Favorite/Least Favorite Zelda Games

[Iridescence]

With the release of a new Zelda game, it's time to update my list.

1 - A Link to the Past -- (The most perfect entry in every way)
2 - Ocarina of Time -- (Has lots of great memorable locales)
3 - A Link Between Worlds -- (Very accessible game with lots of player freedom)
4 - The Wind Waker HD -- (Great atmosphere, characters, and story)
5 - Skyward Sword -- (Flaws aside, I love the art styles, dungeons and controls)
6 - Link's Awakening -- (All around solid entry, with a nice mystery story)
7 - Legend of Zelda -- (Classic. Very replayable, rewards exploration)
8 - Majora's Mask 3D -- (It's dark, bizarre and shakes up the Zelda formula)
9 - Oracle of Ages -- (Really good puzzles and use of the time mechanics)
10 - Twilight Princess -- (Great dungeons; lacking overworld and story)
11 - Oracle of Seasons -- (Nice atmosphere/items. Difficulty is a little punishing).
12 - The Minish Cap -- (Solid good-looking entry that doesn't innovate much.)
13 - Phantom Hourglass -- (Fun game except for that repetitive Ocean Temple)
14 - Tri Force Heroes -- (A decent but unremarkable co-op game)
15 - Four Sword Adventures -- (Good game but multiplayer is just not feasible now)
16 - Spirit Tracks -- (It's PH2.5 with a really annoying train based overworld)
17 - Adventure of Link -- (I like the gameplay, but the difficulty is very unpleasant)
18 - Four Swords -- (Not really a full game. Doesn't bear a 2nd playing)

 

[TheHerbivoreWaffle]

My opinions are always changing, so here it goes:

14. Zelda 1: It's old, and too difficult. I got stuck on dungeon 8 and don't plan on playing more.

13. Wind Waker: I hate sailing, only two dungeons were that good, and only two islands were even interesting. 100%ing it is a pain in the butt as well.

12. Link's Awakening: The one I have the least to say about. Not much good, not much bad. I like Turtle Rock though.

11. Phantom Hourglass: A charming DS Zelda game, with good dungeons and innovative controls. Biggest problem is the Temple of the Ocean King.

10. Ocarina of Time: This poor game keeps going down for me, only because I've played it too much. Good game, has some good dungeons, but I'm tired of it. XD

9. Triforce Heroes: I had fun with this game, even if it's very not like Zelda. Though multiplayer is more fun, most of my playing was single, and that may have hurt the experience a bit.

8. Oracle of Seasons: Fun game with challenging dungeons. The seasons mechanic is great, but the overworld is unmemorable. Highly underrated though.

7. Minish Cap: Fun overworld, mostly great dungeons, and the art style looks better than Wind Waker to me. I kinda wish that they made a whole dungeon out of the attic of a house, because those moments were among the coolest.

6. A Link Between Worlds: A fun 3DS game, with great graphics and a fun revisit to A Link to the Past (despite me playing this game first). I don't like the renting items, and the game is over really quick. But still fun!

5. A Link to the Past: I would say this is technically the best Zelda game. An iconic and fun overworld, lot's of great dungeons, and hard in a satisfying way. I actually needed to use strategy for this game.

4. Oracle of Ages: This game is the most clever with it's dungeons and overworld. Puzzles and dungeon crawling are my favorite elements in Zelda, and this game excels in both. Which is why it's my favorite 2D Zelda game.

3. Twilight Princess: Most nostalgic for me. Got me into the series. TP has great dungeons and bosses, and I like playing it because it was my first. I like exploring just because I can remember all my reactions when I first played it.

2. Skyward Sword: I want to put this game at #1, but it has too many small flaws (Fi, bland sky, quite linear, most sidequests suck). I have the most fun just playing through it though!

1. Majora's Mask: Five solid areas, four solid dungeons, many solid sidequests. This is, in my opinion, the technical best 3D Zelda game, and my favorite to play.

 

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

Dishonorable Mention - Triforce Heroes: It is absolutely hilarious that this game is canon, has a timeline spot, and thus is a main-series title and I have to include. To all you theorists who lost your hobby after Hyrule Historia - I truly feel for you that this is what you have to work with these days.

16.) Adventure of Link: Too difficult, too old, and too punishing. I might appreciate it more if I was from that early era of gaming, but as it is, this is one Zelda game I don't see myself ever touching again for any reason.

15.) Legend of Zelda: Is it a crime to have the two originals at the bottom? Regardless, the very first game is too open-ended and too cryptic to really enjoy it without a guide. It's at least beatable, unlike AoL to me, so that's good.

14.) Phantom Hourglass: I actually liked this game way back when it came out, but my opinion has definitely changed since then. I've grown to despise stylus controls, and the game is just so ugly. They tried to use the WW style again, and it failed pretty bad.

13.) Spirit Tracks: It's better than PH just because a train is better than a stupid boat, but it's almost exactly the same game. Stylus controls still suck, and I had to slog through it my first time.

12.) Skyward Sword: Definitely one of the most disappointing games I've ever played. I don't know how you screw up something as basic and established as the 3D Zelda formula, but they managed to do it. And it's almost as ugly as PH/ST. That's a real accomplishment.

11.) Wind Waker: I was so upset that this was the follow-up to OoT back in the day. That aside though, it feels like a step back in almost every way coming off of MM. This marks the Zelda series going all shiny rainbow too, which I think was a horrible choice stylistically for the console games.

10.) Four Swords Adventures: Not a fan of this gameplay mechanic at all. When I think of 2D Zelda, this type of gimmick is not what comes to mind, and it isn't what a want from that traditional style.

9.) Four Swords: I played this all of 30 minutes maybe with my two little brothers on our 3DS's after the anniversary edition was released. It was fun, but wore off really fast. Points for that, I guess.

8.) Oracle of Seasons/Ages: I group these two because I've only beaten each one once way back when I was trying to complete the Zelda series full-force. I don't remember much except that I enjoyed it more than the above for sure. I consider them LA 2.0, which isn't a bad thing at all.

7.) Minish Cap: This and LA compound exactly what I want from handheld Zelda - a more traditional, top-down approach that's quirky, fun and colorful to look at. I like LA more because of nostalgia, but MC was definitely a big step forward for Zelda until PH/ST messed it up.

6.) A Link Between Worlds: I was so, so happy to see handheld Zelda get back to this, and the fact that it followed up ALttP so well was an excellent bonus. Not my favorite game on the 3DS, but it definitely belongs in every owner's library.

5.) A Link to the Past: My nostalgic love for the 3D games is why this one is kind of low, but I acknowledge this as one of the three or so Zelda games that are truly excellent and withstand the test of time. Makes me wish I was a kid during the SNES days, honestly.

4.) Link's Awakening: It might seem crazy that I like this one more than ALttP, but it's always kind of been that way for me. There's just something about how unique and weird it is that makes it stick with me. Plus I love how unconventional it is with the plot and characters.

3.) Majora's Mask: This is objectively the best 3D game, I feel. But this is a personal list, and since I didn't actually complete MM until long after I was done with OoT and TP, I put it as number three. It took me a while to realize how genius the rewind time mechanic was, and how amazingly implemented it was.

2.) Twilight Princess: When people who aren't fans of the series think of Zelda, I always hope this is the game that comes to mind. A true homecoming for the Zelda series, TP was the direction, both stylistically and gameplay-wise, that I thought was logical coming off of OoT and MM. I always recommend it to someone as their first 3D Zelda game.

1.) Ocarina of Time: Pure nostalgic glory and fun. OoT symbolizes the first time I figured out games weren't just as simple as running and jumping. It may not hold up to everyone's modern standards, but that's kind of the point - it was the game that made those standards possible in the first place. My favorite Zelda now, and probably forever.

 

[Linkmaster30000]

Twilight Princess is my favorite so far. It does an amazing job of updating the Ocarina of Time formula, adding some darkness to it, and creating an expansive world where there are lots of enemies trying to stop you. There are a lot of side-quests and mini-games to enjoy, and the final boss battle is one of my favorites in gaming lore.

My list is here. None of these games are "bad" in my opinion, but that doesn't mean some are better than others.

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

I haven't played the CD-i games, though I do have them. When I do play them, I probably still won't place them on here, because I'm pretty sure they don't deserve it.

If I had to place Hyrule Warriors somewhere, I'd probably place it around FSA - I'm not sure if it would be above it or below it. Link's Crossbow Training would be at the bottom for sure.

 

[Derek Francis]

I'm going to take a different approach with my list. This Christmas holiday, I decided to rank the Zelda games using a semi-objective metric. It mixes my personal opinions with a broader view of things. The games were graded from 1 to 5 in 20 different categories, earning up to a maximum of 100 points. 1's were rarely given, only for the most odious circumstances. I tried to give 5's as sparingly as possible too. When in doubt, I gave them a 3. In the end, the results were accurate. First, the list.

18) Four Swords (2002)
Was fun for an hour. Haven't touched it since.
17) Phantom Hourglass (2007)
Every aspect of this game felt below average.
16) II, Adventure of Link (1988)
Good concept, but ruined by excessive difficult.
15) Tri-Force Heroes (2015)
Fun co-op but a lack of depth and content.
14) Four Sword Adventures (2004)
Good if you have friends who want to play it.
13) Spirit Tracks (2009)
It's Phantom Hourglass with some improvements.
12) The Minish Cap (2005)
Solid entry but doesn't build on the formula much.
11) Oracle of Seasons (2001)
The rod of seasons made the gameplay interesting
10) Legend of Zelda (1986)
Dated in some ways, timeless in others.
9) Oracle of Ages (2001)
Has great puzzles and one of the better stories.
8) Twilight Princess (2006)
It's an Ocarina clone, but that's not such a bad thing.
7) Skyward Sword (2011)
A unique entry in the series. Love the art direction.
6) A Link Between Worlds (2013)
Brought back the non-linear gameplay fans have been craving.
5) The Wind Waker (2003)
The atmosphere, story, characters and open sea leave a lasting impression.
4) Link's Awakening (1993)
A good fusion between LOZ and ALTTP with a great story.
3) Majora's Mask (2000)
Masters the conventions but also changes things up in many ways.
2) Ocarina of Time (1998)
This revolutionary title has so many memorable locales and dungeons
1) A Link to the Past (1991)
Gave the Zelda series its identity. Just about everything is perfect.

Here's the Google spreadsheet data explaining my rankings.

 

[TheHerbivoreWaffle]

I'm going to take a different approach with my list. This Christmas holiday, I decided to rank the Zelda games using a semi-objective metric. It mixes my personal opinions with a broader view of things. The games were graded from 1 to 5 in 20 different categories, earning up to a maximum of 100 points. 1's were rarely given, only for the most odious circumstances. I tried to give 5's as sparingly as possible too. When in doubt, I gave them a 3. In the end, the results were accurate. First, the list.

18) Four Swords (2002)
Was fun for an hour. Haven't touched it since.
17) Phantom Hourglass (2007)
Every aspect of this game felt below average.
16) II, Adventure of Link (1988)
Good concept, but ruined by excessive difficult.
15) Tri-Force Heroes (2015)
Fun co-op but a lack of depth and content.
14) Four Sword Adventures (2004)
Good if you have friends who want to play it.
13) Spirit Tracks (2009)
It's Phantom Hourglass with some improvements.
12) The Minish Cap (2005)
Solid entry but doesn't build on the formula much.
11) Oracle of Seasons (2001)
The rod of seasons made the gameplay interesting
10) Legend of Zelda (1986)
Dated in some ways, timeless in others.
9) Oracle of Ages (2001)
Has great puzzles and one of the better stories.
8) Twilight Princess (2006)
It's an Ocarina clone, but that's not such a bad thing.
7) Skyward Sword (2011)
A unique entry in the series. Love the art direction.
6) A Link Between Worlds (2013)
Brought back the non-linear gameplay fans have been craving.
5) The Wind Waker (2003)
The atmosphere, story, characters and open sea leave a lasting impression.
4) Link's Awakening (1993)
A good fusion between LOZ and ALTTP with a great story.
3) Majora's Mask (2000)
Masters the conventions but also changes things up in many ways.
2) Ocarina of Time (1998)
This revolutionary title has so many memorable locales and dungeons
1) A Link to the Past (1991)
Gave the Zelda series its identity. Just about everything is perfect.

Here's the Google spreadsheet data explaining my rankings.

Objectively, this is probably the most accurate list you're gonna get.

 

[MetaBeta]

In order from Best to Worst

Oracle of Ages = The Wind Waker > Link's Awakening > Oracle of Seasons > Majora's Mask > A Link to the Past = Zelda 2 > Ocarina of Time > Twilight Princess = Zelda 1

Oracle of Ages
Best puzzles in Zelda, the dungeons were great, and the overworld was fantastic. My only complaint is that the pacing feels a bit off.

The Wind Waker
I don't know why, but this game gets a bad rep for being too easy. I mean, yeah, the combat's pretty easy, but I'd say it's probably one of the least hand-holdy 3D Zeldas so far. There are a lot of really good puzzles in this one, and not to mention one of my all-time favorite Zelda dungeons: The Wind Temple. The mini-dungeons were also pretty great, and I loved every island on this game.

Also, they ****ing NAILED the atmosphere.

Link's Awakening
The atmosphere was great. Also, the artstyle leaves a lot to your imagination, which I thought was good. The puzzles actually involved you taking advantage of certain gameplay mechanics, which I thought was good, as opposed to the usual Zelda convention of holding down a C button to use a certain item at a certain point.

Oracle of Seasons
It was good. I say it had a better opening than Oracle of Ages, but Oracle of Ages had better dungeon design and a better overworld.

Majora's Mask
Another Zelda game that nailed the atmosphere. It was dark, but not edgy like Twilight Princess was. The overworld was a huge improvement over Ocarina of Time's bland Hyrule Field. The puzzles were also slightly less obscure but there were a few that I thought were slightly unfair. The mask changing was an interesting mechanic and I felt like they used it very well.

A Link to the Past
Look, I get it. It innovated Zelda into what have today, but I think the game kind of overstayed its welcome. The first half of the game is great, but then I got to the dark world and I was so ready for it to end. I got tired of hearing that same overworld soundtrack over and over again. I got tired of hearing that dungeon soundtrack over and over again. The dungeon design got really repetitive and even with the changing sprites I still felt like I didn't notice any reasonable difference between each dungeon.

You could probably show me a random screenshot of any dungeon from ALttP and I wouldn't be able to tell you where it is. They didn't really seem to have their own memorable design gimmicks or themes. I was about to blow my brains out when I got to the Thieves' Hideout because the dungeon was huge, repetitive, and lacking in any shortcuts.

Still, the game did an excellent job with presentation, and exploration felt rewarding as always. Just wish they did more with it, or maybe even less...

Zelda 2
A different type of Zelda, but still Zelda. The design is still there, it's just highly difficult and has RPG elements and sidescrolling unlike the classical Zelda 1. Really underrated. I highly recommend everyone beat it (without a guide) at least some point in their lives.

Ocarina of Time
I like it, I just hate some parts about it. Like counter intuitive/obscure puzzle design in some areas. Or carrying Princess Ruto around through an entire poorly designed and ugly looking dungeon. And the awful camera controls. Can't forget the camera controls.

However, this game has one of my favorite dungeons of all time: The Water Temple.

Twilight Princess
Incredibly slow, too story-driven, and too much handholding. However, the dungeon design was great, despite also having the 3 worst Zelda dungeons of all time. The pre-dungeon activities were also good.

Zelda 1
Not bad, not good. Just an original classic. It deserves the praise for being classic, and has aged well and poorly at the same time. It's a must-play for historical reasons.

 

[the8thark]

Firstly here is my subjective order of my favourite games.
My list in order. 1 being my favourite.

1. Zelda 2: Adventure of Link -- I am aware not many people like this game. It's not very Zelda like but it is uber fun, slightly challenging (till you work out how to nail the platforming and sword thrusts very time) Also it has one of my favourite dungeons of all time - Palace 5, the Sea Palace. This is also one of the first isntances of an open overworld in any game ever. Also the idea of multiple towns in the game that you have to explore of your own to find their secrets is a very good idea. The hidden town of New Kasuto and Old Kasuto are prime example of this.
   
   
2. Majora's Mask -- The dungeons are forgettable in this game, but everything else outside them is amazing. The 3 day clock idea is amazing too. It allows all the NPCs to be scripted to certain locations at certain times. Also the music here is amazing, the music that is new to MM that is, not the OOT rehash. Also this game is pretty hard, not to complete but to 100%. Many of the mini games are brutally tough. It's sad that tne N64 version of this game has poor sales though.
   
   
3. Hyrule Warriors -- Amazingly fun and well thought out game. Teh fun is in the adventure mode, it's great. Incredibly flawed though. But why HW is up on this high on the list is because these flaws only surface once you're well over 100 hours into the game. But that point you're ok to put the game down because you've had more than enough entertainment to justify the price. This does make Hyrule Warriors the hardest Zelda game ever to 100% complete though.
   
   
4. The Minish Cap -- Solid entry that is not made by Nintendo. The kinstone thing can be a painin the ass at times and the game is really short. But what makes up for this is the openworldness of the overworld. The dungeons are really innovative. The whole big/small thing really works well. The companion (your hat) is not a ***** that never shuts up (like in other Zelda games). If you can handle what Minish Cap is, then you'll find a really good game. I liked it a lot when I playee it last.
   
   
5. Legend of Zelda -- For it's time it was a masterpiece. It had quality and quantity of content. The 2nd quest was originally not going to be in the game but thanks to a few developer oversights when maknig the first quest, they had enough left over cart storage space to make 2nd quest. That's a real feat if you think about it. They made the enitre 1st quest using up about half of the NES cart's chip space. The game can be done aprtially out of order, most of the overworld is explorable at the beninning of the game and the dungeons are all different and fun. The only downside is every screen is a static size. A development limitation of the era. I think if you like the portable Zelda games, then this is certainly worth a try. . . well this or the SNES remakes (if you can find a time fixed rom of them.
   
   
6. Twilight Princess -- Loved the graphics and aesthetics of this game. Everything about this game to me was amazing apart from the story. The story sucked harder than an industrial vacuum cleaner in the hands of an aardvark. This is not an afterthought. While I was playing TP for the first time, I was questioning the story and dialogue, picking out the plot holes and the many many points where the story was not believable. The poor story did affect my initial playing of it. It is not a piss poor story that one can simple ignore, it's an intrusive story that was written just so bad. Story aside the game is amazing and well worth repurchasing it in HD.
   
   
7. Oracle of Seasons -- I remember at the time I had to choose one game, ages or seasons to get. This was a long time ago, so I chose seasons and it was a great game. I don't remember it being overly hard. I do remember the changing of the seasons mechanic and thought at the time it was a great idea. Also seeing the overworld in four diffeent colour palets was great too. Overall a very fun portable Zelda game. Not the best ever but for the time it was great.
   
   
8. A Link To The Past -- A great Zelda game. One of the best looking SNES games ever. It's gamepaly is great too. The move back to top down after the whole Zelda 2 issue was a good one. It was done very well. The music of Zelda 2 is some of the best video game music ever. Most certainly the best music of any Zelda game to date. This game however has one massive flaw. It's just too easy. It's not like WW where I don't notice how easy it is because WW is just so bad as a game. ALTTP is a great game that could have been amazing if a few little changes took place. Mostly making the game a little harder. I do mean a little harder, not super hard like some of the fan remakes of ALTTP are. Also I think farming a stupid amount of rupees to fully upgrade your arrow and bomb cary limits is bad game design. They should have put bomb and arrow upgrades at the end on a minigame or as a secret area in a dungeon (Think Zelda 1's bomb upgrades). I do keep thinking if Nintendo had released another SNES Zelda game in say 1996, they could have used all the mode 7 and other technical improvements to have made an amazing looking game. Look at Terranigma. Terranigma is as close to 16 but graphical perfection as you'll ever see. Nintendo could have done something similar with Zelda on the SNES. I do think Nintendo was too heavily invested in making Ocarina of Time by then to warrant another SNES Zelda game. Even if ALTTP the 2nd was in production it's probably have been cancelled mid way through just like Star Fox 2 was, before the N64 console was delayed a year.
   
   
9. Ocarina of Time -- This is not the best Zelda game, not even close. But this game will be the one most people born after 1990 will remember. Ocarinaof Time for it's time was a technical and developmental masterpiece. This game had to succeed. The N64 was not doing so well, the first major Nintendo console to not be doing so well. Partially Nintendo's fault with it's insanely high 3rd party licensing fees. Luckily for Nintendo, Ocarina of Time, was the masterpiece they needed it to be and thus saved the N64 as we all know. Apart from this game not aging so well, there is one major let down in this game. The music is not very original at all. The few new pieces are great. The rest are just rehashed and remixed versions of pieces from ALTTP. A classic game is not a classic because of it's quality. It's a classic because it captured our hearts at the time. Ocarina of Time did just that. The game is in the middle of my list basically because it's a good game but not an amazing game. It's just a game that everyone fell in love with.
   
   
10. A Link Between Worlds -- I have not played much of this game. Sure it's just an ALTTP sequel, but it does many things right and takes risks. The whole hiring items out and doing most of the dungeons in any order is a little hit an miss for an idea. Sure it gives you more game replayability, but it does lessen the progresson through the dungeons you have as each has to be a stand alone dungeon and can't use experiences and items you've had in previous dongeons. The game is a nice experment. Looks relatively nice too. The 3DS fans rightfully like this game. If you can play 3DS games on the NX somehow, this game will be a NX day one purchase for me.
    
    
11. Skyward Sword -- When I first saw this game, the aesthetics initially put me off. But I kept at it and finished the game. The best part of this game is the dungeons. They are mostly well designed and very fun to play. Many unew and fresh ideas were used in them. The worst parts of the game however are the controls which broke down many times in the game, annoying when you needed them. The stamina meter which was a totally unnecessary limit to how often you can run and spin slash in the game. Not having the stamina meter at all would have improved the game so much and made the game any easier. Just more fun to play. Lastly the grinding for materials in the game was so annoying. Zelda as a series has made it a thing that the only RNG grinding you mostly need to do is early on for rupees. Skyward sword made almost every potion and every item upgrade require farmed materials. Farming these materials my killing the dame things over and over (or doing the bamboo citting game over and over at certain end scores) to get the materials you need was just so annoying. This kind fo required material farming should never be in any Zelda game. It's a large part of Skyward and it hurt the game considerably. Also I will say yhr breakable shield concept in Skyward Sword never really worked. I say this as I realised that if you don't perfectly block something your shield takes damage till it breaks. Yes this does mean more material farming to get another made. Thanks to this whole mess I played Skyward Sword in the style of Bloodborne. I never used the shield in the entire game apart from on the last boss (but by then I had the unbreakable Hylian Shield). Having a shield I never used felt a little pointless. It was easy enough to lock on to an enemy and just side step all the attacks and spin around to it's behind to attack it. At it's core Skyward Sword is a good game, just flawed by a few poorly thought out and poorly developed im game mechanics.
    
    
12. Oracle of Ages -- I have not played much of this game but the little I did play, it was a solid game, nothing I can remember being bad about it. A nice compain to the Seasons game. I never did play the bonus you get if you finish both Ages and Seasons and link both together. I wonder if a possible WiiU VC version of Ages and Seasons will include the post beating both games content.
    
    
13. Link's Awakening -- I have played both versions of this. Original and Colour. I don't remember much of the colour version but after re-reading, I do remember playing the special colour dungeon that netted you an attack or a defensive bonus once you completed it. I can't say I liked this game all that much though. It was fun and there was no real flaws in it, apart from the 2D platformnig parts that really didn't fit in with the rest of the game. A good game when it released but today it's only worth playing if you're a hard Zelda fan.
    
    
14. Four Swords Adventures -- This is really not a good game at all. It's alright if you want a quick hit of fun. But that's about it. This is just a level after level action game. No explorable overworld, no purchasing anything, just get enough rupees by the end of each stange and that's it. The game is fun but for every reason that is anti Legend of Zelda. Also the game was released at a very bad time. Local single screen multiplayer of the 80's and 90's was on it's way out and online multiplayer was not really a big thing yet. The whole point of the game, the local multiplayer was lost because no noe really wanted a local multiplayer game at the time. Local multiplayer was on it's way out, now though it's mostly dead and there are no signs of it coming back any time soon. THis concept on the N64 or SNES would have been amazing. A multiplayer Zelda game. But by the 2000's, nah, a bad idea. Playing the game solo though has no long term fun sadly.
    
    
15. Phantom Hourglass -- This game is just Wind Waker 2 in reality. The only good thing I can say about PH is that it looks better than Wind Waker. I don't mean compared to other portable games, I mean put WW and PH next to each other and if those were the only 2 games in existance, I would say PH looks better. Past the graphics PH has some nice touch screen features. Makes the game fun to play. The other downsides are, there is still the over abundance of fishing up all the crap that has washed into the ocean, discovering islands that you can't explore because the game is highly linear and dungeons that are just average in every way. This is not the worst game in existance, not even close but compared to other Zelda games, this one is very average indeed. If this ever comes up for sale on the WiiU VC grab it but do not pay full price. Just not worth it.
    
    
16. Spirit Tracks -- Zelda and trains, that's a good idea? On paper sure. In practice certainly not. The game is ok, a lot cloned from Phantom Hourglass though. There is only one real negative thing, the whole train. But since the train is as core to this game as the ocarina is to OOT, that really ruins this game. A game about a train that you never want to use because it's just no fun. It does not matter how good a game is (thin game is not that good though), if there is no fun, then the game is not worth playing. This game is exactly that, simply unfun.
    
    
17. Triforce Heroes -- An online mluiplayer Zelda game? A great idea on paper. But in practice a bad idea. . . but that's not saying onlnie multiplayer is bad for Zelda. It was just executed horribly in this game. Playing the game solo makes it 3x as hard as you have to control 3 characters at once. Playing co-op is not great either because no one is willing to work together as a team and there is not enough communication options to get your other players to do a specific thing or task. Also the content of this game is jsut liek Four Swords Adventures, just stage after stage. No real explorable overworld and nothing to do apart from the dungeons and the arena thing. Nintendo really need to take inspiration from Monolithsoft and Xenoblade Chronicles X here. XCX has a decent multiplayer experience. But most of it is immersed into the single player experience. Having your actions in single player add up to complete multiplayer tasks/quests is an amazing idea. Also having as few actual multiplayer quests where you work together is cool too. The multiplayer missions in XCX though are painfully weak and short (Final Menace excepted). The way XCX does multiplayer is that Nintendo need to do with Zelda games in the future.
    
    
18. Link's Crossbow Training -- This game is bad. So bad it hurts. Even the title screams out "this is a bad game". Link using a crossbow? What the actual ****? In this game you jsut shoot targets witha crossbow, an item used in zero other Zelda games. That's it. The graphics are based on the Twilight Princess style but they are not done all that well. The one upside to this game is if you mist have it, it's less than $20 now to buy. Requires a working Wiimote to use though. Cheap garbage is what this is.
    
    
19. Wind Waker -- Link's Crossbow training is cheap garbage. How does this compare to Wind Waker. Wind Waker is expensive garbage. Yes I went there and I firmly believe it. From the first day I played WWGC till now I beleive the same. I think WWGC is better than WWHD though. I did buy WWHD so I could play it on my WiiU one day on sale just so I can say I've finished the HD version. The best and only good thing about this game is the depth of the NPCs. They have really rich backgrounds and stories. They are so really well done. Sadly everything else about this game is hot garbage. The kind that stinks when you are miles down wind of it. Decent graphics ruined by a cel shaded aesthetic that makes the game look all cartoony like. Dungeons that are so short and easy It hurts playing them. Dungeon bosses that really shows Nintendo's skill in reusing old bosses. They even ripped off Andross from the Star Fox universe as a boss in this game. Andross was also recycled for part of the end boss in Minish Cap as well. Also all the fishing up all the garbage in Hyrule that has ended up in the ocean is so boring and repetative. I don't mean the triforce shards (that was fixed in WWHD), I mean everything else. There's just so much crap to fish up. Maps, items, rupees etc etc. Many of these junk fishing spots only make a sound when you are near them and you can see that little helo on the water where you can fish them up. Because of this you often hear the hum of a near by junk fishing location and takes you 5 minutes to look for it. When you've found it, you need to spend another couple of minutes to precisionly line up the boat in just the right position to fish up the junk. Most of this time is replaying the wind song to change the wind to the direction you want to sail. That's when you get the slap in the face. About 50% of the time you fish up rupees. But by the time you can set out to find all these junk fishing locations, you either have no need for more rupees or you already have a full wallet and those fished up rupees went to waste. I must have wasted about 1000 rupees in the game simply because I already had a full wallet and nothing to spend rupees on. If I was told to recommend this game, I would only recommend it to the hard Zelda fans. Then I'd only recommend the HD version. The HD version is worse than the GC version, but it has better draw distances in the ocean, a said that does not need wind to use and the triforce part fishing quest is a lot shorter. Usually the better version of the game is the one to play. But here the better game is the less painfully annoying one, that being the HD version. I don't regret buying WW and WWHD. Both are still godo when compared to some of the other bad games out there. But compared to Zelda games this deserves to be near the bottom for all the reasons I mentioned above.
    
    
20. CD-i games -- I've not played these three games but everyone I know that has, all say these games are bad. Cringeworthy bad. I have watched a few lets plays of these games. That's as far as I want to go. I can easily download a CD-i emulator and play these games but I have zero desire to. These 3 games make Sonic 06 look good, that's that's feat, to make games so bad. The really sad thing here is 3 of these games were made. They didn't just stop at one realising how bad it was. They went out and made 2 more of these abominations. Even Wind Waker has it's place in the Zelda line up, but these 3 games are best forgotten. They never existed, that's a lie but we will be all better off if we just pretend these 3 games never existed.

***********************

Here is a more objectivly made lsit of my favourite Zelda games. I used @Derek Francis idea of doing a speadsheet with all of the different categories listed and giving eacha score. I really liked his idea so I did one myself.

I did this without thinking of my above subjective rankings. I also thought of each category individually. I will explain each category I used and what it means as I used a few different categories to @Derek Francis . Also when you see a zero in a particular category, that means there was none of the current category in that Zelda game or it was so very bad, not having it in game would have been better.

Ok lets explain each category I used and what it means.
Each category is scored out of 5 for total maxium of 105 score.

• Graphics - The crispness of the sprite and model edges. The quality of the programing that went into making the game look as it does.
• Aesthetics - The colour, brightness and other graphical choices the developer used to set the mood and tone of the game visually.
• Music - All of the music within the game.
• Sound - All of the sound effects in the game.
• Enemies - The quality of all the enemies you fight in the game. Are the fun to battle and pose a decent amount of challenge, not too hard and not too easy.
• Pacing - Was the game paced correctly. As in, was the difficulty curve smooth and was the story flowing so it made sense with the difficulty of the content.
• L-Curve - This is the learnnig curve. Does the game take too long to understand and learn how to play? A good score here is a game with a decent learnnig curve. Not a Zelda game you learn how to play in 2 minutes. Not one that takes too long to learn to play well, but one that guides you well and you learn to be a better play at it at the right times when the harder content arrives.
• Replay - Does the game want you to replay it after you've finished it one day? The better a game did this for me, the better score it got.
• Combat - Is the gameplay in combat good? If so a better score.
• Puzzles - Were the puzzles in this game really well thought out?
• Items - Were the items well designed and fun to use?
• Dungeons - Were the dungeons well designed and fun to play?
• Story - Did the game have a decent story with few plot holes and unbelieveable parts?
• Cast - Were the NPCs well designed, have good back stories and were helpful within the game?
• Side Quests - Were there many side quests and were they well designed?
• Freedom - Did youhave freedom to do whatever you want or were you restricted in where you could go and what you could do? The higher freedom of choice to do whatever you want gave a higher score in this category. A more linear game with areas gated off till you got more items gave a lower score here.
• Overworld - Does the game have a high quality overworld?
• Content - This is about the quantity of content. The more content a game has, the higher score it has here.
• Innovation - Is the game really innovative? If so a higher score here. Lots of rehash in a game lowers the score here a lot.
• Impact - The impact the game had to me and to everyone at the time of release.
• Variety - Does the game has a lot of variety in the tasks you have to do in it or are you doing the same thing over and over again. More variety in what you do in the game gives a higher score here.
• Total - The sum of all the other categories for a game.

The spreadsheet with all the individual values for each game is here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ROrOXsx6Za0DVicVn35qI6VdRgJ7CLOnGWEocHIiTYY

The final ranking for each game based on this more objective assessment is:

1. Majora's Mask - 80
2. Twilight Princess - 74
3. Zelda 2: Adventure of Link - 73
4. Minish Cap - 71
5. Oracle of Ages - 67
6. Hyrule Warriors - 64
7. A Link To The Past - 63
8. Legend of Zelda - 63
9. Ocarina Of Time - 62
10. Oracle of Seasons - 59
11. A Link Between Worlds - 58
12. Link's Awakening - 52
13. Skyward Sword - 52
14. Phantom Hourglass - 50
15. Spirit Tracks - 41
16. Wind Waker - 40
17. Four Swords Adventures - 40
18. Triforce Heroes - 39
19. CD-i games - 28
20. Link's Crossbow Training - 19

You can see this is slightly differnt to my above more subjective ranking above.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

dude...8shark,i just gotta say the placements here remind of this one guy who said that final fantasy 13 was the best final fantasy game to date,even though he has played earlier ff games

 

[thane98]

Well I finally finished up all of the 3D games a little while ago. Here's how I'd rank them:

1. Twilight Princess - There's a lot to love in this entry - great atmosphere, great dungeons, a great companion, and a lot of variation in gameplay. The soundtrack and aesthetic contributed to a great atmosphere that really made some moments that would have been dull rather enjoyable. The strength of Twilight Princess' dungeons goes without saying - the dungeon roster for this game is stellar, and their excellent design plays a huge part in making this entry great. While Twilight Princess fumbled in terms of plot, Midna was a strong companion, and as a result the game delivered some great moments in spite of its weak story. Finally, I thought the variety offered across the game did a lot for it - between things like mounted combat, wolf form, sumo wrestling, and snowboarding, the game made sure that you weren't doing the same thing for too long. Twilight Princess easily tops my list.

2. Wind Waker - This is one of those games that I'd come back to and try to play about once a year, and every time I'd always grow tired of it fairly quickly and give up before making significant progress. But I finally did it, and the game really did grow on me the further I got into it. Wind Waker still suffers from a relatively slow beginning as far as I'm concerned - I'd say even slower than Twilight Princess' opening - but, once you get access to the sea, things are great. I'd say that this entry provides the best exploration across the series, and it's Wind Waker's biggest asset. Outside of that, the visuals are great, and the story is solid. I never really grew attached to any of the characters in Wind Waker, but I did enjoy the cast as a whole. Wind Waker's a solid entry on its own, but its exploration makes it one of the best.

3. Skyward Sword - I put this one down after an hour of playing the first around because I decided that you could not create a serious game with motion controls like those found in Skyward Sword. I eventually came to it though, and I really did enjoy my time with it. Looking at the motion controls, I think that they have some serious flaws, but overall they make for a unique experience and add a new dimension to combat. They do cause some control issues in a few places (flying with motion controls annoyed me quite a bit). I would describe the motion controls as Skyward Sword's biggest strength and biggest weakness. Outside of that, the whole goddess cube system really annoyed me. If that was gone, I would have enjoyed exploring Skyloft even if it was a little barren, but with there was a bit of a lack in honest exploration. But Skyward Sword delivered in other areas - the upgrade systems added some welcome progression, and I did enjoy all of the different shields. Dungeon design was solid, and like Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword offered a lot of gameplay variety to keep things interesting. However, while gameplay was varied, settings were not - Skyward Sword would have benefited immensely from the introduction of more settings. Skyward Sword made up for its flaws with a good overall cast and a great plot in comparison to the other 3D entries. The only real issue I take with anything on the story side is Fi, but everything else was great. I liked this entry overall, but it's a collection of strengths and flaws which tend to cancel each other out.

4. Majora's Mask - Majora's Mask is one of those games that will always be timeless simply because the experience of the 3 day clock cannot be replicated. Majora's Mask forces you into a completely different mindset from the other games because everything you do is centered around that clock, and it acts as a great interruption to the normal Zelda formula. This one also does a better job with its cast and plot, though I was a little annoyed with the games tendency to give characters like Tatl development before dropping them for the rest of the game... A little more development for the main characters would have gone a long way. I liked the abundance of side quests, and the Anju/Kafei quest was definitely as good as people said it would be. Majora's Mask offered a lot more progression than most other entries (only Skyward Sword beats it in that regard), and I really did appreciate the variety of rewards available through exploration. The dungeons in Majora's Mask were a little underwhelming to me, and the small roster didn't make it any better. They weren't bad, but they were just forgettable as a whole. I would say that Majora's Mask is a unique and memorable experience overall, even if it does have some weaknesses.

5. Ocarina of Time - Despite putting Ocarina of Time at the last spot on this list, I would call it the "perfect" entry out of the series. So why the low ranking? Well, Ocarina of Time just failed to stand out anywhere to me. There was nothing that I loved about it - the dungeons were solid but not outstanding, the exploration was great but not exceptional, and the story was okay but not anything special. Still, I can't find anything to complain about either. Ocarina of Time doesn't have the same glaring weaknesses that the other 3D entries have, but it doesn't have any strengths either... it falls into an awkward place each entry after it has done something better, but at the same time its consistency means that it does some things better than future entries. I enjoyed Ocarina of Time, but I just got a lot more out of the great moments of the other games than I did out of the consistently decent gameplay offered by Ocarina of Time.

 

[IMagruder]

Majora's Mask really nails atmosphere, characters, and emotional investment. I don't really care about Hyrule, because everyone's a one dimensional sprite with a single line of dialogue, but Majora's Mask does make you care about Termina, because most everyone in Termina has personality and motivation. In other words, a life. The story isn't great, and neither are the dungeons, but the real meat of the game is in the phenomenal side quests. Not only is Majora's Mask the best Zelda game, but its one of the best video games. Period.

Wind Waker has the best story in any Zelda game, bar none. Its one of the most mature games in the series (miles ahead of Twilight Princess in that regard). Nonetheless, its major flaw is how tedious it is. The Triforce Charts aren't bad, but it then compounds onto that getting the Triforce Shards. Then you have the wallet draining trading quest, the Deku Sprouts, the Nintendo Gallery, and coming back to the main plot, getting enough money for Tingle. Then you have the seagulls, which are only used twice in the game, and if you don't know you need it ahead of time, you won't have one on you when you do need it. Naturally, Beedle's shop isn't anywhere near where you are when you need them. Despite all that, I like the sailing and discovery of the game, the art style is the most expressive. With the exception of the Temples (which are tedious because of the near constant use of the command song), all the dungeons are solid and the first boss is one of the most fun in the series. The other big problem I have with the game is that you can't choose which of the Temples you do first. Its a small thing, but its important to me. Easily the second best in the series.

Minish Cap is one of the best 2D games, the dungeons are solid, its duel world mechanic is the most interesting in the series, and it holds the honor of having the coolest Zelda boss.

Zelda II is pretty great. The combat is the best in the series. The random encounters are done well, working the same as they do in Earthbound, Paper Mario, and the South Park game.




The Wind Waker Sequels are both pretty mediocre, the story flat out ignores the themes present in WW, and the ST overworld isn't fun to play in. The ship/train upgrades are cool though, and I remember enjoying the central dungeon in PH. They're alright games, but they ruin WW's story and aren't fun enough to replay.

Skyword Sword is an unplayable mess. I don't know if the game gets better. The controls are so phenomenally bad, they make the game so miserable of an experience that I gave up somewhere in the obligatory forest dungeon at the beginning. The Loftwings are too difficult to move with any kind of precision, and the combat terrible. The parts that use an analog stick (i.e. walking) and the parts that use the buttons are the only parts that work. This game combined with the Wii Motion Plus I bought with it were the worst $70 I've ever spent. This really is the only bad Zelda game, and its all because of the control.




Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past really aren't anything special. They were great for there time, and they have aged well, but everything they've done later games have done better. Twilight Princess is Ocarina of Time with one really cool boss fight are the very tedious light pearl levels. Four Swords Adventures is fun, but what ruins it the expense of getting the gameboys and cables needed to get the four player co-op.

Oracle of Ages was the first Zelda I played and will always be my sentimental favorite, even if the tiny version of me sucked at the puzzles. I haven't finished Oracle of Seasons, but in terms of content it's the better of the two. I do like the more focus on puzzles OoA more than Season's combat focus.

I picked up Link's Awakening a few months ago and have been playing it sporadically. Its pretty solid, and once I finish it will probably be added to my top five.

Hyrule Warriors is really fun. And that's all I have to say about that.

The Legend of Zelda is open in a way no Zelda has been since. No Zelda since has bothered trying to be Zelda I - each of the first three is a very different kind of game, and with the current decade's fetish for open worlds Zelda U will hopefully be the first real LoZ sequel.

 

[ZeldaGaming101]

1. MM (My favorite game ever)
2. SS (Motion controls were great)
3. LA (Charming, best music of all)
4. OOT (Classic, most replayable)
5. ALBW (Not a single bad dungeon)
6. LOZ (Great exploration)
7. TP (Great dungeons, Terrible story)
8. OOA (it's good, just some tedium)
9. AOL (Challenging and fun)
10. WW (Sailing was fun, dungeons sucked)
11. PH (Would be above WW if sailing didn't suck)
12. TFH (it's pretty good)
13. FS (fun with freinds)
14. ALttP (had 12 dungeons, only 2 of them were good)

Haven't Played:
OOA
MC
ST
FSA

All of them are good, but some are just better than others.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

oh we raking them now? a'ight,less go

1. Wind Waker - Probably my most nostalgic game after GTA Vice City,can't express how much I adore this game
2. Twilight Princess - Pretty much exceeded the expectations I had for an adult Link game as a kid,absolutely loved it (GameCube ftw)
3/4. Majoras Mask/Skyward Sword - Still torn on which I prefer more, either way I had a really good time w/ these games
5. Minish Cap - Favorite 2d Zelda, good story w/ original environments
6. Ocarina of Time - Though greatly disappointed,there's nothing inherently wrong w/ it and I did have a good time w/ it
7.Link b/w Worlds - I'm honestly still a bit bitter that this is a pseudo remake of past,but still a great game w/ unique ideas
8. Link's Awakening - For the first handheld Zelda, this game is exceptional w/ a great soundtrack
9. Link to the Past - Not gonna lie,reason I put this below awakening is b/c the Dark World dungeon theme is annoying af while awakening's dungeons had their own themes
10. Adventure of Link - w/o a shallow of a doubt I had more fun w/ this than the original,yes it has plenty of bad issues but point is I still had fun with it
11. Four Swords - Very fun w/ other people,but b/c I consider Zelda as a single player thing (mostly),can't really put it any higher
12. Legend of Zelda - I gotta be honest,this game is very dated and pretty much requires an outside source for you to beat the game. I mean so does Zelda 2 but I at least had more fun w/ that
13. Oracle of Seasons - I don't know what it is,but this was the most unengaging main Zelda experience I've had thus far. Maybe I've just had it w/ all these damn dungeons, who knows

everything else i either hadn't played yet or I've had very little experience w/

 

[ZeldaGaming101]

My opinions are always changing, so here it goes:

14. Zelda 1: It's old, and too difficult. I got stuck on dungeon 8 and don't plan on playing more.

13. Wind Waker: I hate sailing, only two dungeons were that good, and only two islands were even interesting. 100%ing it is a pain in the butt as well.

12. Link's Awakening: The one I have the least to say about. Not much good, not much bad. I like Turtle Rock though.

11. Phantom Hourglass: A charming DS Zelda game, with good dungeons and innovative controls. Biggest problem is the Temple of the Ocean King.

10. Ocarina of Time: This poor game keeps going down for me, only because I've played it too much. Good game, has some good dungeons, but I'm tired of it. XD

9. Triforce Heroes: I had fun with this game, even if it's very not like Zelda. Though multiplayer is more fun, most of my playing was single, and that may have hurt the experience a bit.

8. Oracle of Seasons: Fun game with challenging dungeons. The seasons mechanic is great, but the overworld is unmemorable. Highly underrated though.

7. Minish Cap: Fun overworld, mostly great dungeons, and the art style looks better than Wind Waker to me. I kinda wish that they made a whole dungeon out of the attic of a house, because those moments were among the coolest.

6. A Link Between Worlds: A fun 3DS game, with great graphics and a fun revisit to A Link to the Past (despite me playing this game first). I don't like the renting items, and the game is over really quick. But still fun!

5. A Link to the Past: I would say this is technically the best Zelda game. An iconic and fun overworld, lot's of great dungeons, and hard in a satisfying way. I actually needed to use strategy for this game.

4. Oracle of Ages: This game is the most clever with it's dungeons and overworld. Puzzles and dungeon crawling are my favorite elements in Zelda, and this game excels in both. Which is why it's my favorite 2D Zelda game.

3. Twilight Princess: Most nostalgic for me. Got me into the series. TP has great dungeons and bosses, and I like playing it because it was my first. I like exploring just because I can remember all my reactions when I first played it.

2. Skyward Sword: I want to put this game at #1, but it has too many small flaws (Fi, bland sky, quite linear, most sidequests suck). I have the most fun just playing through it though!

1. Majora's Mask: Five solid areas, four solid dungeons, many solid sidequests. This is, in my opinion, the technical best 3D Zelda game, and my favorite to play.

I really like your choices (except for TP)

 

[Mipha]

Favorite: Twilight Princess or HW or SS
Least Favorite: The CDI games or WW