So I know I already named my picks for 2002 and all, but I didn't really mention anything about The Wind Waker beyond its place on my list before and I feel like it deserves more than that. The Wind Waker is in sort of a three-way tie with Majora's Mask and Breath of the Wild for the status of my favorite mainline Legend of Zelda game. That wasn't the experience I was anticipating at the time of launch. Like so many others, I rolled my eyes as the Saturday morning cartoony cel-shaded graphics and the revelation that you'd once again play as child Link the entire time. Many gamers at the time felt like Nintendo was sort of infantilizing the franchise to greater degrees over time. Looking back at it now though, that was a terribly premature judgment call! It was very inaccurate vis-a-vis Majora's Mask and inaccurate once more with The Wind Waker.
The bright colors of The Wind Waker betray the reality of its desolate, post-apocalyptic setting. The game features a more complicated and sympathetic version of Ganondorf, a potent environmental message, powerful themes centering on the necessity of hope in the form of generational change, and a soberingly honest conclusion that wraps up with an apology. And also the most impulsively fun and heroic role for Zelda...
...herself in any mainline console entry in the franchise. 
This is my favorite version of Zelda, seriously. She needed more of a role in what was ostensibly her own franchise, especially after being completely absent. And those Saturday morning cartoon aesthetics? They turn out to have a countervailing magic to the degraded setting that emphasizes the aforementioned theme of hope so central to the whole experience. While it's not an overbearing presence or anything, The Wind Waker's narrative I think might be my favorite storyline in the Legend of Zelda franchise. Just thought I'd mention since we have so many Legend of Zelda fans here!
