Daily Debate: What Zelda Game Did You Misjudge at First?

There’s an old saying, “never judge a book by its cover.” I think that can apply to games as well, and especially old games. With online subscriptions like Nintendo Switch Online players have the opportunity to relive the games of their childhood or experience old games for the first time. Personally a lot of the older Zelda games did not appeal to me because they were one, old, and two, notoriously difficult. Over the last few years I’ve taken up the challenge and completed a few Zelda games that I have wrongly judged.

The first game that I completely misjudged was A Link to the Past. In recent years I’ve posted that it was my husband’s favorite game and after finishing it awhile back I can see why. A Link to the Past was horrendously difficult, but playing with Nintendo Switch Online and using the rewind feature it did make things a little easier and it helped me enjoy the game some more. Originally I did not give this game the proper chance because of the difficultly. I had watched my husband play multiple times and watching him fail really put me off to the game. It was just one of those games that I had written off as a pass. I don’t like when something is too hard. I feel like it can take some of the enjoyment out of things. After playing it myself and experiencing the highs and lows I’m happy to say that it became a fast favorite. I understand why people love it so much now.

Another game that I have wrongly judged is The Legend of Zelda. I know, how can someone hate on the original game? I did, and I’m here to say I was very wrong. I didn’t give the first game a chance until playing the more recent game Tunic for a few hours. Seeing how inspired by Zelda Tunic was I decided to give the first game its fair chance. The Legend of Zelda is hard because you launch in with no direction, but as a lover of the Zelda series I can appreciate how much The Legend of Zelda as a whole has evolved over the years. The first game made me appreciate everything that we have now.

Are there any Zelda games that you have misjudged? What Zelda games do you want to give a second chance? Let us know in the comments below.

Heather Beard

Hi I’m Heather! I’m Senior Editor and Art Director at Zelda Dungeon and I’ve been a member of the ZD team since 2019. I am a graphic designer, artist, and nerdy mom to an awesome little boy. When my nose isn’t in a book, working on my novel or watching anime you can find me curled up with my cats Mandy-Lynn and Daisy Mae.