RIP Nintendo Power

[puggsoy]

According to Nintendo there are three timelines, or "universes."

yup, it's divided at Ocarina of Time's climax:

timeline 1: ganon takes over (link to the past, wind waker)
ganon kills the hero of time (as an adult), and slowly destroys the land of hyrule.

timeline 2: ganon exposed (majora's mask)
link returns to his child form and tells the king that ganondorf will betray him, thus preventing events from getting out of hand.

timeline 3: ganon dies (twilight princess)
link (as an adult) slays ganon and stays as an adult.

it gets confusing, but makes sense if you... actually, never mind.

Wasn't A Link to the Past made before Ocarina of Time?

Also in that case I'd better finish OoT, maybe I can make some sense of this then. Although I still don't know where the GBC games (the Oracles and Link's Awakening) and the Minish Cap come into this.