s an open world (even if it is grid-based), and it even has weapon progression as you get better and more powerful swords and shields. The boss encounters and the ultimate goal of defeating Ganon are also things we’re still seeing in Zelda entries today. This game set the template for almost every single title to follow, and the seeds planted by Nintendo in 1986 are in full bloom this year as the latest installment still proudly wears this game’s influence on its sleeve.

Obviously, this game is the closest you’ll get to experiencing Tears of the Kingdom right