Gameplay Elements of The Legend of Zelda Series

The major gameplay elements of all games in The Legend of Zelda series are exploration of the in-game world, utilization of various items, and the fulfillment of quests.

Exploration
Exploration in The Legend of Zelda series consists of the Overworld and Dungeons.

Overworld
The Overworld is the most vast area that Link must explore in each game of the series. It is through the overworld that he can access other areas of the game. Typically, at the start of Link's adventure, the range of places he can explore is very limited, but by advancing the story via completing the necessary objectives, the world begins to open up to him.

Of course, Link must know where to go to advance the story, and knowing how to find where to go next can come in handy. The most obvious solution is to view the surrounding areas. If Link only has one path to follow, he should take it. It would also be wise to use the Map if Link is in the possession of one, especially if there is a destination marked upon it. It's also helpful to listen to the words of people that Link encounters on his adventure. Their speech may contain vague hints and keywords related to what he should do; since Ocarina of Time, these keywords have regularly been emphasized with text of a different color than the standard text. Not only should Link speak with common people, but he should also listen to his partners. Companions like Navi and Ezlo often give good advice when called upon.

Then, there is the matter of getting from place to place. Link can usually walk, but it is not always necessary or possible. Conveniently, he may have a form of transportation, like his horse, Epona. In games like The Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks, a means of transportation is crucial to get around, but Link can manage this with the aid of the King of Red Lions or the Spirit Train, respectively. Transportation may even come in the unique form of Warping. Using items or magical shortcuts like the Recorder or Twilight Portals, Link can get to where he needs to be in an instant. In some cases, there are times when he must use items to access new areas.

As Link explores the world before his eyes, he may discover towns; in them, he finds characters he can talk to, be it to receive useful information, to start a sidequest, to proceed in his journey or simply to learn something interesting. Generally, when Link is in a town, he rarely finds enemies or monsters, so most of the actions made in these places are limited to civil interaction. In caves, harsh areas and the like, this is not the case, so Link must stay guard due to the possibility of being attacked until reaching a more peaceful area.

Dungeons
Dungeons, or Temples, are like the underworld of The Legend of Zelda. There are many of these locations scattered throughout the Overworld, and delving into the deepest corners of these labyrinths is important for Link to complete his quest. Similarly to the Overworld, most the explorable areas are initially closed off.

Exploring Dungeons can be difficult, and getting anywhere may require Link to solve puzzles. While puzzles also exist in the Overworld, they are most prevalent in Dungeons. There are often locked doors and other obstacles which will hinder Link's path or his ability to reach items of value, but conquering these puzzles will unlock the way forward or make a Treasure Chest appear, among other things. Sometimes, Link's companion will give him hints on how to solve them. There are many puzzles that demand Link's natural abilities. For a common example, he may have to push a block to hold down a switch, which will activate something, or he can move the block to give himself a platform he can climb to reach higher ground. More complex puzzles can only be solved with the use of specific items. Link can gather a number of items with unique abilities, and therefore, there are unique puzzles to solve with them.

Certain items can only be found in Dungeons, and some of them only correspond with the Dungeon they are found in. The Dungeon Map shows Link where he has been and where he has yet to go within a Dungeon, so it is especially useful for exploration. This item is attained automatically in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks and can be drawn on. Another common Dungeon item is the Compass. Originally, it would only show the location of the Dungeon Boss on the Map, but it was later given the additional feature of marking unopened Chests on the Map. In the first three Game Boy titles, having the compass would cause a chime when there was a Key present in an area. Keys are the most important Dungeon items. They can open locked doors. Small keys are found in quantities in most Dungeons and can be dropped by enemies or found under pots and inside Chests. They will open normal door locks. Only one Boss Key is found in a Dungeon, on the other hand, and will open the door to a Dungeon boss' lair. One other special item can be found in Dungeons, and that is the special Inventory Item that a Dungeon will hold. The item can likely be used to to solve puzzles in the Dungeon.

At the end of most Dungeons is a boss. Most bosses themselves are like puzzles: Link should never attack them head-on without first devising a strategy. A boss has one or many weakness that Link should figure out. He should carefully observe his environment, watch for patterns in the boss' movement, and examine the boss' appearance closely. An opening for Link to attack could be discovered in this manner. Commonly, the Inventory Item Link finds in a Dungeon can be used in a strategy to fight the boss of that Dungeon. Usually, after a boss is defeated, it will leave behind a Quest Item and a Heart Container. With that, Link can leave the Dungeon and continue adventuring.

Items
Items are tools Link finds to succeed on his quest. They can be gained after beating a Mini-boss, as a reward for helping someone, or simply found in hidden areas. Depending on usability and other conditions, they can be permanently available for the young hero, or be left away after they're no longer required; also, depending on how they are used, they can be assigned for equipment (Link doesn't make use of them through action buttons; instead, they already come in effect when they're equipped), make instant effect when picked up, or for manual use. Some items aren't used gameplay-wise, and they're just for plot-based purposes. According to all these criteria, items can be classified into:


 * 1.	Equipped items(Sword, Shield, Tunic)
 * 2.	Inventory (Some with upgrades)
 * 3.	Key items (Quest items, trade items)
 * 4.	Pick-ups (Heart pieces, bombs, keys)

Frequently, both the sword and shield, as they're part of the equipment type, are assigned to special buttons that cannot be occupied by anything else; in contrast, the other items have to share space from item buttons. Also, among the manual items are those made for attack, puzzle-solving, or trade.

Main quest
The main quest is everything that is mandatory to do if it's desired to complete a game. In it is the premise, the storyline, the major plot twists, and the main progression status. The main quest consists on a constant alternation between overworld exploration and dungeon exploration; and this alternation continues until Link meets the whereabouts of the story's main antagonist, usually Ganon.

Side-quests
Sidequests, as inferred by the name, are the counterpart of the main quests; they're optional events that don't affect in any way the progression of the main events, except possibly for the extension of improvement of the game's ending scenes. A sidequest is anything that is not required to progress; it can be partially required and still be considered to be as such (since completion of it is still up to the decision of the player). Sidequests are of various types, including character-driven sub-plots, minigames, optional dungeons or areas, optional enemy or sub-boss combats, hunts, trade sequences, etc.

Aspects of interest
There has been some controversy among Zelda fans in regards of how much amount of either type of quest must be present in a title in order to archieve high quality. Games like Majora's Mask and The Wind Waker are said to be focused mostly on sidequests, while others (like A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess) are said to be focused mostly on main quest and dungeons. This look for a balance has been noticed through the fact that, because of the bosses in dungeons guarding Heart Containers, and being in each game a limit to extend Link's health energy meter, there is an inverse proportionality between the length of the main quest and the number of sidequests in a game in question, particularly because most of the sidequests rely on the presence of Pieces of Heart (that is, split Heart Containers that remain out of the dungeons' aspects). By extension, this also affects what is present in the overworld and, to varying extents, every gameplay element mentioned in this article.

Twilight Princess introduced a clever concept to balance the two types of quest without doing any sacrifice: The Pieces of Heart form a Heart Container for every five (not four) of them, although most of them are found on dungeons, so the aforementioned debate also affects this game in the end. Also, no other Zelda game revisited this concept to date, since the Nintendo DS installments recurred to Heart Containers instead, much like the NES Zelda games.