3D ZELDA GAMES

1. Breath of the Wild. Finished for the sixth time weeks ago. This time with the 100%. Worth it.

2. Ocarina of Time. Still the most balanced of the past/traditional 3D Zelda titles. The dungeons are still the best to me alongside the ones in Majora's Mask.

3. Majora's Mask. I always think of this game as a good compliment to OoT. Love the main mechanic, side stories, overworld, and especially, difficulty.

4. Skyward Sword. Finally, a good challenging 3D game since Majora's Mask coming to the series. A good game that cimented some mechanics that we enjoyed a lot in BOTW, such as a more agile LInk, stamina meter, higher difficulty, a more prominent role for Zelda character, dowsing, good usage of items, higher difficult mode, etc.

5. Twilight Princess. Played countless of times on the Wii and ended buying a GC version years later. Have also the HD version, which I find to be the definitive version. Lakebed Temple are among the best dungeons I have played.

6. The Wind Waker. Just like TPHD, the HD version is the best one. Still enjoy the game, but is the one like the least as I found to be the easier one. Oddly, I like the triforce quest as it is a good excuse to explore the ocean.

I honestly dismissed those people as talking nonsense when they talked bad about breath of the wilds combat

I dismissed them as butthurt about weapon durability.

I suspect a lot of it was just looking for any excuse to downplay the game, but perhaps some were people who never actually played it but just judged its combat from watching people like reviewers play relatively poorly. To be fair, one could make the assessment the combat was mediocre if you saw someone playing it badly and not taking advantage of its depth.

Back in the NES days, it really was the Mario console.  There were 3 Super Mario games, plus Mario seemed to appear in everything else: Punch Out, Golf, Wrecking Crew, Dr. Mario, etc....  And Mario in general was on fire.  The NES had a 90% market share at its peak largely because Mario was packed into every console.  The NES days were the "Mario Madness" days.

Well the Switch is really turning into that with Zelda.  At launch the Switch sells out and Zelda: BotW has a greater than 100% attach rate.  It's already clear that Switch is going to be one of Nintendo's best selling consoles and BotW is kind of it's signature game if for no other reason than it was the main launch title.  Now early reports about Link's Awakening are that it is selling very strong.  On top of that we also have games like Cadence of Hyrule and Hyrule Warriors on Switch (both great games).  And then we have a sequel to Breath of the Wild in development.  Switch is really turning into the "Zelda Madness" console.  It has a lot of great Zelda games and sales numbers are unprecedented. 

I seem to recall Nintendo saying that they wanted at least 1 Zelda game every year.  Who knows what we are going to get over the next few years?  But the market is eating it all up.

I hope you're right, because I certainly can't get enough. Switch might end up being my new favorite console at this rate, just from all the great Zelda content alone.

Just finished Link’s Awakening.

Yeah, this is without question the definitive version of the game. It improves upon the best parts of the original like the over world, music, dungeons (Eagle Tower and Turtle Rock still suck though.) And fixes the problems with the original. The constant swapping of items, (sword, shield, power bracelets, and pegasus boots are permanent upgrades instead of individual items) has been reduced drastically so there’s a lot less stop and go and the pacing is much faster. It took me a little over a week to beat the original, I beat the Switch version in 3 days.

I noticed a few frame drops here and there but it was nothing major and weren’t that big a deal.

The only major problem I had with Links’s Awakening for the Switch is that Link’s default walking speed is really slow. Much too slow for my liking. It’s not an issue when I’m in dungeons, but traveling through the over world feels like a slog and I frequently find myself using the pegasus boots to get a move on. Thank God that it’s a permanent upgrade or traveling through Kohilint Island would be an absolute chore.

Overall, Links’s Awakening for the Switch is an amazing reimagining of the Game Boy classic into modern conventions and is a very solid addition to any Switch owner’s library!

All we need now is that Nintendo HD collection with WW HD, and TP HD in one shiny golden card! With OoT 3D and MM3D included in the package fully HD as bonus content....one can only dream.

What about Skyward Sword?

I am not big on that game, thought it was an 8.5 -9/10 so it was my lowest rated Zelda. I disliked the controls and while it did a great job telling a compelling tale I found the game to be the only Zelda that didn't capture my attention from the get go. It took me months to finish the game because I found Skyrim the more enticing title. 

So at least for me I rather play OoT yet again than SS, but sure it would be a welcomed addition if Nintendo were to make an HD version of it.