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Which Zelda has the smallest overworld?

Joined
May 4, 2014
Location
California
I haven't played all the way through ST and never touched PH or the FS/TFH games. So I could be wrong, but I think Ocarina might have the smallest, or at least one of the smallest. Everything is packed in pretty tight.
 
It probably isn't, but Minish Cap's world feels freakishly small to me. Like, claustrophobic style small.

Everything is a puzzle and it feels like I can't actually roam around because things need solved or moved. It's like a 2D Skyward Sword where the overworld is as much a puzzle as the dungeons and it gives me terrible fatigue, especially since most of the puzzles aren't fun.

I still feel like OoT has a fairly big world, but I played it at the time of release and it blew my mind and I've never really gotten over that feeling of seeing such a sense of scale for the first time in that specific world.
 

Mellow Ezlo

Spoony Bard
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I think Termina is smaller than Ocarina of Time's Hyrule? I could be wrong but it does seem like it.

It's difficult to judge the difference in size between the 3D and 2D games. For instance, it takes longer to traverse the Hyrule in A Link to the Past than it does the one in Ocarina of Time, but I would say the one in Ocarina of Time is slightly bigger or the same size due to it having an extra city or two. Similarly, with how segmented the world in Skyward Sword is, the three provinces all seem large but put together the world isn't that big, however the sky is rather vast so there must be a lot of space in between the provinces rendering the world larger than it seems.

Then you have games like Four Swords Adventures and Four Swords, which are both level based. The world looks big from the level selection screen, but it's hard to tell exactly when we don't get to explore it.

It's also important to consider the fact that these worlds are likely scaled down immensely. For instance, we've seen how big Hyrule truly is, so the Hyrule we see in Ocarina of Time is simply a scaled down version of the actual thing to fit the limitations of the console. This means the game world is relatively small, yet if we were actually in Link's shoes it would likely be closer to Breath of the Wild's size.

Considering all this, if it came down to which world itself is probably the smallest, I think the answer would be Koholint Island. The game world of Link's Awakening feels big, but when you consider how small the island looks from the outside and seeing as how there's one major village and not many different regions, it would be the smallest world. Because of the discrepancy between 3D and 2D worlds though, and everything else I mentioned, it's hard to determine which game world is the smallest, though Ocarina of Time certainly feels small compared to the likes of Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild.
 

MapelSerup

not actually Canadian
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Not counting level-based games, definitely LA or MC as others have said. LA because Koholint Island is extremely small, but I think MC is a bit smaller; everything is extremely claustrophobic, as @Spirit said. It only takes time to get places because of the obstacles in your way. While this helped to make the world feel bigger, it means that getting around is troublesome.
 

MW7

Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Location
Ohio
I believe Link's Awakening is 16 by 16 but Legend of Zelda is 16 by 8. Both have no scrolling within screens (the field of vision is set within a screen) like some other 2d games have. Minish Cap is also pretty small but has screens that are bigger than just the initial frame of view so you can't do an apples to apples comparison like with Link's Awakening and Legend of Zelda. Of the 3d games I'd guess Ocarina of Time is a little smaller than Majora's Mask, but both would be much bigger than Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening, or Minish Cap. Zelda 2 is very spread out but isn't that big either.

Also to respond to the initial post, Spirit Tracks is gigantic and it takes a very long time to go from one end of the overworld to the other. Phantom Hourglass is a little smaller but still big. Ocarina of Time is definitely not the smallest, but it's far from the biggest too.

I'm literally replaying every single player game right now so here are my fresh opinions (I just finished Oracle of Seasons for the first time yesterday). My opinion biggest to smallest:

1. Breath of the Wild - duh
2. Wind Waker - 8 by 8 grid with lots of empty space, but also a lot to do. Takes a long time to go from one end to the other.
3. Twilight Princess - Narrow stone hallways that connect the open areas make it seem a little bigger than it is, but it's still relatively massive.
4. Skyward Sword - 3 surface areas are very dense, but still bigger than most games. The sky is probably smaller than you remember.
5. Spirit Tracks - Gigantic for a 2d game, and it really feels massive. Going anywhere takes a long time, and the side quests only add to the size of the overworld.
6. Majora's Mask - Termina Field is probably a little bigger than Hyrule Field in Ocarina of Time, and the side areas are pretty big as well.
7. Ocarina of Time - Hyrule Field itself is pretty small, but the overworld stretches far in the different areas of the game like the Gerudo Desert, Death Mountain, and Kokiri Forest.
8. A Link Between Worlds - Pretty big for a 2d game to start but gets doubled halfway through the game.
9. A Link to the Past - Almost the same as A Link Between Worlds.
10. Phantom Hourglass - It's probably bigger than it feels, but the sea here is much more dense than Wind Waker. It doesn't take very long to get anywhere.
11. Oracle of Ages - I believe this is 14 by 14 but doubled by the past world.
12. Oracle of Seasons - I believe this is also 14 by 14, but the second world here is a little smaller than the second world in Oracle of Ages.
13. Zelda 2 - Very spread out and makes it feel bigger than it is. The town system should count for something in terms of size as well.
14. Minish Cap - Very dense and it doesn't take long to get anywhere. I'm not sure how big the grid is but you can move the screen within a grid so it's bigger than just looking at that metric.
15. Legend of Zelda - 16 by 8 with each screen being a set rectangle and a smaller Link relative to Link's Awakening.
16. Link's Awakening - 16 by 16 with each screen being a set square and Link being bigger than in Legend of Zelda to an extent that makes each screen in the grid smaller.

I feel like number 1, 15, and 16 are fairly objective. 2-4 could be shuffled, 5-12 could be shuffled, and 13-14 could be shuffled.

Edit: From discussion with MapelSerup I swapped Link's Awakening and Legend of Zelda. It's almost a tie as Legend of Zelda has more tiles that you can't travel on I assume with all the water.
 
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MapelSerup

not actually Canadian
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
I believe Link's Awakening is 16 by 16 but Legend of Zelda is 16 by 8. Both have no scrolling within screens (the field of vision is set within a screen) like some other 2d games have. Legend of Zelda is the smallest. Minish Cap is also pretty small but has screens that are bigger than just the initial frame of view so you can't do an apples to apples comparison like with Link's Awakening and Legend of Zelda. Of the 3d games I'd guess Ocarina of Time is a little smaller than Majora's Mask, but both would be much bigger than Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening, or Minish Cap. Zelda 2 is very spread out but isn't that big either.

Also to respond to the initial post, Spirit Tracks is gigantic and it takes a very long time to go from one end of the overworld to the other. Phantom Hourglass is a little smaller but still big. Ocarina of Time is definitely not the smallest, but it's far from the biggest too.
LA’s tiles are square, while LoZ’s are rectangular. You can’t really compare the worlds based solely on the number of tiles.
 

MW7

Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Location
Ohio
LA’s tiles are square, while LoZ’s are rectangular. You can’t really compare the worlds based solely on the number of tiles.
That's true, but just eyeballing it, there's no way that Link's Awakening is smaller than Legend of Zelda. All the rectangles would have to be 2 times as long as they are high for 16 by 8 to as big as 16 by 16. The screens in Legend of Zelda are only slightly longer than they are tall which would mean Link's Awakening is more like 1.75 times bigger than 2 times bigger.

Edit: I'm trying to figure out how this is possible since the NES and Gameboy were both 8 bit systems. Is the fact that Gameboy is not in color allowing it to store more other information? Or is Link noticeably bigger relative to the size of the screen in each grid in Link's Awakening which would effectively shrink the overworld?
 
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thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
ZD Legend
I think some good points are being made here, however I’d like to point out one thing: STs overworld, in terms of where you can and cannot go, is tiny. Sure it looks big, but the amount of explorable world is easily the smallest in the series.
 

MapelSerup

not actually Canadian
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
That's true, but just eyeballing it, there's no way that Link's Awakening is smaller than Legend of Zelda. All the rectangles would have to be 2 times as long as they are high for 16 by 8 to as big as 16 by 16. The screens in Legend of Zelda are only slightly longer than they are tall which would mean Link's Awakening is more like 1.75 times bigger than 2 times bigger.

Edit: I'm trying to figure out how this is possible since the NES and Gameboy were both 8 bit systems. Is the fact that Gameboy is not in color allowing it to store more other information? Or is Link noticeably bigger relative to the size of the screen in each grid in Link's Awakening which would effectively shrink the overworld?
LoZ has 16x11 tiles in each square. LA is 10x8. Therefore, LoZ is 256x88 tile lengths, and LA is 160x128. That gives 22,528 tiles for LoZ and 20,480 for LA. Considering Link is one tile high in both games, we can assume the tiles are mostly equal, give or take a bit because the Links are different.
 

MW7

Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Location
Ohio
LoZ has 16x11 tiles in each square. LA is 10x8. Therefore, LoZ is 256x88 tile lengths, and LA is 160x128. That gives 22,528 tiles for LoZ and 20,480 for LA. Considering Link is one tile high in both games, we can assume the tiles are mostly equal, give or take a bit because the Links are different.
Oh wow that's fascinating. I see what you mean. Link is definitely smaller in Legend of Zelda compared to Link's Awakening relative to the screen.
 

MapelSerup

not actually Canadian
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Oh wow that's fascinating. I see what you mean. Link is definitely smaller in Legend of Zelda compared to Link's Awakening relative to the screen.
What’s amazing too is the hoops the developers of the original game jumped through to keep the file size of the game down!
All the dungeons fit on the same grid
By the time they had finished, they’d only used half of the storage space, so they just added a second quest.
 
Joined
May 4, 2014
Location
California
It probably isn't, but Minish Cap's world feels freakishly small to me. Like, claustrophobic style small.

Everything is a puzzle and it feels like I can't actually roam around because things need solved or moved. It's like a 2D Skyward Sword where the overworld is as much a puzzle as the dungeons and it gives me terrible fatigue, especially since most of the puzzles aren't fun.

I still feel like OoT has a fairly big world, but I played it at the time of release and it blew my mind and I've never really gotten over that feeling of seeing such a sense of scale for the first time in that specific world.


Heheh. Freakishly small. I see what you did there. :P
 

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