I'm going to say something that MIGHT be quite unpopular here: I wasn't a huge fan of Link Between Worlds. I mean, I like it better than the 3D Zelda series, but not so much as the original Link to the Past.
Don't get me wrong, I liked the fact that it opened up the game a bit more. There are other elements that I liked over the original, but the overall experience wasn't as fun or engaging as the original Link to the Past for me. Even on replays (which I did recently, twice, on the Classic Mini).
Where Link Between Worlds broke down for me was on the dungeons. Something just wasn't as fun about them - I think it was probably because they felt WAY slower, somehow. I forget why.
For anyone who actually pays attention to my posts, I'm not a dungeons guy, there are very few games where I find dungeons to be a positive experience. Some of my exceptions include Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Dragon Quest 5, and (of course) Link to the Past. In other words, I tended to like games where the dungeons didn't really feel like dungeons. Not only did LTTP's dungeons have a bit of an entertaining playground feel to them, but they never overstayed their welcome.
Something about Link Between Worlds made the dungeons unpleasant - it's been a while, but I didn't find the puzzles to be as fun, as they were more about looking around for stuff, and everything seemed to take longer. This kind of removed the non-dungeon feeling dungeons that LTTP had.
Another thing Link Between Worlds lacked for me were these kind of iconic moments, even the opening segment didn't feel special like Link to the Past's always does, each time I play it.
Although, I think I still like Link Between Worlds better than any 3D Zelda; for the most part, since Breath of the Wild, I've found the flaws of the 3D Zelda franchise before BotW stick out to me like a sore thumb: overly long dungeons, lots of REALLY bad "wander around for a while to find the key/switch/puzzle in order to continue your adventure, and needlessly lengthy dungeons that I don't find satisfying to finish. I did like a few things from the 3D Zeldas, I really liked the towns of Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Skyward Sword (Celda's felt small and inconsequential, and Twilight Princess was soulless)... but I am getting off topic, and really should stop here (I'm a ranty post type bastard!)
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
