The Legend of Zelda | Decades of Games, but has the Age Rating Changed?

There is a good chance you have heard of Zelda even if you haven't played it. Breath of the Wild was an instant success, with beautiful graphics and interesting puzzles. Most Zelda fanatics still don't understand the story so I won't try and explain it here. The basic of it is that our character "Link" is a hero of the story. We are attempting to save Zelda and the kingdom of Hyrule from the evil beast Ganon. The confusing thing is that there are multiple versions of link, Ganon, Zelda, Hyrule and the story in general. The story is more of a background to the actual game. Now, the complication with going this game an age rating is that every single game is different. Some are heavily combat based, some more to do with puzzles. My thought was to base it of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom as a basic standpoint, and then tell you about some games that may be an exception to our rating.

Enemies

The first and probably most major concern is the enemies you have to fight in-game, the worst being Ganon himself. Now it is important to understand the few phases of Ganon to understand his different appearances. A word of warning, you will hear Ganon mentioned as the "Demon King" do not worry there is no devil worship in this game, he is just shown to have powers of red mist and ooze. The first is simply Ganon, the least used in the later games of the Franchise. His is the main villain of the newest game Echoes of Wisdom. He is depicted as a Boar-like creature, with red eyes and often donning a cloak (see attached picture). The next is Ganondorf, a more human like character. He has grey skin, red hair and often carries a weapon. He looms over link and is a very powerful character. The 3rd and 4th are best known for appearing in Breath of the Wild. One is Calamity Ganon, the main boss fight. He is a creature made of black and purple sludge, with red eyes and may arms. The 4th is dark beast Ganon, who is a large red and black boar. Some of these enemies may cause distress, but you can judge for yourself based on the pictures. There are a few other enemies regarding boars, lizards, dragons and others. Overall nothing should cause anyone any worry.

Puzzles

A struggle for many new Zelda players is the Puzzles that you need to complete in many aspects of the game. These can vary from simple challenges to very difficult puzzles that first time players will definitely struggle with. They use lots of interesting and unique mechanics from the game, and some may find them challenging and frustrating

Difficulty

The games controls can be complex. There are no difficulty settings apart from master mode (Not for first time players at all) but a lot of fights depend on strategy and skill, rather than swinging wildly at enemies. Especially the boss battles will cause a lot of issue, which require perfectly timed parrys, excellent weapons and an understanding of how to beat it. I recently re-played BOTW and struggled with many of the boss battles, so a lot of practise and patience is required.

Conclusion

First the exception. Majoras mask. It's a bright and colourful game but with some unsettling undertones. The entire premise is that you must save the world from an impending doom, and the soundtrack is pretty creepy. There is Death of side characters and upsetting backstories throughout the game and some of the character designs are oddly monstrous. However, the difficulty of most of the games means that by the time that they become manageable, you will be old enough to cope with everything in Majoras Mask. I think that letting them play this after a few of the others is the way to go. Now, as an average, 12 is probably the best bet. However if you know that they struggle with puzzles, or get irritated easily, maybe wait a bit or be there to assist them while they are playing it.