Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask?

[o.pwuaioc]

Searching for "the Zelda cycle" brought up these two images.

The thing about this is that it applies to every series ever. Gamers are a hard demographic to please when it comes to series.

They're not even a demographic. There will always be gamers who want more of the same with slight variations, and there will always be gamers too bored with last gen and want something new and fresh. These people are often not one and the same.

[AppleQueso]

The thing about this is that it applies to every series ever. Gamers are a hard demographic to please when it comes to series.

If you're just referring to that particular chart, sure. If you're referring to the idea that I've been brining up that Zelda games seem to get backlash upon release followed by seriously intense praise years down the line, I don't think I've seen that consistently with anything else.

I mean one example would be Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X both got a ton of flak when they came out for a variety of reasons, and they still do. You don't see them today with the kind of fanbases that Majora's Mask and Wind Waker managed to prop up. Closest thing is maybe FF9, but that was less a case of backlash and more a case of people simply ignoring it when it came out.

When I think about it, Mega Man Legends might be something similar to what you see with most Zelda titles though.