My opinion on 3D (only by polygons, not angle) Zeldas:

Majora's Mask (great depth, great dungeons, great atmosphere) > A Link Between Worlds (perfect amount of alinearity, kind of short, but still great combat, and a decent story) > Twilight Princess (nice relatively seamless world, I actually enjoyed Midna's character, unique storyline, good dungeons) > Wind Waker (not because of the art direction, which I think was refreshing, I just didn't like the limited dungeon selection as much, Wind Waker had a great story though, and the unique combat segments were refreshing)) > Skyward Sword (too linear and limited exploration, great story, great dungeons, great gameplay) >  Ocarina of Time (Great, but barebone) > Spirit Tracks (too linear) > Phantom Hourglass (too linear.)

I don't care too much whether Link is a child or an adult. Art-style means very little to me. I care mostly about gameplay and quality of the art and graphics (for any style.) I think Link at any stage in his life can fit the theme of certain types of games.

Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

Fortunately, 8.5 million copies and universal critical acclaim beg to differ, and considering how "well" SS sold, they just might get their heads out of their collective asses and figure out how they can repeat TWP success.

You should re evaluate what constitutes as embarassing.

Meenwhile how many hundreds of thousands of old school zelda lovers don't play zelda anymore because we think the zelda franchise is just an empty shell of its former self. Please, people, stop downplaying other peoples posts by just saying 'well thats just your opinion.'  Everyones thoughts on this are just their opinion. 

Do you think there are really hundreds of thousands of people who played Zelda and quit because of the 3D transition? There is no way of knowing, but that is a huge statement. Anyway, have you tried ALBW, it is definitely a treat for a lover of top-down Zeldas. 

I'm a bit too based to care how bad or plausible my ass is.

I may buy it just for collectors sake. But I have come to hate dual screen with passion. It literally makes potential great games sour for me. When I think of how great games could have been on one slightly larger/better res screen (nothing too high like the vita), when i think of some of the games that were actually _ruined_ because of that nonsense, I just have to look away. I finally just gave up on my DS (you can look at my library on how hard I tried to enjoy it) and swore I wouldn't invest in the 3DS until it was EOL.

The bottom screen isn't used for anything other than switching weapons and the maps. Actually the bottom screen in most 3DS games is not really used as much as in DS games. 

We'll see after E3 if a price reduction occurs. I will not get burned like I was with the DS.

Again, Aonuma explicitely stated that Zelda U was taking inspiration from games Link WW and ALBW, and that the game would not look like TP or SS. He doesn't pander to non-fans. Unique style, he says. He's even explicitly expressed disappointment at how TP turned out and blames it on the ultra realistic direction it went for, something he says was solely done because of fan reaction to WWs art style. SS's drastically different pallet is a direct reation to his disappointment in TP. He doesn't want to make the game you want to play. He has gone on record saying he will only make the game he wants to create now, because Zelda is "his game." And more power to him. TP and SS were definitely the weakest entries, and it's because he was trying to please non fans, instead of doing his own thing.

In regards to TP:

"But the question is whether or not we were able to incorporate any and all of the interesting game ideas that were able to take advantage of that kind of sheer grand scale within the Zelda universe. I am afraid that definitely no, we were not able to do all the things that perhaps with hindsight we had the capabilities to do. With that as the starting point, we are now developing the Wii version of Legend Of Zelda.

...in the case of trying to depict a relatively photorealistic three-dimensional world, we have to be very careful to adapt the ideas so that they seem to perfectly fit with that world. I must admit that's actually one of my very greatest regrets as regards the Twilight Princess.” - Aonuma

I do, however, think that TP will be remade in HD to satisfy its fans. Aonuma has a bad habit of hinting things that eventually come to fruition. But you're not going to see another fan-pander like TP and to a lesser extent, like SS.