Legend of Zelda Goes Multiplayer for Its 40th Anniversary

Zelda has had various experiments with multiplayer over the years, but never like this. The original The Legend of Zelda for the NES, released in 1986, just got a brand-new multiplayer co-op release, and it’s a surprisingly great way to experience the classic game that started it all.

Created by solo developer Deric Miller, Z for 2 is a new mod that turns the original TLOZ into a multiplayer co-op adventure, released just in time for the series' 40th anniversary celebration. This isn’t technically the first mod to implement multiplayer into Zelda 1, but it’s definitely the most polished by far.

Zelda 1 Plays Perfectly in Its New Multiplayer Mode

In Z for 2, one player takes control of Link, while the other takes on his shadow (a notable difference from Dark Link). What’s most intuitive about this ROM is how it cleverly splits up mechanics to make the multiplayer experience feel more natural.

For example, players can individually select and use different items from one another, which was not possible in other multiplayer builds of Zelda 1. Players can even skim through their items without opening the menu screen, by just pressing select, further streamlining the experience.

In the past, fans have brought multiplayer to other Zelda games as well. Perhaps most notable is a mod for co-op in Ship of Harkinian, which is a native PC port of Ocarina of Time that’s generally seen as the definitive OOT experience for many Zelda fans these days.

While co-op in Ship of Harkinian is a fun novelty, Ocarina of Time is truly a single-player game at its heart. On the other hand, The Legend of Zelda is probably the game where co-op makes the most sense, because it’s the closest to arcade-style gameplay the mainline franchise has ever been. The game also has an infamously high difficulty level, though a good portion of that is just that the game offers absolutely no help in guiding players where to go next.

1986’s The Legend of Zelda is all about exploration in the purest sense, but for players who dove into it before the internet was a thing, it was also about community. The only real way for players to find all the game’s secrets was to talk with their friends and compare notes and their hand-drawn maps of the game world.

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Nintendo Hasn't Officially Capitalized the Zelda's Multiplayer Potential

The Legend of Zelda franchise’s varied attempts at turning Link’s adventure into a co-op experience have been an infamously mixed bag. While games like Four Swords Adventures and Triforce Heroes had decent enough mechanics, they often suffered from forcing each player to have their own system, thereby making playing with friends increasingly difficult. The biggest struggle Nintendo has always had with Zelda’s official attempts at multiplayer has been accessibility.

In recent years, Nintendo has made small steps in the right direction with Zelda multiplayer. The inclusion of Four Swords on NSO brought with it the welcome addition of online multiplayer, though it still lacks the matchmaking functionality that has become a standard for multiplayer gaming nowadays.

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The Hyrule Warriors games have also made co-op in the Zelda universe more feasible, and that includes the latest title, Age of Imprisonment. Unfortunately, it’s not quite the classic Zelda experience most fans would want.

Interestingly, Tears of the Kingdom gave an inkling at what's possible with multiplayer in Zelda with the spirits of the Sages who joined Hopefully, Nintendo will catch wind of what the fans are doing in the Modding community and realize how much potential Zelda has for multiplayer. In the meantime, Z for 2 looks like the best way to celebrate 40 years of Zelda history with a friend in 2026.

Video Game(s) The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom First Film The Legend of Zelda First TV Show The Legend of Zelda Created by Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka 0:00 / 0:00