I also forgot to mention Zelda: Wand of Gamelon. A true classic indeed.

They can, but I doubt they would. The 3D Zelda's are what really made people notice the series. I know people that used to think that Ocarina of Time was the first Zelda. Mario has always been huge with everyone, it would be smart to do it with Mario.

I think the 3D Zelda's built on the reputation of the series. The reason people were so excited about Ocarina of Time was because of the first 3. People noticed the series long before the 3D games.

Ocarina of Time is a perfect start into 3D Zelda.
Link's Awakening is a perfect start into 2D Zelda.

Be sure to play those two. And yeah, don't listen to anybody saying, that you should ignore the 2D Zelda games. You would be missing half of the fun then, if not more. And gameplay-wise the NDS Zeldas, which are the current titles of the series, are still 2D.

Eh with the recent resurgence of side-scrolling games (Mega Man 9, a boy and his blob, _ rebirth, Klonoa, Muramasa, Braid, and the list goes on and on), I think a side-scrolling 2.5D Zelda would be really popular right now.
Obviously the difficulty could be toned down, and I'm imagining a Link that plays similarly to SSBB's Link.

But yeah, ignoring the 2D games because we may never get another one is just silly. As Trin said, we've had 3 3D Marios, but that doesn't mean people should ignore Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World!

LINK'S AWAKENING!!!

... If you have access to it, of course. Otherwise go with A Link to the Past.

I'm sure it would be, but if someone offered me A Link To The Past 2 (in style) or Adventure of Link 2, I know which one I'd go for. Sure we had the Minish Cap, but the handheld games, even at their best, never quite hit the heights of the full console games. At least in my opinion.

It just seems weird to move from 3D Zelda back to LttP-style 2D Zelda, since there really isn't a lot of difference.
I mean, a lot of things in LttP were presented like they were supposed to be in 3D anyway.
There were elevated areas where you could drop down to ground level, etc.

Aside from the moving camera there's just not much difference...

lttp and ocarina almost feel as if they are the same game in 2D and 3D

You should start at the very beginning, a very good place to start

@briun - When you say the very beginning, you mean the original The Legend of Zelda or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time? 'cause according to Miyamoto's Zelda chronology, OoT occurs prior to LoZ.

who cares about the chronology, nobody even really has an idea what it is

A chronology is an order in which something occurs.
ex: Ocarina of Time > Legend of Zelda > Zelda II > A Link to the Past > Link's Awakening

i know what chronology is, what i meant is no one knows in which order theyre supposed to be

Well, they are very similar. I've always thought of OoT as a 3D LttP remake.
In both games, you play 3 dungeons, get the master sword, then go to an alternate world (dark/future) and complete 6 more dungeons - traveling between the two worlds to help you do so. Then of course, finish off Ganon.

Well, it all depends on your point of view, really. Still, Zelda 2 is underrated and a good followup to Zelda 1. ^^

Wind Waker will always be my favorite Zelda game, and my favorite game of all time. Just thought I'd throw that out there

Zelda 2 would be a masterpiece if it weren't for its insane difficulty and the unfairly small sword they give you. I had a lot of fun with it--but I never got past the second dungeon if I'm being honest

That's okay. I love challenge, and I'm playing with no guide whatsoever. Plus, discovering the items and techniques is the fun part. I managed to beat the third dungeon boss...only three more.

Well...first off, the series has been pretty big from the start. That's why they rerelease the earlier games so much(same with Mario).

Secondly, they're still making 2D Zelda games. Unless I'm the only one who considers the portable games part of the series, we've already had Oracle of Seasons/Ages, The Minish Cap, Four Swords, Phantom Hourglass, Four Swords Adventures(on the Gamecube!), and now Spirit Tracks is coming - all of which are 2D games, and all of which came out long after the series had supposedly moved to 3D.

Thirdly, just because they aren't knew doesn't mean they no longer have any relevence. The old games are classics, and are definitely a good place to start. There are enough common elements between each game in the series, even the 2D and 3D ones, that chances are something you liked from your first game will probably be in the other games in some form.