#3: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
A masterpiece. I have the Gamecube version. Twilight Princess for me always stood in the shadow of my #2, being "only" my second favorite Gamecube game. If I wanted to play Zelda on my Wii I'd mostly rather go for Wind Waker but when I replayed Twilight Princess I suddenly wasn't sure anymore which one I liked more. It's gameplay absolutely still holds up today. I think the HD version looks like crap actually, but the original still holds up even graphics wise. Why? The HD version is way to bright, the shading is off, the facial animations look weird. It's like they cranked the contrasts up to maximum. The original is dark not only in it's story but also visually. Thankfully Skyward Sword HD doesn't look like that.
Twilight Princess is great in nearly every aspect. It's dungeons are fantastic with some of the best bosses in the franchise and also some of the best items in the franchise. The structure is great and prevents it from feeling repetitive. The environments are fun to explore and offer all sorts of secrets, there are some awesome sidequests and great side characters. Midna and Zant are great characters with great character arcs. The relationship between Link and Midna is especially well done. The story is fantastic and dark but doesn't compare to Majora's Mask in that regard.
The only part I didn't like on repeated playthroughs is the tutorial (I don't remember my first playthrough anymore). It's to long. But ultimately everything there plays a role in some way. It's like one long chain where one part leads to the next. But ultimately the part with the goats could have been cut and replaced by a different excuse as to why Epona is hurt. You learn to ride your horse but only actually need it way later.
That said Twilight Princess is incredibly well made with some section being outright epic. I love the fights against the big Bulblin for example. They make me feel like a skilled knight. Same goes for when I fight Darknuts Link being a bit older than in the other Zelda games makes him also kinda more mature and through that he take the figure of a tole model for the kids of the Ordon village. I think this is a great aspect of the game.
The final boss from the Arbiter's Grounds the Twilit Fossil Stallord is my favorite of the game and I think also my third favorite in the series, with Koloktos from Skyward Sword being my second favorite. The fight against Zant is also very remarkable with the way you revisit many places where previous boss fights happened. Blizzeta in the Snowpeak Ruins is also pretty cool with the way she turns into a monster before the fight being pretty scary. Argorok is also alot of fun, probably my second favorite boss in this game. The final fight against Ganondorf gets better with every phase and ends in an epic duel with Ganondorf who then dies in the end while standing, which I always found really impressive. Ganondorf's look in this game is my favorite. Zant's death on the other hand is so gruesome that it has something comical about it.
My favorite dungeon is Hyrule Castle, which is also my second favorite dungeon in the whole franchise after the Ancient Cistern in Skyward Sword.
Twilight Princess features some pretty freakish cutscenes that have carved themselves into my mind for all eternity. The soundtrack is pretty great but doesn't quite hold up to the best in the series.
Twilight Princess is my second favorite game from my childhood and my second favorite Gamecube game. I hold it in high regard and have very strong nostalgia for it.
