Which Zelda game were you most excited to play?

[Anayo]

Best 2D: Link to The Past
Best 3D: Wind Waker
Best Handheld: Links Awakening
Best Open-World: Breath of the Wild

I know I cheated but I hate to take Wind Waker down because Breath of the Wild is just such a different beast from all the other Zelda games.

Yeah, I think Zelda: BotW is less like actual Zelda and more like Red Dead Redemption, Fallout 3, GTA 3, etc.

[Xeogred]

I think going into Oracle of Ages expecting something like Link to the Past made for some disappointment. I remember the overworld being overly complex to traverse too, but I guess that's true for several Zelda's. I actually walked away liking Seasons more and didn't expect that. Can't wait to replay them sometime. I definitely liked how they were harder than Link's Awakening, which is pretty easy thesedays going back to it.

[Tanooki]

Best 2D: Link to The Past
Best 3D: Wind Waker
Best Handheld: Links Awakening
Best Open-World: Breath of the Wild

I know I cheated but I hate to take Wind Waker down because Breath of the Wild is just such a different beast from all the other Zelda games.

Now there's a sensible order of Zelda operations. SNES one refined the classic style to an art. The smooth living cartoon style of cel shaded Wind Waker along with the story (tie back to OoT) and amazing gameplay and fluidity of it all is just smooth. That one on the old GB maybe the oldest but they really captured the proper magic and never hit it again after that from the SNES title it clearly aped. The other, no real reason to go there, it stands alone, and perhaps it may continue given the ratings it has pulled. Maybe in another 4~ years we'll find out, unless they re-use the engine and shave a year off to give another. After what they've done and spoken of throwing out dated garbage going back to Ocarina and creating something new, they logically can not go back and expect to not get hell for it.

I legitimately cannot remember the last time I bought a game new near-ish the launch date. I'm not sure whether to feel weirded out or proud about it, though

Proud, stick with proud. I would be at least. The amount of new games pre-Switch I've bought since about the 1st or 2nd year of the 3DS could be counted on fingers. I don't see a reason to pay up anymore when you get beta copy releases and price drops that come in months, sometimes weeks. It's just wasteful and dumb.