Favorite Zelda Game?

[Deschain]

A Link to the Past, and it's not even close.


Link's Awakening is a distant second.

to go into a bit more detail, ALttP was the first game i ever played where i achieved an insane level of immersion. this game has not a single weakness, everything about it is fucking awesome. i've replayed it countless times, successfully executed the Death Mountain Descent, and am currently attempting a "bare minimum" quest, where you only use items you HAVE to have to beat the game. it's fucking insanely hard, and i've never made it past the Ice Palace (which is one of the hardest Zelda dungeons ever made).

i would love to do a speed-run race with several others, though i haven't played the game in years, so i'm a bit rusty. i got the GBA version for christmas, which i am stoked to play.

LA was also a lot of fun, and has a few elements i wish would return to Zelda games (most notably the fucking Roc's Feather). i wish i still had this game.

i'm a huge fan of "top down" Zelda, and have never been ablke to get into the 3d ones. TP was a lot of fun, and a gorgeous game, but dammit, it doens't even come close to ALttP.

Phantom Hourglass was also great, and i loved the controls, especially the ability to map out a boomerang path. badass! i rushed through the game tohugh, and didn't get nearly all the items and armor and shit apparently, but it was still fun.

i have yet to play Oracle/Seasons or Minish Cap but they're high on my list. too bad MC is like $100+. i have Spirit Tracks in the mail, and look forward to playing it.

 

[Llama]

Oracle of Seasons, as well as Ages are two of my favorite games of all time, not just Zelda games.

1. Oracle of Seasons/Ages
2. Twilight Princess
3. Ocarina of Time
4. Windwaker
5. Majora's mask
6. A Link to the Past
7. The Legend of Zelda
8. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
9. Links Awakening
10. Spirit Tracks
11. Phantom Hourglass
12. Minish Cap
13. Four Swords Adventure

Pretty sure I got them all. Anyways its the Oracle games because I have a brother of roughly the same age, and whenever a game came out with two versions, we would each get a version, this happened with pokemon, mmbn, and many other games. Zelda was already my favorite series, so when these games came out, my brother and I played the shit out of those games, and we just kept playing. Every summer we still do a full playthrough I go Seasons -> ages, and he goes the other way. Great fucking games, a huge part of who I am as a gamer, and the single player games I have beat most in my life.

 

[Geren]

No love for Spirit Tracks? I actually found it quite more enjoyable than PH. It was harder than a lot of zelda games too. Perhaps not exactly my favorite because all of them are great and because of the short lenght... but it's at the moment my #1.

 

[Deschain]

No love for Spirit Tracks? I actually found it quite more enjoyable than PH. It was harder than a lot of zelda games too. Perhaps not exactly my favorite because all of them are great and because of the short lenght... but it's at the moment my #1.

that JUST came out though.

not everyone has had a chance to play it yet.

 

[Geren]

I thought of that too, but I assumed that at least a few have. I was just a little surprised that out of 43 smogoners, none enjoyed the game as much as I did :D

 

[Deschain]

I thought of that too, but I assumed that at least a few have. I was just a little surprised that out of 43 smogoners, none enjoyed the game as much as I did :D

but you have to take into account that many of us have had YEARS to play and become attached to our respective favorites.

A Link to the Past is also my favorite game of all time, and no game could ever possibly dethrone it.

there's a nostalgia factor that i don't think any game could ever quantify in the same way. the closest being late late nights playing Halo with my uncle, and putting 1000+ hours into Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

games like that don't come along often.

 

[Jackal]

as a person who would say that zelda actually changed my life, i feel the need to rate them all!

01. Ocarina of Time
02. Majora's Mask
03. Seasons/Ages
04. Link's Awakening
05. A Link to the Past
06. Windwaker
07. Spirit Tracks
08. Twilight Princess
09. Legend of Zelda
10. Minish Cap
11. Four Swords Adventure
12. Zelda II: Adventure of Link

Never played:
Phantom Hourglass

Ocarina of Time is not original but it perfected the genre, taking bits and pieces from the stereotypical adventure game and putting them all together to create the pinnacle of all adventure games, and a game that every other game would be compared to for 10 years. Literally a perfect game.

I have Twilight Princess so low for one reason, and that is lack of NPCs. It seems silly, but I mean really this is not metroid. Yes there were side things to do, but none of them involved actual people. Its not fun saving the world if you don't feel like you are helping anyone. I thought the characters were few and far between, and the ones they did have were boring as hell, I cannot remember any of them. The game could have been number two based off the temples alone, as they were FANTASTIC, but the overworld stuff bridging the gap was just so bad.

zelda II sucks.

 

[tinfoilman]

Link's Awakening, for purely nostalgic reasons. It was my first Zelda game, and pretty much the first game I ever really got into (besides NBA Jam! and Mortal Kombat for the Genesis, which I kind of just idly played from time to time (being a toddler and all)). I kind of have a soft spot for it.

I also enjoyed Ocarina and Wind Waker, Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess were good but not my favourites, and I never had a NES/SNES or got into the other mobile games.

 

[Deschain]

Link's Awakening, for purely nostalgic reasons. It was my first Zelda game, and pretty much the first game I ever really got into (besides NBA Jam! and Mortal Kombat for the Genesis, which I kind of just idly played from time to time (being a toddler and all)). I kind of have a soft spot for it.

I also enjoyed Ocarina and Wind Waker, Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess were good but not my favourites, and I never had a NES/SNES or got into the other mobile games.

holy shit.

SNES is worth buying if only to play A Link to the Past...!

 

[Showsni]

Going to plump for Majora's Mask, probably with Link's Awakening in second. Though looking at the poll results, maybe I should have given some love to Adventure of Link... I'm a big fan of the series in general, and I enjoy all of them. Even the CDi ones! I have yet to play Four Swords, any of the Satellaview ones, the Game and Watch, the Game Watch, Link's Crossbow Training and Tetra's Trackers, but I think that's it.

Majora's Mask, I just loved all the sidequests, the secret little things you can discover about people; and the gameplay and temples were great too. Defeating Goht is probably my favourite boss fight from the series. There's such a wealth of detail you can discover about the world; the Swordsmaster shaking in the back room as the moon falls, Cremia/Anju/Kafei's love triangle, Link the Goron having to sleep outside when you steal his room, Anju's grandmother having a tiger on her wheelchair, making the undead dance troupe dance again, pretending to be Captain Keeta to King Igos, Cremia's hug, Romani's fate if you let her get abducted...

And Link's Awakening has a great story. I really like Marin, too. It's also probably the only Zelda where

SPOILERS

Link's trying to destroy the world and the monsters are trying desperately to save everything...

 

[gene]

ocarina of time and majora's mask have the most nostalgia value for me. i'd rank the ones i played like this:

1 ocarina of time
2 twilight princess
3 majora's mask
4 wind waker
5 the legend of zelda
6 a link to the past
7 the adventure of link

i havent played lttp in ages and found it pretty disappointing (considering oot is easily my favorite game). the adventure of link really kinda blows. i've tried playing it several times now, yet i get bored with it almost immediately.

the only real problem i have with the newer games is how goddamn easy the bosses are. tp had pretty immersive dungeons with a fair number of challenges, but holy fuck the bosses are a cakewalk.

 

[mien]

I have Twilight Princess so low for one reason, and that is lack of NPCs. It seems silly, but I mean really this is not metroid. Yes there were side things to do, but none of them involved actual people. Its not fun saving the world if you don't feel like you are helping anyone. I thought the characters were few and far between, and the ones they did have were boring as hell, I cannot remember any of them. The game could have been number two based off the temples alone, as they were FANTASTIC, but the overworld stuff bridging the gap was just so bad.

lol, i can't understand how you 'can' see the npc's in OoT as actual people considering most of them are recycled before and after you become adult. Doing, looking and saying exactly the same as seven years ago, sounds very human to me..

I've played all zelda games starting with a LttP and recently finished TP. I'd have to say that i enjoyed playing TP the most, OoT fans are simply too biased by their childhood to see what's really better. Though majora's mask was very good as well.

 

[asim]

two of the biggest gripes i had with tp were 1) the weapons, which were mostly completely useless outside their own dungeon (fucking spinner...) and 2) the world was too expansive; at least in wind waker there was stuff to do while sailing the generic ocean (fight pirates, get treasure), but in tp, there's nothing in the overworld. at least put some houses or something...

i was really disappointed in tp and i'm not even a super huge oot fan

 

[Nahhan]

A Link to the Past. FLAWLESS RPG. I frickin' loved the hell out of that game. I could never beat it, though. ;-;

 

[Melodrama Man]

OoT. First console game I ever owned and I've probably put more hours into it than any other game I've ever owned, unless you were to combine the hours I've put into every pokemon game.

But yeah, I've played and perfected every zelda game short of spirit tracks and Link's awakening, and OoT actually built a profound relationship between link, zelda and ganondorf. The others really fail to accomplish that as well as OoT did.

 

[KingEmpoleon]

zelda II sucks.

I know you have your opinion, but I just have to:

22. Claiming Zelda II is anything other than the best Zelda game ever. (To me, second best =P)
"The Adventure of Link is widely regarded as the "dark horse" of the Zelda series. After fans got hooked on the original, Miyamoto and company had the audacity to create a sequel that attempted to offer a truly new, unique experience to gamers. How were they rewarded? By the screaming rants of angry fanboys who continue to this day to swear on their lives that Zelda II is the worst Zelda game ever made. Just like the CD-i issue mentioned earlier, a majority of these dissenters are fans who haven't touched the NES classic. Zelda II was ahead of its time - pretty much the first action RPG ever, and it also came out around the time of both the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. It pioneered restoring one's health by taking advantage of hookers (which is apparently a big deal in modern games like Grand Theft Auto), gave Link the ability to use magic and new skills (reused in every Zelda title since then), and featured tough-as-nails difficulty (at the time) that has been sorely missed ever since. Bottom line, Zelda II is a god amongst men. It's the only Zelda title where Link gets it on with Princess Zelda (albeit behind the curtains since rendering such an amazing act on the NES was simply not possible) - that peck in Oracles didn't mean shit. There's so much more, but you should get off your asses and actually play this masterpiece."
(Quoted from www.gannon-banned.com)​

 

[Mr. Hadwick]

(seasons > ages)

truth

I think I have to say a link to the past, it was the first zelda game I owned and beat all by myself, so rad.

 

[Slyguy46]

Ah, Zelda: my first foray into online forums. Brings back memories of better days ...

Enough reminiscing, my favorite is Twilight Princess, narrowly beating out Ocarina.

 

[tinfoilman]

holy shit.

SNES is worth buying if only to play A Link to the Past...!

I only had a Genesis back then, and by the time I started going to friends' houses, they had either moved on to the N64 or the Playstation.

 

[Deschain]

I only had a Genesis back then, and by the time I started going to friends' houses, they had either moved on to the N64 or the Playstation.

that doesn't change the validity of my statement. ;)

 

[Lemmiwinks MkII]

A Link to the Past was ported to the GBA, which you can play on a DS or DS Lite.

Anyway, here’s my list:

1. Ocarina of Time
2. A Link to the Past
3. Majora’s Mask
4. Oracle of Ages
5. Link’s Awakening
6. Twilight Princess
7. Wind Waker
8. Spirit Tracks
9. Oracle of Seasons
10. Minish Cap / Four Swords
11. Phantom Hourglass

I have never played the first two games, and I have split the Oracle games into two because they are clearly entirely different adventures. Phantom Hourglass was my least favorite by far because the repetitive timed stealth temple shit pissed me off to no end. I was so glad that Spirit Tracks didn’t force you to do a similar thing in the Tower of Spirits.

 

[Deschain]

A Link to the Past was ported to the GBA, which you can play on a DS or DS Lite.

this ALSO doesn't change the validity of my statement. ;)

but yeah, it would be the best $25 you ever spent to get it on your DS, though the experience wouldn't be as impressive for a first time though, imho.

 

[KingEmpoleon]

A Link to the Past was ported to the GBA, which you can play on a DS or DS Lite.

Anyway, here’s my list:

1. Ocarina of Time
2. A Link to the Past
3. Majora’s Mask
4. Oracle of Ages
5. Link’s Awakening
6. Twilight Princess
7. Wind Waker
8. Spirit Tracks
9. Oracle of Seasons
10. Minish Cap / Four Swords
11. Phantom Hourglass

I have never played the first two games, and I have split the Oracle games into two because they are clearly entirely different adventures. Phantom Hourglass was my least favorite by far because the repetitive timed stealth temple shit pissed me off to no end. I was so glad that Spirit Tracks didn’t force you to do a similar thing in the Tower of Spirits.

That may be, but they tie in directly. That's why they are together. Excuse me.

 

[Setsuna]

Well, Zelda is an awesome game overall, I have enjoyed a lot with it since Nintento 64, that was a loong ago...
But the best Zelda I've ever played is The Minish Cap which I think was only for Game Boy Advance, has anybody played it here?. Anyways, that Zelda was fantastic, I remember I got so hooked that I didn't even sleep for one day. Great game.

 

[d2m]

I have played:
LoZ
LoZ2: Adventures of Link
A Link into the Past
Link's Awakening
Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask
Wind Waker
Twilight Princess
Oracle of Ages/Seasons (including using a code between the 2)

I can say wholeheartedly that, despite it being the fanboy response, OoT bests all of them. It was really what turned the Zelda series around by giving it a 3D makeover and a deep(er) storyline.

holy shit.

SNES is worth buying if only to play A Link to the Past...!

One of the 3 SNES games I own. The other 2? Chrono Trigger (which beats the crap outta A Link into the Past on my "Best games ever" list) and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 Stars, the single best Mario game of all time.