Exploration, story, art direction and atmosphere are some of the most important things to me. So for me, Twilight Princess was the height of Zelda. Skyward Sword was a disappointing mess.

I can see how people with different tastes would feel differently; I'm not going to say that it's wrong to prefer SS. But from my perspective Zeldas don't come much cooler than TP and much lamer than SS.

rReally good game! not the worst! 

if you say so

I think The Wind Waker is the worst but still good: worst dungeons (and the last two feel like escort missions with you having to protect Medli and that little leaf-like thing), the ocean is huge but it feels empty because most islands are tiny and many of them feel pointless (just look at the eye-reef islands, they're all practically the same and don't have nothing interesting), sailing is tedious because you have to change the wind direction every time you want to change the direction of the boat, the game is really easy and a lot of time you'll be doing nothing more than pushing the analog stick to move the boat from one island to another, it lacks any challenge and the biggest of all flaws: the horrible tri-force parts fetch quest, where you have to find the maps used to find the maps used to find the tri-force pieces...

Edit: funny how some people just say "x" is the worst but don't give any arguments

I do say so. :) Swinging the sword with my own movement felt satisfying, and aiming with the pointer felt lightyears more immersive and fun than with an analogue stick.

My unpopular opinion is that....Ocarina of Time is the worst 3D Zelda, *every Nintendo fan gasps*. I love Zelda and I'm not saying OoT is bad, just out of all the 3D Zeldas I find all the rest better. Wind Waker is my favorite, and TP is really awesome too

dude you trying to convince me or yourself? I thought the controls were horrid, you didnt. its fine.

Nope, Skyward Sword is the worst.  TP waggle controls were not so good, but SS hack & slash was even worse.

Just articulating my reasons for why I thought so.

I could give you art direction, because that's based on personal preference, and I won't scoff if you argue that the exploration was weak, but I feel like it's one of the only Zelda games that actually HAS an atmosphere.  Everything was dark and cloudy, and felt kind of sinister.  The odd pixely quality of the enemies made them feel so otherworldly.  It was very dire, and the muted color schemes made everything feel so real and just plain cool.

In SS everything was bright and colorful.  The townspeople just sat around obliviously as you saved the world.  I felt there was no atmosphere at all--no overarching feeling as you went about your business.  Same with Wind Waker, and largely Oot (though adult link's sections had some broody stuff I guess).  MM was of course an atmospheric masterpiece, and I feel it's the only Zelda game that is even almost at the same level as TP as far as that goes.

(And to be clear, I'm not trying to say that the only way for a game to be atmospheric is to be "dark," though that does tend to be one of the most effective types of atmosphere.)