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Forums - Nintendo - What is the Best Zelda Game

 

Best Zelda Game

The Legend of Zelda 21 6.12%
 
The Adventure of Link 4 1.17%
 
A Link to the Past 43 12.54%
 
Link's Awakening 9 2.62%
 
Ocarina of Time 100 29.15%
 
Majora's Mask 41 11.95%
 
The Wind Waker 43 12.54%
 
Twilight Princess 30 8.75%
 
Skyward Sword 39 11.37%
 
A Link Between Worlds 10 2.92%
 
Total:340
S.Peelman on 16 June 2014

For me they're ranked:

1. Ocarina of Time
2. Link's Awakening
3. Twilight Princess
4. Majora's Mask
5. A Link to the Past
6. A Link Between Worlds
7. The Legend of Zelda
8. Skyward Sword
9. The Wind Waker
10. Spirit Tracks
11. Adventure of Link
12. Oracle of Ages
13. Oracle of Seasons
14. The Minish Cap
15. Phantom Hourglass
16. Four Swords

Played and completed all those and 100% some. The only Zelda game I didn't play is Four Swords Adventures so it's not included. Wind Waker used to be under Spirit Tracks for me, but the HD remaster bumped it up a spot because of the Swift Sail, the changes in the Triforce Quest and other improvements. I'd consider the bottom three as 'bad Zelda games' as they do too many things wrong for a Zelda game.

The Top 3 probably won't ever be broken, though anything's possible. The undisputed winner is Ocarina of Time.



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Wright on 16 June 2014
Clyde32 said:

So what you've been saying, is that you didn't get the chills when Ganon came out of the rubble? 


What he's saying is that Ocarina of Time is an outdated game.



Smear-Gel on 16 June 2014
spemanig said:
Smear-Gel said:


I dont like the word overrated all that much because of the implication that other person's opinions are less valid because of the opinions of someone else. Thoguh I do know that there are times when the word is indeed valid. I dunno ifthis is one of those times though.


I do. I think that since OoT, there have been so many improvements to the franchise that OoT feels like a relic today. Something like Wind Waker HD, for all it's flaws, doesn't feel like an old game. OoT 3D, for all it's improvements, still does. I think that OoT is an extremely important game and nothing can take that away from it, but I have a feeling that most people who consider OoT the best in the series experienced it as one of the first games they'd ever played, and there for it was a more nostalgic experience, combined with it's immense quality, that doesn't allow them to see that it's gotten better.

It's like when people say that Pokemon Red and Blue are the best Pokemon games. They aren't even close. If someone new to the franchise where to play every game (in their most recent form) in order today, most of them would have Firered and Leafgreen at the bottom, and most of them would have OoT3D near the bottom. Games have gotten better since the ninty's.

Even I, who feels like TP is the least original and is my least favorite Zelda, think it's structurally better than OoT in almost every imaginable way. It controls better. It looks b-... It has a larger and more interesting selection of items. It has a better Link. It has a better companion. It has a larger world. It has better dungeons. It has better bosses. It has less heart, but if it was the first Zelda game I played, I couldn't imagine playing OoT and liking it better. It's just more modern. TP will age much better than OoT ever could.

I dunno, like I said it was the first Zelda I played and it's not my favourite by a mile, but I do feel it was the best. I havent played every Zelda game so I have to use information I get from reading other people's opinions of the games I havent played, but I feel it isnt the best because no game did anything better, but because no game was so consistent in all aspects. SS/TP/ST being too linear, WW/TP being big and empty, SS/the DS games having wierd controls, all the games seems to have major problems in them that might make someone not like it (even if it isnt a problem for everyone and even if there's things about the game that are amazing.) Even Majora's Mask, my all time fav zelda game, may be off-putting to someone enough to make them hate it because of the time-limit and sidequest feel of the game. OoT did enough right in enough quantities to be accessible to the most people, and so has a good chance of being the best to the most people. Of course, nostalgia is also a big part of it, which I ca understand as a reason to call it overrated.



kupomogli on 16 June 2014



Clyde32 on 16 June 2014
think-man said:

Yeah while I was playing it I felt it'd have alot more fun playing it with a controller. 

You might want to put OoT 3D down until you play Wind Waker, the original, or Link to the Past. 



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Never on 16 June 2014

My favourite is Majora's Mask, despite its flaws.
My favourite handheld Zelda is Spirit Tracks, which is probably a more controversial opinion. I regard that as better than the also brilliant ALBW and LA.

Skyward Sword is one of the games I'm most torn on. On one hand it's one of my least favourite Zelda's on the other I think some of the creativity and epicness of the game is breathtaking. My favourite Zelda's are all very flawed in their own way (Majara's Mask, Windwaker) Skyward Sword just has too many flaws to overlook.

My other controversial opinion would be ALTTP is one of the worst Zeldas. It's aged well, with a focus on puzzle based dungeons and good controls. However, I didn't think it was that great when I was 14, 25 or 32. Which are the three ages I was when I tried playing through it. Every time I found my self losing interest partway into the dark world and have never bothered to complete it.



Skidonti on 16 June 2014
S.Peelman said:

14. The Minish Cap
15. Phantom Hourglass
16. Four Swords

Played and completed all those and 100% some. The only Zelda game I didn't play is Four Swords Adventures so it's not included. Wind Waker used to be under Spirit Tracks for me, but the HD remaster bumped it up a spot because of the Swift Sail, the changes in the Triforce Quest and other improvements. I'd consider the bottom three as 'bad Zelda games' as they do too many things wrong for a Zelda game

Ya gotta put some near the bottom, I know, but I don't often hear people say Minish Cap straight up did something wrong for a Zelda game. What was straight up wrong for you?



Leadified on 16 June 2014
think-man said:
well everyone says OoT, so i actually went and brought it and started playing it last night. this is my first zelda game and im not enjoying it so far. controls are clumsy and gameplay is boring. i dunno if i can continue playing it. if this is the best then i guess zelda isnt for me.


In my case I played Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess before I played OOT and frankly OOT didn't really do it for me either. For the time I can imagine how amazing OOT was and there is no doubt that OOT made some innovations for future games in the series. But I feel future 3D Zeldas greatly improved on the foundation OOT left so I would try one of those games first.



S.Peelman on 16 June 2014
Skidonti said:
S.Peelman said:

14. The Minish Cap
15. Phantom Hourglass
16. Four Swords

Played and completed all those and 100% some. The only Zelda game I didn't play is Four Swords Adventures so it's not included. Wind Waker used to be under Spirit Tracks for me, but the HD remaster bumped it up a spot because of the Swift Sail, the changes in the Triforce Quest and other improvements. I'd consider the bottom three as 'bad Zelda games' as they do too many things wrong for a Zelda game

Ya gotta put some near the bottom, I know, but I don't often hear people say Minish Cap straight up did something wrong for a Zelda game. What was straight up wrong for you?

I feel; It's story doesn't really fit in with the timeline and messes too much with canon established in the rest of the series with it, it's characters and it's locations by disregarding pretty much everything. It's by far the easiest, by far the shortest (excluding Four Swords which is even shorter) and has the most annoying of all the side/fetchquests. Compared to the rest, even Phantom Hourglass below it, it has uninspired dungeons (with the exception of the Dark Hyrule Castle which is okay) and uninspired bosses and the game's gimmick (the shrinking) barely adds any real depth to the gameplay. On top of that it's graphics and most of it's music annoy me.

Sure, if it were any other game it would be fine as a game (though still not spectacular), but as a Zelda game it has way to many shortcomings. I don't know how it actually gets praised so much around here, because I'm certainly not seeing it.

This is of course, my personal opinion and it's okay for anyone to disagree, I'm aware of the wide range of preferences within the Zelda community .



Nintentacle on 16 June 2014

It's between Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks, and Wind Waker HD for me!