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Start with The Wind Waker if you have not played it. Nintendo presents Phantom Hourglass as a continuation of The Wind Waker, so it supplies the clearest story context. If you want another compact, top-down adventure, choose Link’s Awakening on Nintendo Switch. Pick A Link Between Worlds for faster exploration and flexible item use, Ocarina of Time 3D or Skyward Sword HD for directed 3D dungeons, and Breath of the Wild followed by Tears of the Kingdom for maximum freedom.
The right next game depends on what you enjoyed in the two DS entries: their shared story world, short dungeon-and-overworld rhythm, touch-driven tools, or the more unusual travel systems of sailing and train routing. This guide matches each preference to a practical next step and explains how current hardware affects access to the original games.
Quick recommendation by the experience you want
| If you want… | Play next | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| The clearest story continuation | The Wind Waker | Phantom Hourglass follows its voyage and characters, making it the strongest continuity choice. |
| A compact 2D adventure | Link’s Awakening (Nintendo Switch) | It keeps item-based progression, trap-filled dungeons and a focused island world while using modern Switch controls. |
| Fast top-down exploration | A Link Between Worlds | Its compact map and freer approach to item use make it a brisk alternative to the DS structure. |
| Traditional 3D dungeons | Ocarina of Time 3D or Skyward Sword HD | Both provide a more directed adventure built around item-gated dungeons and lock-on combat. |
| Open-ended experimentation | Breath of the Wild, then Tears of the Kingdom | The pair replaces the DS games’ compact sequence with broad exploration and systemic problem solving. |
Why The Wind Waker should come first for story continuity
Nintendo describes Phantom Hourglass as “The epic story of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker continues.” Its page explains that months have passed since the earlier game before Link and Tetra sail into a new adventure. That makes The Wind Waker the one recommendation that directly answers a story question rather than merely matching a play style.
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Play it first if you want to understand the relationship between Link and Tetra, the seafaring setting inherited by Phantom Hourglass, and why the DS game feels like a continuation instead of an unrelated retelling. You can still understand Phantom Hourglass on its own, but the emotional and geographical context is stronger when you have seen the preceding voyage.
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What carries over and what does not
- World and characters: The DS adventure follows the same broad story thread and maritime cast established by The Wind Waker.
- Perspective and controls: The Wind Waker is a console 3D adventure, while Phantom Hourglass is a Nintendo DS game built around touch-screen input, stylus-drawn sailing routes and stylus interactions with items.
- Pacing: The earlier game gives you a larger 3D journey; the DS sequel compresses that idea into shorter touch-focused sessions.
Choose this route when narrative continuity matters more than reproducing the exact DS control scheme. If you have already played The Wind Waker, move directly to the next section that matches your preferred structure.
Link’s Awakening is the best compact 2D follow-up
Link’s Awakening for Nintendo Switch is the most reliable follow-up for someone who liked moving between a compact overworld, item-based progression and self-contained dungeons. Link is stranded on Koholint Island, where trap-filled dungeons and new items gradually open routes through the map. The remake also revises the music and adds quality-of-life improvements, so the experience feels deliberate rather than like a straight preservation of an older handheld interface.
Nintendo lists a physical Switch edition released on September 20, 2019. That gives readers who want a current, straightforward console purchase an option that does not depend on finding an original DS cartridge or an old digital storefront.
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Why it matches the DS games
- Compact scale: Koholint Island is more concentrated than the large worlds of the 3D entries, keeping travel purposeful.
- Dungeon rhythm: Each dungeon asks you to read rooms, find a new tool and use it to reach previously blocked areas, a pattern familiar to DS-era Zelda players.
- Modern handling: Switch controls replace DS-only stylus and microphone interactions with conventional buttons and sticks.
- Optional construction mode: Chamber Dungeons let you arrange discovered rooms into custom challenges after you want something beyond the main path.
Who should choose it
Pick Link’s Awakening when you want a focused adventure you can finish in clear stages, with exploration that rewards attention but does not require planning a large open-world expedition. It is also the safest choice if your favorite part of Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks was solving dungeon rooms rather than following their travel gimmicks.
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A Link Between Worlds for faster top-down exploration
A Link Between Worlds is the next recommendation when you want the visual language and readability of a top-down Zelda game but a looser approach to the order in which tools can be used. Its compact overworld-and-dungeon structure keeps the adventure moving quickly, while its item system encourages you to decide which abilities to obtain and apply rather than waiting for every tool to arrive in a fixed sequence.
How it differs from the DS entries
- Less touch dependence: The core actions are designed around conventional controls instead of drawing routes or manipulating every item with a stylus.
- More route choice: You can approach major objectives with greater flexibility, reducing the sense of a single prescribed dungeon order.
- Shorter decision loops: The game puts an item or environmental clue close to the problem it solves, making exploration feel quick and readable.
This is the best fit if you want another 2D game but do not want to repeat the exact progression pattern of Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. It is less suitable if your main reason for returning to the DS titles is their touch-screen novelty or their specific continuation of The Wind Waker.
Move to traditional 3D dungeons with these two choices
| Game | Choose it when you want… | How the transition feels |
|---|---|---|
| Ocarina of Time 3D | A classic, directed 3D adventure with clear dungeon progression. | The DS games’ item-gated logic expands into three-dimensional rooms and spaces while retaining a guided route through the story. |
| Skyward Sword HD | Structured dungeons, lock-on combat and a strongly directed adventure. | It emphasizes deliberate movement from one objective to the next rather than free roaming, making it a natural bridge from the DS games’ linear rhythm. |
Ocarina of Time 3D: the foundational 3D route
Choose Ocarina of Time 3D when you want to see how the compact dungeon logic of the DS games works in a fully three-dimensional space. Rooms, switches, enemies and items are arranged so that an ability found in one part of a dungeon explains a later obstacle. The adventure is guided, so you spend less time deciding where to go next than you would in an open-world title.
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The transition is easiest if you enjoy solving a chain of environmental problems and want the camera, movement and combat to become the main new skills. Expect a more traditional progression than in A Link Between Worlds; the reward is a clear sequence of discoveries rather than broad route choice.
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Skyward Sword HD: the most directed option
Skyward Sword HD suits players who prefer a strong objective structure and dungeons that build around specific tools. Lock-on combat makes enemy positioning part of the puzzle, and the game repeatedly moves you from an explicit goal into an area designed around that goal.
Choose it instead of Ocarina of Time 3D when you want the clearest instructions and the least ambiguity about the next destination. Choose Ocarina of Time 3D when you would rather experience a more foundational 3D template and a steadier sense of discovery.
Choose Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom for freedom-first play
The two open-world entries are the right answer when the DS games left you wanting more room to experiment. Breath of the Wild changes the basic rhythm: instead of moving through a compact chain of dungeons in a prescribed order, you explore a large landscape, decide which threats to approach and solve environmental problems with the tools available to you. Tears of the Kingdom follows naturally when you want a second game built around even more experimentation and systemic problem solving.
What changes from the DS formula
- Navigation: You choose destinations across a broad world instead of following a fixed sailing or train route.
- Puzzle solving: Problems often support several workable solutions, so the game rewards testing ideas rather than identifying one intended item interaction.
- Dungeon expectations: The adventure does not reproduce the same compact, linear dungeon cadence as the DS games; exploration and discovery occupy more of your time.
- Order: Start with Breath of the Wild, then play Tears of the Kingdom if you want that freedom-first approach extended with another layer of experimentation.
When not to choose this route
Do not make these your immediate next games if what you loved was the certainty of drawing a route, controlling a train’s speed or following a dungeon’s item-gated sequence. Their appeal is precisely the reduced reliance on a single intended path. In that case, Link’s Awakening, A Link Between Worlds or one of the directed 3D games will preserve more of the original cadence.
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What Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks establish
The two DS games are related, but they emphasize different interactions. Understanding that distinction helps you choose a follow-up based on the feature you actually want to keep.
Phantom Hourglass: sailing and stylus problem solving
Nintendo says that many months pass after The Wind Waker before Link and Tetra sail into a new adventure. On Nintendo DS, the game uses touch-screen controls: you draw sailing routes with the stylus and interact with items through stylus gestures. If drawing a path, marking a screen or physically directing an action was the memorable part for you, no later recommendation reproduces that exact input method. The closest structural match is a compact 2D game such as Link’s Awakening, while the closest story match is The Wind Waker.
Spirit Tracks: route planning and directed control
Nintendo describes Spirit Tracks as a train-bound adventure in which Link restores the spirit tracks, plans routes, controls speed and fires a cannon. You also direct a Phantom through dungeon hazards by drawing on the touch screen, and some items use the microphone. Those mechanics make the game more about managing a route and issuing precise instructions than about free-roaming travel.
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A decision path you can use in two minutes
- Have you skipped The Wind Waker? Play it first if you care about the story that leads into Phantom Hourglass.
- Do you want another top-down game? Choose Link’s Awakening for the closest compact dungeon rhythm, or A Link Between Worlds for faster movement and more flexible item use.
- Do you want a 3D game but still prefer a guided route? Choose Ocarina of Time 3D for a foundational 3D structure or Skyward Sword HD for the most explicit direction and lock-on combat.
- Do you want to decide where to go and how to solve problems? Start with Breath of the Wild and continue with Tears of the Kingdom.
- Are touch controls the main attraction? Keep the original DS games rather than expecting a modern title to duplicate stylus drawing, microphone input or direct Phantom control.
Hardware and purchase access for the original DS games
Nintendo’s product pages list both Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks for Nintendo DS, along with Wii U Virtual Console editions. Nintendo also states that purchases through the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShops ended on March 27, 2023. That means a reader planning a replay should check the console, account and region before assuming a digital copy can still be bought.
- Physical copies: Availability varies by region and by the condition of used cartridges, so verify the local market before planning a purchase.
- Existing digital ownership: Access rules can differ from new-purchase rules; check Nintendo’s current support information for the hardware and account involved.
- Modern alternative: If you simply want a current physical Zelda adventure with compact dungeons, the Switch edition of Link’s Awakening avoids the DS and Wii U/3DS storefront issue.
These constraints do not change which game best follows the DS entries artistically, but they do change which recommendation is practical for your hardware. Confirm regional availability at the time you buy because second-hand stock and platform support can change.
Suggested play orders for different kinds of fans
The continuity order
The Wind Waker → Phantom Hourglass → Spirit Tracks keeps the connected sailing-era story together. This is the order to use when characters and setting matter more than having the newest controls.
The compact-adventure order
Link’s Awakening → A Link Between Worlds follows the DS games with two focused top-down adventures. The first preserves a concentrated island-and-dungeon feel; the second adds more freedom in how you use items and approach objectives.
The traditional-3D order
Ocarina of Time 3D → Skyward Sword HD moves from a foundational directed 3D structure to an even more explicit objective-driven adventure. Use this route if you want dungeons and combat to remain the center of play.
The freedom-first order
Breath of the Wild → Tears of the Kingdom is for players ready to leave the DS games’ compact sequence behind. Begin with the first game so the second can build on your familiarity with open exploration and systemic solutions.
Bottom line: the best next game is determined by your favorite DS feature
Play The Wind Waker for the missing story chapter, Link’s Awakening for the closest modern compact 2D experience, and A Link Between Worlds for a quicker and more flexible top-down adventure. Choose Ocarina of Time 3D or Skyward Sword HD when you want guided 3D dungeons, and choose Breath of the Wild followed by Tears of the Kingdom when experimentation and exploration matter more than a fixed route.
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