VGChartz's Best of Zelda - The Results!

[Salnax]

About a month ago, I decided that we at VGChartz should vote on our favorite Zelda games. But a basic vote would be too easy, so I chose something more... interesting. Basically, people voted for their top three games in the series in a number of categories, and I tallied up votes based on how well these different games did in different categories.

Said categories were as follows:

• Story/Plot (Pretty Basic)
• Main Characters (aka which Zelda had the best Link, Zelda, and main antangonist)
• Minor Charaters (which had the best one-shot characters, like Linebeck, the Old Man, TIngle, the Great Deku tree, Ravio, etc.)
• Writing (Which story was told the most elegantly? AKA the award Zelda 2 likely won't win.)
• Overworld (Which was the best designed, had the most stuff to do, was the most fun to travel around, etc.)
• Side Quests (Which games had the best non-story content)
• Collecting (Which games had the best "collect every heart piece/upgraded item/little octopus things" factor?)
• Gimmicks/Innovations (Which game introduced the most great ideas, be it parallel worlds, Z-targetting, motion controls, etc.)
• Dungeons (Which game had the best collection of these? Overall consistency beats one-hit wonders here.)
• Controls (Do you prefer the conventional D-Pad and buttons of old, Wind Waker's dual analogs, Skyward's motion controls, etc.)
• Combat (In which game was it the funnest to fight enemies other than bosses?)
• Exploration (Which game made it the most fun to become intimate with every square inch of the game's world?)
• Puzzles (Which game had the most ingeniously designed and clever Puzzles?)
• Items (Which game has the best collection of these and uses them the most effectively?)
• Bosses (Which are the most epic, best-designed, and are simply the most genious?)
• Graphics (Which game is the best-looking Zelda from a more technical standpoint? Try also focusing on things like distinct sprites that stand out from the background, the little death effects of enemies, etc., rather than just resolution, polygon count, and textures.)
• Art Style (Do you prefer Wind Waker's Cartoon vibe, Twilight Princesss darker shades, Skyward Sword's mix of color and realism, etc.)
• Music (aka Soundtrack)
• Tone (Which game most effectively sets the tone it tries to make for itself? Examples may include the desolation of the original game, the silly humor of Link's Awakening, the impending doom of Majora's Mask, etc.)
• Best Zelda Ever (Duh!)

 

P.S. If your favorite game didn't make the cut... you should have voted then, shouldn't you?