Favorite Zelda games?

 
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i'm bored, so i thought i'd do the same thing for zelda as i did for mario

keep in mind that these little "capsule" reviews aren't meant to be super in-depth, otherwise i'd dedicate one whole thread to each game, which i don't really feel like doing (except for breath of the wild later this year)



The Legend of Zelda (1986, NES) For a Nintendo franchise as long-standing as Zelda, you might expect the first installment to be one of the weaker titles in the franchise—at least, that's how it is for Mario and Pokémon—but as it turns out, it's still one of the better games in the series, and I wouldn't begrudge anyone claiming it's one of the best games ever made—and let's not even get into how influential this game was. Every dictionary in the world should accompany the definition of the word "seminal" with an image of the title screen of this game. Sure, Adventure for the Atari 2600 may have done it first, but Zelda took its concept and blasted it through the roof, being one of the first games ever that you weren't expected to beat in one sitting. Almost everything about the game is phenomenal, even if it's admittedly lacking in the visual department, and between that and the game's slightly janky sense of movement, it's quite difficult to find anything objectively wrong with the game—in fact, I end up just finding more little things to appreciate about it every single time I replay it. I don't know what else to say, really. It really is one of the best games ever. ***

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987, NES) Man, this game gets so much unnecessary flak. Often hailed as the worst Zelda game (not counting CD-i), people seem to hate this one for two reasons—1.) it's such a weird detour from the rest of the series in terms of gameplay, making it a black sheep, and 2.) it has a reputation for being extremely, frustratingly difficult. To the first point, I would argue that Zelda is a franchise that thrives whenever it tries something different. In my experience, the worst games in the series are the ones that paint by the numbers and fail to experiment or take risks, so from that standpoint, I have a great appreciation for Zelda II. What makes the game unique are the side-scrolling combat portions with gameplay that that combines platforming with RPG elements, where killed enemies net you experience points that can be used to make Link stronger. There are virtually no puzzles—it's all about finessing your way through each action-packed dungeon and decrypting the vague, poorly-translated texts from all the townspeople you'll have to talk to. As much as I personally like the game, though, I would only recommend it to "hardcore" Zelda fans. It's one of those games. It's definitely worth trying either way, but never for an early-adopter of the series. You'll probably just hate it. ***

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991, SNES) Clearly, after Zelda II, Nintendo really wanted to play it safe and keep the franchise at its roots for the time being—which would normally be a disappointing decision from an artistic standpoint. But when you wind up with a game THIS explosively good, it's pretty fucking asinine to complain. I described the original Zelda as one of the best games ever made, and I think A Link to the Past is even better. It's in my top 50, possibly top 30. I would try to explain why, but I feel like these games are ubiquitous to the point where everyone already kind of understands why they're so good. And that's how it should be. If you don't know why it's so good, I would suggest that you play it. It's the bee's knees. 9/10

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993, GB) This is another one that I'd only recommend to hardcore fans. It's a cute little game—though, "little" is probably the wrong word, as it offers about 15 HOURS of gameplay—certainly one of the longest adventures available for the original Game Boy. It's definitely cute, though. The game has a goofy sense of humor and a strong sense of self-awareness. This can make it difficult to take seriously as a canon Zelda title, with its very "cutesy" and cartoonish overall aesthetic, and especially how it's constantly making these tongue-in-cheek references to other Nintendo franchises (mostly Mario). It's a fun, but otherwise non-essential, installment to the franchise, best thought of as an after-class time waster more than a fully-fledged epic Zelda adventure. If you're going to play it, be sure to play Link's Awakening DX, which adds color to an otherwise woefully monochromatic game. 7/10

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, N64) One of the most overrated games of all time. It's good. It's solid. You might even be able to get away with calling it "great." If you think it's amazing, I won't begrudge you, but I'll question your palate. But if you honestly think this is one of the best games ever, let alone THE best, we are on two completely different planets. This game finds itself marred by so many issues—granted, several of which are fixed or improved upon in the 3DS version—but the inevitable flaws that manifest themselves when trying to turn a traditionally 2D game into a 3D world, namely the ones having to do with the camera, the combat, and even the layout of objects on the map, are SO plentiful and SO apparent that I simply cannot overlook them. I won't tell you it's not a good game, because it certainly is—but I don't especially harbor any reverence for it. Though, if you're new to Zelda, I wouldn't feel uncomfortable recommending you the 3DS version. 7/10 for N64, 8/10 for 3DS

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000, N64) And then this happened. My god. What a PERFECT followup. I'm so glad that this game seems to be getting the recognition it deserves nowadays. They did exactly what they needed to do—since they knew that Ocarina was already being considered the best game ever, they were presented with the daunting task of topping it with the next game. And what better way to go about that than doing whatever the fuck they wanted? Instead of trying to "top" Ocarina, they decided to throw a curve ball instead—and wouldn't you know it, they ended up topping it anyway. This is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. What makes it special is that it focuses less on Link and his adventure, and more on the people that he's trying to save from an impending apocalypse. In the game, dungeon exploration becomes more of a secondary task as you continuously repeat the same three-day cycle over and over, collecting masks and interacting with all the NPCs in Clock Town. Everybody has a backstory, personality quirks, daily routine, and problems to help solve. As you help them solve their daily troubles, you get to know (and become emotionally attached to) each and every one of them—but as you continue to reset the past, the sad futility of it all becomes more and more apparent. A stark atmosphere of melancholy pervades every inch of the game's world, and the falling moon above (which can be seen from any point in the game) serves as a constant reminder of the impending doom—and every character reacts to this in their own way; sometimes with fear, others with denial, and others with sheer apathy. But all of them are emotionally broken in some way. If you try to solve everyone's problems, you can permanently reap their benefits, but only to have them all reset the moment you turn back time. You can't save everybody. If I were to rate this game strictly as a piece of art, and focused only on its characters, atmosphere, music, and storytelling, I would easily give this game a 10/10. However, its imperfections become more obvious once you start considering the gameplay—which is undeniably improved from Ocarina, as they did a much better job of optimizing the 3D world to help it mesh better with the exploration, but there is ONE area of the game that flounders so heavily compared to the rest of the game (the snow area). There are also one or two sidequests involving NPCs that are pretty dang tedious, and don't exactly give you the most exciting rewards. Unfortunately, neither of  these glaring issues have been fixed in the overall superior 3DS remake. A lot of people seem to think that the game's dungeons are underwhelming (especially when you consider that there's only four), but I thought they were all pretty dang solid for not being the main pull of the game—and regarding the absence of an adult Link, I feel like the three transformation masks were a worthy substitute. There's so much more to talk about with this game, and I actually have a fully-written review of it that's been jangling around in my pocket for several years, but it's no secret that this is one of my favorite games anyway. I recommend it to absolutely everybody, except for the newest of newcomers to Zelda. 8/10 for N64, 9/10 for 3DS

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages (2001, GBC) The most underappreciated Zelda games, bar none. When I first heard about them, I thought they were trying to pull a Pokémon by releasing the same game twice—but nope, they are actually two completely different games, both geared for two different styles of play. Seasons is more action-oriented, and Ages is more puzzle-oriented. Ages is the superior game, but both are really, really solid, and would probably serve as a great introduction to the franchise, if you can get past the retro aesthetic and somewhat dated gameplay mechanics. 8/10 for Seasons, 9/10 for Ages

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002, NGC) My second favorite game of all time, comprising one of the three perfect 10s I've ever felt comfortable giving to a video game. It is magnificent. It's the game that Ocarina of Time could and should have been. It is the embodiment of all the joy and happiness that my ten-year-old self would have had towards life. Let me tell you something—I'm an anti-natalist, but if this game were a woman, I would have children with her. Because between my genes and her genes, I know that those children would be fucking perfect in every way. 10/10

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (2004, GBA) I think I might need to replay this, because despite having played a great deal of it through, I never actually bothered to beat it. It was an enjoyable experience from, what I can remember, but it didn't really leave much of an impression on me overall. I remember disliking the artstyle quite a bit. The superbrite, highly-saturated color palette the game uses was a bit of an eyesore, and I remember having to deal with a lot of tedious mechanics. The items were cool, though, and I think it had some clever puzzles. It's gonna take  while, but I'll give it another shot some day. 7/10

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006, NGC) I need to replay this, too. For me, this was the most unmemorable Zelda experience. I can't remember a fucking thing about it, other than that it was kind of okay, and that the artstyle, while aesthetically pleasing, became increasingly hard to look at the longer I played the game. I took frequent breaks from it, which is not something I typically do with Zelda games, and it just felt really, really long. It's easily the most paint-by-numbers game in the series, and that's why I think it didn't leave such a great impression on me. But it wasn't bad. 7/10

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007, DS) Direct sequels are kind of rare for this series, so out of them all, I'm glad that my personal favorite was blessed with one. Unfortunately, it's not quite as good, but I wasn't really expecting it to be anyway. It has really great characters, and that unmistakably joyous Wind Waker atmosphere, but otherwise, it's a fairly standard Zelda adventure, just on the DS. 8/10

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2009, DS) A completely unnecessary waste of time with the lamest premise for a Zelda game EVER. One of my least favorite mainline titles, it's not a bad game. It's just not worth playing, in my opinion, and the reason for its existence continually eludes me. 6/10

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011, Wii) An insulting casualization that gets worse and worse the more I think about it, so I choose not to think about it. The most disappointing Zelda game, but only retroactively. I remember enjoying it somewhat when it first came out, but as of right now, it's the last game in the series that I'd ever want to revisit. 5/10

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2013, 3DS) It doesn't really do anything all that interesting or unique from a gameplay standpoint, apart from the main gimmick of becoming a painting, and it can't help but feel like the Breath of the Wild holdover that it is, but it's still a solid game (that I admittedly don't remember much of). 8/10

Hyrule Warriors (2014, Wii U) Fucking STUPID. 4/10

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (2015, 3DS) Obnoxious and unnecessary. If you're lucky enough to have two other people to play this game with, it might be a fun time. I don't know. But good luck with that. 5/10

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017, Wii U) Again, I'm gonna write a full review for this one, but I guess I'm okay with spoiling my score for it here. 9/10

Still need to play:

Zelda (1989, G&W)
Link: The Faces of Evil (1993, CD-i)
Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon (1993, CD-i)
Zelda's Adventure (1994, CD-i)
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (2002, GBA)
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2004, NGC)
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland (2006, DS)
Tingle's Balloon Fight DS (2007, DS)
Link's Crossbow Training (2007, Wii)
Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip (2009, DS)
Last Edit: November 17, 2017, 11:42:26 AM by Verbatim


 
Verbatim
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1. ww
2. mm
3. botw
4. lttp
5. loz

might give the same treatment to pokémon later
Last Edit: November 17, 2017, 02:04:04 AM by Verbatim


 
Elai
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BOTW and MM are the best


 
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Goodness gracious, great balls of lightning!
BoTW


 
Luciana
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Not gonna get comprehensive with it but

2D: Link to the Past

3D: Wind Waker

I enjoyed Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time, but Wind Waker has something magical feeling to it (along with Ganondorf being a tragic villain). Same with LTTP, because I played Link Between Worlds and didn't feel that same magic.
Last Edit: November 17, 2017, 03:19:10 AM by Luciana


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Jacob Potila was actually a Jacob Flotilla of lies.- WarTurkey
I've tried twice and I cannot get into Majora's Mask.

I'll be able to type up more later but my hands are cold

I've barely played any of the 2d games but started ALTTP this week

Wind Waker and BOTW are my favorites, TP was good but in the Wii version it looked like somebody smothered the camera with vaseline


 
Elai
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BOTW is a natural extension of what I felt Wind Waker tried (and ultimately failed) to be. MM is the most cohesive and artsy. Twilight Princess has the most consistently good dungeons. Ocarina of Time is iconic. Skyward Sword belongs in the bin.

BOTW>MM>WW>TP>OOT>SS


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Twilight princess, AoL, OoT and BotW for various reasons


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Majora's Mask, A Link to the Past, Breath of the Wild, Ocarina of Time. In that order.


 
TB
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#13
BotW > WW > TP > MM > OOT >>>> SS


 
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This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
I always rank Twilight Princess higher than anyone else does, and I think it's because that was actually the first 3d Zelda title that I played.  And maybe also this
Spoiler
Nah tho, Hena was the real number one waifu from that game. I never picked up OoT or MM back in the day for my N64, so it wasn't until the 3DS remakes that I got to experience OoT... and I never finished it because I got frustrated at the water temple. Never had a Gamecube so no Windwaker. Such is life.
Links Awakening has to be my favorite 2d title. I gotta finish my current run of DX someday...

It's a shame I have no interest in purchasing any gaming consoles anymore. I'd like to experience Skyward Sword and BoTW without pirating and running them through Dolphin, but I just can't justify the cost of a Switch to myself since gaming can hardly be called a hobby of mine anymore.


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i'm not sure why but i think that majora's mask remake on the 3ds is inferior to the original. something about it just feels off, not to mention the horrible butchery of the swimming/zora mechanics

 i personally liked twilight princess a lot because of its dungeons. sure the game itself is pretty easy but you have to admit most of the dungeons are brilliant. the snowpeak (ruins?) temple is creative since it's not TECHNically a dungeon just someone's house... and city in the sky is amazing if you don't think so youre wrong

i kinda understand why spirit tracks is given a lotta flak, but i enjoyed it more than phantom hourglass. its world feels more livelier and not barren like ph

i know a link between worlds is praised, but i hated that game. my biggest grip is how they handled the items, i enjoy the freedom of the dungeons you wanna do first, but i didn't like how you could rent/buy every item in 4 seconds. but i do remember enjoying the puzzles themselves

i actually liked hyrule warriors a lot. sure, it's dynasty warriors slapped with zelda on it, but i thought it was fun. i played it a lot with my brother so maybe that's why i liked it a lot? yeah, it was repetitive but the adventure mode was addicting 
Last Edit: November 17, 2017, 02:57:13 PM by alphy


 
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What's wrong with Hyrule Warriors


 
Hahahaha very funny Zonda
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gurb
Wind Waker will always be my favorite


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uhhh...

- korrie
A Link to the Past


 
Luciana
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What's wrong with Hyrule Warriors
It's a musou game so if you don't like how Dynasty Warriors plays at all, you wouldn't like this.


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Jacob Potila was actually a Jacob Flotilla of lies.- WarTurkey
No game since has managed to be as charming and funny as Wind Waker, imo.


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Breath of the Wild is what Wind Waker should have been. I can't think of one thing where WW beats Breath of the Wild.


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Jacob Potila was actually a Jacob Flotilla of lies.- WarTurkey
Breath of the Wild is what Wind Waker should have been. I can't think of one thing where WW beats Breath of the Wild.

A good villain?

Memorable music?

This guy?


 
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Expressions too


 
Verbatim
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Elai
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Expressions too

i'd say link is just as expressive in botw

what's impressive about ww is that they managed to pull it off in 2003


 
Elai
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What's wrong with Hyrule Warriors
It's a musou game so if you don't like how Dynasty Warriors plays at all, you wouldn't like this.

what's a musou game


 
Verbatim
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What's wrong with Hyrule Warriors
It's a musou game so if you don't like how Dynasty Warriors plays at all, you wouldn't like this.
what's a musou game
dynasty warriors as a franchise


 
Elai
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What's wrong with Hyrule Warriors
It's a musou game so if you don't like how Dynasty Warriors plays at all, you wouldn't like this.
what's a musou game
dynasty warriors as a franchise

i know but what kind of genre is it

i could look it up i guess


 
Verbatim
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What's wrong with Hyrule Warriors
It's a musou game so if you don't like how Dynasty Warriors plays at all, you wouldn't like this.
what's a musou game
dynasty warriors as a franchise
i know but what kind of genre is it

i could look it up i guess
just dumb mindless hack n slash garbage

i think you enjoyed mgr for some reason though, and over-the-top macho shit in general it seems, so you don't have much reason to dislike hyrule warriors


 
Elai
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What's wrong with Hyrule Warriors
It's a musou game so if you don't like how Dynasty Warriors plays at all, you wouldn't like this.
what's a musou game
dynasty warriors as a franchise
i know but what kind of genre is it

i could look it up i guess
just dumb mindless hack n slash garbage

i think you enjoyed mgr for some reason though, and over-the-top macho shit in general it seems, so you don't have much reason to dislike hyrule warriors

yeah maybe i'll check it out

does the gameplay have any depth at all


 
Verbatim
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What's wrong with Hyrule Warriors
It's a musou game so if you don't like how Dynasty Warriors plays at all, you wouldn't like this.
what's a musou game
dynasty warriors as a franchise
i know but what kind of genre is it

i could look it up i guess
just dumb mindless hack n slash garbage

i think you enjoyed mgr for some reason though, and over-the-top macho shit in general it seems, so you don't have much reason to dislike hyrule warriors
yeah maybe i'll check it out

does the gameplay have any depth at all
i think the idea behind hack n slash is that there is no depth


 
Elai
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What's wrong with Hyrule Warriors
It's a musou game so if you don't like how Dynasty Warriors plays at all, you wouldn't like this.
what's a musou game
dynasty warriors as a franchise
i know but what kind of genre is it

i could look it up i guess
just dumb mindless hack n slash garbage

i think you enjoyed mgr for some reason though, and over-the-top macho shit in general it seems, so you don't have much reason to dislike hyrule warriors
yeah maybe i'll check it out

does the gameplay have any depth at all
i think the idea behind hack n slash is that there is no depth

dmc and bayonetta have lots of depth