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Mainline Zelda Ranking Part 1: [All] My Personal Ranking of the Mainline Zelda Games (Part 1) (Spoilers for all Games) : r/truezelda

Mainline Zelda Ranking Part 2: [All] My Personal Ranking of the Mainline Zelda Games (Part 2) (Spoilers for All Games) : r/truezelda

Ocarina of Time: The Most Deserving 10/10 Masterpiece Ever Made

 

Ocarina of Time is the A Link to the Past equivalent of the 3D Zelda games, being the one to build on top of ALTTP’s established formula to make one of the most influential 3D action adventure games of all time, and also a game that has managed to stand the test of time, regardless of which version of it that you play. The child Link section really sets the tone that this game is set in a whimsical fantasy world with the section of the Kokiri perfectly establishing Link’s position as an outcast in the world as the only boy without a fairy until Navi shows up, but the evil that is about to rise in this world shows itself quickly when the Great Deku Tree succumbs to Ganondorf’s curse, which forces the duo to embark on a coming of age quest where they meet the princess and help the various races of Hyrule along the way, making new friends and even getting unwittingly engaged to marry in the process. But that all changes when Zelda goes into hiding after Ganondorf reveals his true intentions, and Link decides to pull the Master Sword to confront him only to be sealed away for seven years in the Sacred Realm.

 

This is genius from both a gameplay and story perspective, as it completely shatters the illusion that this was a simple coming of age story as Link is forced to grow up before he’s ready, and endure challenges that would make the Child Link sections look like child’s play by comparison. It also demonstrates that Ganondorf is a serious threat as a villain, and this is arguably his second-best incarnation aside from Wind Waker in the series. This is further reflected by the game’s perfect difficulty progression and pacing, as the Adult portion dungeons are significantly harder than the Child Link sections, and all the dungeons in this section are at least good in the cases of the Fire Temple and Shadow Temple if not outright amazing like the Forest Temple, Spirit Temple, and over-hated Water Temple. The child dungeons and mini dungeons are simpler in design, but I can forgive that since it was the first 3D Zelda game and they were meant to ease you into the difficulty of the game. I also appreciate that there’s an optional dungeon in the Gerudo Training Grounds, and there’s a lot of different orders that the adult dungeons can be done in compared to the subsequent traditional 3D Zelda games, with my personal favourite order being Forest-Water-Spirit-Fire-Shadow, and this adds a lot of replay-ability to an already highly replayable game.

 

From a gameplay standpoint, there really isn’t anything to critique about Ocarina of Time, aside from very minor nitpicks like the Adult Fishing being a chore (which can be skipped if you know the trick with the Iron Boots and Hookshot in the Lakeside Laboratory) or Jabu Jabu’s Belly being a bad dungeon but it can be beaten in about 30 minutes if you know what you’re doing so it’s not that much of a blemish on the game overall.

The thing that truly elevates Ocarina of Time for me to be a perfect game is in its additions to the overall Zelda lore. This game introduced the Gorons, the Sea Zoras as friendly NPC counterparts to the enemy River Zora in the old 2D games, the Gerudo properly into a main series game, and the Sheikah who would later go on to be series staples, as well as introduced the Kokiri in their surprisingly only appearance in the mainline games aside from Fado from Wind Waker, and yet they’re so iconic that they’ve left more of an impact than other recurring races like the Anouki. Linking a specific sage to each of these new races was a fantastic idea, as Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru all managed to become iconic characters because we got to spend time with them first as Child Link before they wound up dying and becoming sages after the seven-year time jump, which allowed for us to build a connection with them as a player and also demonstrate that the Hero of Time has experienced more loss than any other hero in the series, aside from maybe BOTW Link. I also love this version of Zelda’s role as Sheik and the seventh sage, and her actions in the ending lead to one of the most unique plot concepts in a Nintendo game with the timeline split making this the most consequential game from a narrative perspective, and even though the Downfall split doesn’t make a lot of sense unless you subscribe to the Triforce Wish theory I still absolutely love it, and the fact that the Hero of Time never really got a happy ending in any of the three timelines is honestly tragic to think about. Ocarina of Time really deserves its title as one of the greatest games of all time, and I could go on even further but there’s not much about the game that hasn’t already been said, so instead I’ll move on and talk about my favourite Zelda game, which perfectly complements Ocarina as a sequel.

 

Majora’s Mask: An Amazingly Subversive 11/10 Sequel

 

Your enjoyment of Majora’s Mask will really depend on how much you’re willing to deal with the three day time limit, and as a massive Pikmin fan I have to say that the time limit in Majora’s Mask not only enhances the gameplay, but enriches the story, atmosphere, characters, and virtually every aspect of the game to create one of the most unique games of all time. It’s also easily one of the best sequels in gaming for how it subverts Ocarina’s time travel by instead trapping Link in a three day loop, forcing him to relive the tragedy of the world ending over and over again until he finally manages to beat Majora and have all of the timelines converge into one successful one, making the stakes much more tangible than any other Zelda game.

 

I love basically everything about this game, but the time-loop mechanic is by far the most substantial gimmick we’ve ever gotten in a Zelda game, as literally everything in the game revolves around it. It can be fun to try and complete the game in as few cycles as possible if you’re an expert player, but I also like that it’s not too punishing for new players as they can just reset back to the first day once they get to a new dungeon and also slow down time with the Inverted Song of Time to ensure that they should have enough time to complete the dungeon. But my favourite aspect of the three-day cycle is by far in how most characters have their own schedules that they follow over the three-day cycle, making them feel more alive than they’ve ever been and leading to what are still the most engaging side quests in the series over twenty-five years later. The Romani Ranch quest, Anju and Kafei quest, Zora Hall Band quests, and the Pictograph quest where you have to take a picture of Tingle and show it to his father are just a few of the amazing events this game has to offer, and they all come together beautifully with the best collectible introduced in any Zelda game, the masks. While the more substantial ones like the incredibly creative transformation masks are required, most of them are optional, and further enrich an already engaging gameplay system by providing a different effect which might only be useful for one quest like the Postman’s Hat or might provide a permanent perk like the Bunny’s Hood making Link run faster. My favourite aspect of the masks, however, is that they unlock different scenes in the credits, and if you don’t collect the mask during your playthrough there will instead be a silhouette of the mask on a black screen in place of whatever scene would’ve been there had you collected it (ex: Kafei’s wedding won’t be present in the credits if you don’t get the Couple’s Mask). This further encourages players to try to collect all the masks so that they can see a payoff in the end credits, and to my knowledge it’s something that the Zelda series hasn’t done again, and would fit perfectly with the new open-air style gameplay with the actions that any individual player decides to take giving them their own unique set of scenes in the credits. These aspects, along with the second best collection of minigames in the series behind Twilight Princess lead me to say that Majora’s Mask has overall the best collectibles in the series.

 

The three-day time loop is just one of many ways that Majora’s Mask subverts the player’s expectations from Ocarina of Time, however. You have the Terminian counterparts of certain characters like Koume and Kotake who have completely opposite moralities compared to Ocarina, and it’s surprising that their theme song still fits them entirely, but in this context it feels a bit more comedic compared to its more sinister feeling in Ocarina. Anju is a much more complex character than the Cucco Lady in Ocarina to the point that some people call the Cucco Lady Anju despite the fact she didn’t get that name until Majora’s Mask. I also like to think that Tingle in Termina is just a wholesome 35 year old manchild who hasn’t grown up compared to the monster that is his Hyrulean counterpart as seen in Wind Waker.

 

However, it’s in the gameplay, specifically the dungeons that Majora’s Mask most successfully subverts Ocarina’s formula. Unlike in Ocarina, the dungeons already start out fairly difficult thanks to there being 15 Stray Fairies to collect in each one for the ability to unlock the four Great Fairy upgrades, which are all substantial in their own right and give much more reason to collect them than the Skulltula Tokens did in Ocarina, which now have their own dedicated mini dungeons based around them, streamlining that collect-a-thon while also bringing the optional dungeon count up from one to two. It can also be said that the dungeons in Majora’s Mask kind of focus on two key items rather than one, since the dungeons heavily focus on the mask that is associated with that region, and the fact that the item that you get in the middle of a dungeon is always some variation of a Bow upgrade makes them feel like an extension to the main item in the transformation masks (or Elegy of Emptiness in Stone Tower’s case) rather than something that completely transforms the way you think about the dungeon and overworld like, say, the Longshot in Ocarina. Every one of Majora’s Mask’s main dungeons has a central gimmick similar to the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time, where you have to take the entire structure of the dungeon into account at all times to solve puzzles, further adding to the complexity of the dungeons in Majora.

 

Thematically speaking, the dungeons in Majora are also different to their counterparts in Ocarina, despite their similarities. Woodfall Temple is a poisonous swamp dungeon with a jungle aesthetic compared to the more regal aesthetic of the Forest Temple, Snowhead Temple takes place on the inside of a mountain like Fire Temple but is mostly frozen over due to its location in the overworld, Great Bay is more futuristic than the Water Temple as more of a water treatment center of sorts and is based around changing the direction that the water is flowing rather than the water level itself, and Stone Tower is explored in two states like the Spirit Temple but instead of being at two points in time you’re instead in two different orientations of gravity.

 

The mini dungeons are all also interesting subversions, with the Gerudo now residing near the ocean rather than in the desert making the Pirate’s Fortress a more complex area that must be broken into with the Zora form before the four captors can be freed again, the Bottom of the Well now being a Monkey’s Cave from Earthbound style mini dungeon as a prelude to another dungeon in Ikana Castle, which is a cool area with interesting lore in its own right. Compare this to how Tear’s of the Kingdom handled its dungeons compared to BOTW, and it’s night and day. In that game, only two of its dungeons could really be considered subversions of their BOTW counterparts (the Stormwind Arc having more of an ice aesthetic compared to Vah Medoh and Lightning Temple being much creepier than Vah Naboris), but they still wound up feeling similar due to them being in almost the same area geographically in the overworld. In Majora’s Mask, by comparison, even the most similar in concept dungeons like Bottom of the Well still feel vastly different to their Ocarina of Time counterparts, making Majora feel like a much more subversive, and by consequence interesting sequel than Tears of the Kingdom ever did to Breath of the Wild, and it had almost a sixth of the development time! It really is a miracle that Majora’s Mask’s main game feels as polished as it is given the time constraints, and it’s for all these reasons that I’d say that Majora’s Mask takes second place in terms of overall dungeon quality behind Twilight Princess, but this time I’d argue that Majora is more consistent than Twilight while it has higher highs, but a couple relative lows like Goron Mines and Palace of Twilight.

 

Lastly, I want to finish this section off by saying that I think the time loop mechanic would actually be a perfect fit for the open-air formula if it were expanded to be its originally intended week long iteration rather than the iteration that was cut down to just three days for Majora’s Mask due to hardware limitations. It would make the world feel more alive, and if the overworld were more compact than BOTW and instead a more character focused game I think that would have the potential to be the best Zelda game ever made.

 

All in all, I very much love this series, and hope it’ll go on to survive another 40 years and that I’ll still be playing them by the age of 65. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on my ranking in the comments, as well as your own rankings. Thanks for reading!

Part 1: [All] My Personal Ranking of the Mainline Zelda Games (Part 1) (Spoilers for all Games) : r/truezelda

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#10: Skyward Sword (8.75/10)

 

Now we’re getting into the games that I have more of a personal connection with, and Skyward Sword in particular is probably the game that I’ve changed up my opinions on the most over the years. It was the first Zelda game I can remember hearing about before its release, and as a 10 year old kid in 2011 I was incredibly hyped for Zelda’s 25th anniversary, to the point that I expected this game to be the best Zelda game ever made, but unfortunately since my expectations were through the roof, I ended up being disappointed by the game when it finally came out, and the internet’s general hatred of the game only fueled my dislike for this game even further. The standard complaints of there being too much handholding, backtracking, and unresponsive with the motion controls clouded my judgment of the game for a while, and it would take me a few years to fully beat the game because of this. By the end, while I enjoyed some aspects of it, I considered it to be one of my least favourite Zelda games, and I wouldn’t properly play through it again until about a year after the HD version came out for Switch, but that playthrough wound up being much more enjoyable for me.

 

Now that I was older, I could respect the game’s high points a lot more, and while its flaws still add up to make it my least favourite 3D Zelda game, I think this game is fantastic when it’s at its best. The story and characters in this game are amazing, and I love the new lore that they introduced with the Goddess Hylia and this being the first game in the timeline to enforce the cycle of rebirth with the iconic Triforce trio. I also think that from a worldbuilding and narrative perspective it better delivers with the Sky Islands concept compared to Tears of the Kingdom, although that game better nailed the exploration aspect. Skyloft in general is a fantastic town, and its side quests in collecting Gratitude Crystals and the exceptional characters that live there make it the second best settlement in the series for me, beaten out only by Clock Town from Majora’s Mask. I love how there are so many things to do at the Bazaar and to buy at Beedle’s to make every return trip between dungeons feel important, and this might be the game where Rupees are at their most important. As far as the dungeon-like overworld design is concerned, I’m a bit mixed on it, as it can make some parts of the game feel more gamified and less like natural places in the overworld, which can lead Faron Woods and Eldin Volcano to feel a bit generic as locations, but the phenomenal Lanayru Desert with its Timeshift Stone mechanic more than makes up for this. Finally, while I think its dungeon roster is a bit overrated, as the first two dungeons in the game are kind of bland aside from getting the Beetle in the Skyview Temple, I absolutely love both the Ancient Cistern and the Sandship as dungeons, the Silent Realms give a better pay-off to the dungeon-like overworld design, and in general I feel like for the most part Skyward Sword is a much better game in its second half than in its first.

 

I say for the most part, however, because the worst part of the game also happens to be in the second half when you have to return to the three areas for the third time to learn the Song of the Hero. The general consensus seems to be that the Lanayru portion here is the best, Eldin Volcano is alright, and Faron Woods is awful with the Tad tone quest, but I’m not overly fond of any of these portions. Sure, the Seedling of Life quest to revive the dragon Lanayru is cool, but I think it would’ve been a lot cooler if it was optional, and there was just an extra area of the Lanayru Desert that you could find and explore once you finished the second visit to every area, since at least then we’d be able to keep the boss rush in as an optional extra while trimming the fat by cutting out the other two sections, and this way the time travel paradox with the Seed of Life wouldn’t clash as much with the other time travel elements in Skyward Sword given it would be optional. It would also cut out an extra imprisoned fight, which would be for the better, as the bosses in general get repetitive in the second half. Speaking of bosses, I’m also not overly fond of the combat in this game, as it feels sluggish to use any items aside from the sword, and even then I don’t really like how you have to wait for the enemies to move their weapon to be able to slice them in a given direction, and I actually think it’s a bit of a downgrade overall compared to Wind Waker and Twilight Princess’ more fluid item application in combat.

 

You’d think I hate the game based on all those complaints, and ironically even though I’ve ranked it the highest out of the 8/10 games I also think it’s probably the most flawed out of all of them, but the ending to this game is absolutely incredible, and more than makes up for it. Seeing Groose and Impa’s developments and getting a satisfying pay-off to Link and Zelda’s friendship/implied romance was absolutely incredible, but the cherry on top is when Fi says her farewell, and goes to live on in the Master Sword to await the next hero who will rise to conquer evil. I also like how open to interpretation the game is with its time travel, where there may have been a timeline split due to Demise being defeated in different ways in both the past and present, but it’s also mostly implied to be a closed time loop with Impa retaining her bracelet and Zelda always being sealed away in the Sealed Grounds. Lastly, I want to give a shout-out to this game’s incredible soundtrack, and while I actually think there’s a five-way tie between the traditional 3D games for their soundtracks, Skyward Sword might be a contender for the best, as there isn’t a single track in this game I’d consider bad, and they all add to the incredible atmosphere and make the game’s high points that much more magical. Overall, while it’s still a very flawed game, Skyward Sword is an incredible experience, and even though out of the traditional 3D games it’s the one I’ve gone back to revisit the least, I know I’ll thoroughly enjoy my time with it when I eventually do decide to come back to it.

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9/10 Games (Amazing)

 

Now we’re getting to the cream of the crop of the Zelda series, games that I deeply respect for how influential they were on the rest of the series while also being incredible games in their own rights. The fact that so many games attained this level of quality in my eyes is a testament to the Zelda franchise’s deserved legendary status, but I do have some nitpicks with these games that prevent them from attaining the perfect masterpiece status of the top two games in the series for me.

 

#9: A Link to the Past (9.0/10)

 

A Link to the Past might be the most perfectly designed 2D game in the franchise, and is the only game from here on out that I might be able to say doesn’t have any flaws that I can think of. It’s earned its iconic status for a reason though, as it’s the game that set the traditional Zelda formula in stone that would be used for every major subsequent title, whether they were 3D or 2D for nearly 20 years until it was ironically broken by A Link Between Worlds, and while the formula was definitely refined over the years, this game deserves a lot of credit for inventing it. I also think the difficulty in this game is perfect, as there are some difficult boss encounters if you don’t actively explore in the overworld, which forces you to search out all of the expertly hidden Heart Pieces and optional items. I also love that you can do the Dark World dungeons in different orders, even though there’s a set order you’re intended to do them, as most of the traditional games following it generally force you into doing the dungeons in a specific order with very little wiggle room. This helps to spice up repeat playthroughs by making certain dungeons easier or harder depending on when you tackle them, which gives the game a more dynamic difficulty curve that I can appreciate. It might also have one of the hardest final bosses in the series, with the only serious competition being the final bosses from the Capcom 2D Zelda games and Adventure of Link if you don’t do the sword crouch trick, but it actually feels earned here and helps sell the idea that Ganon is a genuine threat who was capable of turning the Sacred Realm into the Dark World.

 

Overall, A Link to the Past is the antithesis of Minish Cap in a way for me as far as 2D Zeldas are concerned, as there isn’t anything that I would say it doesn’t do very well to great, but it just so happens that over the years I feel that eight other games in the franchise managed to do certain elements better than it in one way or another that cause them to rank higher than it despite it still being a phenomenal game in its own right.

 

#8: Breath of the Wild (9.1/10)

 

Breath of the Wild might be generally considered one of the most influential modern games and a masterclass in overworld design, but it was also the game that fully abandoned many of the unique elements of the Zelda franchise in favour of a new open-air style that, while amazing in its own right, may have left a few too many ideas in the past in an endeavor to deliver a fresh experience, which has led a vocal minority of the fanbase to want them to return to the traditional style of 3D Zelda, or at least bring it back alongside the new open-air style. As for my take on it, I really enjoy a lot of aspects of the new style, but also feel like there were a few missteps made in the process. Starting off with the negatives, I don’t really like the weapon durability mechanic, and I know that technically the game would be worse off without it as there wouldn’t be much reason to engage in the combat if you could just hold onto your most powerful weapon at all times, but I feel like a slow recharge overtime similar to the Master Sword or a reforge mechanic would’ve gone a long way in mitigating many peoples’ gripes with the implementation of this system. I’m also not a big fan of the progression structure of the game, being able to technically finish the final boss before you even set foot in a single Divine Beast. I feel like doing any main dungeon in any order is mostly a good idea, but being able to beat the final boss almost immediately has a major detrimental effect on the story of the game, as there can’t be a linear story that builds over the course of the game with proper character development for Link and Zelda. For the era of the Wild games I guess it works well enough, since the world is supposed to be in ruin after a devastating war, so the understated story and memory system makes sense, but I hope the same structure doesn’t return for the next 3D game, and we at least need to do the main dungeon quests before being able to access the final boss to allow for a more satisfying story progression throughout the game. The main dungeons in the game are also pretty underwhelming compared to most other games in the series, and while I like the concept of controlling these massive mechanical beasts to change the layout of the dungeon to solve puzzles, the execution left a lot to be desired, and the repetitive aesthetic in both it and the shrines can lead the overall gameplay experience to feel repetitive overtime, which is especially a problem given you can spend hundreds of hours 100%ing this game.

 

Those are my three major gripes, and they do bring the game down quite a bit for me, but aside from that I love this game. The level of freedom with Link’s move set is unprecedented, with the glider and ability to climb anywhere makes this one of the most satisfying exploration-based games ever made. I love the implementation of the Stamina system from Skyward Sword, as it heavily encourages that you upgrade it first over your hearts so that you can more easily explore the world and reach more shrines to be able to further upgrade your stats, but it also forces you to get creative with the combat in the early to mid game where you’re encouraged to sneak past most encounters which can lead to a lot of tension that isn’t really present in most Zelda games. The gameplay loop of seeking out shrines to solve puzzles and upgrade your stats is also a lot of fun, although I feel it’s a bit of a downgrade from completing minigames and memorable side quests in the older games and these new dungeons don’t hold a candle to the traditional dungeons. I love the post apocalyptic setting of Hyrule, and while I don’t like how the memory system impacts the plot progression that much, its implementation here is fine, as Link has amnesia and slowly piecing together the story from fragmented memories of a bygone era is satisfying on a first playthrough, and I think it was done better here compared to Tears of the Kingdom. The atmosphere of this game is also incredible, and the gameplay mechanics work in tandem to create an unforgettable experience for a first time playthrough, but this can also make it kind of hard to return to, as it takes an incredibly long time to complete all 128 shrines with the DLC, and this isn’t even mentioning the ridiculous 900 Korok Seeds in the game, although you’re clearly not intended to get them all and they’re more of a neat bonus for going off the beaten path, but I’m still not the biggest fan of them as a collectible.

 

A lot of people say that this game is a bit of a modern equivalent to Ocarina of Time, and Eiji Aonuma even made a statement to this effect, but I actually disagree, and would say that this game is more of a modern equivalent to the original Legend of Zelda, being the first in the series to establish the open world style that the next set of games would follow. This would make Tears of the Kingdom the A Link to the Past equivalent, detailing an imprisoning war, having a “dark world” of its own with the depths and refining many of its predecessor’s elements while still maintaining a similar structure. Age of Imprisonment would then technically be the Zelda 2 equivalent, taking place directly after the first game (from Zelda’s perspective, at least) and being a combat focused game in a different style, and Echoes of Wisdom would be the Link’s Awakening equivalent, refining certain aspects and incorporating more of a linear structure with a heavier focus on puzzle solving over combat.

 

My point in all this is that we still haven’t gotten the Ocarina of Time equivalent in the new style, being the game to truly perfect the gameplay formula and improve the storytelling and worldbuilding of Hyrule, meaning we still haven’t seen the best of what the open-air formula has to offer, and ironically it might be the Ocarina of Time remake that serves as its own modern equivalent depending on how faithful of a remake it ends up being. With the increased capabilities of the Switch 2, I have no doubt that the next open-air 3D game will be the best one yet, but whether or not it ends up being a 10/10 masterpiece depends on how heavily it borrows from the first two games, as if it ends up being too similar it might end up feeling like a disappointment kind of like how the next game in the ranking did for a lot of people.

 

#7: Tears of the Kingdom (9.25/10)

Tears of the Kingdom might be the most technically impressive game on this list, but because of when it released directly after Breath of the Wild after no new mainline game was released for six years and it was so similar to its predecessor it soured a lot of people’s impressions of the game, and I would consider its similarities to Breath of the Wild to be its biggest flaw (aside from the execution of its story, but I’ve already touched on that enough). The fact that you have to visit the exact same four regions in the same overworld and interact with the same present-day characters as in Breath of the Wild and complete dungeons with a mostly similar theme really kills my enjoyment of the main quests in this game, and it’s a shame because the lead-ups to the dungeons, especially for the Stormwind Arc and Lightning Temple are among the best in the series, and those two dungeons are the standouts out of the Wild era’s dungeon catalogue. Outside of the required story quest areas, the Sky Islands were also a huge disappointment, as while it’s fun travelling from one island to another if you don’t just abuse a hoverbike contraption in the late game, they aesthetically suffer from the same problem that shrines do in that they’re too similar to each other, and I feel like conceptually they were re-used too soon after Skyward Sword. Lastly, it doesn’t mesh very well with BOTW from a story perspective, as it’s left ambiguous if certain NPCs remember Link or not, which kind of makes sense due to the open-world nature of both games meaning he might not have met them, but it leads to certain interactions feeling unsatisfying, and the fact that so many of BOTW’s mysteries are resolved by saying “the Zonai did it” retroactively ruins the element of mystery in that game.

 

It’s really a shame that Tears suffers from all these issues due to its similarities to BOTW, because aside from this I think it’s overall a huge improvement from a gameplay perspective. I love both the caves and the depths, as unlike the Sky Islands they actually felt engaging to explore and like you could find anything in them. I hope caves are expanded upon in the next 3D game possibly to even outright replace shrines, as having them out in the open world would naturally give more important landmarks in the overworld which would in turn lead to more interesting world design that feels like it has its own history to it. I also love all of the new abilities, as Fuse helps make combat a bit more interesting and gives more use to your materials, Ultra Hand has the potential to create a lot of unique contraptions and pairs well with Recall for interesting puzzle solutions, and Ascend is just fun to use to quickly traverse the overworld. In the end, Tears of the Kingdom feels like more of an expansion of Breath of the Wild rather than a proper sequel, which was disappointing given the context of when it was released, and while I still consider it to technically be the better game, I hope the next new 3D Zelda shakes things up a lot to differentiate from the two Switch 1 games.

 

#6: A Link Between Worlds (9.5/10)

A Link Between Worlds might be the most unexpectedly amazing game in the franchise, because on the surface you’d think it would suffer from the same issues as Tears of the Kingdom with it sharing the same Light World as A Link to the Past, but it manages to avoid feeling like such a disappointment because it came out over 20 years after its predecessor, and its two central mechanics in the item rental system and wall merging ability completely change how the game feels and plays. The item rental system shakes up the formula to allow for the player to complete any of the Dark World dungeons in any order except for the final dungeon which is blocked off until the player saves all the sages, which is the perfect solution to my issues with BOTW’s story progression and ALBW did it four years earlier. It also gives a greater penalty to dying, as you’ll have to return to Ravio’s shop if you ever die and haven’t outright bought an item yet, which also gives Rupees more of an importance early on as well, although they do kind of become useless after you’ve bought every item. The wall merging mechanic also completely changes how you interact with the world, as now you need to think about where you are vertically when you wall merge to be able to successfully reach faraway ledges, and these types of puzzles get progressively more complicated as you progress through the game. The dungeons overall are probably a bit easier than ALTTP because they only ever require a single item, but they still manage to be engaging thanks to their often creative use of the wall-merging mechanic.

 

The main thing that ALBW has over its predecessor is undoubtedly in its presentation and story. The music in this game is on another level, doing what Four Swords Adventures tried to do flawlessly by using modern instrumentation to bring ALTTP’s classic themes to life while also introducing tons of new bangers like Lorule Castle, Ravio’s theme, and the final boss theme, making this easily my favourite 2D Zelda soundtrack. But the story and characters in this game are above and beyond almost every 2D game, with Lorule’s Triforce trio of Ravio, Hilda, and Yuga being a fun parallel to Hyrule’s trio, and I especially love the inverted traits theory where Ravio represents Wisdom with his knowledge of how to use items but being unable to due to his fear, Hilda represents Power with her desires to scheme to steal Hyrule’s Triforce for the good of her kingdom, and Yuga representing Courage because he’s Hilda’s chosen knight of sorts and the only one who’s willing to commit atrocities on her behalf to eventually remake the world in his image. The seven sages are also fine enough characters who are more engaging than the maidens in ALTTP, and help to motivate the player a bit more to save the world from Yuga’s destruction. If I had to pick a flaw in this game, I’d maybe say that it’s a bit too easy in Normal mode, as you typically don’t die much after the early game if you know what you’re doing which lessens the impact of the item rental system a bit, but Hero mode likely rectifies this, even though I’ve never played on Hero mode. Overall, A Link Between Worlds is a nearly perfect game just like its predecessor, which makes it tie for my favourite 2D Zelda game with the #5 spot, but I happen to have a more personal connection to five other games that make me like it slightly less than them, which is why it just misses out on the top 5.

 

#5: Link’s Awakening (Remake) (9.5/10)

Link’s Awakening has always been one of my favourite 2D Zelda games, and the Switch remake elevates it so much to the point that I consider it to be equally as good as A Link Between Worlds, but I personally prefer Link’s Awakening for its amazing setting, characters, and the fact that it’s easily the most charming 2D Zelda game ever made, and the second most charming overall outside of Wind Waker. Koholint Island is a fantastic setting, and the sheer variety of zany characters is unreal. Marin and Tarin, Ulrira, the animals in Animal Village, and the Wind Fish are all standout characters with quirky personalities, and I love how there are Mario and Kirby enemies in here as well to truly drive home that Koholint is an otherworldly setting. Link’s relationship with Marin, while simple is very endearing, and I love the fact that this game subverts the way that the typical twist of it being a dream into a tragic revelation where you’ll have to say goodbye to all of these beloved characters and potentially cause their demise once you wake up the Wind Fish, which gives this game a bittersweet ending that sticks with you longer than a traditional happy ending would, and I just realized that the games that have bittersweet elements to their endings all ended up in the top 5.

 

Even though the setting is the standout, it’s also important to recognize how many series wide traditions that Link’s Awakening started. This was the first game to truly focus on puzzle box style dungeons, as ALTTP was still more combat and exploration heavy similar to the original NES game, but here all 8 dungeons are intended to be beaten in a linear order, which helps to give the game a solid difficulty curve where the first few dungeons are a little on the easy side, but the late game dungeons all excel in either their atmosphere or their difficulty. I wouldn’t necessarily say this game has an amazing set of dungeons, but they’re all pretty good and there are a few standouts like dungeons 6-8. It was also the first game to introduce an owl character to provide guidance for the player, which ended up becoming a series trope up until Four Swords Adventures. It was also the first game to feature a proper trading quest, which would become a staple in the first 3 3D games and the Oracle games. Lastly, it was the first traditional-style Zelda game to properly introduce multiple populated towns into the game, as while ALTTP introduced Kakariko Village it was the only real settlement in that game, and the fact Link was on the run from the soldiers didn’t make it feel like a safe haven from overworld exploration quite like how the coziness of Mabe Village does for this game.

 

Overall, Link’s Awakening’s, coziness, charm, and steady difficulty curve all combine to make it my favourite 2D Zelda game, and a game I would recommend to anyone, especially younger players who are interested in getting into the Zelda series, but even with how amazing this game is it doesn’t come close to the quality of the top 4 games in the series, in my opinion.

 

#4: Twilight Princess (9.6/10)

 

It might’ve been pretty obvious as we got closer to the top of the list, but I absolutely love the first four traditional 3D Zelda games, and there aren’t really any other adventure games out there that are quite like them. #4, #2, and #1 on this list have all been my favourite Zelda game at one point or another, so at this point I’m going to be splitting hairs to decide which of these four incredible games is the best, and in the end I decided that Twilight Princess is probably my least favourite out of the four, even though it was the first one I properly owned as a kid. While a lot of people tend to dislike the opening segment in Ordon Village and the first three dungeons in general, I actually have a lot of nostalgia of replaying up to the Lakebed Temple over and over again, so I don’t mind the slower pace of the beginning of the game at all, and I think the fact that Link has such a quiet, simple life in the forest only to have it be uprooted by King Bulblin and the spread of Twilight perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the game. I don’t even really mind the Tears of Light sections, as even though I can see that they’re basically padding I like that you explore the areas in a more vulnerable form as Wolf Link first and then get to see the world open up section by section as you regain the ability to use your items and interact with the citizens of Hyrule as a human. This version of Hyrule is also very underappreciated, as I love almost every iteration of the classic Zelda locations in this game. From the peaceful, quaint vibes of Ordon Village and Faron Woods to the vastness of Lake Hylia and the desolate Wasteland that Gerudo Desert has become after the Gerudo were exiled following the events of Ganondorf’s imprisonment the only area I can say is kind of underwhelming for series standards is Death Mountain, and even then I like this game’s interpretation of Kakariko Village a lot, being an abandoned town that was beset by Twilight monsters, and the outstanding soundtrack in all of these locations sets the mood perfectly.

 

From a gameplay standpoint, Twilight Princess is top-notch in nearly all areas. It feels the most polished out of all the traditional 3D games, with the swordplay being the most varied that it’s ever been with the hidden skills that can be collected, Wolf Link being a bit underutilized but having a unique enough move set to set him apart from human Link, and the selection of items being among the most varied in the franchise. A common complaint for this game is how the items often get used for a single dungeon and then never again in subsequent dungeons, but I actually want to defend this point a bit, as I think that barring one exception this game has the best selection of dungeons in the series. Going through the dungeons in order, the Forest Temple gives you the Gale Boomerang, which is used to grab different far away collectibles across the overworld and comes back later in the game in City in the Sky to lure out underground enemies as you jump from platform to platform. The Iron Boots similarly have multiple applications, being able to stick to magnetic surfaces, go underwater, weigh down switches and make Link impervious to strong gusts of wind. The Hero’s Bow in Goron Mines does replace the Slingshot, which is a legitimate case of an item just strictly replacing an older one, but the Bow and later Bombs go on to be the most varied they’ve been in the series with different types of bombs and being able to attach bombs or the Hawkeye to your Bow for added combat variety. Then the Clawshot gets used in pretty much every dungeon going forward, and even gets a unique upgrade with the Double Clawshots that also opens up one of the best minigames in a game with arguably the best collection of minigames in the series. The Spinner is a very context sensitive item, but still gets used again in Temple of Time, City in the Sky, and Hyrule Castle in addition to in the overworld, and the Ball and Chain shares the same properties as bombs except it can also break ice blocks, giving it about as much use as the Megaton Hammer from Ocarina of Time. Then finally the Dominion Rod goes on to be used for the big Sky Book fetch quest in the overworld right before City in the Sky where you need to use it 10+ times with multiple optional puzzles for goodies, and then gets used again in Hyrule Castle on the optional path with the key to the treasure room. So overall the only items that I feel were truly shafted in the game were the Slingshot and the Dominion Rod, and even then there’s a valid reason why Twilight Princess has this problem: it has the same number of main dungeons as Ocarina of Time but didn’t have the benefit of splitting the items between two forms like Ocarina did with Young and Adult Link. I also think this highlights the one weak link in Twilight Princess’ dungeon roster, that being the Palace of Twilight, as aside from the amazing Zant boss fight there’s really not much that this dungeon has going for it, and you don’t really use many of your items aside from the Clawshots and the Bow. They could’ve used the Dominion Rod in a puzzle where you took over a set of Zant head statues or something and added in a few Spinner track sections instead of just having illuminated platforms that you need to activate with your sword and then slowly wait on to progress. Overall though, aside from that one nitpick, I consider Twilight Princess to be nearly flawless as far as the gameplay is concerned.

 

However, there needs to be a valid reason why I ranked Twilight Princess lower than the remaining games, and I feel like Twilight Princess’ actual biggest issue is that its characters are too underdeveloped. Aside from Midna who is an amazing character and the best companion in the series by a claw shot, and Yeto and Yeta who are incredibly charming characters who got about as much screen time as they needed, you generally don’t spend enough time with the characters in this game to truly get to know them. The entire squad at Telma’s bar is forgettable with the exception of Rusl, but at least they all get their moment to shine when they help Link in Hyrule Castle, and the children of Ordon kind of get forgotten about after the third dungeon, but the three biggest examples of this issue in the game are with Illia’s underdeveloped friendship/romance with Link and, most unfortunately, these incarnations of Zelda and Ganondorf being some of the most uninteresting that they’ve ever been in the series. Illia essentially gets forgotten about once you have the ability to restore her memory before City in the Sky, but even then you’re not required to restore her memory at all, making her character feel like an afterthought that gets lost in the mix with all the plot lines that Twilight Princess tries to resolve by the end. It’s especially disappointing that this version of Zelda and Ganondorf don’t get to do much throughout the game, as there was a clear interesting plotline that could’ve been introduced with both of their fates being tied to the Hero of Time, whose role as the Hero’s Shade should’ve been focused on more with the sword skills being mandatory to learn at set points in the game. This way, we could’ve gotten a genuine crash out from Ganondorf about how in this timeline he was put to death all because of the word of a young kid, and him realizing that Link was a direct descendant of the Hero of Time would’ve made their final confrontation all the more satisfying. Zelda could’ve expressed regret on how the Hero’s Shade was largely forgotten, which is why she was willing to go to such lengths to help Link and Midna save the world from the spread of twilight, and eventually have a meeting with the Hero’s Shade in the ending of the game where he eventually moves on from his regrets and gets to go to the afterlife in peace. As it stands, this issue of underdeveloped characters is the one major flaw that brings Twilight Princess down for me, but it’s still a phenomenal game.

 

#3: Wind Waker (HD) (9.7/10)

Wind Waker is a bit of an odd case as far as my taste Zelda games go, because it’s probably the only game in the series where I’d say the dungeons are its lowest points, but I love literally everything else about this game that it still ended up in the Top 3. The only two dungeons in the game that I can say I really like are Dragon Roost Cavern and Earth Temple, as I feel like they’re the only two dungeons that are fun all the way through and fully deliver on their respective concepts. By contrast, I think the Wind Temple is good but has annoying sections where you need to control Makar that prevent it from being great, I’m kind of indifferent to the Forbidden Woods and the Tower of the Gods, and I actively hate the Forsaken Fortress and Ganon’s Tower, even though those both end off with arguably the best boss fights in the game. The GameCube version of Wind Waker has two other issues that would’ve brought it down to #4 with the slow sailing where you have to constantly use the Wind Waker to redirect the wind and the Triforce Quest being particularly egregious when you have to pay over 3000 Rupees to beat the game, but the HD version rectified both of these issues and bumped it up a spot over Twilight Princess.

 

Despite all that, the biggest advantage that this game has over all other games in the series is that I think it’s the Zelda game that best encapsulates the feeling of going on a vast adventure with the incredible setting of the Great Sea and all of its colourful characters easily making this the most charming Zelda game of all time. Going from being left in this vast, uncharted world to explore following the events of the first Forsaken Fortress visit with nothing but the regular sail and one direction to travel in via the wind direction to having the world be your oyster after the Tower of the Gods and having filled in your map bit by bit over the course of your adventure will never not be satisfying to me, and even though it kind of sucks landing on an island only to realize you don’t have the item you need yet, I think the Triforce Quest at the end of the game kind of hints that this Metroid-vania style of design was intentional, so I don’t mind it as much as I used to. It’s because of these reasons that I’d go as far to say that this game has more satisfying exploration than the Wild era games, because there’s always a lookout tower or other point of interest just over the horizon as you explore, and gradually getting treasure charts to dig up over the course of the game only adds to the sense of adventure.

 

But the game would only be a great one if it didn’t have a fantastic cast of characters and story, and unlike Twilight Princess I think this game knocks it out of the park with one exception. I love the connections to Ocarina of Time, and the fact that this Link is only following in the Hero of Time’s footsteps because he first started his adventure because he wanted to save his sister only to grow into a worthy successor of his own only enhances the story, and makes this probably my second favourite Link in the series behind the Hero of Time himself. I love all the characters you encounter throughout the game, whether it’s the entire Outset Island village with a shoutout to Link’s sweet grandmother and little sister grounding the story in a way no other game has to the colourful denizens of Windfall Island or Tetra’s pirate crew being unlikely allies. This version of Ganondorf is also one of the most fleshed out, with his desires of wanting a better land for his people being a natural expansion to his character that perfectly contrasts with the Hyrule King’s desires to create a new future and wash away Hyrule forever. Really, the only nitpick I have for this cast of characters is that Tetra gets sidelined in the second half of the game after she learns that she’s a descendent of Zelda, as up until that point she was a great character but she doesn’t get to participate in the action again until the final boss fight.

 

I could go on about the amazing minigames or fun little challenges on each island, but I think I’ve made my point on why Wind Waker is such an amazing game, but it falls just short of being a 10/10 game because of its lackluster roster of dungeons.

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10/10 Games (Masterpiece)

 

The two games in this category both complement each other incredibly well, to the point that I might consider them to form the greatest duology in all of gaming. These are games that I have replayed many times over the course of my life, and their influence on the rest of the franchise cannot be understated. They both deliver one of a experiences that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life, and are both some of my favourite games of all time. But unfortunately the post exceeded Reddit's character limit, so I'll instead be making a shorter third and final post at some point in the future detailing why I think Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are the best games in the franchise.

The Legend of Zelda is one of my favourite video game series of all time. Over the past 40 years, it has produced some of the most iconic games with amazing soundtracks, loveable characters, immersive fantasy settings, varied gameplay styles, and stories that have stood the test of time. In honour of the 40th anniversary and the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake,  I thought now would be the perfect time to make a time capsule of sorts by ranking every game that I’ve played in the franchise from worst to best, and discussing with other Zelda fans in the comments.

 

While I have played and beaten almost every game, there are a few exceptions. I haven’t played Four Swords or Triforce Heroes, so those will be excluded, and when applicable I’ll be using what I consider the best version of that game as the basis for my rankings, so remakes and originals will not be considered separately for the purposes of this list. However, to make it an even 20 I’ll be including Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment in the ranking as well, since I want to delve into my opinions of that game separate from Tears of the Kingdom.

 

With the intro out of the way, let’s get into my personal ranking of the Zelda games.

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6/10 Games (Okay)

 

Since Zelda is probably Nintendo’s most consistent long running franchise, there are only a few games that I would say fall short of being good. Even then, I wouldn’t call any of these games outright bad, just not up to the standard quality that the Zelda series typically offers. If given the opportunity, I probably wouldn’t play any of these three games again, but I’m (for the most part) glad that they exist and offer different gameplay experiences from the norm of this series.

 

#20: Four Swords Adventures (6.0/10)

 

Despite it being in last place, I don’t really have a lot to say about Four Swords Adventures, but I do have two main gripes with the game. First, the game’s entire structure being more of a level-based formula without a proper overworld to traverse doesn’t really do it for me. I get that it’s better suited for the multiplayer aspect of the game, but the fact that you need so many accessories to even play with other people in the first place means that it’s nearly impossible to find anybody to play the game with in the modern day, which negates whatever benefits the level-based structure would’ve brought to the table.

 

More importantly, my biggest problem with the game is the lack of originality when compared to literally every other game in the franchise that I’ve played. The only real new feature that the game brings to the table is having a single-player campaign in a multiplayer Zelda game, and the only technically new item in the game is the carrot that summons Epona, and yet they didn’t bring over the shrinking cap from Four Swords GBA, which would’ve opened up a lot of puzzle opportunities. Aside from that, the gameplay is fairly bog standard, and there are very few original music tracks that aren’t just carried over renditions from A Link to the Past. I finished this game for the first time over a year ago, and aside from the Village of the Blue Maiden and the Graveyard I can’t really remember any of the stages from this game. It also brings over Vaati from Four Swords, and while he was better fleshed out in Minish Cap, I’ve never been too big on him as a villain, and he barely makes an impact here.

 

The fact that I’m so low on this game is the reason why I haven’t tried to hunt down copies of the other multiplayer games, but in the end I can respect the attempt at a having a Zelda game with a more co-operative experience, and maybe if a remake came out that improved the accessibility and added a level editor mode or something I’d come around on this game, but as it stands it’s currently my least favourite game in the series.

 

#19: Phantom Hourglass (6.25/10)

Phantom Hourglass is the weakest “traditional” Zelda game by a long shot, but before I get into the negatives there are a few things that I genuinely like about the game. Linebeck is a really fun character, and I love both his theme and the theme that plays when you’re sailing the ocean. I also think the game is an excellent tech demo for the DS, having a lot of different applications for the touch screen that are engaging and fun to play around with in short bursts.

 

But the main problem with the game being so reliant on the DS’ touch controls is that they’re placed in an action adventure game that many players will spend hours at a time playing, and to be honest that’s the reason why it and its sequel Spirit Tracks are the only games that I haven’t finished for myself, but I have seen full playthroughs of both games to get a general feel for them, even if it might not be as accurate as beating them myself. The controls aren’t my only issue with the game, however, as I’m not that big on the story, especially as a direct sequel to the amazing story in Wind Waker, and the dungeon and puzzle design as a whole is generally below the series’ standards (and the less said about the Temple of the Ocean King, the better). In the end, although I’m glad Wind Waker got a sequel, I feel that Spirit Tracks just does everything that Phantom Hourglass did better and then some, which at the end of the day makes Phantom Hourglass feel underwhelming by comparison, which is ultimately why it’s ranked so low on my list.

 

#18: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (6.5/10)

If there were one Zelda game that I would willingly snap out of existence, it would be this one, as while I think it’s technically a better game than the two below it, it’s probably the one that I actively dislike the most. Gameplay-wise, it is an improvement from Age of Calamity, as the additions of Sync Strikes as well as original characters (especially the Ancient Construct and Calamo) do help to make the game feel like an overall more complete package, and the ending of this game is pretty great, all things considered.

 

However, in my mind these positives are heavily outweighed by the negatives. The fact that this is the FOURTH game to take place in the BOTW iteration of Hyrule is ridiculous, but making this a canon story in the franchise as an attempt to retroactively patch up the holes in Tears of the Kingdom’s story sets a dangerous precedent that they’ll just to the same thing with the next open-air game, and that honestly worries me more than anything else. Like, did we really need another repetitive Warriors game of all things to tie things up when we could’ve easily gotten a Switch 2 expansion of TotK instead where you play as Zelda in a limited scenario in the past? I guess that might’ve potentially cut into the development time of the next open-air game, though, so maybe it’s for the best that this game exists after all. I honestly forget this game exists sometimes anyway, and it was the first Switch 2 game that I backed up to make room to play another game, and I probably won’t redownload it again, even if it gets DLC or something, so I probably won’t actively think about this game in a few years unless if another Warriors game gets announced, so in the end maybe I’m just overreacting in my negativity on it. I doubt I’ll ever fully come around on it, though, which is why it ended up as the last game in the Okay category.

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7/10 Games (Good)

 

It really shows how consistent of a franchise Zelda is that there are also only three games that I would consider just good. For these games, while I could maybe see myself playing them again at some point in the future, I would much rather play the almost 75% of games in the series above them. This section might also have my hottest take of the list, but keep in mind that I don’t hate it or anything, I just happen to have a few personal gripes with it that prevent it from being higher.

 

#17: Adventure of Link (7.0/10)

I honestly think the hate for Zelda 2 is slightly unwarranted. Up until the last two palaces, the game wasn’t that hard, and I genuinely enjoyed the more RPG focused gameplay as a one-off attempt at shaking up the formula in the series’ early years. While it was frustrating at first, once you get the hang of the combat it can be a ton of fun getting into the rhythm of jump slashing enemies, and the platforming sections for the most part didn’t frustrate me up until the final two palaces. But yeah, you can kind of see the recurring theme that I found the game’s difficulty at the final two palaces unfair, which is also when I started using NSO’s rewind feature, I’m not ashamed to admit. But to be fair, difficult end games was par for the course in the NES days, and I honestly had a harder time with another NES game I played earlier this year in Star Tropics, and I know there are much harder NES games than Zelda 2 that I haven’t played like Battletoads or Castlevania 2, so honestly I think the claim that it’s too difficult is a bit overblown.

 

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if this game got a modern sequel, but were developed by an outside developer like Intelligent Systems, because this game has a lot of similarities with Super Paper Mario. Both are side scrolling RPGs where you level up your character’s HP and Attack that have a slight focus on puzzle design when compared to other 2D platformers, and if a modern sequel had as much care put into its story as Super Paper Mario with the expansive magic system of Zelda 2 while slightly toning down the difficulty I feel like we could have a genuine masterpiece on our hands. But as it stands, Zelda 2 is a pretty good game, but it definitely shows its age in many areas, which is why it remains ranked so low on the list.

 

#16: Minish Cap (7.5/10)

Here it is, the biggest hot take of the list, Minish Cap rounding out the bottom 5 on a technicality since I haven’t played all the multiplayer games. I don’t consider it a bad game at all, but at the same time I can’t really say that Minish Cap does anything exceptionally well as a Zelda game either. It has some pretty good dungeons like Deepwood Shrine and Palace of Winds, but also some forgettable ones like Cave of Flames and Fortress of Winds. The music is really good, with Hyrule Town and anything related to the Minish being great, but compared to other games in the franchise I’m not even sure if it cracks the top 10. It has a lot of charm with the Minish being cute additions to the franchise, and I like the implication that they’re the reason why there are Rupees in pots and grass across the franchise, but I’m also not the biggest fan of Vaati and Ezlo’s stories, with Ezlo in particular ranking low as far as companions in the series go. The shrinking mechanic is also a lot of fun, but since the game always telegraphs when to use it the mechanic feels like it doesn’t get to reach its fullest potential puzzle-wise, and I think it was missing one really creative set piece for a dungeon like the attic of the library with a giant mouse as a boss or the inside of a clockwork shop where you have to change the directions or speed of the clock hands with the Gust Jar to progress.

 

All this on its own wouldn’t be enough to put it as just a good game, since the tried and true Zelda formula rarely misses, but the final nail in the coffin for me that prevents the game from being great is the collectibles, as I don’t think I really like how any of them were handled. With heart pieces, I can usually remember at least a few enjoyable set pieces for every game, but I struggle to remember any from this game except for the infamous figurine heart piece, the one Heart Container that you need to get in a random Minish house in the postgame, and the Cucco minigame in Hyrule Town (or did that just reward rupees and Kinstones? I don’t remember.) Aside from that, there’s the Mirror Shield that’s also relegated to the postgame for some reason, the Light Arrows that aren’t telegraphed as missable that you need to randomly use the gust jar on a sick NPC to get and aren’t that much stronger than arrows, and the Swift Butterflies increasing mobility for certain items that feel like they should’ve just been the default way the items were used.

 

But the cherry on top of all these is the central collectible of the game with Kinstone Pieces, and I honestly hate them. The randomness of not knowing when you’ll roll a certain reward from a specific colour of Kinstone feels more frustrating than anything in a franchise so focused on collecting items to get stronger, and I really don’t like the required sections with the Gold Kinstones where you’re arbitrarily halted in progression until you collect and fuse them in the right place. Overall, Minish Cap has the foundation of a great game, but ends up being hindered by a death of a thousand cuts of sorts, for me, but I’m open to a replay of this game possibly changing my mind in the future, but as it stands I’m not overly fond of Minish Cap when compared to most other Zelda games, and I probably won’t revisit it for a long time.

 

#15: Spirit Tracks (7.75/10)

Spirit Tracks is an odd case, because I love almost everything about it except the act of playing it. The soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal, at least in the Top 7 in the series (the traditional 3D games and A Link Between Worlds are just that good), with many standouts like In the Field, Tower of Spirits, Byrne’s themes, and the iconic Realm Overworld might be in the running for top 10 songs in the series period. The game’s also incredibly charming, with this version of Toon Link being as goofy and expressive as his predecessor, and there are tons of amazing characters like Byrne, the Lokomo, and what might be the best iteration of Zelda in the series elevating a story that would’ve been pretty good to one of the absolute best out of the top-down Zelda games. The gameplay is also a massive step up from Phantom Hourglass, with the Tower of Spirits being an actual good dungeon and the puzzle design in general is a lot better. But my complaints about the DS controls still stand, and it might have my least favourite implementation with the Spirit Flute being irritating to control, especially when playing on a 3DS with the microphone at the bottom of the console. It also has some annoying side quests that prevent me from wanting to attempt a full playthrough of the game where you have to transport NPCs to different locations and react to the road signs perfectly.

 

The single best thing improvement that Spirit Tracks makes over its predecessor is in its setting of New Hyrule. The idea of Link and Tetra moving on to new lands with established history that differs from Hyrule is genius, and the way that it ties futuristic technology in the form of trains as a primary transportation system is incredibly unique for the series, and yet I still feel like there’s a lot of untapped potential in this setting, to the point that I hope the next open-air game is a sequel to Spirit Tracks set maybe 500 years later where technology has developed to the point of having a public transport system based on trains. Imagining a game where NPCs can travel between settlements based on the player’s own actions that lead to massive side quests involving multiple characters across multiple settlements would honestly be a dream come true for the series, and would definitely be more unique than repeating sailing or sky islands again. Overall, I respect Spirit Tracks more than I enjoy playing it, to the point where I might slightly prefer going back to Minish Cap, but Spirit Tracks has so many strong points that I just had to rank it over it.

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8/10 Games (Great)

 

I very much enjoyed every Zelda game going forward, and I would gladly revisit any of these games if I were in the mood. But for one reason or another I find the games in this category to be slightly flawed either due to their more experimental nature or because they haven’t aged quite as well in comparison to the amazing games that followed them.

 

#14: The Legend of Zelda (8.0/10)

There’s not a lot to say about the original Legend of Zelda that hasn’t already been said. Its focus on exploration and puzzle solving served as the perfect contrast to Mario’s more straightforward gameplay, and I honestly think it still holds up pretty well considering its 40 years old. I love how there are always multiple dungeons that you can tackle at a time even if they aren’t in the intended order, which has the potential to make each new playthrough different from the last based on the player’s own choices. Sure, there are some obtuse secrets, but for the most part progression through the main dungeons isn’t that cryptic, and it was made in a different era where you were expected to either draw out your own maps or buy the strategy guide to figure out where to go next, so I can forgive it when looking at it from that perspective. Once you get the hang of the combat it isn’t that difficult either, and I was especially surprised at how easy the Ganon fight was with all the upgrades you get throughout the main game considering how difficult some NES games can be, but I’ve heard that the Second Quest ramps up the difficulty significantly, at least when it comes to dungeon design, so I can’t really even fault the final boss for being too easy either. For its time, it was an outstanding and revolutionary game, and I have a lot of respect for it starting one of gaming’s greatest franchises, but I think that over the years, there have just been 13 games that have come out that have been better than it. Even still, the fact that the first game still holds up in 2026 is a testament to this game’s quality, and earns it its rating of 8/10.

#13: Oracle of Seasons (8.25/10)

You can kind of tell that Oracle of Seasons started out as a remake of the original Legend of Zelda game with it re-using most of the bosses and having similar overworld set pieces like Dungeon 1 in both games taking place inside of a tree, but I think that Oracle of Seasons is overall the better game, and it should be given it came out over a decade after the original. The main mechanic of switching seasons was a great use of colour on the Game Boy Color back in the day, and it provides some much needed variety in the overworld puzzles as well. I think the game has some pretty great dungeons as well, especially the Ancient Ruins and Sword and Shield Dungeons, and it might have one of the best items ever introduced in a 2D game with the Magnetic Gloves. I also think it has some very creative set pieces, especially in its settlements of Horon Village, Subrosia, and the Sunken City, but what really puts it and its companion Capcom game high above their successor Minish Cap is in the side content. The ring system is a much more engaging collectible with a random element than Kinstone Pieces, as you actually get different unique effects from each ring, and the sheer variety can really shake up the gameplay between playthroughs. The linked game also adds in a ton of content for both games, and further encourages replay-ability since you’ll get more content in the next game depending on which game you play first.

 

Honestly, my only main gripe with these games is their general lack of story, and I can’t just give these games a pass because they’re old portable games since Link’s Awakening came before both of them and had a phenomenal story for what it was. But especially in Seasons, aside from Onox showing up in cutscenes near the beginning you don’t actually face off with him until the end, which makes him lose any potential impact he could’ve left as a villain. But then again Ganon’s supposed to be the real final boss in a linked game, so maybe Onox being unsatisfying as a villain was kind of by design. But I feel that this lack of story was handled a bit better in…

 

#12: Oracle of Ages (8.3/10)

 

Oracle of Ages is the slightly better game for me because it has a bit more of a plot structure with Veran as a villain taking actions in both the past and present, being a genuine threat to Nayru and Link by taking over Queen Ambi’s body and manipulating from behind the shadows in a position of power. But I also feel that the dual time period mechanic has a lot of depth as far as dual world mechanics go in this series, as there are multiple quest lines where your actions in the past directly affect the future, and there are many interesting puzzles that span across time like the entirety of Tokay Island and Mermaid Cave. In general I don’t have many major issues with either game, I just think that other games in the series happen to have higher highs or they impacted me more on a personal level when compared to these quaint titles.

 

#11: Echoes of Wisdom (8.5/10)

This might potentially be another hot take, but I think Echoes of Wisdom might earn the title of most actually underrated game in the series. In discussion of how the series will move forward with the next open-world game, people often overlook this game and just talk about how they don’t want them to continue in the direction that Tears of the Kingdom did when I think that Echoes of Wisdom brings some interesting ideas to the table that could be expanded on in a future 3D game. In particular, I think it nailed the balance between being open-ended and having some linearity by having its dungeons unlock in chunks, where you can basically go anywhere after the tutorial dungeon if you get the necessary echoes for exploration, but you need to beat Dungeons 2 and 3 to unlock the midpoint dungeon and then can finally complete Dungeons 4-6 before the endgame opens up. I think this structure would work better for the next 3D game over what Breath and Tears did as it would allow for a more linear story to be told that can genuinely be built up throughout the game rather than just giving the player the option to beat the final boss from the start and potentially skip most of the story.

 

With regards to Echoes of Wisdom’s other experimental ideas, I’m slightly mixed on them, but lean more on the positive side of things. I think having Zelda as the playable character was an amazing idea, and her having a different gameplay style to Link did help shake up the 2D formula, although I think if a sequel were ever made they should focus on a Mario Odyssey-style capture mechanic instead of a summons mechanic to give the player more agency in how they control these creatures while still maintaining the spirit of what Echoes were trying to accomplish. Bind is an interesting mechanic that synergizes pretty well with the Echoes mechanic, but I don’t know if it would ever return if there were a capture mechanic instead. Dampé’s gadgets are kind of situational, since it’s generally better to just transform into Link or use a more powerful echo, but their inclusion doesn’t outright harm the experience so it’s fine. Lastly, smoothies were also an interesting inclusion and carry over for cooking from the 3D games, and I love that the Deku Scrubs finally came back after not really having a major role since Majora’s Mask.

 

Speaking of which, Echoes of Wisdom in general is a very charming game, and Zelda helping to resolve conflicts for her people really changes the dynamic of the game. I like how the Gerudo can just exist as a people without there needing to be a side quest where you need to sneak into their settlement again, and seeing the River and Sea Zora meaningfully interact was a treat as a longtime fan of the series. Tri in general is a cute companion, and I like how the game in general maintains a light-hearted feel throughout even when dropping some of the darkest lore implications for the series with Null in the end, who’s a pretty compelling Eldrich monster style villain. I also really enjoyed the concept of restoring the rifts both from a story and gameplay perspective.

 

Overall, while it might be uneven in some areas, I really enjoyed my time with Echoes of Wisdom, and think it deserves to be in the conversation more when discussing how the next major Zelda game should be designed.

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This post has already gone on long enough, so I'll post the rest of my rankings at some point in the future and link the two posts for easier viewing. As it stands, here's a TL/DR for the games that have been ranked so far, as well as which games haven't been ranked yet in release order:

#20: Four Swords Adventures

#19: Phantom Hourglass

#18: Age of Imprisonment

#17: Adventure of Link

#16: Minish Cap

#15: Spirit Tracks

#14: The Legend of Zelda

#13: Oracle of Seasons

#12: Oracle of Ages

#11: Echoes of Wisdom

Yet to be Ranked:

A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom

The concept is essentially exactly what the title of the post says, but one thing that I need to clarify first is that each main board in this hypothetical Mario Party game is based on an area from Super Mario Bros. Wonder, with the hub for the various modes being Bellabel Park from the Switch 2 Edition. The reason why I based the boards around Wonder’s worlds is that I think the main mechanic of the next Mario Party game will be Wonder Effects, with each board changing drastically during the final five turns to make the end of the game more engaging and to encourage longer turn counts on boards rated on a higher star difficulty.

 

I also think that this game will be tied for having the most boards in the series with 8 main boards, 3 of which are returning from previous Mario Party games based on which ones would fit in thematically with Wonder’s world themes. For each board, I’ll be giving it a difficulty rating of 1-5 stars, briefly explain the design and gameplay style of the board, and provide a wonder effect that would be fitting for the board and would provide an interesting shake-up for the final five turns.

 

With all that out of the way, here are my pitches/predictions for what the boards of a hypothetical Super Mario Party 3 could look like.

 

Board #1: Royal Courtyard

Difficulty: 1 Star

 

Board Gameplay: Standard

 

Design: This board takes place in the courtyard of Florian Castle and is located in either Pipe-Rock Plateau or Petal Isles. I’d prefer for it to be in Petal Isles, as it makes more sense aesthetically to have Florian Castle at the center of the kingdom, but the original game seems to imply it’s somewhere on the outskirts of World 1.

The design of the board would be the simplest in the game, effectively being one large square around the castle with a few diagonal forks in the road along the way and an inner circle that goes around the castle with multiple branches to allow for easier traversal around the board. Happening spaces in this board will involve a collection of various flowers that each have different effects, either giving up to five coins or taking up to five coins away.

 

Wonder Effect: The flowers around Florian Castle bloom to enormous proportions, changing the effects of certain happening spaces into coin collecting sub-games.

 

Board #2: Fungi Mines

Difficulty: 2 Stars

 

Board Gameplay: Standard

 

Design: The board involves several branching sets of minecart rails that lead to different quadrants of the board that each specialize in a different kind of mushroom (these being the regular Mushroom, returning Mega Mushroom and Mini Mushrooms from Mario Party 4 with similar effects, and a Poison Mushroom that subtracts two off of any afflicted player’s dice roll.) The Mega and Mini Mushrooms are exclusive items to this board, and their effects have been altered slightly from their original games to allow for stars to be collected with the Mega Mushrooms and the Mini Mushrooms are now an effective Sluggish Shroom that can roll between a 1-5.

 

Wonder Effect: The effects of Mushrooms, Mega Mushrooms, Mini Mushrooms, and Poison Mushrooms remain permanent until another mushroom is used. This effect cannot be stacked with Dice Block items such as Double Dice Blocks or Cursed Dice Blocks.

 

Board #3: Spiny Desert (MP3 Remake)

Difficulty: 2 Stars

 

Board Gameplay: Multiple Star Spaces

 

Design Changes: The board is almost exactly the same as it was in Mario Party 3, with the only change being that the bottom skeleton key door has moved from the right side of the sand pit to the left under where the cactus jump course ends.

 

Wonder Effect: Turns the mirage star into a real star, making it so that there’s always two active star spaces on the board. This mitigates a lot of the frustration with the mechanic and leads to more consistently high scoring games overall, which is why the difficulty score has reduced from its original iteration in Mario Party 3.

 

Board #4: Golden Gorge

Difficulty: 3 Stars

 

Board Gameplay: Coin Investment

 

Design: The board takes place in a gorge near Shining Falls, where the players must travel between three different areas that each house 2-3 golden properties that rank up based on how many coins are invested, with the amount of stars gained being equal to the rank of the property. Rank 1 is achieved when 10-29 coins are invested in a property, Rank 2 occurs when 30-49 coins are invested, and Rank 3 is attained when 50 or more coins are invested. Despite the low coin requirements, the max amount of coins that can be invested is 999 to mitigate the Koopa’s Tycoon Town issue of having to steal coins from properties by landing on Bowser Spaces once they’re maxed out.

 

Wonder Effect: Doubles the coin investments in every property for every player across the board. This helps to make the investment style of board more conducive to modern Mario Party’s lower turn count while also adding additional strategic value to investing a moderate amount of coins into a few properties over investing big into a single property, which would further lead to making the bidding more competitive in the early game with fewer coin counts in each individual property.

 

Board #5: Fluff-Puff Peaks

Difficulty: 3 Stars

 

Board Gameplay: Standard/Island Hopping

 

Design: This board would have the honour of being the third snow themed board across the entire series, with the last one being Snowflake Lake in Mario Party 6 over 20 years prior. It would play similarly to something like Mystery Land, except there would be five quadrants on top of five mountain tops, and each one would lead linearly into the other in a clockwise fashion, but to advance to the next quadrant the player would need to pay 10 coins to a gatekeeper.

 

Wonder Effect: The weather changes from sunny to snowy, causing additional pink cloud platforms and snow paths to appear, making it easier to traverse the board. A few coin collecting sub-games are also added, but there are elements of risk vs reward to make them more difficult than the ones in Royal Courtyard.

 

Board #6 (Unlockable): Luigi’s Engine Room (MP1 Remake)

Difficulty: 1 Star

 

Prerequisites: Play all 5 default boards at least once

 

Board Gameplay: Standard

 

Design Changes: The bottom gatekeeper station would be moved to be directly in front of the center four way intersection and the top gatekeeper station would move two spaces upward to be directly in the middle of the two pathways that lead to Boo on the righthand quadrant. The gatekeeper stations’ toll would be reduced from ten coins to five, and a new Engine Gear item would be added that costs 15 coins and would force all gates on the board to switch when used.

 

Two shops would be added, one replacing the first gatekeeper station at the bottom of the board and the second in the top left quadrant in place of the pipe and red/blue gate junction. This junction would be moved to the bottom of the top left quadrant, where the player would either remain in the top-left or be forced to go to the bottom left quadrant where Bowser is and after the star space.

 

This board would be located in either Pipe Rock Plateau or Petal Isles, basically wherever Royal Courtyard didn’t take place, although I’d prefer if it was located in Pipe Rock Plateau with it being a better thematic fit with all the pipes on the board.

 

Wonder Effect: The gates will now open/close after every player’s action rather than at the end of every turn. Theoretically this makes things easier to plan, as since there’s always four players in a game of Mario Party this means that the gate will always be in the same place for each player unless an item is used or the gatekeeper is paid to switch the gates’ orientations.

Board #7 (Unlockable): Bowser Land (MP2 Remake)

Difficulty: 4 Stars

 

Prerequisites: Win first in Party mode 10 times

 

Board Gameplay: Standard/Inverse Rules

 

Design Changes: The overall layout of the board would remain identical, however the board mechanics would be reversed to play under the standard rules before the Wonder Effect takes place. This includes the parade, which now awards 1 coin per step, and the Bank and Shops work as they normally do on other boards.

 

Wonder Effect: Pulls a total reverse card on the board, reversing Red and Blue Spaces and Versus and Chance Time spaces respectively. Also changes the board mechanics for the bank and parade to work how they did in their original iteration in Mario Party 2, with the additional caveat that now items can only be gained through item minigames, as the shops on the board will change to only buy items in the player’s inventory in exchange for coins. Boo is the only mechanic that isn’t reversed by the Wonder Effect.

Board #8 (Unlockable): Rainbow Road

Difficulty: 5 Stars

 

Prerequisites: Collect 100 Stars total across all boards

 

Board Gameplay: Race to the Finish

 

Design: Bucking the series trend of having a Bowser themed board as the final unlockable board, Rainbow Road would instead be an expansion of the concepts introduced in Jamboree’s Roll ‘em Raceway, being a similarly circular circuit where players must race to the finish to get a star. This time, players can only obtain a star once they’ve gone an entire lap around the board, however on this board stars don’t cost anything and are obtained immediately upon crossing the finish line, but all players will be sent back to start once the first lap by a player is completed.

 

There are two branching shortcuts that can be taken midway through that both lead to either an item shop or Boo, but these shortcuts can’t be taken if the player uses the returning Turbo Dice Block item, making item management more strategic for players who are in lower placements in the game. There are also two linear bonus areas that can be gotten to by landing on a happening space before either one of the Boos that each houses 30 replenishing coins, and the player exits just after Boo at the end of the shortcut branch.

 

Wonder Effect: The direction in which the racers are racing is reversed, and players will no longer be sent back to start after the first player passes the goal and obtains the star. This reversal also means that upon exiting the linear bonus area, they’ll be sent on their way to Boo instead of away from him.