Completionists beware. You’re in for a scare. As Nintendo’s flagship adventure series,The Legend of Zeldagames are known for their vast worlds brimming with secrets, side quests, and perilous dungeons. Beating a Zelda title is always a delight, but going for 100 percent is a different story.
With so much to see and collect, exploring everything Hyrule offers is no easy task. Completing Zelda games can drive even the most skilled completionists to rage quit, thanks to some well-hidden collectibles and ruthless side quests. If you’re up for the challenge, the following Zelda games are the hardest to complete 100 percent.
It can be difficult to rank difficulty for completionist playthroughs due to the variance of the challenges in each game. Considering that, we’ve ranked this list by each game’s expected completion time. That doesn’t mean the short ones will be the easiest, however!
8Minish Cap
Completion Time - 26 Hours
Don’t let Minish Cap’s short length fool you. Completing this game will add several hours to your playtime, thanks to the dreaded gacha mechanics. Hundreds of mysterious shells are hidden across Hyrule or found in stores, and they’re used as currency in the figurine shop. The catch? There are 136 figurines, and they’re awarded to you randomly.
You must get every single one of these toys to get the final heart piece. The worst part is spending hours grinding for shells or rupees only to have the capsule machine spit a duplicate at you. Remember to breathe and try not to throw your Game Boy Advance.
7Phantom Hourglass
Completion Time - 31 Hours
At first glance, Phantom Hourglass seems like anotherchill Zelda game on the Nintendo DS. But a devilish side quest is waiting to make life a nightmare for completionists. Linebeck’s ship can be customized with 72 different parts, all subject to RNG.
Ship parts can be found in shops, treasure chests, or won in minigames, but which one you get is entirely random. Let’s hope you like the cannon minigame on Spectacle Isle because you’ll need to play it dozens of times to unlock everything. Don’t forget to find all 60 Spirit Gems as well.
Despite featuring only four dungeons, Majora’s Mask keeps completionists busy with a whopping 52 heart pieces to find - the most out of any Zelda game. On top of that, Termina, especially Clock Town, is bursting with 63 side quests that you must do for completion.
That wouldn’t be so challenging if it weren’t for the three-day time limit. Every side quest runs on an in-game time system, requiring Link to go to certain places during specific parts of the three-day cycle. If you miss your opportunity, get ready to return to the first day and wait for your chance again.
5Oracle Of Ages And Oracle Of Seasons
Completion Time - 45 Hours
The Oracle games are unique since they require you to beat both to complete either. Each title provides one half of the story, with a password at the end that lets you transfer data to the other game. This is the only way to unlock every item and reach the final boss against Ganon.
If beating two games wasn’t hard enough, Ages and Seasons have a combined total of 64 magic rings to collect if you’re going for completion. You’ll need to go to ridiculous lengths to unlock some of them, like defeating 1,000 enemies and finding 10,000 rupees. Right when you think it’s over, it’s time to play both games again in the opposite order.
Wind Waker is home to some of the most brutal challenges in the Zelda series, including obtaining Master Rank from Orca by hitting him 1,000 times in a row during combat. However, the absurd number of collectibles makes this game a nightmare to complete.
Any Zelda completionist undoubtedly remembers the Picto Box side quest, which requires you to take photos of almost every character, enemy, and animal in the game. To make matters worse, the camera can only carry three images at a time in the GameCube version, so prepare for a lot of backtracking across the Great Sea.
Breath of the Wildblew Zelda fans away when it launched in 2017, thanks to its jaw-dropping, expansive world. Hyrule had never been bigger andfilled with countless things to do, meaning completionists had one heck of a mountain to climb if they hoped to beat the game 100 percent.
Among the completion requirements are finding 15 Sheikah towers, 18 forgotten memories, 76 side quests, and a staggering 120 shrines. But nothing compares to the mind-melting task of hunting down all 900 Korok seeds. You can easily pour hundreds of hours into Breath of the Wild without even touching the main quest. Good luck!
To learn more, check outthe review for Tears of the Kingdom.
Take Breath of the Wild, multiply it by three, and you getTears of the Kingdom. This is the largest version of Hyrule due to the addition of the Depths and Sky Islands. With over 1,000 places to visit, many people never see the game’smany secrets and hidden areas.
To complete Tears of the Kingdom, you must beat all 152 shrines, find 120 Lightroots, take on 136 side quests, hunt down 1,000 Korok seeds, and much more. And that doesn’t even cover the hundreds of recipes and countless weapons you can find. Get ready to devote months to seeing everything.
Hyrule Warriors Definitive Editionis, by far, thelongest Zelda game to complete, thanks to the sheer amount of content and grinding. There are 29 playable characters; each can be leveled up to 255 and has several badges to unlock. That alone will take you as long as completing multiple mainline games.
Need even more content? Hyrule Warriors requires you to get a perfect A-rank in every boss and battle challenge as all 29 characters. Add that to the Legend Mode, where you must play every stage on four difficulties. If you plan on completing this game 100 percent, don’t forget to bring a stress ball.
