- Joined
- May 11, 2011
Having beaten all of the official zelda games, I thought I may as well make this thread.
I have rank-ordered all the official zelda games (This does not include spin-offs or the CDI titles). This was a hard task as I love zelda (otherwise I wouldn't be here).
I am aware that this very topic is posted now and then, but I was thinking, maybe it would be a cool idea if this topic had a 'sticky' on it, and that this could be the sole topic for all members to rank-order the zelda games from best to worst? (With a different thread-title of course) That way it would save this topic being posted numerous times. Just a thought, what do you think?
Anyway, please bare in mind that even though I've given some harsh criticisms, I still love the zelda franchise, and am just being strict.
Before I go into my list, I just want to briefly mention Link's Crossbow Training seeing as it wont be ranked on this list, due to being a spinoff. Overall, I thought it was a cool, enjoyable game. Obviously not like a regular zelda game, but still pretty decent as a time-killer. I had lots of fun playing it, and really enjoyed the TP references. If I were to rank this game on my list, I would put it between 13 and 14. But as mentioned, you can't really rank this one. As for the CDI games, and Tingle games etc, never played them.
So here we go then, without further ado, here is my list of official zelda games from worst to best:
16th – The Adventure Of Link
This is definitely my least favourite in the series. I mean, ok, I praise it for being different/original, and there was some fun to be had, and some of the spells like fairy were cool, and it had great music etc (loved the palace music)... but man, the difficulty - Yes, a challenge can be good, but jesus, the difficulty on this game was TOO hard. Basically you are completely screwed if you don’t level up your stats to the maximum (or at least fairly high), and get all the heart containers and magic containers, and the life spell. If you don’t do all this, then I fail to understand how anyone could actually beat this game. Never so much has a game had me so frustrated as this one. I just want to make clear though, that difficulty can be good, and I do like a challenge, but I just feel that this crossed the line and was TOO difficult. Death mountain gave me tonnes of trouble as you probably suspected. Even with a walkthrough. I think a big flaw in this game is that whenever you get game over you have to restart right at the beginning location. It would have been much less of a pain if you could just start from where you last died... but no... right back to the beginning, and having to travel through all that crap again, which would result in more deaths and probably another game over. I didn’t even bother with extra lives (not all of them anyway) because I read that once you collect one, they’re gone forever... and I felt that my extra lives would have only got wasted considering how often I died throughout the game (I think I died 51 times in total after finishing the game btw). But anyway, on top of what I’ve just said, I have yet to mention the biggest flaw of all.... the fact that when you quit the game, your experience points go back to zero when you go back to your file. This pissed me off no end. Levelling up took FOREVER. Yes, I know levelling up can take long in various games (I’m a huge fan of the PS1 Final Fantasy games), but IMO, AOL took it to another level, and it just took too long. This onerous task made AOL the most tedious game ever. Oh, and the monsters that drain your experience points just added insult to injury. Yes I know levelling up is optional, but let’s face it, nobody would have a chance in hell of completing this game without at least getting your stats fairly high. Finally, the valley of death and the great palace... yes, this pissed me off no end as well. The valley of death was extremely difficult just by itself.... and then if that wasn’t enough, you then had to conquer the great palace... man, when I finally completed this game I felt like getting drunk. I really did. Given all the many criticisms though, this game WAS fun at times. I guess it is an ok game really... But the frustrating difficulty and other gripes I’ve mentioned makes it hard for me to enjoy this game properly, and it’s the one I’d least like to replay in the future.
15th – Four Swords
Only played the single-player anniversary edition. Ok then, don’t get me wrong, this game is alright – but that’s all it is really, just alright. I had fun playing it, the magnet stuff was cool etc, and the game was a good way to pass the time – but again, that’s all this game was for me really, a time-killer. I never played multiplayer, so maybe I’m missing out, but as far as the single-player is concerned, the game was far too short and completely lacked story. Too easy too (although I’d rather have ‘too easy’ than ‘too hard’, like what AOL was). I guess I forgive FS for these criticisms though, because Nintendo didn’t really try as hard with this game as some of the others. But still, a little more story would have been good. Oh, and it’s not the different-style gameplay that was the issue (I LOVE FSA, which I will get to later). It’s the things I’ve said – lack of story, too short etc. An ok game by all means, but poor by Zelda standards. Oh, and the music totally sucked – worst music the series has to offer. Just gonna wrap this up though by saying that I loved the realm of memories – great and nostalgic. However, as we know, this is only limited to the anniversary edition of the game.
14th – The Legend Of Zelda
Ahh, the hoary old title that started it all. This is a good game, and a solid one really. I do like this game, and have tonnes of respect for it. It is very low on my list though, and I think it always will be, because let’s face it – Zelda games (and games in general) have advanced hugely since. Still though, I had lots of fun playing this. Here are my quarrels though – Firstly, the game was far too short. However, I’ll let it off seeing as it was the first (as well as a second quest being available, which I haven’t played btw). Secondly, there was barely any story – but again, it was the first, so I’ll let it off. Thirdly, the limited graphics made the gameplay very frustrating. For example, I got hit a lot because of the angle I was stood at etc etc, and so I kept dying for silly reasons. Also, some of the puzzles (such as finding secret cave locations and dungeon locations) were ridiculous, and just about impossible to figure out without a walkthrough – there were no clues or guidance whatsoever. It didn’t even tell you what the weapons did whenever you collected them. One of the dungeons, I think it was level 5 lizzard, gave me a frustratingly difficult time. The room with the dodongos, I kept failing to kill them because I kept running out of bombs – so I had to keep exiting the dungeon to find, or buy, new bombs. I had to keep going back and forth until I managed it, and this was tedious as hell. When I finally did manage it, I then progressed only to realise I didn’t have enough rupees for the bomb upgrade – ARGH! So again, back and forth for god knows how long gathering rupees. When I finally gathered enough rupees, I discovered that I had to kill the dodongos again – and again I kept failing at that, running out of bombs, so again, back and forth in and out of the dungeon. Tedious things like that were a big issue in this game for me. Also, the overworld in general was a pain – I kept dying before even reaching my destination! So in conclusion, a good game, a classic, but very flawed over time.
13th – Spirit Tracks
One major flaw in this game makes it rank low for me, and that is the ridiculously tedious train-travel system. Honestly, the train stuff annoyed the hell out of me. It took such a long time just to reach a bloody destination. And those dark trains made it even worse. The ship travel method on PH was much better than this. In fact, PH was much better than ST in most areas (something that most people would disagree on). I liked ST and all though, and apart from the train system, this was a pretty cool game. Some great use of items, and good dungeons (apart from the sand temple, that and the sand wand annoyed the hell out of me). Brilliant music (some of the best in the series), and the whole game had a unique feel. The tower of spirits was really cool (just about the only thing ST has over PH IMO). Great gameplay and co-operation with princess Zelda. It was cool and interesting to have Zelda be a sidekick in this game too - to me this was one of my favourite aspects of the game. Staven/Byrne was a cool character too. The game’s stylus controls however were an issue for me. They were ok for the most part, but often it would not recognise where I was putting the stylus. I couldn’t do that whip race in time because of this, and had big trouble with the block puzzles too as the stylus couldn't recognise where I was tapping. Also huge control issues with the sand wand as mentioned. All of these control issues didn't seem to apply to PH. I also had huge trouble with the final boss due to the awkward controls. Overall.... I DO like ST... It’s a very cool and fun game - just let down by some flaws is all.
12th – Oracle Of Seasons
To me it’s an ok Zelda game, but still lower tier. I enjoyed many things about this game – changing the seasons was cool, and subrosia was also a nice touch and an interesting location, which was a good addition to Holodrum. And I liked the temple of seasons too. The pirate section of the game was really cool and probably my favourite part of the game. There were some Mario enemies present, like thwomps for example. Not as many Mario enemies as what LA had, but still cool nonetheless. Some of the items were pretty good – I enjoyed the magnetic gloves a lot, and roc’s cape was so much fun to use. Overall though, this game was really difficult for me – the first few dungeons not so much, but as the game progressed, the combat got tough. This could be a good thing, but at times also a bad thing because frustration levels were high. I think it was around the 4th, 5th, and 6th dungeons that I had major trouble with. Getting to Ghoma in the dancing dragon dungeon was a pain in the arse because I kept dying on the way, or at least getting badly wounded. But the hardest boss for me (other than the final boss) was Manhandla, the boss of the ancient ruins dungeon. The ghost mini-bosses in the explorer’s crypt also pissed me off as I kept getting transported back to the start of the dungeon due to the flames on the torches running out. As mentioned, many moments of frustration in this game. A large criticism I have with this game is that you are not given enough recovery hearts from defeating enemies, breaking pots etc.... it kept giving me seeds and whatnot, which, whilst was all good, was also very annoying because I was in desperate need of hearts a lot of the time. Now onto the final boss – he was one tough cookie. However, I didn’t have the red ring when I was having trouble with him.... so I went and got the red ring and equipped it. Afterwards, the boss was MUCH easier. That red ring made so much difference! Hmm, maybe I should have gotten the red ring earlier on in the game.... perhaps it wouldn’t have been so difficult if I did that... d’oh! Anyway, overall a decent enough game, but not a particularly a strong one in the Zelda-cannon.
11th - A Link To The Past
A great game, and to many, one of the finest. For me it’s not up there, but I still enjoy it. I guess I don’t have the nostalgia that others do with this game, as I played it many years after it came out. But for what it is, this game was a great classic, that in many ways, introduced us to the main concept/gameplay of Zelda titles IMO. Hyrule is more familiar to us here than that of the first 2 zelda games. The dungeons were fun, although at times a bit samey (although turtle rock certainly was different). The bosses were an improvement over the first 2 zelda games. I thought the game lacked story and character development though. But the gameplay was really cool. The only thing is, the limited graphics (although probably good for it's time) made the whole gameplay more frustrating than usual, for example, getting hit for standing at a certain angle etc (Just like I said for the other old Zelda games), which frustrated the hell out of me (although probably not as bad as the original LOZ, or AOL). Also, like the original LOZ, there were some tedious situations again. For example, I think it was the final dungeon on death mountain, I had to keep exiting and entering just because I ran out of bombs. Very annoying. Another criticism with this game is that I felt you never started off with enough hearts. Man, I died a lot on this game. And also, fairies only filled up 7 hearts - I was expecting them to fill the whole lot! There was more guidance than the original LOZ, but still a bit clueless in places – for example, to enter turtle rock dungeon, you needed to use a magic spell which at the time I didn’t have. I would have never known about this spell without the aid of a walkthrough. This was one of the hardest zelda games I've done I think. Still though, great for it's time. Great music too (dark world being one of my favourites), and the whole concept of the dark world was original, unique, and interesting.
10th – Oracle Of Ages
I played this as the linked sequel to seasons... I shall therefore disregard the extra features like Twinrova/Ganon, as I know that they are technically available on both oracle games. Anyway, I preferred OOA over OOS for a number of reasons really. But the biggest reason was the fact that ages had a lot more of a story than seasons. Ages actually featured some supporting characters with key roles, such as Queen Ambi, and Ralph. There just seemed to be more going on story-wise with ages than seasons, and also the black tower was really cool. As I mentioned on seasons, I was very frustrated during the amount of times I kept dying – this was not an issue with ages at all (however, this could be due to the fact that I had the red ring early on in ages, whereas I got it very late in seasons...). Some of the puzzles on ages were really cool also, and added that extra flavour that seasons seemed to be lacking. Regarding main villains, I slightly preferred Veran (ages) over Onox (seasons). However, Veran was a MUCH easier boss than Onox. Regarding the time-travelling VS the changing of seasons.... about equal I guess, I enjoyed both in different ways. Another thing that ages had over seasons however, was the boss-battles, in which I found the bosses more unique and original. The only major let-down however was that stupid thwomp boss... I was looking forward to it, but then I realised that the boss was heavily based on luck... not cool. What’s the point in having a boss mainly based on luck? Highly unfair! Another boss pissed me off too, and that was the smog cloud boss, but he just annoyed me purely for his difficulty (the actual boss itself was creative and pretty cool really). Items were good on this game. There was no roc’s cape however (which I loved on seasons). That was a shame. However, we got a weapon that I really loved – the switch hook (and the upgraded long switch). I had so much fun using that thing – loved it! The mermaid suit was interesting too, and it was enjoyable swimming through jabu jabu’s belly. Overall, even though both games similar, I found ages to be superior to seasons, for the reasons stated. The connectivity between the two games was cool and cleverly done. So yes, OOA was an enjoyable game, whilst not one of my favourites, still a game that I had a good time playing.
9th – Link’s Awakening
Only played DX version... Mario enemies FTW! Honestly, I loved that aspect to this game. I know that some Mario enemies have briefly appeared in other Zelda games, like the oracle games etc, but they only included a certain few, whereas LA included a huge bunch of different kinds of them... At first I was thinking “could Mario enemies really work in a Zelda game?” They did! I loved every moment of that, and to me, that was my favourite aspect of the game. I know that Mario enemies were slightly used in other Zelda games, but this one in particular used them a lot more. Loved it! LA overall was a solid entry to the Zelda franchise. Some great dungeons, a very nice overworld (I love the sea) and a very interesting and unique story (the whole awaking the windfish thing was very different and pretty memorable). I personally thought this game was an improvement over ALTTP. If there’s one criticism though, I thought it was slightly too easy – the only dungeon I really had trouble with was eagle’s tower. Other than that, a great game, and also it didn’t feel as tedious or frustrating as the other old Zelda games.
8th – Four Swords Adventures
Only done single player. But anyway... Why on earth is this game so unpopular? I thought this game was brilliant. Sure, it had a completely different formula to the regular zelda games, and you could only use 1 item at once etc... but man, for me the game really worked and was so much fun! And I think it's safe to say that it's a million times better than 4 swords. Great throwback to ALTTP, great music, and it also included the side-scrolling bits like link's awakening which I loved, including some mario enemies! This game totally exceeded my expectations. When I played 4 swords (anniversary edition), thinking it was weak, my expectations for FSA were low... boy was I wrong. I loved everything about this game (except for the repetitiveness of fighting shadow link about a million times). The game was probably too easy, but I still had tonnes of fun playing it. I particularly loved the tower of winds level – that level ruled! The dark cloud level for the first half was interesting too, and the pyramid was good. Infiltration of Hyrule Castle was cool also. And it was really good to fight some windwaker bosses again, like the masked bird and the fat ghost. Honestly, I had so much fun playing on all 24 of these levels. And that was only on single-player. I’ve never played multiplayer, and chances are that’s even more fun? Love this game.
7th – The Minish Cap
Loved this! I think it’s a really great, original game. The story was intriguing and rather different too. And the minish race were very interesting. There were some great gameplay elements here, such as shrinking to minish size – brilliant touch. I also loved going inside the armos statues as a minish to activate/deactivate them – that was cool. And the whole being small thing was just great in general, climbing up bookshelves and such. The mushroom catapults were fun too, and the dungeons, as well as bosses, were cool and original. Palace of the winds was fantastic, as was the use of roc’s cape. Really enjoyed the royal valley too. Just a couple of criticisms with this game. One being the whole making multiple copies of link – it was a cool idea, but at times I found it tedious to do, and I kept accidentally walking into walls which made the links disappear, which could be quite annoying. Still a neat idea though. Another criticism was the fact that the game was too easy, well, that was until the final boss. Up until Vaati, I had never died in the game, not even once. Then during the last boss, I broke the pattern and died a whole bunch of times. The game, up until Vaati, was really easy, and then all of a sudden it was stupidly hard. Vaati’s first 2 forms however were MUCH harder for me than his final form... Another criticism, but this one is only minor, is that I found there to be a lot of backtracking. Still ok though, and for the most part, I find this to be an almost flawless game. The kinstone fusion was an ok touch I guess. Ezlo was a great companion, one of the best, and he had some funny lines. Sometimes he stated the obvious too much, which could be annoying, but I guess most companions in Zelda games do that anyway. Overall, the minish cap was a great, enjoyable game for me. I just want to mention one more thing though.... shameless self-promotion coming up – I am a songwriter and have recorded my own material, over 200 songs worth. One of my songs sounds A LOT like the minish village theme (I made my song way before ever hearing the minish village theme btw). It's only one certain bit in the song that sounds alike to mine... although it's pretty much the main bit... Check out this link to my song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drAQdk3A4uo - The bit of my song that sounds like minish village is from 0:24 to 0:48 (and repeats throughout the song every so often). And for those who haven't heard it, here's the minish village theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q75kjFojUkk – Similar or what? Just a coincidence obviously, but thought I’d point this out! Anyway, with that out the way, I will conclude by saying that TMC is a decent Zelda game, with a good story, good dungeons, good music, and original gameplay. Could have been a tad longer though.
6th – Phantom Hourglass
Why the hell is spirit tracks considered better than this? I honestly thought phantom hourglass was the better of the 2. To me, it was more memorable. Also, this may be biased on my part, but I love the sea and nautical stuff – so naturally I’m gonna prefer PH over ST. Loved the salvaging, and I adored the part when you had to figure out the safe route through the fog and sail through it – I was having a few cans of lager when on that part, bliss! As mentioned, the ship travelling was much better than ST’s train system, and far less tedious. Linebeck was a very good, entertaining character. And I liked the fairies too – actually helpful and far less annoying than navi. Dungeons were ok. As I said though, how can I not love a Zelda game based at sea? For some reason the stylus controls seemed much better than that of ST – is this just my imagination, or did they change something? I did have trouble with the final boss though, control-wise. The ghost ship was cool. Also, the game was very innovative – having to draw the warp-points on your sea-chart and whatnot – very creative (although I suppose ST had this strong point too). As I mentioned, I think PH is far superior to ST in every single respect – except one respect: Whereas the tower of spirits on ST was interesting, the temple of the ocean king on PH was not interesting, was annoying, was repetitive, and was in a time limit! Why did you have to keep repeating the same parts whenever your returned? To me, this was the single worst part about PH, and lets the game down slightly. But overall, this was a great, underrated game.
5th - Majora's Mask
Majora's Mask is a very decent game. Although I find it overrated. I mean, many people think this is the best Zelda of them all. I disagree, and I do have some issues with it, which I’ll explain soon. But anyway, the 3-day concept is excellent, and gives this game a unique feel like no other zelda game. I found this game one of the hardest, and possibly the hardest of the 3D titles. The dungeons in particular I found more difficult (although collecting the stray fairies may have contributed to that). That boss in the great bay temple.... my god, that was THE hardest zelda boss I have ever encountered. In contrast, I found the final boss majora to be extremely easy - although very fun to fight! Now, a major quibble - I did NOT like the saving system. It was a huge pain in the arse. And was also a pain to keep going back in time, and depositing your rupees before you go back... tedious and annoying. Also, howcome, when you go back in time, you lose all your rupees, arrows etc, but you do NOT lose songs, weapons, boss remains etc? HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? But yes, the whole repeatedly going back in time stuff was confusing, and the inconvenient saving process was a pain, so that is probably why this game is last out of the 5 3d home console titles, as all that stuff gives it a tedious feel. Having said that though, this game is still excellent. Great music too.
4th - Twilight Princess
I really enjoyed this game. From what I've read, it seems that this game is slightly underrated. I myself thought it was a sound entry to the zelda series. It had a great, dark atmosphere, and some very creative dungeons. Snowpeak ruins is one of my favourite all-time dungeons. City in the sky was, although hard, very good too. Hyrule castle was a fantastic final dungeon. The story was good, and I found the whole game epic. Some people say this game failed to pull off the ‘dark’ aspect, but I thought that it pulled it off well. Great overworld, and a decent length (lots of dungeons to explore). Also the characters were great, particularly midna (possibly the best sidekick ever), and the rebellion group, and the whole wolf concept was a great, unique touch too. (Although howling the songs was a bit naff IMO). I did not enjoy the tears of light stuff, but most of this game really hit the nail for me. Running across hyrule castle rooftops was just beautiful. Also, in places, I found the game to be somewhat challenging (in terms of the puzzles that is, NOT the combat, that was easy). However, that could be due to this being the second Zelda game I ever played – if I played it again today, I might find it easier. Anyway, a great, underrated game.
3rd - The Windwaker
At first I was dubious about the cell-shaded graphics, but I soon got used to them, and I was very glad I gave this game a go. It has since become one of my all-time favourites. Ad mentioned, I love the sea and nautical stuff. I actually found this game very relaxing! The great sea overworld was stunning, and the cell-shaded graphics actually gave this game a great, unique feel. I found this game slightly easier than most of the other zelda games, but this kind of adds to the 'relaxing' feel of the game. I felt free to explore and I also believe this game has great re-play value (in that I could play it over again and not get bored). Exploring was so much fun, and the atmosphere was just phenomenal. God I love the ocean! Many of the heartpieces and sidequests were fun, and the game had brilliant music for the most-part. Dungeons were ok. My favourite one was the forbidden woods, loved that! The king of red lions was an ok companion, not really much to say about him. The sailing was tedious though.... and gathering the triforce charts/shards, jesus, I hated that part, it took forever..... constantly changing the wind was very tedious too.... but apart from those quibbles, this is a great, unique, fun, and relaxing zelda game! A very fine game, just love it!
2nd – Skyward Sword
One of the finest Zelda games (and games in general) ever created. This was almost my number one. The story of the game was great and intriguing, with some deep character development (I really like how Groose came through). This game, IMO, has overall the best dungeons. The sandship is my single favourite dungeon in any Zelda game. I just loved the whole unique feel to it. As mentioned before, this may be biased due to me loving nautical stuff and ships in general. But still, a fantastic dungeon, as was the mining facility (great use of time-shift zones, a unique and original concept), and the ancient cistern (great contrast with water and darkness, it’s like 2 dungeons in one). I did think the skyview temple was weak though, especially for a first dungeon. But the sky keep was great for a final dungeon. Interesting bosses too, particularly the sandship and ancient cistern bosses. I loved skyloft – so much to do and many interesting sidequests. You felt connected to a lot of the characters (much like MM in that respect) like the item-check girl (hilarious character in that she was so unenthusiastic about her job) and the lumpy pumpkin owner. The sky overworld was pretty cool. It could have done with more islands though. Kind of reminded me of the windwaker’s great sea, but obviously sky instead of sea. The other locations were great too. Loved the desert, and volcano, and forest. The game was an excellent length, and seemed to take me a long while to complete (which is a good thing). The combat, at first, had me unsure – but I soon got used to it. The combat is more challenging in this game than any other 3d Zelda game. (Those fat moblins were hilarious). I absolutely loved everything about this game more or less. The only part I didn’t like was the flooded faron woods, collecting those musical notes, which I found frustrating and annoying. But apart from this, everything else was pretty flawless. Epic (but hard) final boss too. Oh, and some of the best Zelda music ever. This could easily be my number 1 game - but my number 1 is infact...
1st - Ocarina Of Time
Yes I know this is at the top for most people. But really, I can definitely see why. I don't think it can be topped. That however could be the nostalgia talking, as it was my first zelda game. But, this game was revolutionary (as it introduced us to 3d zelda). To me this is the pinnacle of all Zelda games. The atmosphere is just amazing (I love it when it rains for some reason), and the overworld was great too. Ganondorf is a brilliant villain in this game. The dungeons were very unique and very creative. The forest temple still remains one of my all-time favourite dungeons. One little niggle is that I find the game far too easy now (last playthrough only took me 2 days to finish, with all 20 hearts), but I think that’s because I’m so experienced in this particular game. In contrast, the 3DS Master Quest was much more challenging (although I think this was mainly due to the double damage). Excellent music, excellent gameplay, excellent everything really. Worst part of the entire game was Navi being so annoying, but really, that is my only quarrel with this breathtaking game.
I have rank-ordered all the official zelda games (This does not include spin-offs or the CDI titles). This was a hard task as I love zelda (otherwise I wouldn't be here).
I am aware that this very topic is posted now and then, but I was thinking, maybe it would be a cool idea if this topic had a 'sticky' on it, and that this could be the sole topic for all members to rank-order the zelda games from best to worst? (With a different thread-title of course) That way it would save this topic being posted numerous times. Just a thought, what do you think?
Anyway, please bare in mind that even though I've given some harsh criticisms, I still love the zelda franchise, and am just being strict.
Before I go into my list, I just want to briefly mention Link's Crossbow Training seeing as it wont be ranked on this list, due to being a spinoff. Overall, I thought it was a cool, enjoyable game. Obviously not like a regular zelda game, but still pretty decent as a time-killer. I had lots of fun playing it, and really enjoyed the TP references. If I were to rank this game on my list, I would put it between 13 and 14. But as mentioned, you can't really rank this one. As for the CDI games, and Tingle games etc, never played them.
So here we go then, without further ado, here is my list of official zelda games from worst to best:
16th – The Adventure Of Link
This is definitely my least favourite in the series. I mean, ok, I praise it for being different/original, and there was some fun to be had, and some of the spells like fairy were cool, and it had great music etc (loved the palace music)... but man, the difficulty - Yes, a challenge can be good, but jesus, the difficulty on this game was TOO hard. Basically you are completely screwed if you don’t level up your stats to the maximum (or at least fairly high), and get all the heart containers and magic containers, and the life spell. If you don’t do all this, then I fail to understand how anyone could actually beat this game. Never so much has a game had me so frustrated as this one. I just want to make clear though, that difficulty can be good, and I do like a challenge, but I just feel that this crossed the line and was TOO difficult. Death mountain gave me tonnes of trouble as you probably suspected. Even with a walkthrough. I think a big flaw in this game is that whenever you get game over you have to restart right at the beginning location. It would have been much less of a pain if you could just start from where you last died... but no... right back to the beginning, and having to travel through all that crap again, which would result in more deaths and probably another game over. I didn’t even bother with extra lives (not all of them anyway) because I read that once you collect one, they’re gone forever... and I felt that my extra lives would have only got wasted considering how often I died throughout the game (I think I died 51 times in total after finishing the game btw). But anyway, on top of what I’ve just said, I have yet to mention the biggest flaw of all.... the fact that when you quit the game, your experience points go back to zero when you go back to your file. This pissed me off no end. Levelling up took FOREVER. Yes, I know levelling up can take long in various games (I’m a huge fan of the PS1 Final Fantasy games), but IMO, AOL took it to another level, and it just took too long. This onerous task made AOL the most tedious game ever. Oh, and the monsters that drain your experience points just added insult to injury. Yes I know levelling up is optional, but let’s face it, nobody would have a chance in hell of completing this game without at least getting your stats fairly high. Finally, the valley of death and the great palace... yes, this pissed me off no end as well. The valley of death was extremely difficult just by itself.... and then if that wasn’t enough, you then had to conquer the great palace... man, when I finally completed this game I felt like getting drunk. I really did. Given all the many criticisms though, this game WAS fun at times. I guess it is an ok game really... But the frustrating difficulty and other gripes I’ve mentioned makes it hard for me to enjoy this game properly, and it’s the one I’d least like to replay in the future.
15th – Four Swords
Only played the single-player anniversary edition. Ok then, don’t get me wrong, this game is alright – but that’s all it is really, just alright. I had fun playing it, the magnet stuff was cool etc, and the game was a good way to pass the time – but again, that’s all this game was for me really, a time-killer. I never played multiplayer, so maybe I’m missing out, but as far as the single-player is concerned, the game was far too short and completely lacked story. Too easy too (although I’d rather have ‘too easy’ than ‘too hard’, like what AOL was). I guess I forgive FS for these criticisms though, because Nintendo didn’t really try as hard with this game as some of the others. But still, a little more story would have been good. Oh, and it’s not the different-style gameplay that was the issue (I LOVE FSA, which I will get to later). It’s the things I’ve said – lack of story, too short etc. An ok game by all means, but poor by Zelda standards. Oh, and the music totally sucked – worst music the series has to offer. Just gonna wrap this up though by saying that I loved the realm of memories – great and nostalgic. However, as we know, this is only limited to the anniversary edition of the game.
14th – The Legend Of Zelda
Ahh, the hoary old title that started it all. This is a good game, and a solid one really. I do like this game, and have tonnes of respect for it. It is very low on my list though, and I think it always will be, because let’s face it – Zelda games (and games in general) have advanced hugely since. Still though, I had lots of fun playing this. Here are my quarrels though – Firstly, the game was far too short. However, I’ll let it off seeing as it was the first (as well as a second quest being available, which I haven’t played btw). Secondly, there was barely any story – but again, it was the first, so I’ll let it off. Thirdly, the limited graphics made the gameplay very frustrating. For example, I got hit a lot because of the angle I was stood at etc etc, and so I kept dying for silly reasons. Also, some of the puzzles (such as finding secret cave locations and dungeon locations) were ridiculous, and just about impossible to figure out without a walkthrough – there were no clues or guidance whatsoever. It didn’t even tell you what the weapons did whenever you collected them. One of the dungeons, I think it was level 5 lizzard, gave me a frustratingly difficult time. The room with the dodongos, I kept failing to kill them because I kept running out of bombs – so I had to keep exiting the dungeon to find, or buy, new bombs. I had to keep going back and forth until I managed it, and this was tedious as hell. When I finally did manage it, I then progressed only to realise I didn’t have enough rupees for the bomb upgrade – ARGH! So again, back and forth for god knows how long gathering rupees. When I finally gathered enough rupees, I discovered that I had to kill the dodongos again – and again I kept failing at that, running out of bombs, so again, back and forth in and out of the dungeon. Tedious things like that were a big issue in this game for me. Also, the overworld in general was a pain – I kept dying before even reaching my destination! So in conclusion, a good game, a classic, but very flawed over time.
13th – Spirit Tracks
One major flaw in this game makes it rank low for me, and that is the ridiculously tedious train-travel system. Honestly, the train stuff annoyed the hell out of me. It took such a long time just to reach a bloody destination. And those dark trains made it even worse. The ship travel method on PH was much better than this. In fact, PH was much better than ST in most areas (something that most people would disagree on). I liked ST and all though, and apart from the train system, this was a pretty cool game. Some great use of items, and good dungeons (apart from the sand temple, that and the sand wand annoyed the hell out of me). Brilliant music (some of the best in the series), and the whole game had a unique feel. The tower of spirits was really cool (just about the only thing ST has over PH IMO). Great gameplay and co-operation with princess Zelda. It was cool and interesting to have Zelda be a sidekick in this game too - to me this was one of my favourite aspects of the game. Staven/Byrne was a cool character too. The game’s stylus controls however were an issue for me. They were ok for the most part, but often it would not recognise where I was putting the stylus. I couldn’t do that whip race in time because of this, and had big trouble with the block puzzles too as the stylus couldn't recognise where I was tapping. Also huge control issues with the sand wand as mentioned. All of these control issues didn't seem to apply to PH. I also had huge trouble with the final boss due to the awkward controls. Overall.... I DO like ST... It’s a very cool and fun game - just let down by some flaws is all.
12th – Oracle Of Seasons
To me it’s an ok Zelda game, but still lower tier. I enjoyed many things about this game – changing the seasons was cool, and subrosia was also a nice touch and an interesting location, which was a good addition to Holodrum. And I liked the temple of seasons too. The pirate section of the game was really cool and probably my favourite part of the game. There were some Mario enemies present, like thwomps for example. Not as many Mario enemies as what LA had, but still cool nonetheless. Some of the items were pretty good – I enjoyed the magnetic gloves a lot, and roc’s cape was so much fun to use. Overall though, this game was really difficult for me – the first few dungeons not so much, but as the game progressed, the combat got tough. This could be a good thing, but at times also a bad thing because frustration levels were high. I think it was around the 4th, 5th, and 6th dungeons that I had major trouble with. Getting to Ghoma in the dancing dragon dungeon was a pain in the arse because I kept dying on the way, or at least getting badly wounded. But the hardest boss for me (other than the final boss) was Manhandla, the boss of the ancient ruins dungeon. The ghost mini-bosses in the explorer’s crypt also pissed me off as I kept getting transported back to the start of the dungeon due to the flames on the torches running out. As mentioned, many moments of frustration in this game. A large criticism I have with this game is that you are not given enough recovery hearts from defeating enemies, breaking pots etc.... it kept giving me seeds and whatnot, which, whilst was all good, was also very annoying because I was in desperate need of hearts a lot of the time. Now onto the final boss – he was one tough cookie. However, I didn’t have the red ring when I was having trouble with him.... so I went and got the red ring and equipped it. Afterwards, the boss was MUCH easier. That red ring made so much difference! Hmm, maybe I should have gotten the red ring earlier on in the game.... perhaps it wouldn’t have been so difficult if I did that... d’oh! Anyway, overall a decent enough game, but not a particularly a strong one in the Zelda-cannon.
11th - A Link To The Past
A great game, and to many, one of the finest. For me it’s not up there, but I still enjoy it. I guess I don’t have the nostalgia that others do with this game, as I played it many years after it came out. But for what it is, this game was a great classic, that in many ways, introduced us to the main concept/gameplay of Zelda titles IMO. Hyrule is more familiar to us here than that of the first 2 zelda games. The dungeons were fun, although at times a bit samey (although turtle rock certainly was different). The bosses were an improvement over the first 2 zelda games. I thought the game lacked story and character development though. But the gameplay was really cool. The only thing is, the limited graphics (although probably good for it's time) made the whole gameplay more frustrating than usual, for example, getting hit for standing at a certain angle etc (Just like I said for the other old Zelda games), which frustrated the hell out of me (although probably not as bad as the original LOZ, or AOL). Also, like the original LOZ, there were some tedious situations again. For example, I think it was the final dungeon on death mountain, I had to keep exiting and entering just because I ran out of bombs. Very annoying. Another criticism with this game is that I felt you never started off with enough hearts. Man, I died a lot on this game. And also, fairies only filled up 7 hearts - I was expecting them to fill the whole lot! There was more guidance than the original LOZ, but still a bit clueless in places – for example, to enter turtle rock dungeon, you needed to use a magic spell which at the time I didn’t have. I would have never known about this spell without the aid of a walkthrough. This was one of the hardest zelda games I've done I think. Still though, great for it's time. Great music too (dark world being one of my favourites), and the whole concept of the dark world was original, unique, and interesting.
10th – Oracle Of Ages
I played this as the linked sequel to seasons... I shall therefore disregard the extra features like Twinrova/Ganon, as I know that they are technically available on both oracle games. Anyway, I preferred OOA over OOS for a number of reasons really. But the biggest reason was the fact that ages had a lot more of a story than seasons. Ages actually featured some supporting characters with key roles, such as Queen Ambi, and Ralph. There just seemed to be more going on story-wise with ages than seasons, and also the black tower was really cool. As I mentioned on seasons, I was very frustrated during the amount of times I kept dying – this was not an issue with ages at all (however, this could be due to the fact that I had the red ring early on in ages, whereas I got it very late in seasons...). Some of the puzzles on ages were really cool also, and added that extra flavour that seasons seemed to be lacking. Regarding main villains, I slightly preferred Veran (ages) over Onox (seasons). However, Veran was a MUCH easier boss than Onox. Regarding the time-travelling VS the changing of seasons.... about equal I guess, I enjoyed both in different ways. Another thing that ages had over seasons however, was the boss-battles, in which I found the bosses more unique and original. The only major let-down however was that stupid thwomp boss... I was looking forward to it, but then I realised that the boss was heavily based on luck... not cool. What’s the point in having a boss mainly based on luck? Highly unfair! Another boss pissed me off too, and that was the smog cloud boss, but he just annoyed me purely for his difficulty (the actual boss itself was creative and pretty cool really). Items were good on this game. There was no roc’s cape however (which I loved on seasons). That was a shame. However, we got a weapon that I really loved – the switch hook (and the upgraded long switch). I had so much fun using that thing – loved it! The mermaid suit was interesting too, and it was enjoyable swimming through jabu jabu’s belly. Overall, even though both games similar, I found ages to be superior to seasons, for the reasons stated. The connectivity between the two games was cool and cleverly done. So yes, OOA was an enjoyable game, whilst not one of my favourites, still a game that I had a good time playing.
9th – Link’s Awakening
Only played DX version... Mario enemies FTW! Honestly, I loved that aspect to this game. I know that some Mario enemies have briefly appeared in other Zelda games, like the oracle games etc, but they only included a certain few, whereas LA included a huge bunch of different kinds of them... At first I was thinking “could Mario enemies really work in a Zelda game?” They did! I loved every moment of that, and to me, that was my favourite aspect of the game. I know that Mario enemies were slightly used in other Zelda games, but this one in particular used them a lot more. Loved it! LA overall was a solid entry to the Zelda franchise. Some great dungeons, a very nice overworld (I love the sea) and a very interesting and unique story (the whole awaking the windfish thing was very different and pretty memorable). I personally thought this game was an improvement over ALTTP. If there’s one criticism though, I thought it was slightly too easy – the only dungeon I really had trouble with was eagle’s tower. Other than that, a great game, and also it didn’t feel as tedious or frustrating as the other old Zelda games.
8th – Four Swords Adventures
Only done single player. But anyway... Why on earth is this game so unpopular? I thought this game was brilliant. Sure, it had a completely different formula to the regular zelda games, and you could only use 1 item at once etc... but man, for me the game really worked and was so much fun! And I think it's safe to say that it's a million times better than 4 swords. Great throwback to ALTTP, great music, and it also included the side-scrolling bits like link's awakening which I loved, including some mario enemies! This game totally exceeded my expectations. When I played 4 swords (anniversary edition), thinking it was weak, my expectations for FSA were low... boy was I wrong. I loved everything about this game (except for the repetitiveness of fighting shadow link about a million times). The game was probably too easy, but I still had tonnes of fun playing it. I particularly loved the tower of winds level – that level ruled! The dark cloud level for the first half was interesting too, and the pyramid was good. Infiltration of Hyrule Castle was cool also. And it was really good to fight some windwaker bosses again, like the masked bird and the fat ghost. Honestly, I had so much fun playing on all 24 of these levels. And that was only on single-player. I’ve never played multiplayer, and chances are that’s even more fun? Love this game.
7th – The Minish Cap
Loved this! I think it’s a really great, original game. The story was intriguing and rather different too. And the minish race were very interesting. There were some great gameplay elements here, such as shrinking to minish size – brilliant touch. I also loved going inside the armos statues as a minish to activate/deactivate them – that was cool. And the whole being small thing was just great in general, climbing up bookshelves and such. The mushroom catapults were fun too, and the dungeons, as well as bosses, were cool and original. Palace of the winds was fantastic, as was the use of roc’s cape. Really enjoyed the royal valley too. Just a couple of criticisms with this game. One being the whole making multiple copies of link – it was a cool idea, but at times I found it tedious to do, and I kept accidentally walking into walls which made the links disappear, which could be quite annoying. Still a neat idea though. Another criticism was the fact that the game was too easy, well, that was until the final boss. Up until Vaati, I had never died in the game, not even once. Then during the last boss, I broke the pattern and died a whole bunch of times. The game, up until Vaati, was really easy, and then all of a sudden it was stupidly hard. Vaati’s first 2 forms however were MUCH harder for me than his final form... Another criticism, but this one is only minor, is that I found there to be a lot of backtracking. Still ok though, and for the most part, I find this to be an almost flawless game. The kinstone fusion was an ok touch I guess. Ezlo was a great companion, one of the best, and he had some funny lines. Sometimes he stated the obvious too much, which could be annoying, but I guess most companions in Zelda games do that anyway. Overall, the minish cap was a great, enjoyable game for me. I just want to mention one more thing though.... shameless self-promotion coming up – I am a songwriter and have recorded my own material, over 200 songs worth. One of my songs sounds A LOT like the minish village theme (I made my song way before ever hearing the minish village theme btw). It's only one certain bit in the song that sounds alike to mine... although it's pretty much the main bit... Check out this link to my song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drAQdk3A4uo - The bit of my song that sounds like minish village is from 0:24 to 0:48 (and repeats throughout the song every so often). And for those who haven't heard it, here's the minish village theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q75kjFojUkk – Similar or what? Just a coincidence obviously, but thought I’d point this out! Anyway, with that out the way, I will conclude by saying that TMC is a decent Zelda game, with a good story, good dungeons, good music, and original gameplay. Could have been a tad longer though.
6th – Phantom Hourglass
Why the hell is spirit tracks considered better than this? I honestly thought phantom hourglass was the better of the 2. To me, it was more memorable. Also, this may be biased on my part, but I love the sea and nautical stuff – so naturally I’m gonna prefer PH over ST. Loved the salvaging, and I adored the part when you had to figure out the safe route through the fog and sail through it – I was having a few cans of lager when on that part, bliss! As mentioned, the ship travelling was much better than ST’s train system, and far less tedious. Linebeck was a very good, entertaining character. And I liked the fairies too – actually helpful and far less annoying than navi. Dungeons were ok. As I said though, how can I not love a Zelda game based at sea? For some reason the stylus controls seemed much better than that of ST – is this just my imagination, or did they change something? I did have trouble with the final boss though, control-wise. The ghost ship was cool. Also, the game was very innovative – having to draw the warp-points on your sea-chart and whatnot – very creative (although I suppose ST had this strong point too). As I mentioned, I think PH is far superior to ST in every single respect – except one respect: Whereas the tower of spirits on ST was interesting, the temple of the ocean king on PH was not interesting, was annoying, was repetitive, and was in a time limit! Why did you have to keep repeating the same parts whenever your returned? To me, this was the single worst part about PH, and lets the game down slightly. But overall, this was a great, underrated game.
5th - Majora's Mask
Majora's Mask is a very decent game. Although I find it overrated. I mean, many people think this is the best Zelda of them all. I disagree, and I do have some issues with it, which I’ll explain soon. But anyway, the 3-day concept is excellent, and gives this game a unique feel like no other zelda game. I found this game one of the hardest, and possibly the hardest of the 3D titles. The dungeons in particular I found more difficult (although collecting the stray fairies may have contributed to that). That boss in the great bay temple.... my god, that was THE hardest zelda boss I have ever encountered. In contrast, I found the final boss majora to be extremely easy - although very fun to fight! Now, a major quibble - I did NOT like the saving system. It was a huge pain in the arse. And was also a pain to keep going back in time, and depositing your rupees before you go back... tedious and annoying. Also, howcome, when you go back in time, you lose all your rupees, arrows etc, but you do NOT lose songs, weapons, boss remains etc? HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? But yes, the whole repeatedly going back in time stuff was confusing, and the inconvenient saving process was a pain, so that is probably why this game is last out of the 5 3d home console titles, as all that stuff gives it a tedious feel. Having said that though, this game is still excellent. Great music too.
4th - Twilight Princess
I really enjoyed this game. From what I've read, it seems that this game is slightly underrated. I myself thought it was a sound entry to the zelda series. It had a great, dark atmosphere, and some very creative dungeons. Snowpeak ruins is one of my favourite all-time dungeons. City in the sky was, although hard, very good too. Hyrule castle was a fantastic final dungeon. The story was good, and I found the whole game epic. Some people say this game failed to pull off the ‘dark’ aspect, but I thought that it pulled it off well. Great overworld, and a decent length (lots of dungeons to explore). Also the characters were great, particularly midna (possibly the best sidekick ever), and the rebellion group, and the whole wolf concept was a great, unique touch too. (Although howling the songs was a bit naff IMO). I did not enjoy the tears of light stuff, but most of this game really hit the nail for me. Running across hyrule castle rooftops was just beautiful. Also, in places, I found the game to be somewhat challenging (in terms of the puzzles that is, NOT the combat, that was easy). However, that could be due to this being the second Zelda game I ever played – if I played it again today, I might find it easier. Anyway, a great, underrated game.
3rd - The Windwaker
At first I was dubious about the cell-shaded graphics, but I soon got used to them, and I was very glad I gave this game a go. It has since become one of my all-time favourites. Ad mentioned, I love the sea and nautical stuff. I actually found this game very relaxing! The great sea overworld was stunning, and the cell-shaded graphics actually gave this game a great, unique feel. I found this game slightly easier than most of the other zelda games, but this kind of adds to the 'relaxing' feel of the game. I felt free to explore and I also believe this game has great re-play value (in that I could play it over again and not get bored). Exploring was so much fun, and the atmosphere was just phenomenal. God I love the ocean! Many of the heartpieces and sidequests were fun, and the game had brilliant music for the most-part. Dungeons were ok. My favourite one was the forbidden woods, loved that! The king of red lions was an ok companion, not really much to say about him. The sailing was tedious though.... and gathering the triforce charts/shards, jesus, I hated that part, it took forever..... constantly changing the wind was very tedious too.... but apart from those quibbles, this is a great, unique, fun, and relaxing zelda game! A very fine game, just love it!
2nd – Skyward Sword
One of the finest Zelda games (and games in general) ever created. This was almost my number one. The story of the game was great and intriguing, with some deep character development (I really like how Groose came through). This game, IMO, has overall the best dungeons. The sandship is my single favourite dungeon in any Zelda game. I just loved the whole unique feel to it. As mentioned before, this may be biased due to me loving nautical stuff and ships in general. But still, a fantastic dungeon, as was the mining facility (great use of time-shift zones, a unique and original concept), and the ancient cistern (great contrast with water and darkness, it’s like 2 dungeons in one). I did think the skyview temple was weak though, especially for a first dungeon. But the sky keep was great for a final dungeon. Interesting bosses too, particularly the sandship and ancient cistern bosses. I loved skyloft – so much to do and many interesting sidequests. You felt connected to a lot of the characters (much like MM in that respect) like the item-check girl (hilarious character in that she was so unenthusiastic about her job) and the lumpy pumpkin owner. The sky overworld was pretty cool. It could have done with more islands though. Kind of reminded me of the windwaker’s great sea, but obviously sky instead of sea. The other locations were great too. Loved the desert, and volcano, and forest. The game was an excellent length, and seemed to take me a long while to complete (which is a good thing). The combat, at first, had me unsure – but I soon got used to it. The combat is more challenging in this game than any other 3d Zelda game. (Those fat moblins were hilarious). I absolutely loved everything about this game more or less. The only part I didn’t like was the flooded faron woods, collecting those musical notes, which I found frustrating and annoying. But apart from this, everything else was pretty flawless. Epic (but hard) final boss too. Oh, and some of the best Zelda music ever. This could easily be my number 1 game - but my number 1 is infact...
1st - Ocarina Of Time
Yes I know this is at the top for most people. But really, I can definitely see why. I don't think it can be topped. That however could be the nostalgia talking, as it was my first zelda game. But, this game was revolutionary (as it introduced us to 3d zelda). To me this is the pinnacle of all Zelda games. The atmosphere is just amazing (I love it when it rains for some reason), and the overworld was great too. Ganondorf is a brilliant villain in this game. The dungeons were very unique and very creative. The forest temple still remains one of my all-time favourite dungeons. One little niggle is that I find the game far too easy now (last playthrough only took me 2 days to finish, with all 20 hearts), but I think that’s because I’m so experienced in this particular game. In contrast, the 3DS Master Quest was much more challenging (although I think this was mainly due to the double damage). Excellent music, excellent gameplay, excellent everything really. Worst part of the entire game was Navi being so annoying, but really, that is my only quarrel with this breathtaking game.
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