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Posted By TheGameheroes about 1 year, 8 months ago
Top 5 Zelda Games, 
Handsome Tom and Classy Man Jared give us this amazing list of the top 5 Zelda games. We know this list is controversial so let us know what your top list is and why.
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1. Ocarina of Time (Time Travel mechanic. The magical Ocarina instrument and the ability to cast magical spells by playing certain sets of notes that form beautiful melodies. The most balanced Zelda game for main-quests/side-quests. Like ‘ALttP’, this one also gave me the “Legendary” feel).
2. Majora’s Mask (The 3-day cycle gameplay mechanic was groundbreaking. The Transformation masks and the deep storyline for creating an even more immersive experience. The true successor to OoT in my opinion. The minor complaints are about the slightly improved graphics, some side-quests for being unforgiving on the player (try to score 50 in the Town shooting gallery by hitting all the blue Octoroks in first-person with the Bow to see what I mean.. Oh! and the Beaver race), the unchanged character design (using the OoT models made me feel like I was seeing the same ol’ people/creatures once more) and some equipment items that were derived from OoT – Deku sticks/nuts, Bombchu, Lens of Truth for example).
3. A Link to the Past (The Light World/Dark World mechanic. Set the standard for many future 2D/3D Zelda titles to come. It created many outworld/dungeon formulas that other games from the franchise easily utilize).
4. Link’s Awakening (One word – Exploration. It sinks you deep into it’s atmosphere by offering plenty of outworld areas to explore with many caverns and mini-dungeons. Also the first Zelda game with a ‘Trading sequence’).
5. The Wind Waker (A Cel-shaded graphical presentation. Loved the new dungeons and cool equipment items. I really can’t say much but to praise this one-of-a-kind adventure).
my top 5 5. legend of zelda 4.twilightprincess 3. link to the past 2.skyward sorwd 1.windwaker i played throughh ocrina i was dint care for it the final battle with gannon was overrated the finale battle in twilight princes was way more epic ocrinas music i thought sucked windwaker and skyward music was way better of course this just my opinoin
5 – Link’s Awakening
4 – Minish Cap
3 – Ocarina of Time
2 – Wind Waker
1 – A Link To The Past
Without a doubt, A Link To The Past will always remain my #1. Even to this day it holds up and though the current Zelda games are fantastic, they will never replace the awesome that ALTTP was and is. Perhaps I am biased due to it being extremely nostalgic for me and my first Zelda game, but there is no doubt this classic still remains a standard to this day.
Pfft, kids today. I keep hearing you bitch about how the 8 and 16-bit Zeldas were too confusing and hard. Back in MY day, we had to earn beating a video game! We didn’t have any of this namby-pamby invisible wall hand-holding crap! In the original LOZ, we didn’t know where we were going and WE LIKED IT THAT WAY! And if we headed off in the wrong direction, ended up in the Level 5 underworld with nothing but a wooden sword with three mummies that took a billion hits to kill with it, well TOUGH NOOGIES! You could get to almost any point on the map right from the start if you knew what to do, and that was awesome! And you want to talk to me about OOT’s Master Quest? Try the SECOND QUEST. It’ll have you whippersnappers peeing your pants and running home crying to your mommies!
(No offense or trolling intended. But seriously, original LOZ was great and totally deserves to be on the list.)
First of all, please don’t call Zelda, any Zelda, an RPG. They’re not and never have been.
Secondly, my list:
1. Majora’s Mask (Easily the most dark, gritty and original Zelda game out there!)
2. Ocarina of Time
3. The Windwaker
4. A link to the Past
5. The Legend of Zelda
(Gah, I didn’t realize the time limit to edit posts was that short after deciding I wanted to expand on that thought. Apologies for the double post.)
Wind Waker was definitely flawed, but the parts that weren’t more than made up for them, in my opinion.
I think the one thing that made me love it the most was actually something somewhat minor–when you get to Hyrule Castle, the BGM was a remix of the Hyrule Castle music from Link to the Past, which was my single favorite piece of music from the entire series. I was thrilled to see it finally used again.
I say was, because the piano version of the same song from the ending managed to beat it. I’m enough of a nerd to have learned how to (accurately!) play two songs from video games on the piano. It was one of them.
Wow, this actually is exactly the same as my top 5. Kudos on not succumbing to the peer pressure to put Ocarina of Time at #1.
(Gah, I didn’t realize the time limit to edit posts was that short after deciding I wanted to expand on that thought. Apologies for the double post.)
Wind Waker was definitely flawed, but the parts that weren’t more than made up for them, in my opinion.
I think the one thing that made me love it the most was actually something somewhat minor–when you get to Hyrule Castle, the BGM was a remix of the Hyrule Castle music from Link to the Past, which was my single favorite piece of music from the entire series. I was thrilled to see it finally used again.
I say was, because the piano version of the same song from the ending managed to beat it. I’m enough of a nerd to have learned how to (accurately!) play two songs from video games on the piano. It was one of them.
Personal Top 5
1) Ocarina
2) Majora’s Mask
3) Wind Waker
4) WAND OF GAMELON!!!
…Just kidding. I would probably go original Legend of Zelda and Link’s Awakening to finish, but if it were an objective list I’m sure it would look a little different. The thing is, you can’t go wrong picking these games. Although I have to admit that replaying Twilight Princess recently changed my mind a bit. It didn’t seem to hold up well – other than Midna, who is still an enjoyable character. Even the Capcom entries in this series (such as the Oracle set) deserve full attention and praise, and the redheaded stepchild sidescroller Adventures of Link is entertaining albeit difficult. So all hope that Skyward Sword continues in this tradition, which I’m sure we shall not be disappointed.
Just stay away from the CD-i.
Thanks for the spoilers, guys.
5. Link’s Awakening – Amazing handheld game with a unique story.
4. Twilight Princess – A bit of the same old same old, but it’s still fun and using the new techniques kicks ass.
3. Wind Waker – I liked the cell shaded look and sailing around the massive world is fun as hell.
2. Ocarina of Time – Set the standard for the modern Zelda game.
1. Majora’s Mask – Improved on the standard and made side quests the main focus. That and ZOMG SO MANY AWESOME MASKS
I don’t understand how anyone can like Windwaker if they’ve played it through and were a fan of any of the other games. Yeah, the game was decent on the surface but any true Zelda fan was likely to be very pissed off by the ending.
*spoiler*
They kill Hyrule… a whole flipping land that every main storyline (beyond awakening) game took place in…
*end spoiler*
At least in Links awakening when things turn out the way they do, it’s not the main land that it effects.
As someone who is kind of lukewarm towards the series, Wind Waker is one of the few I really like. Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask are the Zelda games I love, while I’m actually not too fond of the others.
But then, I suppose that fits your qualification for not being a fan, doesn’t it?
As a major Zelda fan, the emotional impact of that is actually one of the things I really liked about Wind Waker.
Master Quest was free with renewal of Nintendo Power a long long time ago, in a year I’ve forgotten… So you can’t really say nintendo made you buy that game, you were just renewing your magazine subscription. Just sayin’, guys, just sayin’.
Son of a bitch! I DARE you to enter the shop in Link’s Awakening again! I DOUBLE DARE YOU!
Honestly, the original Legend of Zelda doesn’t belong on any best-of lists unless it spans into the 50s or 100s. The 4th spot should have gone to TP (GC edition) or MM. It has historical value but it has not aged gracefully. It feels more like a prototype for LTTP and LA than it does a prequel.
I also have a hard time understanding all the love for Wind Waker. It’s not a bad game by any stretch but it introduced a lot of tedium which didn’t feel at all rewarding to me. My biggest gripe is how clunky the sea-faring combat was. I didn’t mind that the cannon was slow and difficult to maneuver, that makes sense, I just don’t understand why I couldn’t take out my bow while the boat was going at full speed, or why there wasn’t an upgraded sail that removed the need to change the direction of the wind.
The world is too big for what there is to do and the Tri-Force quest and money grinding near the end is enough to keep me from finishing a new save if I’m not in the right mood for it. The graphics have a lot of charm, the swordplay is much improved over previous Zeldas, the writing is some of the best in the series-all its strengths make it a worthy contender for a list like this but it would never make my Top 5 and it doesn’t deserve to be -that- highly regarded.
Have to agree on Wind Waker. I liked the style, writing and I liked the humour. But a lot of bosses seemed rehashes from earlier games, I felt that it was made a lot easier and like you said near the end you had to grind for rupees so you could advance in the game. That there is just poor game design in my book.
Original Zelda = confusion + exploring. Links Awakening = exploring + fun. Links awakening = fun + story + exploring……. then came 3D Ocarina of time = fun + story + exploring + travel-time. And the linear travel times just exploded afterwards. This list isnt perfect but it nails the nr1 spot
No phantom hourglass? Easily my favorite zelda game, The touch controls felt great to use, the charicters are the best in the seires, Linebeck especially. Admittedly, it was kinda short but it’s still my favorite.
I love twilight princess too, for the exact opposite reason, where in phnatom hourglass the chaircters were comidic foil and the story just a excuse for the differnces from wind waker. Phntom hourglass had charicters i cared about Ilya and Midna worked so well in their roles, midna especially, taking the quite charicterless role of navi and turning it into a three dimensional charicter. The visual style is my favorite of the seires, (I love the cel shaded style too) and it’s a game i could spend ages in just looking around.
My personal top 5 list would be:
1. Phantom Hourglass
2. Twilight Princess
3. Wind Waker
4. Link to the past
5.Minish Cap.
Just realised i forgot the oricles games, so my ammended list is as follows
1 Phantom Hourglass
2 Twilight Princess
3 Wind Waker
4 Oricle of Ages
5 Link to the past.
*teheehee*
You stole something “Link’s Awakening”! xD
To me Link to Past and Ocarina of Time are best Legend of Zelda games ever.
I’m a bit embarrassed to say this, but I haven’t actually played the original Legend of Zelda all the way through (or not that much at all)…
…yeah, I know… I really ought to.
Still, you guys made a list that, I literally have no problems with at all. Other than the #4 spot (since I haven’t played it fully), I entirely agree with your choices… and I’m REALLY happy to see two games on the list that I personally enjoyed, put on my own list and would not expect many people to do as well… Wind Waker and especially, Link’s Awakening.
Link’s Awakening was, to me, the first Zelda game who’s story actually pulled on my heartstrings a little. This is mainly due to the ending – when you beat the final boss and awaken the Wind Fish… the island you’re on and everyone on it will cease to exist. Although many of the characters you don’t really care about, one makes you wish there was some way to save Koholint Island – Marin. The girl who you awoke to at the beginning with the kind heart and haunting song that plays even at the end as the island is about to vanish… almost as a final farewell…
The only other game in the series that gave me any major emotional impact was the other game I mentioned – Wind Waker. There were two moments I was emotionally gripped during the story. The first was going beneath the waves for the first time. I wasn’t sure what was going to await when we went down underwater, but as the hints of Hyrule Castle began to appear, my heart skipped a beat. All I could say to myself the entire way down was “No… it… it couldn’t be… it COULDN’T!”. Nintendo pulled off the scene masterfully… and the icing on the cake? Once you entered the castle itself, you were presented by remixes of the Hyrule Castle theme from A Link To The Past! Talk about nostalgic fanservice!
The other semi-emotional moment (probably one of the best story moments in the entire series, in my opinion) was the cut scene with Gannondorf right before the final battle. I’m surprised you guys didn’t mention this, seeing as how good the scene really was. I won’t spoil it, but I will say this: Gannon’s speech explaining why he wanted to take over Hyrule… for the first time in the entire series, you actually can sympathize with him… and feel sorry for him. Despite being the king of the desert tribes, his life was not easy by far… and his speech makes you feel bad for him. Of course, his actions (especially what he does right after his speech) were absolutely wrong, but you can at least understand why.
Also, what he does after his speech gives you a reason for wanting to fight him… and the fight itself is certainly one of the more epic in the series as well. Not bothering with tricks, spells or the Triforce of Power anymore, he comes at you for a one-on-one (technically two) sword fight… and, to be honest, he’s even MORE dangerous in this form than almost any other in any game.
Since, as I said before, I sadly have not played the original enough to put it on a ratings list… therefore, I’d probably rate my top 5 as follows:
5) Phantom Hourglass (this thing takes full use of the DS… even the act of closing the lid!)
4) Link’s Awakening
3) Ocarina of Time
2) Wind Waker
1) A Link to the Past
Oh… mentioning A Link to the Past, just a quick correction… Link goes out to rescue Zelda at the beginning because she calls out to him through magic. Also, the guy who raised him is not his father, but his uncle.
Why be embarrassed? I’ve played it for the first time maybe a year ago, so what?
It has historic value, but if you just want to play a good game, stick with the vastly superior ALttP. Really, you’re not missing much unless you’re really interested about the origins of the series.
The problem I have with the original Zelda, and, to a lesser extent, ALttP, is them not telling you what to do. The instruction book takes you to the first dungeon, but makes you feel like an idiot if you can’t find the second one, which is actually not on the map in the book!
Furthermore, I played Link’s Awakening first, so I was used to much better weapon and shield mechanics. It took forever for me to get used to blocking anything with the shield. And the sword requires you to be right up next to someone to hit them, and, more importantly, there’s no swing.
ALttP has the shield issue, too, but everything else is better. That is, until you save the Princess. Then you are not told what to do. And that’s too early in the game. You don’t have any new powers at that point, so there’s no clue on where you need to go. And the initial world is so much bigger that I just got bored.
Link’s Awakening was superior. Ocarina of TIme was great until I couldn’t figure out the second dungeon–even while following a players guide! (It kept telling me that something would happen at such and such time, but it never did.) I didn’t get back into Zelda until the Minish cap came out. My complaint there was just that the game was too short and easy, but, otherwise, a good game. I also found Phantom Hourglass to be fun. And while I’ve not yet gotten far in Ages or Seasons, I’m liking them. (Yes, I play them simultaneously. I plan on stopping when one grabs me more than the other.)
As you can see, I haven’t played enough to rate them. But I wanted to state my #1: Link’s Awakening DX. It just gets everything write, from the shield/weapon mechanics to the level of handholding versus exploring. And the DX just makes it better, unlike many other ports.
How can you ever get lost in ALttP? The places you don’t need to go are blocked and the ones you’re supposed to are indicated on your map. Even the dungeons are numbered. If you complete them in order there’s no way you’ll get blocked.
It’s not a difficult game. At all.
But the first one was clearly designed to encourage the acquisition of strategy guides.
I gotta say, my fav Zelda game is Twilight Princess – the mounted combat really sold that game to me in a way that no other game in the series ever did. Puzzle solving is fun and all, but I feel like TP really took all of the more secondary LoZ elements and polished them to a mirror shine – things like combat, which has always been a bit awkward (for me, anyway), seemed to work perfectly for the first time (played on GC, no idea about how well the Wii version worked).
Also, no Adventure of Link? Come on, guys! That game beat the pants off of the original LoZ!
A Link to the Past is the only Zelda I’ll ever bother to play again. I remember being very excited about Ocarina of Time, but by the time it finally came out, I’d lost interest in the n64 and completely forgot about it.
When I had the opportunity to try OoT a few years later, I played for about… I don’t know, half an hour? Didn’t hooked me at all. Found it ugly and childish. Can’t say anything about the gameplay, I just wasn’t interested to play it. In fact it made me want to play the snes one again.
It wasn’t the game I expected. I thought the series would evolve into something more epic and serious… in fact, Shadow of the Colossus is the closest thing to what I hoped the Zelda franchise would become. In some aspects at least. But I guess it wouldn’t have been very Nintendo-ish. It would be unfair to blame them for that.
But I’ll blame them for their atrocious lack of continuity. It’s the main reason I never bothered to play any of those games after ALttP. You can’t reboot a franchise every single instalment using the same characters, locations and plot devices. Not if the story is a significant part of the games. Who designs game series like this? I guess Nintendo does.
I suppose it’s easier to make new instalments. I think it’s lazy and disappointing.
…hmm? Actually, wasn’t Majora’s Mask a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time? And I believe Wind Waker is set in the same world, 1000 years later after Ganon wins. I’m pretty sure somebody can explain how Twilight Princess fits into the canon, as well – my point being that Hyrule doesn’t just keep getting rebooted, but that the series is about the recurring battle between good and evil as the world changes. I wonder if they’ll ever move the series into Hyrule’s future ala Mario Galaxy…
Oh, and regarding OoT, you seem to have missed the point. The childish opening is meant to create a clear separation between the tone of Link’s childhood and his adulthood – similar to how a movie might have a funny opening to contrast against it’s epic and serious second and third acts. Locations that, as a child, Link had fun misadventures with dancing Gorons are suddenly subject to genocide and destruction – and characters who jokingly flirted with him as a kid are forced by the rise of Ganon to be deadly serious. It’s meant to bring you into the world and give you a reason to protect it, and it’s really quite brilliant in how it achieves that. But I suppose you have to be willing to look past the N64-era graphics long enough to at least get to the scene where Saria gives you her Ocarina to get emotionally invested in the game at all.
EDIT: Oh, and let’s not forget Oracle of Seasons / Ages, of which one is a sequel to the other (and certain events occur differently based on which one you play first), the direct sequel the Wind Waker got, and how The Adventure of Link is a direct sequel to the original LoZ. Yeah, this series has no continuity whatsoever [/sarcasm].
But then again, only five people in the world have ever beaten TAoL, so I understand why nobody realizes that.
That’s what you call continuity? Some games are sequels or somehow connected to some others, but not all of them are connected. A and B are related, but how do they relate to C? Many people tried to make sense of all this, but the best explanations are convoluted at best. Miyamoto claimed there’s a timeline and everything is supposed to make sense, but he refuses to show it. Why?
The simplest answer is that Zelda games are designed pretty much like Mario games. Not much thought is put in continuity because it’s not important to them. Miyamoto’s timeline is probably full of holes and should’ve admitted it instead and offer better justifications for his design choices. They’re an old school game company focusing on the basic elements of gaming, so it’s perfectly normal to some people that other aspects might feel neglected.
That’s how they do thing. It’s their right, but I don’t agree.
When I say it’s ugly and childish, I mean it’s unappealing and designed for kids in mind. It’s not wrong to design games for kids. Yoshi’s Island is the best example I can think of a childish game and it’s one of my favourite platformer ever. But in Zelda you’re a young man carrying a sword and you’re really killing stuff with it. You kill both monsters and people. Your goal is to prevent the death of innocents. And the ALttP mythos is pretty dark. I thought the 3D Zeldas would amplify those aspects, but it didn’t. At least not enough for me. I think it’s a missed opportunity, they could have made something drastically different from what they’re used to do.
Nintendo have confirmed there is a full continity that all zelda games fit into, but it’s a secret document. The reason they do it is to keep their fanbase guessing and replaying the old games, Nintendo knows exactly what it’s doing. Even if it is very evil indeed.
I know I will get flak for this but I could never get into OoT. It is probably my least favorite of the zelda games I have played. So my top 5 list would be the top 5 zelda games I gotten into enough to actually could get into because I also had trouble getting into Twilight Princess.
5. Majora’s Mask this is the only one on my list I never beat but I only rented it when it came out
4. Four swords Adventure the game was simple but fun
3. The orginal Legend of Zelda because it started it all and to this day I play both quest through at least once a year
2. Wind Waker this game got me back into the Zelda series after my dislike of OoT yea I did like Majora’s Mask but I didn’t like it enough to pull me back into the series
1. Link to the Past this one barely squeaked by Wind Waker on the list like the orginal I play through this at least once a year if not more like every 6 months
That’s my list and I am ready for the hate for not liking OoT all my friends already give me the hate for it
Great choices, but, otherwise, I find your lack of Majora’s Mask disturbing.
I wish Game Heroes didn’t have their ratings disabled on all the videos. I’d actually give this one a 5, since it’s better than a vast majority of their content.
My personal favorite was Twilight Princess mostly because of Midna. I loved the design of that character! Wind Waker was great too but hated the DS sequel to it.
I will always remember Ocarina of Time to be THE greatest video game of all time. And as for Link to the Past, that was awful. The dungeons were to difficult (in terms of puzzles), there wasn’t much direction given to you, the light world/dark world thing was a hassle, etc. Though LttP is obviously better than those certain 3 Zelda Games we don’t speak about. *cough* *cough* CDI blows *cough* *cough*
BLASPHEMY!!!!
1: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
2: Legend of Zelda
3: Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (played it on SNES in color on my super gameboy)
4: Zelda 2: Link’s Adventure
I was not a fan of the CDI games (Took everything I like about Zelda II and make it bad). or the 3d Ocarina of Time. The auto jump on the N64 really threw me off and I did not like the controls. About where Zelda ended for me, as I didn’t really like its transition to 3d. Of course, I’ve always been more of a turn-based RPG/strategy RPG guy. I did like Neutopia I + II as Zelda clones on the Turbo Graphx 16. I also really like Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals. Which features two games in one in my opinion, with clever puzzles and a ton of tools to solve them with and turn-based battles when you encounter onscreen enemies. The most recent Action-RPG I really enjoyed was Vagrant Story, for Playstation which combined crafting, puzzles, chain attacks, and a great story and characters for one fun game.
5. Oracle of Ages/seasons
4. Legend of Zelda
3. Minnish cap
2. Link’s Awakening
1. Link to the past
And guys, Koji Kondo isn’t the John Williams of Video games, Nobuo Uematsu is.
#5 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for all the fun i had with my friends playing it.
#4 The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap for excellent gameplay and new game mechanics.
#3 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for its amazing art style and story.
#2 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for all the time i spent as a little kid trying to beat it. I don’t think i ever did. Kinda bummed about it.
#1 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for giving me something to do during long car trips with its amazing gameplay and the whole light world/dark world mechanic. Also the epic music. And the Four Swords mode which i played once a couple of years ago was fun and convinced me to buy the whole game. Oh lets not forget the controls are mapped perfectly and the graphics were great for snes and i still love em to this day. By the way, i play the GBA version on my DS.
You forgot Majora’s Mask. And I prefer Zelda 2 to Zelda 1 on the NES, but I realize it’s not as revolutionary since it wasn’t first. I agree that ALttP >>>> OoT.
5. Ocarina of Time
4. Wind Waker
3. Link’s Awakening
2. Majora’s Mask
1. A Link to the Past
That’s how I’d arrange them
5. Link’s awakening DX (First Zelda game)
4. Majora’s Mask (I liked the masks (rabbit ears were awesome) and the groundhog day mechanic, thru waiting for time to pass was annoying)
3. Wind Waker (The cell shaded art helped with the comedic part very well, but the sailing was annoying)
2. Oracle of Ages/Seasons (I liked the time puzzles of ages better, but the password system between games and the way the games interconnected was great)
1. Ocarina of Time (enough said)
I just recently found my Gameboy Color, so back to playing Ages again.
t1. A Link to the Past
t1. Ocarina of Time
I’ve really tried to choose one over the other and each time I play one or the other I start thinking I might finally have it and then I play the other again and go back to square one. Both of these games mark huge points in my gaming life and are my two favorite games ever. Frankly I don’t really want to decide.
3. Link’s Awakening – This is is the Zelda game that got me really into the Zelda franchise and paved the way to my loving the franchise so much.
4. Legend of Zelda – You know I didn’t even really play this until the late ’90s. One of those matters of timing though I had played it prior. My fondness for this game is based on the appreciation of what the game meant for gaming in general and it is still really fun to play.
5. Twilight Princess – What puts this one over Wind Waker to me isn’t the graphics (I actually prefer the Wind Waker’s look) but the sheer size and number of dungeons really makes the game for me. Plus how often do we get a Zelda game at console launch?
1. A Link to the Past
2. Link’s Awakening
3. The Legend of Zelda
4. Wind Waker
5. The rest……
My favorites are…
Twilight Princess
The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda NES
A Link to the Past
& of course
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
While I couldn’t tier the games, my top five zelda games are…
-Legend of Zelda NES
-A Link to the Past SNES
-Ocarina of Time N64
-Twilight Princess GC/Wii
My fifth is a tough choice, I’m not really into the handheld ones very much, I wouldn’t put Majoras Mask on there as I didn’t like the design ideas of it, though Wind Waker might be the other, but I honestly didn’t give the game it’s fair share back when it came out. I didn’t own a GC at it’s release and I wasn’t really taken by the cell shading and sailing aspects either, but I do need to go back and completely play that one again as I still had a dungeon or two to beat.
Now just hoping Skyward Sword is worth the hassle of the motion controls.
Going to exclude any games I have yet to play on a console.
5. N/A (wow, for liking the zelda series as much as I do I sure should get to buying some more)
4. Legend of Zelda
3. Phantom Hourglass
2. Minish Cap
1. Twilight Princess
Every time I see something like this, I’m reminded why this series means so much to me. I really will love the Zelda series until the day I die. This was a great list, too! Even though my own opinions differ, your selections are worthy.
My own favorites are the two N64 games, or the ‘Hero of Time’ Saga. Although many other Zelda games are great in their own ways, those two are still the zenith of the series for me.
Not seeing the reason for Wind Waker over OoT…I can give LttP a pass, but not Wind Waker, but i do like WInd Waker. probably would have picked Oracle of Ages/Seasons instead of Link’s Awakening though, but Im just glad to see no Minish Cap “love” people like that game too much…
5. the minish cap (even after you have beaten the game there is stuff to do and vaati as the boss is a good change of pase)
4.wind waker (it took a step in art that didn’t fit with the now grown up players but is still a long zleda epic)
3.link to the past (pure childhood memory, i have beaten this game so many times i can 100% in 2-3 hours)
2. twilight princess (it is technically the best 3D zelda game and all the enemeies has a good flushed out look and the changes in story makes it really good)
1. majoras mask (simply put it is hard, it improved on everything from OOT and the villan wasn’t just bad guy go kill, he was complex and you wanted to know more about him)
P.S i think alot of OOTs story is meant to grip ppl at an older age, sens it is about a kid missing all of his childhood and having to face a world full of darkness alone. do not tell me that is not meant for ppl to relate with at an older age
1. Ocarina of Time
2. A Link to the Past
3. Twilight Princess
4. Wind Waker
5. Majora’s Mask (though I haven’t finished it when I played it)
I really gotta get the Game Boy games, and the NES games. That’s all I need, and never “Oh boy! I’m so hungry, I can eat an Octorok!” *shudder*
When you said this list would be controversial I half thought you were gona throw in one of the CDI games lol this is a great list and I agree with it fully
5. Majoras Mask
4. Link to the past
3.Twilight Princess
2.Ocarina of time
1. Wind waker
The reason why Wind waker won was the gameplay and music. Wind Waker has the best combat system off all Zelda games i have played so far.
While I am a big Zelda fan, I have to admit that I don’t like A Link to the Past as much as other people seem to do. While it IS a great game, it’s not my favorite Zelda by a far stretch.
Perhaps its because so many people played it on a SNES at a very young age while I didn’t have a SNES and my first Zelda game was Link’s awakening followed by Ocarina of Time, and the first time I played Link to the Past was on an GameBoy Advance.
However, my favorite top five would be:
6. Wind Waker – I originally wanted to make this number 5, but decided otherwise while writing the list. I already had the text for WW written, so I’ll cheat and have a number 6.
While I really dig the humor in this game, the sailing, which is fun at first, really gets on my nerves after a while. Especially the “hurr durr let’s strech out the game length”-Triforce piece hunt near the end. Also, most of the dungeons just seem lackluster to me, compared with most of the other Zeldas. However, the combat is fun and the humor is probably the best in the series.
5. A Link to the Past – Originally, I wasn’t even going to include this in the top 5. Then, I thought about what exactly I don’t like about the game compared to the other titles, but I actually couldn’t find much. Literally everything works here.
If I had to pick one thing I like the least about the game, I would say it’s the music – while still good, it just doesn’t hold up to the other Zeldas IMO. Maybe its the instruments they used from the SNES soundchip that get me the wrong way.
However, while all the things work in this game, I feel they are all “just” good, not outstanding.
Perhaps I just see this game from a very critical standpoint and have almost no nostalgia goggles for it whatsoever. Which is strange, since I’m even somewhat nostalgic about Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, and those games aren’t all that old. Perhaps because they are designed to be very similiar to OoC…?
4. Twilight Princess – While the “kill the beetles as a wolf”-parts are really annoying and could have been easily cut from the game without loosing anything and the design of the chicken people is just plain WTF, I really like the rest of the Game. The dungeon designs are memorable, the Morning Star is awesome and the cutscenes and story are quite fleshed out compared to the rest of the series (well – aside from Majora’s Mask).
3. Link’s Awakening – the atmosphere in this game is brilliant (for a gameboy title). The great music (probably the best on the system) only helps this. The Menu could open up a little faster, otherwise all around a great game – from a few things you can tell that this game came out after Link to the Past and the things they take from it make this an even better experience IMO.
1./2. Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask – in the short time I wrote this I wasn’t able to decide which one I prefer, they both are very similiar games with different strengths. While ocarina of time probably has the best dungeon design in the series (and yes, I will include water temple in that assumption, the first half might be kinda annoying but it gets a lot better in the second half), Majoras Mask had the best subquests and athmosphere, even though the main quest is kinda short with only three temples.
i would argue that majors mask has the better dungon layout than OOT. i say stone tower temple is the best dungon in any zelda game but sometimes quanitiy over quaility i guess
While I agree that Stone Tower IS one of the best dungeons in a Zelda game ever, Desert Collosus/Spirit Temple is just as good IMO.
If somebody held a gun to my had to make me decide if I prefer OoT or MM, I’d probably say Majora’s Mask right now but that may be due to me playing OoC3D in normal AND master quest just recently and I’m kind of done with it for a while ^^
5: A Link to the past.
4: Twilight princess.
3: The legend of Zelda. (The original)
2: Occarina of time
1: Majoras mask.
5. Link Awakening (DX)
4. Classic
3. Wind Waker
2. Ocarina of Time
1. A link to the Past
As good as A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time are, I wouldn’t really rank them in the top 5 since, in the years since their release, they’ve served better as templates to improve the franchise’s future incarnations. My personal top 5 goes as follows.
5.) The Minish Cap
4.) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
3.) The Wind Waker
2.) Twilight Princess
1.) Majora’s Mask (IMO, not just the best Zelda game, the best video game)
1. A Link To The Past
2. Twilight Princess
3. Ocarina of Time
4. Majora’s Mask
5. Windwaker
The only Five I ever played.
Pretty much all of my favorite Zelda games made the list. I love both Wind Waker and OoT, and the original and ALttP will always be two of the most innovative games I have ever played. Great job on the list!
Interesting list. 1 thing though. Zelda: A Link to the Past was SNES not NES. Derp.
ALttP will always be my favorite Zelda game,
then again, I’ve got really thick nostalgia glasses on when playing that one.