Is Wind Waker the most under-appreciated Zelda game?

[S.Peelman]

No. It certainly was back when it was released, even I thought it wasn't as bad as the internet and media made you believe that it was the disaster that destroyed Nintendo, but now it's hailed as the holy grail among Zelda games. Undeservedly so, but that's my humble opinion.

I'd say the most under-appreciated Zelda games are the classic ones (the ones before Ocarina), with the exception of A Link to the Past because that one has a giant reputation, which is mostly justified of course. Zelda II is very under-appreciated, because almost nobody that's still alive now and interested in games played it. The original Zelda suffers from the same, but at least people seem to recognize it's legacy of starting it all.

Link's Awakening however is tremendously under-appreciated. Most people just take that game for granted "because it's 'just' a handheld game", but in reality, it's one of the best games the series has to offer and one of the games ever period.