Which 3d Zelda Game Has the Best/your Favorite Dungeons Overall?

[MW7]

One of the most important aspects of Zelda games is the dungeons. I'm asking to pick overall by game because so many different factors come into play. Some games have some very high quality dungeons but also some not so great ones (i.e. OOT) while others have a very high average quality of dungeons but few dungeons (MM). I'm going to rank all 5 with my opinions, but feel free to just pick one as your favorite instead.

From worst to best IMO:
5. Wind Waker
# of dungeons- 6/7 depending on how you count
my favorites- Earth Temple and the Tower of the Gods
my least favorites- Forsaken Fortress and Dragon Roost Cavern
Why I think it's number five: Even my favorite dungeons from this game aren't some of my favorites from the series whereas all the other games on this list contribute multiple dungeons to my list of all-time favorite dungeons. It also has relatively few dungeons and I really disliked the second trip to the Forsaken Fortress.

4. Majora's Mask
# of dungeons- 4 plus various things that could be considered minidungeons
my favorites- Great Bay Temple and Stone Tower Temple
least favorites- none
Why I think it's number four: This game has easily the highest average quality of dungeons IMO, but quantity really does matter. The last two dungeons are some of the greatest ever made, and Woodfall was the first time in the series that the first dungeon of a game wasn't a warm-up act.

3. Ocarina of Time
# of dungeons- 8 + Final and 2 minidungeons
my favorites- Forest, Water, and Spirit Temples
my least favorites- Great Deku Tree and Dondongo's Cavern
Why I think it's number three: This game has a plethora of high quality dungeons, but the first two child dungeons are so easy it's insulting. Also the final dungeon didn't quite live up to my expectations.

2. Twilight Princess
# of dungeons- 8 + Final
my favorites- Arbiter's Grounds and Snowpeak Ruins
my least favorite- Palace of Twilight
Why I think it's number two: The major thing that TP has over OOT's dungeons is that it starts out with a legitimate dungeon instead of sort of a tutorial dungeon (although I prefer a tutorial dungeon to an actual tutorial, this list is strictly about dungeons). The big complaint I have though is about the Palace of Twilight. It felt tacked on to me and was below the quality of the rest of the dungeons.

1. Skyward Sword
# of dungeons- 7
my favorites- Ancient Cistern and the Sandship
my least favorite- Skyview Temple
Why I think it's number one: Even the worst dungeon in the game is pretty good, and the best ones are some of the best the series has ever had. Tons of creative puzzles after 25 years of making these games is pretty impressive as well. Boss battles were also some of the best ever.

Just so you know that I'm not just relisting my favorite games in the same order, I'd rank these games overall:
1. Majora's Mask
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Skyward Sword
4. Wind Waker
5. Twilight Princess

Edit: Wow! My opinion of Skyward Sword's dungeons sure is different now than it was in November. Skyview is now one of my favorite dungeons in the game, and the Ancient Cistern certainly hasn't been one of my favorites on subsequent playthroughs. The only thing that didn't change is that I still like the Sand Ship the most. Sky Keep is now my second favorite followed by Skyview. My least favorite is certainly either the Earth Temple or Fire Sanctuary now.

I think I can still stand by my ranking though. Skyward Sword had a decent amount of dungeons (unlike Majora's Mask), no really bad ones (unlike Ocarina of Time), and had almost the same average quality of dungeons as Majora's Mask IMO. Also two distinguishing factors between Skyward Sword's dungeons and Twilight Princess' dungeons were boss quality and some nonlinear designs. Actually Twilight Princess' final dungeon was fairly nonlinear but overall Skyward Sword had more open dungeons than Twilight Princess.

 

[Link8150]

Worst to best in my opinion
5. Wind Waker:
Favorites: Tower of the Gods, Earth Temple, Wind Temple
Least Favorites: Forbidden Woods
The dungeons were far too easy and the concepts were pretty cool, but I don't think they match the other 3D games.

4. Ocarina of Time: Really all the dungeons except for the first 3 are great, but I think I've beaten this game too many times, so the dungeons have kind of lost their touch for me.
Favorites: Water Temple, Shadow Temple, Spirit Temple
Least Favorites: Great Deku Tree, Dodongo's Cavern, Jabu-Jabu's Belly

3. Twilight Princess: I love the Goron Mines, Lakebed Temple, Arbiter's Grounds, Snowpeak Ruins and City in the Sky, but personally they don't match Majora's Mask or Skyward Sword.
Favorites: Goron Mines, Lakebed Temple, Snowpeak Ruins
Least Favorites: Forest Temple, Temple of Time

2. Skyward Sword: Every single dungeon was awesome except for the Skyview Temple, and the Fire Sanctuary felt a little too much like the Earth Temple. I consider Skyward Sword and Majora's Mask even in dungeons, but since Majora's Mask has my all-time favorite dungeon, I have to vote for it.
Favorites: Ancient Cistern, Sandship, Sky Keep
Least Favorites: Skyview Temple

1. Majora's Mask: The quality of every dungeon matches Skyward Sword; because Stone Tower Temple is my favorite dungeon in any Zelda game, it gets the win.
Favorite: Great Bay Temple, Stone Tower Temple
Least Favorites: Woodfall Temple

If I were to list these games from favorite to least favorite overall it would look like this
5. The Wind Waker
4. Twilight Princess
3. Ocarina of Time
2. Majora's Mask
1. Skyward Sword
The only 2-D Zelda that would make my top 5 is A Link to the Past which would push Twilight Princess to 5th and Wind Waker off.

 

[Galfureye]

Arbiter Grounds was the most addicting dungeon of all time, and the rest of the temples really captured the theme, so I am going to have to go with Twilight Princess.

 

[Links Brother]

5 is the worst. One is the best

5:Wind Waker
Although it had some good ideas going for it. Wind Waker lacked dungeons and even when you got to them they felt sort of small and pointless

4:Ocarina of Time
Huge Shocker!!! I loved Ocarina of Time but if I were to rank my favorite dungeons your going to a Skyward Sword and Majora's Mask come more.

3: Twilight Princess
The dungeons were way to easy however the games dungeons had great themes. If they added great
puzzles and harder bosses they would be higher on the list. I still have to put Twilight Princess at number three though because the dungeons were very cool. The game itself, not so much.

2: Majora's Mask
Majora's Mask even after Skyward Sword still takes the cake for my favorite game. However the
dungeons Majora's Mask were not as good as Skyward Sword. The game was more about the areas and things outside of the dungeons than the dungeons themselves. But Majora's Mask's dungeons are still
amazing.

1: Skyward Sword
It was close but I got to put Skyward Sword at the top. The dungeons although being short, they were
hard, looked amazing, super fun puzzles, amazing bosses, and overall great content. SandShip has even
become mu favorite dungeon in the whole Zelda series.

1: Skyward Sword
2: Majora's Mask
3: Twilight Princess
4: Ocarina of Time
5: Wind Waker

 

[Trio the Punch]

Skyward Sword's dungeons are very well designed but what really pushes it over the top is the Ancient Cistern. I like all the other games for their dungeons too (except for Twilight Princess), but something about the Ancient Cistern just makes every other dungeon look like crap to me.

 

[Maikeru]

My List:

5. Wind Waker
Favorite: The Earth Temple
Least Favorite: Forbidden Woods
Reason: While I didn't really dislike the dungeons per se, most of them just didn't feel as good as the others. I wouldn't have loved the Earth Temple nearly as much without Medli. The main thing for me, is that this game actually had dungeons I didn't really care for. Whereas, I can't really say that about the other games.

Spoiler

4. Ocarina of Time
Favorite: Forest Temple
Least Favorite: Inside the Deku Tree
Reason: The big difference between these dungeons and Wind Waker's for me, is that I had more dungeons I really liked, and less that I didn't like much. The big reason I put it fourth, is because I didn't find the themes all that amazing. The Forest Temple and Spirit Temple, I loved their themes. While I also enjoyed the other temples, they just seemed kind of plain to me theme-wise.

Spoiler

3. Majora's Mask
Favorite: Great Bay Temple
Least Favorite: Snowhead Temple
Reason: This is the lowest dungeon rated game on my list out of games where I enjoyed all of the dungeons. While I really enjoyed all of them, Snowhead Temple was my least favorite, just because I liked the others more. I enjoyed the themes of these dungeons and everything. Part of the reason I put this here, is because, aside from Odolwa and Majora, I didn't really care as much for the bosses as I did in other games. I did love the Stone Tower Temple, but I really loved Great Bay Temple.

Spoiler

2. Skyward Sword
Favorite: Ancient Cistern
Least Favorite: Skyview Temple
Reason: Skyview Temple is going to be one of my favorite "least favorite" dungeons that I pick. The overall quality of dungeons in Skyward Sword, I felt was very high. There was a reasonable amount of dungeons, and I enjoyed all of them. I loved the themes, more than the last three games, and the Ancient Cistern came close to replacing the Arbiter's Grounds as my favorite. The dual-themes, are something I want to continue seeing in Zelda games. While Ancient Cistern was my favorite, I also enjoyed Sandship and Sky Keep very much, enough that I can't state my reason without mentioning them.

Spoiler

1. Twilight Princess
Favorite: Arbiter's Grounds
Least Favorite: Temple of Time
Reason: I liked Temple of Time, maybe a little less than Skyview Temple. There was not a single dungeon in the game, that had a theme that I disliked it though. The only reason Temple of Time is my least favorite is because Armogohma is easy and kind of boring. Competing with dungeons, Arbiter's Grounds, Snowpeak Ruins and Lakebed Temple, I actually have to nitpick looking for flaws of a dungeon in this game. This is one area, where I might always feel Twilight Princess is the best in. I just felt the average quality of dungeons was the best. Not to mention, it has the most dungeons in my top 10, and two of my top 3. So, yeah, choosing between this and Skyward Sword was a little difficult, but after thinking a bit, Twilight Princess just excelled for me.

Spoiler

My List for the games overall:

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

 

[Odolwa3838]

I haven't played Skyward Sword yet
1. Majora's Mask all temples are great plus there are sub dungeons, Woodfall Temple is a great starter temple, while easy, has plenty of puzzles, good stray fairy locations, nice atmosphere Snowhead Temple has great atmosphere as well, very well designed, interesting stray fairy locations Great Bay Temple a complex water works factory, great use of the ice arrows, great enemies, great atmosphere 2nd favorite in the series Stone Tower Temple is the most creative temple in Zelda history, complex puzzles, uses all 3 forms, awesome bosses then there's Ikana Castle and Pirate's Fortress
2. Twilight Princess I love the Lakebed Temple, Arbiter's Grounds, Sky City, Goron Mines and Temple of Time are quite good, Palace of Twilight is decent however Hyrule Castle is meh, Snowpeak has a cool setting, but no real concept, just sliding around randomly, simple boss too, and Forest Temple just isn't that mind blowing
3. Ocarina of Time Forest Temple is amazing, Spirit Temple as well, Shadow and Fire are good too but I don't like the kid temples at all and the Water Temple is tedious and boring not hard though
4. Wind Waker **** the Forsaken Fortress, Just Frustrating Stealth, no damn puzzles at all, next two dungeons are ok but not that good and very linear Totg has good atmosphere and good 2nd half, but nothing more the earth and wind temples are improvements but still linear and not any of my favorites in the series

 

[luigi1]

My top 5 zelda games and their dungeons are:

5. The wind waker: Favourite dungeon: Earth temple
Worst Dungeon: Forsaken fortess

4. Skyward sword: Favourite dungeon: Ancient cistern
Worst dingeon: Skyview temple

3. Twilight princess: Favourite dungeon: Arbiter's grounds
Worst dungeon: Lakebed temple

2. Majora's mask: Favourite dungeon: Great bay temple
Worst dungeon: Woodfall temple(But not at all bad but not good as compared to other dungeons in the game)

1. Ocarina of time: Favourite dungeon: Spirit temple
Worst dungeon: Dodongo's cavern


My top 5 bosses are:

5. Bongo bongo(OOT)
4. Stallord(TP)
3. Demise(SS)
2. Majora's wrath(MM)
1. Ganon(OOT)

 

[Tictalk]

I havnt played WW, but of those that I have played MM is no question the best. It's the only game that's temples varied from wonderfully simplistic to mind hurting challenging. They were excellent!

 

[fused_shadows]

Here it goes; five is worst one is best:

5. Majoras Mask- MM is last simply because i havent played it yet it the only main zelda game i have yet to play.

4. Wind Waker- the dungeons in the Wind Waker were very beautiful, and had amaizng designs inside and out. However, the gameplay was very very poorly exucueted. The dungeons were simply not fun to play at all. The Wind Temple (i think that is what its called) was the most boring dungeon in the entire zelda series. My favourite dungeon of the Wind Waker was easily the dungeon on Dragon Roost Island (srry i cant remember the name; its been awhile since i played it)

3. Ocarina of Time- the dungeons in Ocarina of Time were some of my favourites throughout the series because they all looked beautiful (escpacially on the 3DS) and were very enjoyable to play. I remember hearing so much about the Water Temple prior to playing it myself, and guess what? Even though i had prepared myself mentally for the challenge, i got stuck. It sucked. Anyways, what i really like about the dungeons were the originality of it; OoT was the first 3D Zelda, and this alone prevented Nintendo from looking to past games for ideas. They had ti make up the ideas on developement.

2. Skyward Sword- The dungeons in SS were easily the most beatiful dungeons in the entire series. The way Nintendo used the graphic limitations of the Wii to make something look that beautiful is amazing. The gameplay was pretty good as well, however they were just simply too linear for me. I like the ecploration of a dungeon, and SS kinda took that away.

1. Twilight Princess- I hear people rant all the time that TP was 'a disaster' or 'a failed attempt to be OoT' but I have to disagree with those people. Twilight Princess' dungeons are some of the best dungeons in the entire series. I have seen alot of people who say that Tp is one of their least favourite games, and yet in their sig it lists their favourite dungeon and I see TP dungeons all over the place. Tp's dungeons were beautiful, and had amazing control, intriguing puzzles, and awesome boss fights.

 

[r2d93]

I'd have to say OoT with Skyward Sword as a close second.

What really upsetsme, is I have yet to encounter a Zelda dungeon that really blows me away. Most of the dungeons to me are either eh or i don't like them. I've never encountered a dungeon that I could say "wow, that was really fun". This being said, I chose OoT because it had the least upsetting dungeons. They were decently designed with decent bosses.

Honestly, I think Nintendo needs to step it up a bit in their dungeon design

 

[JuicieJ]

1.) Skyward Sword
2.) Majora's Mask
3.) Ocarina of Time
4.) Twilight Princess
5.) The Wind Waker

 

[Hephaestus]

1. OoT - Forest Temple
2. Twilight Princess - Arbitors Grounds
3. Skyward Sword - Sandship
4. Wind Waker - Tower of the Gods
5. Majora's Mask - Great Bay Temple

 

[cloudy skies]

Between OOT and MM the latter had better dungons. In OOT there were amazing ones like the fire and forest temple but some were boring like the water temple. In MM I loved all the temples because they were much more unique.

 

[shaymin1]

Although I don't have them listed from best to worst, my favourites are Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time.