Zelda
Personal opinion, obviously. No spinoffs.
17 Games
Great foundation for a game, but not a great game itself. First ~15 hours is the best game ever made, the rest is a generic open world. I appreciate that the series is taking new direction (it'd needed it for about a decade and a half at this point) but I just enjoy the older games more.
Filled with tedium but otherwise a faithful translation of ALTTP's best into 3D.
An outstanding grasp on what made the series great up to this point combined with a supreme willingness to experiment. We'll never see a sequel this good again.
A genuine marvel, even 30 years later. Still unmatched in its scale, still unmatched in its quest's sense of importance, still unmatched in its all-engrossing exploration-based progression, still unmatched in that hushed, reverent voice that the denizens of the Dark World speak in. "The Power of Gold... Triforce..."
Obviously an extremely flawed game, and the hypocrisy of simultaneously ripping off Ocarina's gameplay and touting a theme of blazing your own path shouldn't go unnoticed. But, man, just an overwhelming sense of whimsical adventure. I'll defend sailing to my death.
Cool gimmick dungeons but everything else is done better in an earlier Zelda game.
Painfully easy (just like nearly every other Nintendo game from its era) but ironically the first 2D Zelda with a good new gameplay gimmick since '91. Solid all around and serves as a nice starting point before trying the much less coddling ALTTP.
I feel guilty for not really liking this one. Has some quirks that I'd like to see be revisited (mainly how fluid dungeons are, they really feel like extensions of the overworld rather than separate areas) but otherwise I don't get much out of it. Born too late to appreciate progression this obtuse, I suppose.
The Capcom trilogy is entirely competent but forgettable. This one gets the edge over the Oracles for being pretty and having a handful of memorable dungeons & moments.
Trapped somewhere between being a port and a remake. The new visual style makes it feel fake (manufactured) instead of fake (surreal) but the rest of the game is the exact same so the tone is less effective overall. Hard to recommend now that the OG's on the Switch. Hope they let these guys make their own 2D Zelda, though.
A disaster even if you overlook the motion controls. No one would remember this game existed if it didn't have 'Zelda' in the title.
Both of the DS games are pretty bad but I have a little bit of a soft spot for this one. Feels like it came from an alternate reality where Nintendo went bankrupt in the early 2000s and the Zelda IP got bought by an iPhone game company. Charmingly simple.
The world just feels so devoid of mystery.
Overhated and underrated in its role in shaping the series. There's a reason it inspired the best Smash stage.
The 2D formula was already stale by the time the Oracles came around, a problem they add to by aping Link's Awakening's visuals and music. This one gets the nod over Ages because it actually has a unique gimmick and I quite like its overworld.
Reusing ALTTP's gimmick makes this the most forgettable game in the series. Some solid dungeon design and a neat map-wide scavenger hunt near the end save it from being outright bad.
Probably my ideal video game story- unintrusive and primarily serves as a motivator but winds up being genuinely touching by the end. Hardware limitations not only contribute to the tone and atmosphere, but the claustrophobic nature of the overworld, like it's a dungeon itself. So it's probably no coincidence that this one has some of the best pure dungeon crawling in the series, great difficulty curve. Could've used a gameplay gimmick to separate itself from ALTTP but still up there for me.
2 Comments
Probably at #3, but it feels too soon to rank it on a list like this.
DeltaWDunn
7 months ago