Skyward Sword fixed that because the puzzle nature that it have. Maybe the whip is the only one that you don't use a lot.

Granted Skyward Sword did have fewer items. But Twilight Princess is the worst offender. 

Too bad the items in any Zelda game are never used effectively throughout the game. Most of the items are also boring (in any Zelda game). Metroid is far superior to Zelda in this regard (at least to me).

And the dungeons being longer isn't good when they're pretty boring and standard. ALBW is a HH game, so dungeons are made shorter because of that.

The paint wall mechanic is the most creative and original thing to hit the Zelda franchise since a very long time.

I don't really see how that first paragraph proves anything, because even if they're boring, searching for them still beats just buying them and be done with it. If you like Metroid, you should like the exploration ALttP gives you in this regard.

That wasn't the problem in Link's Awakening, which had dungeons as big and varied as ever. It also worked perfectly well as a handheld game. A Link Between Worlds is nowhere near as good as that game though, but then again neither is A Link to the Past.

I agree on the last paragraph, though that still didn't make it a better game than ALttP.

The exploration is not interesting in a world without atmosphere and interesting "powerups".

You forget that ALBW had 4 Master ores, Hylian shield, magic scroll upgrade, two suit upgrades and upgrades to the items you buy/rent. That's 108 things to collect.

Much more and useful than ALTTP. That made exploration interesting for me...

How did the world in ALBW have this atmosphere and interesting power-ups you seek then? It's exactly the same. ALttP had similar hidden sword, shield and suit upgrades just like ALBW. I give you the collect-a-thon sidequest and it's reward, that concept wasn't invented until Link's Awakening, but if that's what it boils down to...