Zelda timeline revised.

[Dark Jaguar]

Sure, they've thought about the timeline in a vague sense, at least for main-series titles though probably not really for the spinoffs. It's never been with the kind of specificity you see in the timeline, though, and that really shows whenever you look at a Zelda timeline. Maybe they should just have stuck with the original not even really trying to really connect things coherently... though if they do I would rather that they would more consistently connect in plausible ways. The Link's age problem in Oracles is an example of something they didn't think through enough.

The biggest difference in the official timeline with what they actually announced is the split timeline idea, but we knew about that starting with Twighlight Princess. The placement of the major games in the series has always been pretty danged specific, usually announced months in advance of the game's release. Everyone knew Ocarina of Time came before Link to the Past, and everyone knew Link to the Past took place before Zelda 1. That was never in question. Zelda 2 also very specifically took place after Zelda 1, and Majora's Mask clearly took place after Ocarina of Time. I would say Link's Awakening's story made it clear this was a Link that already had gone on a grand adventure, and based on what had already come out, the only sensible place was after LTTP.

As for the "age issue", is there one? Link's age is never stated, the only difference is artistic. Heck the sprites look the same, and in spite of what we see in the official artwork for LTTP, when it came time to give him a voice, they used "young Link" samples, not adult link.