Readers Choice - Top 10 The Legend of Zelda Games

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Readers Choice - Top 10 The Legend of Zelda Games

The votes are in! You've selected your top 10 The Legend of Zelda games.

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[Hawki]

So, the fans say:

10) The Minish Cap
9/8) Oracle of Seasons & Ages/The Legend of Zelda
7) A Link Between Worlds
6) Link's Awakening
5) The Wind Waker
4) Twilight Princess
3) A Link to the Past
2) Majora's Mask
1) Ocarina of Time

While the Escapist's list is:

10) Skyward Sword
9) The Legend of Zelda
8) Link's Awakening
7) The Minish Cap
6) A Link Between Worlds
5) The Wind Waker
4) Twilight Princess
3) Majora's Mask
2) Ocarina of Time
1) A Link to the Past

Huh. Interesting. So, conclusions:

*ALttP, OoT, MM, WW, and TP seem to exist on the relatively same spectrum of popularity, with WW and TP getting the same rankings on both votes and getting the 4/5 positions, while the top three are shuffled around slightly. For the Escapist it was a toss between ALttP, while for fans, going by the poll, MM and ALttP are the most closely tied together with OoT still being the crowd favorite.

*A Link Between Worlds, Link's Awakening, Minish Cap, and the original Legend of Zelda seem to be in the second cliche, with their positions alternating across the 6-10 range.

*Within that range is the only actual mutually exclusive item of both lists, with the Escapist going for Skyward Sword, while the fans prefer Oracle of Seasons/Ages.

So, I was anticipating a fair amount of divide between the two lists, but seems they're pretty similar at the end of the day. Interesting.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I was reading the list, and when I got to the last two, I knew it was going to be Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time. The question just became, which one would be first?

I was in middle school when Ocarina first came out. And was such a huge event. People in my classes who barely talked to each other were comparing notes on the game. "Hey, I got adult Link last night!" "How'd you get past the Water Temple?" "Did you find the secret at the top of the mountain?" "Sneaking through Zelda's garden was hard!"
Everywhere I turned, the game was on people's lips. It just covered everything, in a way I haven't seen since. Maybe that's because I'm older now, but it really did feel like Ocarina changed not only the rules, but the the entire field. And when I finally got to sit down and play it, I had to agree. There was just this sense of wonder to the game, especially after you finally reached Hyrule Fields for the first time, that was unparalleled and I haven't really felt a match for that feeling.

So I'm glad it got top spot on this list. I think it deserves it.

 

[Hawki]

I was in middle school when Ocarina first came out. And was such a huge event. People in my classes who barely talked to each other were comparing notes on the game. "Hey, I got adult Link last night!" "How'd you get past the Water Temple?" "Did you find the secret at the top of the mountain?" "Sneaking through Zelda's garden was hard!"

I remember calling up a friend at around 7pm back in the day to ask how to get through the Lost Woods.

 

[Xman490]

I think Ocarina of Time had a really good story. It showed characters growing up and coming to terms with the harsh reality their world became subject to. It had the Deku Tree. It had Darunia. It had Ruto. It had plot twists with Zelda.

It was epic ... just too unchanging and slow for me to play through it for an 8th time

 

[Nazulu]

O_O

hmmmm

You know, I like it. I've never been quoted before so it's a different feeling for me. Thanks.

And surprisingly the fan list is almost exactly the same as my list (except MM being 2nd), but I'm just not sure which I prefer out of Twilight Princess or Wind Waker. They're both really good at different things, but have roughly the same flaws to me. I guess I have to play them again, except this time I'm going to play the Gamecube version of TP.

 

[Souplex]

It's funny, the list seems mostly to be in descending order of quality.
The correct list:

1. Oracle of Seasons
2. Oracle of Ages
3. Minish Cap
4. Link to the Past
5. Link Between Worlds
6. Link's Awakening
7. Four Swords Adventures
8. Twilight Princess
9. Wind Waker
10. Spirit Tracks
11. Legend of Zelda OG.
12. Phantom hourglass
13. Skyward Sword
14. Ocarina of Time
15. Adventure of Link

Spoiler: 16. Being put in a clockwork orange setup and forced to watch the following back to back on a continuous loop:

17. Majora's Mask

 

[Adam Locking]

Have to question the methodology of asking for just your favorite game rather than either weighting them or having several rounds one-on-one, but it does seem to vaguely line up with what most people seem to be saying on various forums. Have to say I'm a little surprised TP bested WW though.

 

[ThatOtherGirl]

Have to question the methodology of asking for just your favorite game rather than either weighting them or having several rounds one-on-one, but it does seem to vaguely line up with what most people seem to be saying on various forums. Have to say I'm a little surprised TP bested WW though.

In my experience, TP is a lot of peoples favorites, and WW is a close second or third for many, many people (like myself) If they had done a different polling strategy (perhaps mark your top 3) I am pretty sure WW would be nearer the top. But that is pretty hard to implement compared to a simple thing like they did, so I don't blame them.

OT: Hey! They used my Majora's Mask quote! Awesome. Pretty good list, IMO. OOT on top is no surprise, even if I would put it down around 5th or so.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Readers Choice - Top 10 The Legend of Zelda Games

The votes are in! You've selected your top 10 The Legend of Zelda games.

Read Full Article

YAY! You used my quote for A Link to the Past. Just made me smile big time.

 

[Hawki]

And surprisingly the fan list is almost exactly the same as my list (except MM being 2nd), but I'm just not sure which I prefer out of Twilight Princess or Wind Waker. They're both really good at different things, but have roughly the same flaws to me. I guess I have to play them again, except this time I'm going to play the Gamecube version of TP.

Have to say I'm a little surprised TP bested WW though.

From my experience, Twilight Princess tends to be more popular than Wind Waker, but there tends to be more criticisms of TP than WW (or at least more vocal ones). Speaking personally, TP takes the #2 spot for me, while WW takes the #1. IMO, TP has the better story, combat, and characters, while WW has superior exploration, themes, and worldbuilding (atmosphere is probably identical, but they're pretty much on opposite ends of the tone spectrum, so that's kind of academic). It's possibly why OoT comes #3 for me, as it doesn't have the best characters or gameplay compared to the other two, but manages to have a healthy mix of both. In the end, I hold WW as being superior to TP because even while TP does some things better, WW still has decent combat, the best Link (and Zelda, by virtue of Tetra) of the series IMO, and a decent story all the same.

As for quotes, mine were spotlighted on the Minish Cap, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess pages. Feel guilty that I'm slagging off other games in the process, but hey, go figure.

 

[Nazulu]

From my experience, Twilight Princess tends to be more popular than Wind Waker, but there tends to be more criticisms of TP than WW (or at least more vocal ones). Speaking personally, TP takes the #2 spot for me, while WW takes the #1. IMO, TP has the better story, combat, and characters, while WW has superior exploration, themes, and worldbuilding (atmosphere is probably identical, but they're pretty much on opposite ends of the tone spectrum, so that's kind of academic). It's possibly why OoT comes #3 for me, as it doesn't have the best characters or gameplay compared to the other two, but manages to have a healthy mix of both. In the end, I hold WW as being superior to TP because even while TP does some things better, WW still has decent combat, the best Link (and Zelda, by virtue of Tetra) of the series IMO, and a decent story all the same.

As for quotes, mine were spotlighted on the Minish Cap, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess pages. Feel guilty that I'm slagging off other games in the process, but hey, go figure.

Slag away I say.

I could go into why I prefer LttP, OoT and MM over WW and TP, but it would take a long time for me to go through it all, including I haven't played any of them for awhile now (LttP being the last 2 years ago), so I'm just going to be lazy like usual and sum up some things.

- WW and TP start off too slow for me, taking some time getting to the parts I call fun.
- The characters may have more to them but they're nothing ground breaking to me in any way, so it doesn't really stand out as a strong point.
- I found the story's average in all of them except MM (if the symbolism is accurate).
- LttP, OoT and MM's game play doesn't bother me at all and allows for enough freedom, while WW feels too loose and your hits feel less satisfying. And with TP, I really don't like the wolf and how often it forced me to use it in some fights.
- Like all the styles roughly the same. But honestly, WW is a little too simple in it's style, and I'm not a fan of the blur/light effects in TP. And while OoT and MM's graphics are out-dated, I feel they get the grit and tone just right. They look more elegant.
- I preferred discovering the lands more in my top 3, since I became tired of the sea and walls of darkness earlier on.
- And finally, I found WW and TP far too easy, making the dungeons not feel as memorable, and their atmospheric parts felt weaker because of it.

Don't get me wrong though. I reckon all 5 games are special, and I recommend them to everyone. But I generally didn't care the story or dialogue in any of the games, except MM which grabbed me with it's creepy moments and odd story.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I used to not think well of Twilight Princess because of all that ruined potential that was there for a truly serious dark Zelda game. Then EmceeProphIt did this set of videos and... Wow. OK. It propelled that game really high up my personal list of fave Zelda games. Especially his very last video on it. Just watchhh... Although all four videos are amazing.


TP may not have been what I wanted it to be but I realize now it still was something great.