30th Anniversary Replay List, 2nd Update

For the 30th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda and before Breath of the Wild gets released, I want to re-experience as many Zelda games as possible. I already started at the end of last year with Phantom Hourglass on the Wii U and by now I went through my entire Nintendo 3DS library of Zelda titles:

• The Legend of Zelda
• Zelda II - The Adventure of Link
• A Link to the Past
• Link's Awakening DX
• Ocarina of Time 3D
• Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest
• Majora's Mask 3D
• Oracle of Ages & Seasons
• Four Swords Anniversary Edition (Realm of Memories)
• Four Swords Anniversary Edition (Hero's Trial)
• A Link Between Worlds
• Tri Force Heroes

After Twilight Princess HD I almost exclusively played on my New Nintendo 3DS, where the focus was on Hyrule Warriors: Legends, but I also went through the Nintendo 64 remakes again, played more of Four Swords and also had some fun with Zelda II - The Adventure of Link. On the Wii U so far I've only played Twilight Princess HD, which essentially counts as replaying Twilight Princess, and both Nintendo DS Zelda games on the Virtual Console:

• Twilight Princess HD
• Phantom Hourglass
• Spirit Tracks

I haven't played the Hero Mode of Twilight Princess HD yet and this is something that I'm saving for the last weeks before Breath of the Wild gets released. It's the same with the The Wind Waker HD, where I still need to finish the 2nd Quest mode. And I also want to replay the Hero Mode of Skyward Sword, which is a game that I haven't played much since the release five years ago. So, these three games will be the final part of my journey, where I most likely will play them in the following order: The Wind Waker HD (2nd Quest), Twilight Princess HD (Hero Mode) and Skyward Sword (Hero Mode). Ideally I will be done with Skyward Sword right before Breath of the Wild comes out, so there is a nice transition from the previous 3D Zelda games to the new one.

In the meantime there are more virgin Virtual Console copies waiting to be completed on the Wii U:

• The Legend of Zelda
• Zelda II - The Adventure of Link
• A Link to the Past
• Ocarina of Time
• Majora's Mask

These are all games that I've already replayed on the Nintendo 3DS in some form, so it's not that interesting, but I still might give it a go and have some goals here. With the NES Classics I want to replay them without relying on VGMaps.com, because I noticed that I grew dependent on these solution maps in the case of these two games. I study them and plan ahead to get the safest and quickest routes through the dungeons. You avoid the literal dead ends and this makes both games a lot easier. So, this time I will go in without the help of any maps or other guides from the internet for a challenge. When I originally played the games on the NES I also didn't have any internet access and the only solution maps I had were coincidentally both Level 5 and the 5th Palace from the Club Nintendo magazine, as well as some tips and tricks for certain parts of the game. But the other dungeons I had to figure out on my own. Of course by now I do remember some critical stuff, so it won't be blind runs, but it's hard to memorize everything with these classic maze dungeons, especially the ones from the 2nd Quest.

With the Nintendo 64 games I just want to see well they hold up after playing the Nintendo 3DS remakes. And I also want to experiment with Restore Points, especially in some of the more annoying minigames. This could be interesting.

A Link to the Past on the other hand won't offer anything new, but there's nothing wrong with replaying the SNES classic. The same goes for The Minish Cap - I've already completed the Virtual Console copy on Wii U, when it was released in 2014, but it's a sweet little game, where I'm not opposed to another run.

The only Zelda game that's not on any list here is Four Swords Adventures. It's not possible to play this on either Nintendo 3DS or Wii U, but I'm staying with the current gen systems for now. And if I replay Four Swords Adventures, I don't just want to go through the singleplayer mode again - I want to play it with three other people to get the full multiplayer experience.