PTE6: The Legend of Zelda Continues

[Kieran76]

Boot out the Oracle ones, they're from Capcom anyway.

I was tempted to off load The Legend of Zelda. No-one is really going to say that is the best are they?

[importaku]

Boot out second zelda that was gash. hehe, least the very first one is classic zelda the second one feels wrong.

[Guts]

Skyward sword, breathing a fresh lease of life into the series by not actually changing anything and pretty much being the same old zelda game every single time. o//

Wow, so you must actually work for Nintendo if you know already that it's going to bring NOTHING new to the series and is going to be exactly the SAME game as Ocarina of Time. o//

Anyway, it's a close call for me between Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, but since I played LttP first I chose that although OoT probably was a bigger jaw-dropper at the time it came out. Maybe I should have voted OoT actually. Oh well, they're so close, I can't really decide.

And btw. it's ORACLE of Ages & Seasons, Ages of Time would be pretty silly. :P

[Decider-VT]

Loved LttP but I also loved Awakening. There was something novel about having a whole Zelda game in that tiny cart. Cracking story too (no pun intended).

Ocarina was the last truly special Zelda game I played, though. Wind Waker was good but it didn't grab me in the same way, although Ocarina's true power lay in seeing Zelda in 3D for the first time.

Lowlights would be Zelda II. Bought it in Boots years ago and was very disappointed with it, unfortunately. Not being able to play Majora's Mask on account of not having an expansion pak was also very frustrating!

[Neon Ignition]

I second the vote for Oracles to be replaced by Wind Waker

[Brad]

Given that the Oracle games weren't even written correctly* in the poll option ;-) I've swapped them out for Windwaker



*awaits someone telling me that that's what they were called in Japan

[Dogg Thang]

For me, Link's Awakening had easily the most charm. I love LttP but actually felt it a bit too big. Link's Awakening was nice and short.

[endo]

Skyward sword, breathing a fresh lease of life into the series by not actually changing anything and pretty much being the same old zelda game every single time. o//

You may scoff, but this time you can actually swing the wiimote to swing your sword! Imagine the wild new gameplay possibilities this will introduce!

As much as I love Zelda (LttP is my fave, then OOT), the formula is getting a little stale, no? I seem to remember - though I may have imagined this - Nintendo saying around the time of the Wii's launch that after Twilight Princess any new Zelda would be fundamentally different in approach. With that in mind, I was quite surprised how un-different Skyward Sword appeared last year. Of course there's still plenty of time for Nintendo to surprise everyone and the gameplay could indeed turn out to be completely different, but come on- this is Nintendo we're talking about. Do we seriously expect them to produce a radical overhaul here?

[kernow]

You may scoff, but this time you can actually swing the wiimote to swing your sword! Imagine the wild new gameplay possibilities this will introduce!

[Mayhem]

LttP all the way here, my favourite Zelda, the first one I played, and arguably my greatest game of all time. It has everything you need from a Zelda game, the most dungeons of any of them without getting boring, and set the groundwork for most of the games to follow. After that... perhaps Majora's Mask because it's the antithesis of OoT. And in the end you "lose" even though you won...

[Decider-VT]

It's slightly depressing to think that Nintendo perfected the Zelda template two decades ago, although it has led to a lot of good games in the series. Do you really think that they'd rock the boat much when they have a relatively new audience on-board with the Wii?

[Ady]

Majora's Mask for me.

It was easily the freshest Zelda game an attempted (and succeeded) in doing something completely new with the formula.

Everything from the unusual mechanics to the unexpected darkness never before or since seen in a Nintendo made game made this a very special addition to the series.

Anyone who hasn't played MM is missing out.

[Dogg Thang]

Do you really think that they'd rock the boat much when they have a relatively new audience on-board with the Wii?

I really hope so. I enjoyed Twilight Princess but felt it was probably the last of that type of Zelda I could go through. I never finished Spirit Tracks - felt it was polished yet utterly soulless. If I hear the new one is same ol' Zelda, I'll give it a miss.

[Guts]

Majora's Mask is a lovely game indeed. It's also very underrated (or at least seems like to me) and often gets ignored because of Ocarina.

The living, changing world worked brilliantly and the dark, sad mood was a great contrast to OoT. Oh, and how could I forget Tingle!

[Ady]

I really hope so. I enjoyed Twilight Princess but felt it was probably the last of that type of Zelda I could go through. I never finished Spirit Tracks - felt it was polished yet utterly soulless. If I hear the new one is same ol' Zelda, I'll give it a miss.

Twilight was basically Zelda by numbers. It was by no reasonable means a bad game, but for us Zelda veterans(!), it was nothing new at all, and a sign that familiarity was starting to breed contempt.

You know Zelda is getting stale when my sister, probably one of the biggest Zelda fanatics I know says "It was OK, but nothing special".

LttP all the way here, my favourite Zelda, the first one I played, and arguably my greatest game of all time. It has everything you need from a Zelda game, the most dungeons of any of them without getting boring, and set the groundwork for most of the games to follow.

LTTP was my first Zelda game too, and it really drew me into its world, and indeed the Zelda world more than many games have managed to since. It also had some of the best music in the series. I love it for all the reasons you state above.

However, MM pips it at the post for me because of its aforementioned uniqueness. As Guts pointed out, it is underrated and largely ignored/overshadowed because of OOT. In fact, a good friend of mine and I argue to this day over which is better...