It's Zelda week, and with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releasing Friday, we are taking a look back at the game's past. When we think of The Legend of Zelda, the first thing that comes to mind is often an epic, single-player experience. From over-the-top bosses to green tunics and puzzles, all of the main series Zelda games are meant to be played alone. However, there are quite a few spin-off titles that feature couch co-op or even online multiplayer. So if you’re ready to crawl through dungeons and collect rupees with a friend, here are my recommendations for the best Zelda multiplayer games.

4 -The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (3DS)

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes for 3DS felt like an experiment that sounded good on paper but in reality, didn’t work out as well as expected. The game features classic top-down dungeon crawling and puzzle solving but with a catch. Instead of a single protagonist, there are three different colored Links (red, blue, and green) that are each controlled by a different player.

Additionally, instead of a large, open world to explore Tri Force Heroes mostly consists of a town and 32 dungeons typically with 4 stages each. While that might seem like a significant amount of content, the gameplay and levels do feel a bit repetitive after a while.

In order to complete each dungeon, players need to work together by standing on blocks, stacking up or throwing each other across ledges. Furthermore, to finish a level, all three players need to simultaneously stand on three Triforce pieces, which means no one can be left behind even it would make solving certain puzzles easier.

While playing Zelda mini-dungeons with friends might sound like a great experience, there’s a serious catch, which is one of the main complaints the game received. You either have to play the game solo (by switching control of the various Links) or with exactly 3 people. That’s right, there’s no 2-person co-op.

Technically, you can play with a friend and try to find a third online, but this requires you both to own a copy of the game, and the online community isn’t exactly thriving anymore. So if you have a dedicated group of 3 friends then it could be worth checking out Tri Force Heroes, but you might want to sit this one out if you’re just playing with a partner.

3 - Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Switch)

As the sequel to Hyrule Warrior for the Wii U, Age of Calamity explores an alternate timeline for Breath of Wild with Dynasty Warriors-style combat. Unleash Link, Urbosa, Revali, and tons of other characters on the hordes of Ganon. While it might not require the same brainpower that typical Zelda games do, there’s definitely something satisfying about blasting hundreds of Bokoblins off the battlefield with a single special attack.

For being a spin-off title, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity offers a solid amount of story and character development, even if it isn’t technically canon.  There is also a ton of content here, so if you want to bring a friend be sure to strap in for the long haul. A single run through the story typically takes a couple dozen hours and 100 percent completion is closer to a hundred, especially if you want to unlock everything for each character.

If it wasn’t for one major issue, I would easily recommend Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity as the best multiplayer Zelda game. Unfortunately, Age of Calamity has relatively poor optimization on the Switch and it’s even worse with two players. Be prepared to play in slideshow mode for some of the more intense battles.

2 - The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GameCube / GBA)

Sequel to the Four Swords mini-game on the Game Boy Advance, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures expanded upon the formula by bringing full-fledged multiplayer levels to the franchise for the first time. While the original had arcade-style gameplay with random levels, Four Swords Adventures feels closer to A Link to the Past with friends. There’s also a competitive side to the game, as each player’s score is tallied up at the end of each stage.

One of the best parts of Four Swords Adventures is how flexible the multiplayer component is. You can play completely solo or with up to 4 players at any time. Similar to Tri Force Heroes, there will always be four Links on the screen but without the restriction of having exactly four players. This is handled by allowing players to choose how the extra Links are distributed, for example with two-players each can have an AI Link, or player one can take both of the extras.

The biggest drawback of Four Swords Adventures is the sheer amount of hardware required to play the game. While you only need a single copy of the game, instead of multiple copies on the original GBA version, it still requires a GameCube and a Game Boy Advanced plus adapter for each player beyond the first. With how easy most multiplayer games are to access now, this amount of hardware and setup time might be a turn-off for many players.

1 - Hyrule Warriors (WII U)

The Wii U might have been one of the worst-selling consoles in Nintendo’s history, but it did offer some unique gameplay experiences with its large touchscreen gamepad. Hyrule Warriors was one title that utilized this to its fullest by offering local co-op between the TV and the gamepad.

Similar to Age of Calamity, Hyrule Warriors plays like a typical Dynasty Warriors game where you’ll be controlling the heroes of Hyrule, and maybe some villains, to take on hordes of enemy troops. While it might not be an ideal experience for the person using the gamepad, it does play to the strength of the system and avoids the massive performance issues with Age of Calamity. The Definitive Edition is also available on the Nintendo Switch, but it does use splits-screen which can cause notable frames-per-second drops.

Additionally, unlike Age of Calamity, the original Hyrule Warriors does not take place in a specific timeline but instead showcases a brand new story that visits locations and timelines from previous Zelda titles. If the story mode just isn’t enough for you, the Adventure Mode unlocks a 16x8 grid based on The Legend of Zelda with 128 scenarios to play through.

Due to the sheer volume of content, unique story, and objectively easiest way to play co-op of any Zelda game, Hyrule Warriors for Wii U is easily my top recommendation for anyone looking to play Zelda with a friend.