I noticed in the RPG forum that a few people were discussing Skyward Sword and making a list of thier favorite Legend of Zelda games. The discussion deserves its own topic...
Make a list of your favorite console Legend of Zelda games and a different list for handheld Legend of Zelda games. It may be appropriate to make a separate list for 2D & 3D games.
My list for consoles 2D...
1. A Link to the Past (SNES)
2. The Legend of Zelda (NES)
3. The Adventure of Link (NES)
4. Four Swords Adventure (GC)
My list for consoles 3D...
1. Skyward Sword (Wii)
2. Wind Waker (GC)
3. Twilight Princess (Wii)
4. Ocarina of Time (N64)
5. Majora's Mask (N64)
My list for handhelds...
1. Minish Cap- This is the only one I have played. I know. Shame on me. I have some catching up to do.
Link to the Past is above and beyond my favorite. It is utmost gaming perfection. Next to Super Metroid for me.
Next to that I'd say Ocarine of Time and Link's Awakening are my other top favorites, that I don't really see minor "flaws" in that prevent them from being perfect in my mind. To be honest, a lot of the Zelda's do have some stuff in them that kind of keeps them from perfection. The ones I have issues with... mostly the 3D ones beyond OoT:
Majora's Mask - I don't recall the time limit being annoying, but it's not amazing game design either. It does kind of prevent me from approaching it for a replay sometimes. It was a hassle later in the game, having to revert time a lot. I also didn't exactly like how there was really only four dungeons in the game.
Wind Waker - The sailing, is not as bad as some people make it out to be, but not great either. I like huge overworlds, not broken up into pieces. The game was piss easy too.
Twilight Princess - The wolf segments really sucked, plain and simple. But the game got increasingly better in the second half, when they laid off on the wolf segments! Funny how that works out... looking back on it now, I wish it had better music too.
Skyward Sword - I'm nearing the end of this one and it has been an absolute blast. This and Xenoblade alone made the Wii purchase worth it to me. That said, I feel it has the same flaw that Wind Waker does, there is no true overworld. There was also WAY too much backtracking in this one, with just the three big main area's... got repetitive and it's the longest Zelda out there. To be honest I've slowed down towards the end of it, because it has gotten a tiny bit tiring to play. I had to revisit those three places and fly around just one too many times.
Wind Waker is my least favorite of the 3D ones. I'd say MM, TP, and SS probably all tie for me. But yeah, OoT just doesn't have one of these big game design/mechanics issues that makes me dread anything about it.
Oracle of Ages - The overworld was just too cluttered and complex for my liking. Still a fun game, but it was a pain to navigate sometimes. I liked Seasons a lot more in comparison.
Minish Cap was completely forgettable to me and Phantom Hourglass is the only one I've played that I didn't care to finish. I still have yet to try Spirit Tracks, not sure if I want too. I also don't like the art style in these two at all. Doesn't seem true bird's eye view to me...
I've also talked about why I like OoT so much over the newer games in the past. To me it's basically because it's still mostly a dungeon crawler. The game is all about being on your own and navigating the world, exploring, and tackling these crazy dungeons. There was a ton of them, just like in LTTP. From MM and on, the games got a lot more fetch quest heavy, had more complex scenarios with characters, and the focus on the exploring/dungeons seemed to dwindle. Especially in the handheld games after the two Capcom Oracle titles. So OoT to me is just very basic stuff, but it's just so traditionally amazing.
My list would look something like this I guess:
1. Link to the Past
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Link's Awakening
4. LoZ, MM, TP, SS
5. Oracle of Seasons
6. Oracle of Ages
7. Zelda II: Link's Adventure (I think this game is awesome)
8. Wind Waker
My favorite even though i didnt finish some of them.
1- Ocarina of Time (N64) - 100% complete
2- Twilight Princess(GC) - 85% complete
3- A Link to the Past(SNES) - 50% comp
4- Skyward Sword(Wii) - 45% comp
Last edited by AznKhmerBoi on Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Link to the Past - this needs no explanation
Windwaker - tons of character and charm
Four Swords Adventures - It's Zelda: The Arcade Game.
Bottom 3:
Skyward Sword - I am an hour into it and I fucking hate it. The control system is stupid.
Minish Cap - In theory, I have no problem with the game. The story line turns me off hard core, though.
Majora's Mask - Just feels like it is not actually a Legend of Zelda game.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
Seriously though... I know I'm placing myself in the minority here, but I think I enjoy Link's Awakening the most. It's fast-paced, fun as hell, and has incredible music/atmosphere for a portable game.
Link to the Past is phenomenal as well. Simply put, it's one of the greatest 16 bit games of all time (a tall order, as I consider the 16 bit generation to be the best era of gaming).
My third favorite would have to be the NES original. I'll admit that nostalgia clouds my judgement here: it's one of the first games I ever owned and was the first I ever played that had non-linear/exploration elements. Sure it can be way too cryptic (I was never able to beat it without maps) and a bit frustrating, but overall it's fantastic. Certainly of the best and most important 8 bit titles ever.
Every other Zelda game is good but I consider those my top three.
There's really only three Zelda games I have ever been really into
Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
The 3D games have all been lesser titles in my opinion, holding on to dated elements that fit better in the 2D games (like the shallow stories and lack of voice acting), and somehow just not having the same magic the 2D ones had for me.
My favorite 2D Zelda was Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, though I think Link to the Past is probably the best overall
I've not really delved into the portable 2D Zelda games yet
RyaNtheSlayA wrote:
Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
Xeogred wrote:Link to the Past is above and beyond my favorite. It is utmost gaming perfection. Next to Super Metroid for me.
And along with Final Fantasy IV for me. By the way, when I first saw this wall of text, I took one look at a one sentence and knew immediately this post belonged to Xeogred, without having seen who wrote it.
Anyway, here are my opinions:
Link to the Past: All I want out of a new Zelda game is a lengthy expansion of this game. I've played it so much, I know where everything is now, especially so in the earlier part of the game. Give me Zelda just like LttP and I'm a happy man. Other than that, I like the style of the original and the Game Boy games as well. I could never get into anything post-GBC - Minish Cap annoyed me, and Ocarina of Time bored me a bit, and annoyed me at other times (I absolutely loathe that damn fairy!). I haven't played anything else, except for Link's Adventure briefly, but not enough to make an informed opinion. I don't care for the art-style of Wind Waker, but I never played it long enough to say anything else about it.
Xeogred wrote:II is insanely underrated when it comes to the music. I guess the temple theme got a nice remix in Smash Bros, but yeah the music deserves more love.
Quite a few of those tunes still pop up in my head from time to time. Zelda II felt like a darker game than other entries somehow. I really liked that.
RyaNtheSlayA wrote:
Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
