I figured I'd weigh in my two cents on what I consider to be the best Zelda games and why, and in what order. After so recently finishing A Link Between Worlds, it only makes sense, right?
This review also has nothing to do with how "impactful" or whatever the Zelda games had on the industry or what they changed or some such nonsense. This is based on replaying them all in 2014 and giving critique not only of how the games were, but also how well they hold up in the modern day.
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Considering this might be the literal, actual, totally true Best Game Ever Made, I imagine it'll rise to the top of this list. It's a perfect fusion of what made the old Zelda games great while still having enough modern gaming conventions to not be a hindrance. The combat is slick and fun, dungeons are fast and the puzzles clever, the controls are precise and the worlds (both of them) are exciting to explore. I honestly can't think of anything about this game I don't like, except maybe it holds your hand a little when telling you where to go next. But if you don't like that, don't ever open your map. Problem solved.
I'm not just putting this on here because "It started the franchise!" or some bullcrap reason. I legitimately think this game is that good. If anything, it's the perfection of old-style game design. It doesn't need to give directions, because it values your intelligence and ability to explore and find things on your own. I have yet, even today, played a game that felt like I was genuinely exploring a massive world on a grand quest and done it as well as this first Zelda game. The only real negatives are that some of the secrets (burning a random bush in a line of bushes, etc.) are a little too obtuse for it's own good. But it'll live. If only more games trusted their players to give them this much freedom.
This game's rank is probably influenced by the state of the Zelda franchise upon which it was released. It showed up after a double-whammy of by-the-numbers Zelda games (Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword respectively), so everybody expected Nintendo to screw this one up. Instead, they managed to not only imitate the first Link to the Past game, but also added enough elements to make not just the repeated portions feel fresh, but the series as a whole. Adding the ability to flatten and interact with an otherwise 2D world on a 3D plane was absurdly clever. Not to mention the whole "rental" of items, which removed the usual "find item in dungeon, use item on boss" nonsense allowed for some innovative ways to tackle dungeons. If I'm being completely honest, they could have tightened up dungeons so that they's all be beatable with maybe just one or two core items (the others being there just to make it a little easier), but that's mostly just me nitpicking. This is a stunning return to form for Nintendo, and here's hoping they learn from these changes and move forward. The non-linear aspect of the dungeons is also greatly appreciated.
I dunno how Nintendo managed to make one of their best Zelda games on a tiny handheld screen that didn't even have colors, but they did. Link's Awakening is a "bite sized" Zelda adventure, but still manages to cram it full of a ton of charm, great dungeons and puzzles, and some downright awesome music. While it does see the technical limitations of the Game Boy at the time (having only two buttons to work with can be a pain), this game is still absurdly good. It also has a ton of clever dialogue, something not really common for a Zelda game.
Of the 3D Zelda games, this one is the best. While Majora's Mask excels in many areas, it also feels a bit dated when replaying it these days. Save points, anybody? But we aren't talking about that. Wind Waker excels at doing what Zelda 1 did: making you feel like you are on a grand adventures. Is sailing for long periods of time boring? Maybe, if you are an impatient jerk. The sense of distance made the world feel more real, and made finding secrets or arriving at islands more exciting. Yeah, I wish they'd put more stuff on that massive ocean, and the last third of the game with stupid Tingle is kind of a wreck, but aside from that the game is solid. Introducing counters, enemy weapons, and wrapped in some gorgeous art, Wind Waker is just a good time. I should probably mention other negatives just to be sure you know I remembered: the first "jail island" dungeon is still awful, and the game is a bit easy once you figure out counters. Still, I'm ok with it.
This game is super polarizing. I'll admit I wasn't too fond of it until finally forcing myself to replay it recently. It's showing it's age, too. The N64 wasn't exactly a powerhouse for graphics and framerate, and Save points in any game are a bad idea, but especially a Zelda game. This game's introductory sequence is also absurdly long, meaning you have to spend a lot of time before you're finally even let out of town. That being said, this is a fantastic game, if only for it's incredible atmosphere. The three day limit and the angry moon add a sense of dread and urgency not found in other Zelda games, or even most games for that matter. The game doesn't boss you around, either (at least not after the opening). Once you are out in the world, it's up to you to figure out how to save it in three days or bust. Well, three days repeated over and over at least. It's flawed, certainly, and could do with a modern makeover (perhaps even polish up the targeting and controls, something that wasn't done for the 3DS remake of Ocarina), but as it stands Majora's Mask is an exceptional Zelda game.
Nobody played this game. That's a freaking shame. Minish Cap is probably the best looking pixel art in the whole Zelda franchise. It's characters are charming, the dungeons are fun, and the big/small gimmick works really well. It isn't an exceptional Zelda game, but it does everything correctly. The pacing, the dungeons, the characters, the graphics, the sub items, the combat; all of it. I can't really think of something that blew me away, but the consistency of quality from start to finish really stands out and makes the game memorable. Go play it.
This almost was lower on the list because of it's absurd difficulty. If Majora's Mask was polarizing, this game even more so. Nintendo experimented with expanding it's franchise (much like Konami did with Castlevania 2) by adding more RPG elements into Zelda. They also tried to infuse it with more human personality, with an actual visible quest (save the sleeping Zelda), people to talk to in a variety of towns, and a wider variety of monsters. They also added a weird take on random battles, which was actually pretty cool. It's full of problems, of course. The game is relentlessly difficult. Adding "lives" was a stupid idea from the start (just let the player start from the room they died in), and making them so hard to get was only more offensive. Where you have to go is extremely obtuse, hidden behind some badly translated villager hints. There's no puzzles at all in this game, mostly just knowing when to use jump magic and when to use fairy magic. And, probably the biggest offense, is this game is super linear. The world very obviously gates you into certain locations, removing the exploration element from the first game entirely. So why is it so high up? Because I feel first that RPG elements actually work really well in a Zelda game. Having damage, life, and magic scale with Link's quest is a good way to balance the game (even if they didn't balance it), and makes killing difficult enemies feel rewarding. I also really like their take on 2D combat, with basically a simple "hit high, block high; hit low, block low" system. It makes the red knights still be a massive pain, but it's clever and could have been expanded on in sequels to make the game even better. The point is Nintendo tried something risky, something they didn't do again until Link Between Worlds, and even that wasn't THAT risky. What they made wasn't perfect but it was still a good effort, and some of the ideas I still think would work in a modern Zelda game just fine. I wish more games had used Zelda 2's difficult yet intuitive 2D combat system.
I wonder how many people just scrolled down the list to see where I put this game, and are now preparing angry comments because it's #9. Honestly, I was considering putting it even lower, but I'm not that cruel. I go over what bothers me about Ocarina in my review of the game on this site (and my review blog), but the point in brief is thus: this game hasn't aged well. At all. It's clunky, controls poorly, and the graphics look bad. Even in the 3DS remake, they didn't bother updating the camera, so it's a pain in the butt for most of the time. That isn't to say this game is all bad. It's easy to nitpick it now, considering how much has changed in the world of 3D Action/Adventure games. But what really irks me about Ocarina is how much of a step down it feels from the series' legacy. The puzzles in the dungeon are often too easy or focus heavily on "find the object to shoot in this ugly 3D world." The game is riddled with an absurd amount of dialogue that moves at a snail's pace. It holds your hand almost the entire way through the game, when I just want it to shut up and let me explore on my own. The game is actually very linear, with only a few side quests to find along the way. Yeah, it made a formula that Nintendo copied for years, but it really just felt like they were playing it safe. It's not a bad game. Its still playable and I have an insane amount of nostalgia for it. It's just that, in 2014, this game is really showing its age. It's secretly like third from the bottom in my heart, but my rose-colored glasses are sticking it up here because why not.
I like Seasons more than Oracle because Seasons changing stuff happened faster, and had a wider range of things (four seasons, vs just two time periods), though honestly the games are so close you might as well just list them the same rank. Not much to say about these ones. They mine a lot from Zelda DX in terms of items and general format of gameplay, but mix it up with cute tricks along the way. They're extremely solid 2D Zelda games on the game boy, have great music, play great, and have a good deal of content. As it stands, it's a solid game, even if the ending portions tend to drag, and it doesn't do much to break the mold (the developers of these later went on to make Minnish Cap, which is superior).