As of today, and until Nintendo offers us an alternative, the only way to play The Legend of Zelda saga on mobile devices is through emulators of old consoles. With the recent release of Tears of the Kingdom, we are eager to dive into this iconic franchise, so we tell you the most recommended ways to get it from our Android device.
How to play Zelda on mobile devices
The Legend of Zelda is one of the few sagas of which Nintendo has not published any video game for mobile devices. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t access the vast amount of classic titles of the franchise— almost every game, from its first installment to the Wii ones, can be played on Android thanks to retro console emulators (which don’t include the ROMS of the games). Below you can see the best options as of today:
How to play classic Zelda games of NES, SNES, and Game Boy on Android?
If we want to start playing The Legend of Zelda through its classic installments— many of them outstanding nowadays— we can do it thanks to emulators like RetroArch. This app will allow us to run ROMS of NES games like the original The Legend of Zelda, from 1986, as well as the essential The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past from SNES, released in 1991, and even the original version of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, which was released in 1993 for Game Boy.
Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of Time on your mobile device thanks to Nintendo 64 emulators
In the Nintendo 64 catalog, we find two true gems of The Legend of Zelda saga— both The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask can be played on mobile devices thanks to emulators like Mupen64Plus FZ Edition, compatible with these two classic games that you can’t miss if you have even the slightest interest in the saga.
The best Zelda games of Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS on your mobile device
Although it may not seem so, in the most recent Nintendo handheld devices, there are very good games of The Legend of Zelda. On Nintendo DS —which can be emulated on mobile devices with NDS Boy!— we find titles like The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass or The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, while on Nintendo 3DS —whose most recommended emulator is Citra Emulator— we should not miss at least The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Play Zelda games of Wii and GameCube on Android
Thanks to the Dolphin emulator, we can run ROMS of Zelda games for Wii and GameCube on our mobile devices. This means that we will be able to play titles as well-known and essential as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, released in 2006 for both Nintendo consoles, or The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which was released in 2011 only for Wii. The best thing is that if we do not want to have many emulators installed on the mobile device, this is enough for us because it gives access to the best installments of the saga: Wii re-released many of the classic games of NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64, so you could easily get to emulate from a single app like this.
Can I play Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom on mobile devices?
Although video game emulation has come a long way in recent years, the truth is that it still depends to a large extent on the power of the device on which a game is emulated. To play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on mobile devices would require a Nintendo Switch emulator for Android, and although there are very laudable attempts such as DamonSwitch, it is something that as of today is far from being truly useful. It may be possible in the future, but at present, it is not recommended.
