Greatest Hand Held Zelda Game?

[Heroine of Time]

Link's. Freaking. Awakening.

I love that game to death.

Of course, I love Spirit Tracks to death too... and the majority of the other handheld Zelda games... but, yeah, I've been playing Link's Awakening more often lately. It's currently my favorite Zelda title. Nothing can compare with the music and story and characters in that game. It has left the largest impression on me out of all the handheld games; the plot never never fails to stir up my emotions.

I see that The Minish Cap is one of the favorites. I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of The Minish Cap. I enjoyed it while it lasted, but it all felt so... overwhelming. I have no idea why TMC feels overwhelming, but I always get confused in that game. I really couldn't tell you the plot if you asked me. The whole game kind of flew by without me really understanding any of it. And so far the Oracles are going the same way. (At least with Seasons. I'm liking OoA a bit more, but OoS is so much easier for someone with my inferior intellect, so it goes by much faster and I miss out on things, haha.)

 

[JuicieJ]

The Minish Cap, no contest. (Okay, Link's Awakening isn't very far behind at all, but whatever.)

The Minish Cap is a very refined Zelda experience that took a lot of things from A Link to the Past and improved on them. Some things were actually not as good as they were in ALttP -- in fact, the game is just shy of matching its ancestor's greatness -- but many others were better, and that's really saying something, what with A Link to the Past arguably being Zelda's greatest title. It's also, quite honestly, has the only modern Zelda overworld without any significant flaws.

 

[A Link In Time]

I love the Minish Cap. It is my favorite handheld Zelda game and the most recent one I played. As JuicieJ mentioned it's a refinement of A Link to the Past but also so much more. The atmosphere is great, jumpstarting the action within minutes as Vaati wins a tournament at the king's court. Little does everyone knows of his malicious intentions... The soundtrack also strongly complements the gameplay with a combination of original tracks as well as some from Ocarina of Time. The presentation and graphics were among the best the Gameboy Advance had to offer. For its seeming ease throughout, the game's difficulty picked up to quite possibly a franchise high at the end.

 

[Spirit]

Link's Awakening, imo.

LA is the other closest game to Majora's Mask in that its kind of mad. I love all the little things that don't make sense and the characters that have a striking resemblance to other Nintendo characters, its just a really fun game.

 

[HyruleHistory10]

My Favs would have to be OOA and OOS because i thought the games where developed well and the fact that you could connect them to make it a larger adventure (come on nintendo make a larger 4 disc spanning game lol). Minish cap would come in sceond. my only beef is the NEED to do that kinstone fusions at certain points or lose some stuff agh!

 

[Batman]

I'd have to say Oracle of Ages. It's probably not the best handheld Zelda game, but it's my favorite.

 

[Sinharvest]

For me its really hard to pick a favorite handheld Zelda game. I can tell you which two games I don't like, the DS ones are on bottom of my personal list for favorite handheld games.

My favorites in this order:
1. Oracle games
2. Minish Cap
3. LA

I count both the Oracle games together because really they are meant to be played back to back, and I really love the mechanics in these two games. Finding rings, linking the games, going back and forth between the games to search for different secret items like the Master Sword. The story is interesting because you get to learn about the Oracles themselves, and you get to fight two new mini-bosses, plus Twinrova and Gannon. For me the Oracle games are like an even long improved version of Link's Awakening. Now don't get me wrong Link's Awakening is an amazing game with great dungeons and characters, but for me the Oracles games had even more characters, races and content. I could almost say the same about The Minish Cap, great characters very interesting story, races, and items. Capcom did a great job with the Zelda franchise, both games are very superb. That's why its so hard for me to pick a favorite of these three games. The dungeons, the mechanics, the story, music the characters of all three of these games are all amazing.

 

[Linknerd09]

I think Minish Cap is the best Handheld Zelda game. The characters are great, the plot is amazing and has a tweak that no other Handheld Zelda game, the items, dungeons, and bosses are phenomenon!

It really had me stress out a bit when actually finishing the dungeons, which actually are a bit complicated. The bosses are very obscured. Vaati was the number 1 boss that really had me on my toes. After the final stage of his ruthfulness, I have finally defeated him.

 

[SavageWizzrobe]

While I haven't played many handheld Zeldas, MC is my favourite. I really like the plot, the soundtrack, the gameplay, the throwbacks to previous Zeldas, as well as the dungeons even if there are only 6. The Oracle games are also really good too, but I haven't played them in a very long time so I don't remember much about them.

 

[alexanderraimo]

Links Awakening
Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Minish Cap
Phantom Hourglass

(In the middle of playing Spirit Tracks now, so I won't count that until I'm done).

 

[Braivety]

I would pick a Link to the Past for the GBC, but since it was originally for the SNES, it probably dosen't count. So I pick 4 swords.

 

[MsNerrrrd]

OoA, MC, and FS, but the title of the absolute best handheld Zelda so far, goes to PH.

 

[Makarthekorok]

Oracle of Ages.

 

[TreeHuggerPanda]

It would be a tie between The Minish Cap and Spirit Tracks, since I loved their approach to each of the games. Sure, there were flaws (mostly from Spirit Tracks), but I love the games and I honestly just love the concept of driving around on a train/having a talking hat.

 

[ThatCreepyGuy]

Ocarina of Time 3D!!

-ThatCreepyGuy