Top 5 Zelda Overworlds

[JuicieJ]

Hey there, guys. I've been no stranger to lists when it comes to posting threads, so it should be no surprise that I've come up with yet another one. This time it's about the best Zelda overworlds, numbers 5 through 1. Let me know your lists and feel free to go into detail!

5.) Link's Awakening
4.) Oracle of Ages
3.) A Link to the Past
2.) Majora's Mask
1.) The Minish Cap

Honorable Mention: Skyward Sword

 

[winterbbytumblr]

5. Minish Cap- i felt it was worth exploring
4. Ocarina of Time- it was really fun discovering new things
3. Majoras Mask- it was so much fun going back through all the places multiple times
2. Skyward Sword- If i got bored when playing it I would always just go to the different islands or different lands and explore
1. Wind Waker- The overworld of WW makes it one of my favorite things. I loved sailing the sea and finding random things, checking out the islands. It really gave a good sense of adventure.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

5) The Wind Waker
4) Oracle of Ages
3) Twilight Princess
2) The Minish Cap
1) A Link to the Past

 

[Sir Quaffler]

5. A Link To The Past. I still go back to here and mess around in the overworld and try to find that one damn piece of heart I can never seem to find.
4. Twilight Princess. True, much of it was vast expanses of nothingness but it was all still pretty to look at. And the horseback battles definitely made up for a lot here.
3. Majora's Mask. The whole time mechanic really gave the creators a lot of leeway to put a ton of side content into the overworld; I'm still finding secrets to this day.
2. Skyward Sword. I love how the overworld felt like one big jungle gym instead of regular empty fields like what we're used to, I was always actively doing something to overcome obstacles or avoid enemies. The only detractor is the lack of land connections between the three realms.
1. Ocarina of Time. I know much of it's also just vast expanses of land but it's all so engrained in my head I can recall every square foot of it from memory.

 

[Linknerd09]

5.Minish Cap The overworld in this game was very interesting and fun to explore with hidden things.

4.Ocarina of Time It was actually very interesting to explore all inch of the entire map and go inside into more deeper paths of Hyrule. Quite fun, actually^^

3.The Legend of Zelda The map of this game was a bit much complicated than any other Zelda game. I did enjoy picking through all objects to find the hidden path inside.

2.A Link To The Past I have enjoyed exploring overworld so much, that I would go around again and explore a little deeper than usual, which can lead to treasure, items, heart pieces, etc

1.Twilight Princess The map was very amazing and very detailed to explore. New hidden items and mysteries for the player to journey through his quest, which can help a whole lot if stuck.

 

[Spirit]

5. Majora's Mask
4. Twilight Princess
3. A Link to the Past
2. Ocarina of Time
1. Wind Waker

 

[alexanderraimo]

5. Oracle of Seasons
4. Majora's Mask
3. A Link To The Past
2. Ocarina Of Time
1. Twilight Princess

 

[Ronin]

3. Wind Waker
2. Ocarina of Time
1. Majora's Mask/Twilight Princess/Skyward Sword

 

[Ventus]

1. Ocarina of Time
2. ALttP
3. OoS/OoA
4. TMC

 

[LinkontheRink]

I've only played 6 games and am currently playing a 7th so I only have a top 4.

4. TP - Good overworld which felt fairly big. Lake Hylia was poorly done though, and kept it from being higher.
3. MC- Fun little overworld with everything you could ask for. Could be a tad bigger.
2. MM- This is a great overworld with tons to explore and I love the four directions mixing with seasons. Termina field keeps it from being #1.
1.OoT- Too perfectly laid out. Could have had a tad more to explore.

The other games I've played are PH and ST and they aren't great.

The current game I'm playing is OoS. I am very dissapointed with Hollodum right now. Does not feel zelda like at all. It feels like Pokemon which makes sense since the era it came out. But not like Kanto or Johto which were good. It feels like Hoenn, which was a crappy overworl and really hampered generation 3.

Hollodum is tough to navigate through, the map is awful, and i just never feel like I'm going from one place to another, and I don't feel the atmophere. All the sudden out of nowhere I'm at a temple, whereas in other games you know the temple is on the way.

I've only done two dungeons so hopefully it gets better, but man is it weak..

 

[JuicieJ]

1.OoT- Too perfectly laid out. Could have had a tad more to explore.

I'm not sure that an overworld with a relatively empty hub and infinite hallway sections can be accurately described as "too perfectly laid out".

 

[A Link In Time]

I'm not sure that an overworld with a relatively empty hub and infinite hallway sections can be accurately described as "too perfectly laid out".

Ocarina of Time's overworld rightfully deserves a break because it was the first of its kind. The game smoothly transitioned the franchise to the 3D environment. It's the same with any game in the franchise. It's difficult to logically compare the NES original's world with that of A Link the Past. Both are stellar and personally I give an edge to ALttP but the impact of the first game cannot be underscored enough.

I'm also a proponent of OoT's overworld. It's not my favorite but definitely ranks in my top three. Why? The game featured a greater variety of environments than its predecessors and each was brilliantly juxtaposed across the two time periods. There was a forest, a field, numerous towns, a mountain, a volcano, a river, a lake, a desert. Later games like Majora's Mask provided more interesting areas to explore but OoT offered a strong schematic. It's no wonder Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword feature similar locales albeit with intriguing twists of their own.

The hardware is predominately to blame for the hallway sections. Although the N64 could handle more than Nintendo had originally figured, it wasn't nearly powerful enough to craft large open expanses as in Skyward Sword.

 

[JuicieJ]

Ocarina of Time's overworld rightfully deserves a break because it was the first of its kind. The game smoothly transitioned the franchise to the 3D environment. It's the same with any game in the franchise. It's difficult to logically compare the NES original's world with that of A Link the Past. Both are stellar and personally I give an edge to ALttP but the impact of the first game cannot be underscored enough.

I'm also a proponent of OoT's overworld. It's not my favorite but definitely ranks in my top three. Why? The game featured a greater variety of environments than its predecessors and each was brilliantly juxtaposed across the two time periods. There was a forest, a field, numerous towns, a mountain, a volcano, a river, a lake, a desert. Later games like Majora's Mask provided more interesting areas to explore but OoT offered a strong schematic. It's no wonder Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword feature similar locales albeit with intriguing twists of their own.

"First of its kind" is not an excuse. Super Mario 64 was the first of its kind in many ways. It's one of the most overrated games in the history of gaming. There are proper ways to do a hub overworld and there are improper ways. Ocarina of Time did the latter.

The hardware is predominately to blame for the hallway sections. Although the N64 could handle more than Nintendo had originally figured, it wasn't nearly powerful enough to craft large open expanses as in Skyward Sword.

Not really. The hallway portions are due to the different sections branching off in a linear fashion. Majora's Mask took this idea and fixed it making the branch-offs open areas. There's no real reason for OoT's overworld to do what it did, especially with ALttP and LA's overworlds as a foundation.

 

[A Link In Time]

"First of its kind" is not an excuse. Super Mario 64 was the first of its kind in many ways. It's one of the most overrated games in the history of gaming. There are proper ways to do a hub overworld and there are improper ways. Ocarina of Time did the latter.

I'm not here to argue with you whether or not a game is overrated but many gamers simply could not fathom the leap to 3D. It went completely over their heads. The N64 rightfully harbors great memories for a generation, bordering platforms like the Atari 2600 and NES as the most influential in gaming.

Personally, I believe Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of the most overrated games of all time. Its levels are short and there is little replay value after the fact. But many gamers cherish it as an evolution of platforming with its emphasis on vertically especially predominant.

In my opinion, the overworld areas are anything but hallways. When compared to more recent installment like Skyward Sword, OoT's dungeons are certainly guilty of this but the notion never occurs to me when traversing the open expanses of Hyrule Field, Lake Hylia, or the Gerudo Desert.

Not really. The hallway portions are due to the different sections branching off in a linear fashion. Majora's Mask took this idea and fixed it making the branch-offs open areas. There's no real reason for OoT's overworld to do what it did, especially with ALttP and LA's overworlds as a foundation.

Majora's Mask is an exception to the rule. Nearly all of the 3D console titles branch off in a linear fashion. Nintendo is a company which predominately likes to "play it safe" as seen with its hesitant endorsement of the disc format and online play. While Skyward Sword featured increasingly open areas to explore, Nintendo refused to take it all the way, with no connection between overworld portions and a disjointed sky. Perhaps Zelda Wii U will finally right these wrongs.

 

[MW7]

My favorites would be:

5. Ocarina of Time- I really appreciated how you can roam around and do things in different orders, but there were some meaningless restrictions IMO.
4. Wind Waker- I like the idea of using a boat to explore although I wish the boat was faster or the sea was slightly more compact. Still it's just awesome to be able to travel off in any direction and stumble upon interesting locales like the random deku leaf golf course island.
3. Majora's Mask- Clock Town is amazing, and the focus on side-content in this game is impressive.
2. Legend of Zelda- I love how you can do practically whatever you want whenever you want in this game. The one thing that bothers me though is how some things are hidden. For instance the entrance to dungeon 8 in the first quest is fine because it's in a suspicious place, but in the second quest the entrance to the dungeon 8 is just sadistically hidden. I think they should have hidden things in places that could be reasonably found without resorting to trial and error.
1. A Link to the Past- I love this game's overworld a lot. Finding the proper items opens up the game in a very logical manner, and once you get to the dark world the game opens up even more quickly. There were plenty of cool puzzles or secrets involving switching between worlds, and this game even contained dungeons that melded into the overworld like Skull Woods or the Desert Palace. Growing up on 3d Zeldas made dungeons like these even more confusing because the idea that you had to exit the dungeon to proceed just seemed so foreign to me.