With the series being almost 40 years old, it is hard to deny the impact The Legend of Zelda has had on gaming as a whole. The very foundations of the series are elements that still hold weight to this day, and the newest entries have been a reinvention of themselves based on those very humble beginnings.
Yet, amidst all of that, what has truly defined Zelda games, beyond even dungeons or enemies, have been Link's many tools across the series. It is impossible to envision him without copious bombs or a quiver full of arrows. So let's go ahead and examine some of the best items Link has gathered on his many adventures.
Updated on August 15, 2023 by Hilton Webster: In the years since this article was last written, The Legend of Zelda series has seen some dramatic changes. Breath of the Wild changed their whole world design, and Tears of the Kingdom is all about creating your own tools. So with that in mind, let's revisit the best items across the series.
10 Bombs
In the Zelda universe, bombs are not only essential, they are ubiquitous. They are a simple part of life in Hyrule. You see a short fellow in a green tunic dropping bombs everywhere? That is no cause for alarm in Hyrule, no sir. You do need a metric ton of bombs at your disposal at all times.
More than just a tool, bombs have also been powerful weapons since the dawn of the series. They are a powerful weapon against enemies big and small, and can, in many entries, not only be thrown but tossed. They harken back to some of Nintendo's earliest design philosophy — if you have bombs, you should try to blow everything up to find the way forward.
9 Gust Jar And Bellows
Originally appearing in the Capcom-developed Minish cap, the Gust Jar only has two proper appearances, yet is still an iconic weapon of Link's. It appears as a rather simple jar, though with the incredible power to suck in just about anything around it. An item or enemy not big enough to be consumed? Then use the excess air in the jar to shoot it out at lightning speed.
It also makes an appearance in Skyward Sword, though this time as the Gust Bellows. It's an inverse of the Gust Jar, focused entirely on continuously blowing things away. In this way, it can remove mounds of sand, stun enemies with hurricane winds, or even cause simple items to float. It's a bit more one-dimensional, but still nice to see a version of the Gust Jar in a mainline entry.
8 Bow
Having appeared since the very first entry and just about every game since, the Bow is as much a part of Link's identity as his green tunic, and maybe even more at this point. It can come in many shapes and sizes, and fire off plenty of different types of arrows, but it is always Link's mainstay ranged weapon.
Like the Hookshot before it, the Bow found its mark in 3D. Ocarina of Time even let the bow be aimed in first-person to really line up your aim, with later entries up to this day even allowing the use of motion controls to really get you a precise shot. It is also more often than not the final weapon to slay Ganon. You'd really think he'd have immunity to Light Arrows at this point.
7 Bottle
Bottles are some of the oldest items in The Legend of Zelda series, first appearing back in A Link to the Past. As you would use a bottle in real life, it has consistently been used to store things, from some fresh milk to mystical fairies.
What makes them such an enduring gameplay element is that they're entirely up to the player's choosing. You can (usually) ignore them if you want, or use them as some backup healing. You can typically gather up more bottles to stuff into Link's endless pockets, too.
6 Masks
Majora’s Mask is undeniably the darkest game in the series, one that isn't afraid to feel entirely surreal in its presentation. Stepping away from many of the characters that defined the series, Majora's Mask instead focuses on the land of Termina, and the titular Majora's Mask.
But they are not the only mask in the game. In fact, there's a massive amount of incredible masks in the game, from ones that let you jump incredibly high, to others that let you spawn bombs and take no damage from them. Some of them even turn Link into entirely different species, each with their own unique instruments.
5 Shield
The humble shield is an item that can almost go forgotten in many Zelda games. In truth, it is somewhat optional in many games. You can go through the entirety of the Oracle games without one, and in Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword, it's incredibly simple for it to just burn away.
Yet, they are still invaluable, appearing in every entry. Many entries even have the mirror shield that adds an extra tactical element. Breath of the Wild also added shield-surfing, a technique that makes shields just as important as your common weapons.
4 Sheikah Slate
In many ways, Breath of the Wild was a reinvention of the series as a whole, but also very introspective. The Sheikah appeared as a mysterious people tied to the Royal Family across many entries, but Breath of the Wild finally gave their own culture and technology a chance to shine.
In lieu of more traditional items, the Sheikah Slate became one of Link's only tools in Breath of the Wild. Instead, it had a plethora of unique abilities, from picking up anything that was metal to suspending them in stasis and packing them with kinetic energy. Plus a motorcycle, somehow.
3 Boomerang
The Boomerang is the first item in the first dungeon of the first-ever Zelda game. That’s a lot of pressure to live up to, seeing as how dungeons constantly reward you with new tools. Yet even still, the Boomerang has managed to become one of Link's most reoccurring gadgets.
A versatile tool, it has been reinvented a few times to give it new features. While the traditional boomerang is great as a stun gun of sorts, The Wind Waker's version allows you to hit multiple enemies at the same time, and the Twilight Princess’ Gale Boomerang brings back items and enemies alike.
2 Hookshot
Another item first introduced in A Link to the Past, the Hookshot is arguably the most iconic and useful item across the entire Zelda series. Though it was created for the 2D games, it found its true calling in 3D. It showcased just how much a 3D environment could add to a world when the Hookshot lets you cling to almost any surface.
In later entries, like Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, it was replaced with the Clawshots. Plural there, because they could be upgraded to the Double Clawshots. And though it is undeniably cool to run around with a pair of claws, they don't substantially alter the gameplay, which means they're still great anyway.
1 Paraglider
Breath of the Wild was far from the first game to introduce gliding as a mechanic, but its implementation rewired how many people viewed games, both in playing them, and in making them. Do you have a big open world that players should feel free to explore? Slap a glider in there.
While Tears of the Kingdom lets you create a bunch of flying machines all of your own that weaken the impact of the paraglider, there's no denying how much it informed the creation of Breath of the Wild's Hyrule and the wider impacts it had on gaming as a whole.