I love both wind waker and skyward sword art style´s, but I agree. A more realistic Zelda games will do wonders. If anything the zelda demo is gorgeous.

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl had a man ripping apart the fabrics of time and space. Pokemon Red and Blue had you fight the redead corpse of a murder mother Pokemon trying to protect her young. Wind Waker had you drive a preparedly thick blade through the skull of a tyrant demon king bent on world domination build through the death and suffering of others. Those aren't remotely dark or realistic games. They're dark moments in bright and stylized games.

It didn't look even remotely realistic "at the time." Goldeneye was realistic "at the time." Perfect Dark was realistic "at the time." Mortal Combat was realistic "at the time." Ocarina of Time was very much not. The ingame polygonal artstyle was meant to replicate, to the most acturate degree, the concept art which was, surprise, fanstastical and cartoony and stylized and very much not dark.

Talon does not look realistic. Link does not look realistic. Saria does not look realistic. That's not technology, it's a deliberate design choice. Ganondorf looks the most "realistic" and the most dark, but firstly he's a villian so he get's a free pass on being dark in an otherwise not dark fantasy game, and two in order for a game to be realistic, it has to be constantly realistic. Just because a few are more real-looking than others, doesn't mean that the whole game is suddenly realistic looking. Sonic 06. Point made.

And on the topic of Twilight Princess, let's not forget that the game was a launch title to Nintendo's most successful console of all time. Also, Ocarina of Time is Zelda's most immortal title. Of couse it's sold so well. It's been remade so many times. Let's see how Wind Waker HD ends up selling at the end of the Wii U and talk then.

Also, Dishonored is a dark and realistic game. Bioshock is a dark and realistic game. Little Inferno is a dark and not realistic game. Fifa 14 is a not dark, yet entirely realistic game. Twilight Princess is not even remotely a dark or realistic game. It's just as "dark" as Sonic Unleashed is. That is, not at all. It has some cool wolfy bits and some creepy atmosperic eyecandy, but most of the game has you chasing boomerang monkeys or talking to little chicken people or battling fantastical monsters like any good action fantasy game would have you do.

And it's not "the technology." Silent Hill: Shattered dementions was both dark and realistic on the same hardware. Resident Evil 4 was done on even more primative hardware. Ask any normal person who doesn't play video games if Twilight Princess looks even remotely dark or realistic. And don't only show them the "spooky" Twili parts, because that's just as accurate as me only showing someone the beautiful scene in Bioshock: Infinite when you first walk into Columbia and asking them if the game looks violent. (Cue face-in-skyhook scene 5 minutes later)

Compare Twilight Princess to Darksiders 2 or Skyrim. Those are dark and/or realistic. Those both have numerous similarities to the Zelda franchise and yet compared to those, Twilight Princess is equivilant to the Teletubbies. Not dark. Not realistic. Teletubbies.

Ocarina ddn't have Wind Waker's Powerpuff Girls character designs to deflate its more "serious" moments

Ocarina and TP are dark for the franchise. They're not lighthearted and cartoony like Wind Waker or the DS games. They have many creepy and gloomy scenes that most Zelda games don't have, or do in a much softer way.

They aren't dark "for the franchise." Them not being as bright as the deliberately cell shaded Wind Waker doesn't make them suddenly darker games. There are just about as many creepy and gloomy scenes in Wind Waker, just under an obviously more bubbly aesthetic. And I'd go on to say that Wind Waker (and all it's stylistic successors) are the oddballs. Ocarina and TP aren't more dark, Wind Waker and co are just more bright.

The only dark Zelda game is Majora's Mask. For the franchise.

There certainly are not as many creepy and gloomy scenes in Wind Waker as in Oot or TP.

I'd slightly agree with TP. Wouldn't agree at all with OoT. And again, dark and creepy moments don't make for a dark and creepy game.