It broke the creative stagnation trend that had afflicted the main Zelda franchise since the N64.
I'd also argue that it's not only the greatest Zelda of all time -- but the greatest game of all time
If I were to take the top tier of releases in my memory: Super Mario Bros 3, Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Galaxy, and Breath of the Wild. That's a very short list, and Breath of the Wild is the only one on it in recent times (I'm old by the way).
Tier 2: Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, 3, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 4, 6, 7, 8, X, Earthbound, Xenogears, GE007, Majora's Mask, Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, Rune Factory Frontier, Dragon Quest 5 and 9, Super Mario Kart Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Phoenix Wright trilogy, Civilization 2, Crusader Kings 2, SimCity 2000, Dwarf Fortress, StarCraft, Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Monster Hunter 3, Fire Emblem Blazing Blade. If it's not clear my favourite consoles of all time are SNES, Wii, and PSX; but probably Switch now too.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
