Summary
Nintendo’sLegend of Zeldafranchise, while not as old asMario, has still been running for over 35 years. There are Zelda games on virtually every Nintendo console, and with so many, there are a ton of rare gems in the lot. It’s even more wild than just the numerous titles because most of the rare Zelda games are special in a way.
They can be oddball titles, special variants, combo packs, and, of course, Limited Editions. While none of the rare games have a gold cartridge, they might as well be solid gold, considering the price.
All values are based onPriceCharting’scomplete price at the time of writing. When no complete price is available, the loose price will be used instead.
Updated on June 14, 2025, by Dominic Allen:While doing research for another list, I found out we missed a big Zelda title worth thousands that was not included. This required an update, as well as changing prices and formatting to the present day. A game was actually removed here due to it being much less expensive than it was previously.
10Link: The Faces Of Evil - $225
Getting This Game Is What All Warriors Strive For
The Zelda CDI games are some of the most legendary bad games of all time. The first two, in particular, actually made an internet impact with its cutscenes, playing a big part in birthing the YouTube Poop genre of internet content. They’re almost mythical games at this point, and it’s also notable that they’re Zelda titles on a non-Nintendo console.
Both of those factors are important, and the games themselves are actually rare. You’re not likely to find them out in the wild in a retro game store. Link: The Faces of Evil is the second rarest of the Zelda CDI trilogy, only beating out Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon by $10.
9The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker HD Limited Edition - $229
A Sweet Figure To Add To Your Collection
During the Wii U era, Nintendo had a nasty habit of having low supplies of heavily demanded items like the NES Classic, for example. This also applies to Limited Editions, and the one for Wind Waker HD is the third most expensive Limited Edition for the Zelda series.
Being exclusive to GameStop, it sold out incredibly quickly. What made this Limited Edition so cool is that it comes with a nice figure of Ganondorf from the final boss fight. It looks great, and combined with selling out fast, it’s easy to see why this LE commands such a high price.
8The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess Not For Resale - $300
The Not For Resale Hunt Begins
A common variant you often see is the Not For Resale one. These can come in console or accessory bundles, but the rarest kind comes from a different source. A lot of Nintendo’s Not For Resale titles come from demo kiosks that you’d find in video game retailers.
There’s a lot of nostalgia that comes from that, but it’s pretty bad in actual rarity. Because these were limited to retailers like EB Games or GameStop, only the employees who worked there had access to these special variants.Twilight Princess, beinga favorite Zelda titlefor many, combined with the actual rarity, is why this game’s so expensive.
7The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Not For Resale - $465
A Not For Resale Variant On One Of The Most Legendary Games Ever Is A Deadly Combination
Many of these rare Zelda games are Not For Resale ones, and it shouldn’t be a shock thatOcarina of Timeis in the top two of these special variants. During the 2000s, Ocarina was often considered the greatest game ever made and was usually put in the top spot of many best games lists at the time.
It’s still one of the most well-received games on Metacritic at a 99 overall, and this will likely never be beaten. The game’s GOAT status has waned since the 2010s, but it remains a legendary title regardless. Due to this, the Not For Resale demo kiosk version demands a ridiculous price of over $400.
6The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker And Metroid Prime Combo Pack - $739
An Unlikely Duo
One aspect of GameCube collecting many might not know is that a lotof its rarest gamesare combo packs that put together two or more titles. These are ridiculously rare, even in the most varied of game stores. You just don’t find them very often.
With that in mind, it makes sense a Zelda combo pack would be one of the rarest Zelda games out there. A two-in-one combo of Wind Waker and the firstMetroid Primegoes for over $700 complete in-box. That’s well over $600 more than the price you can pay to buy them separately.
5The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Master Edition - $744
A Sick Master Sword To Show Off
Another LE is the Master Edition ofBreath of the Wild. Originally priced at $130, it sold out almost immediately. Even shortly after its release, people were already selling it for over double the price. The Master Edition comes with a lot of cool goodies, but the crown jewel is the Master Sword stand.
It looks great and surprisingly heavy to boot. It’s understandable why this LE would have quite the demand, although not worth the price. At that point, you might as well get a good-quality replica of the Master Sword instead.
4Zelda’s Adventure - $1,145
The Ringo Starr Of The Zelda CDI Games
The third CDI Zelda, Zelda’s Adventure, is the most expensive of the trilogy. A top-down view entry, it lacks all the so bad it’s good elements of the previous CDI games. Due to this, Zelda’s Adventure doesn’t have the demand of the previous two titles, which is actually bad for the price.
Typically, if a game has demand, it’ll often go a bit lower in price to actually get a seller. Most people who have Zelda’s Adventure are keeping it due to the low demand, and this raises the price. To be fair, a lot of this also comes from the game being released near the end of the CDI’s life, which is practically guaranteed to make it rare.
3Hyrule Warriors Limited Edition - $2,003
Physical Shopping Hurts
No other product fits the Limited Edition title better than the one forHyrule Warriors. This LE wasn’t available online and only sold in one store at one location on launch day. That was Nintendo New York, and the experience for shoppers was akin to buying an in-store PS5 during the early pandemic days.
The line was massive, and as you might expect, only the front third had any chance to snatch it up. Nintendo never reprinted it, making this LE the most expensive in the Zelda series. Nintendo actually pulled the same thing forMario Kart 8, which is also one ofthe rarest Mario titles.
2The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Not For Resale Gray - $6,957
Sometimes, Gray Is Better Than Gold
What’s rarer than a special variant? An incredibly rare variant of a special variant. Majora’s Mask not only has a Not For Resale cartridge in the standard gold form but also in gray. The gray carts were exclusive to the demo kiosks at Toys R Us and are actually the only gray cart version of the game.
Since Majora was a late-era N64 title, there weren’t any later versions in gray like Ocarina of Time. Not For Resale games are already rare on their own, but with this version being from only one specific retailer and the only gray cart of the title, it makes it worth about as much as a decent car.
1The Legend Of Zelda Test Cartridge - $7,350
The Holy Grail
Test Cartridges are another niche in game collecting. They’re hard to come by because they’re not supposed to end up in normal, everyday people’s hands. The Test Cartridge for the original NES Legend of Zelda was used in Nintendo’s service centers back in the ’80s and early ’90s, having a construction hat yellow color to them.
Many test carts are either destroyed or permanently shelved, but not here. Decades later, when these service centers shut down, they liquidated a lot of their inventory, and this included the Test Cartridges. In game collecting, you may’t get much rarer than test carts, so it’s a no-brainer the Zelda one is the king of expensive Zelda titles.
