Every Legend of Zelda Visual Aesthetic, Ranked From Worst to Best

Every game in The Legend of Zelda series is defined in part by its aesthetics, the visual choices that pull sprites, environments, and characters into a single vision. Even during the Hylian hero’s original 8-bit journey, strong art direction turned simple sprites into sprawling labyrinths, mysterious woods, and terrible foes in the player’s imagination.

This article was originally published on June 27, 2023. It’s been republished today following the 40th anniversary of Zelda's launch in Japan. Looking back on the 40 year history of the franchise, one thing is clear: Link has had a lot of looks. Cel-shaded oceans, lonely ranches, and apocalyptic moon landings all paint the diverse canvas that is The Legend of Zelda, but which entries truly look the best?

There’s no bad-looking Zelda game—not from Nintendo, anyway—but here we rank the most aesthetically inspired entries, from least inspired to most. We’ll be considering all the mainline Zelda entries, and this is a ranking of how they look rather than how they play.

Japan

zelda, link, visual aesthetic, art direction, cel-shaded, 8-bit, hylian, 40th anniversary, mainline entries, moon landings