PTE6: The Legend of Zelda Continues

[Phar]

I prefer the first game, I just liked how you were dumped into Hyrule without much indication of what to do, it was all about discovering things yourself in a non linear fashion.

[Miguel007]

A Link to the Past for me, my fave Zelda game of all time. It never gets old. Music, Bosses, Dungeons are sublime. Link to the Past was my first Zelda game aswell - little things like the little black tips book and the full size map that came with the game made it extra special. One of my friends completed the game without realising you could catch fairy's in your bottles to replenish health he was well pissed after the number of times he had died. Good Times.

I've played Ocarina and Majora's Mask recently whilst I love them dearly, time hasn't been kind to the framerate and graphics - I can't wait to give it a go on the 3DS.

Four Swords is an under-rated gem even in single player with you controlling four Links, it's good fun and a nice (slight) change to the Zelda formula.

Wind Waker was ahead of it's time, even now the characters are so full of life and expressive. The game itself is still gorgeous. The combat system is one of the best too. At the time I thought it was one of the worst decisions Nintendo had ever made, after seeing the demo at E3 one year of Link fighting Ganondorf in realistic-vision I thought that's what I wanted. Then when Twilight Princess came it was an absolute snorefest! Give me cel-shaded Celda anyday.

Also fantastic banner in the opening post!

[Roddie]

The first one was great, but Link to the Past was basically perfect. Never had the motivation to finish any of the 3D ones.

[nakamura]

Links Awakening for me, it is pure gaming gold. Perfectly paced, not too long and a nice little story compliment the perfect puzzle and action of the best Zelda title.
I really enjoyed exploring Koholint and found more charm on that tiny grey screen in perhaps any game made until then and maybe even since. The story was touching too, especially late on.

LttP is a close second mind, still looks lovely today too and the dungeon design is top notch.

[Lebowski]

Majora's mask was amazing, the end still sticks with me as one of my favorite game endings of all time. all your hard work coming together in the final seconds, it has it all sadness, sacrifice, and tension. I remember having to go out and buy a new memory pack for this as I had bought donkey Kong with a freebie 3rd party mem pack, on starting Majoras mask it wouldn't display properly it looked like star fox on the snes I was gutted lol.

[Sixty]

Ocarina of Time. Not just my favourite game ever, but the pinnacle of gaming as a whole, in my eyes, and the greatest and most memorable experience across any entertainment medium. It really was that good, and nothing's even come close to matching it in twelve years.

Majora's Mask is my second favourite. The perfect companion to Ocarina of Time. When silly people used to accuse Nintendo of only making games for kids you could immediately tell two things: 1. They were stupid. 2. They'd never played Majora's Mask. The emotional depth in that game is unreal.

I do think Zelda suffers from increased and unrealistic expectations due to it being such a consistently high quality series. There are plenty of other game sequels that can't touch recent Zeldas yet aren't ever accused of being lazy or by the numbers in the same way. I guess that's the curse of being born perfect/achieving perfection after years of work: anything that follows can't possibly have the same impact.

Skyward Sword is one of my most anticipated games this year, and even if it isn't a bold new direction for the series I won't mind too much. It's bound to still be good. Bit worried about the motion stuff since there won't be a superior GameCube version to rely on like there was with Twilight Princess, but I have faith that Nintendo has learnt some lessons and knows what it's doing this time.

[Flabio]

I really wanted to like Majora's, and I do really love how it upset the usual expectations of the series, but at the time it launched I was in a job where I didn't have enough spare time to commit to the 'minimum three hour play sessions or you have to do stuff again' gameplay it had.

[Sixty]

I really wanted to like Majora's, and I do really love how it upset the usual expectations of the series, but at the time it launched I was in a job where I didn't have enough spare time to commit to the 'minimum three hour play sessions or you have to do stuff again' gameplay it had.

If you use the owl statues, you can save and come back like a normal game. The save disappears when you reload it, but then you can just use an owl statue again.

Admittedly a lot of people didn't 'get' Majora's Mask and its time system so maybe there is a bit of a problem there, but once you've sussed it you see it's not an issue and you're not restricted at all.

[Flabio]

There were too many places, particularly in the dungeons, where there simply wasn't any way to save and quit that didn't reset the clock.

[Sixty]

Play the Song of Soaring to return to the dungeon entrance, go outside and there's always an owl statue nearby. Or, ideally, plan ahead and enter the dungeon first thing on the first day and time won't matter so much.

Sorry, not trying to be difficult. But there are easy ways to get round this stuff, if you ever felt like giving it another go. Which (if you don't mind me saying) you probably should, cos it's amazing and well worth the effort.

[Party boy]

Has to be Link to the Past for me, pretty much gaming perfection, easily one of the best games ever and still looks good today.

[Party boy]

The only other ones I've finished are OoT and TP, which were both very good as well. I didn't like Links Awakening very much though.

[Mayhem]

Majora's mask was amazing, the end still sticks with me as one of my favorite game endings of all time. all your hard work coming together in the final seconds, it has it all sadness, sacrifice, and tension. I remember having to go out and buy a new memory pack for this as I had bought donkey Kong with a freebie 3rd party mem pack, on starting Majoras mask it wouldn't display properly it looked like star fox on the snes I was gutted lol.

?

Donkey Kong 64 came bundled with the memory expansion, so... you get it second hand without one then?

[mekanor]

It really irks me that people complain about the zelda formula getting stale. It's like complaining that a new first person shooter still has regenerating health, finite ammo, requires you to point in the direction you want to shoot and has basically the same control layout as any other FPS. Still, this doesn't stop people from enjoying games like Half Life 2 or Halo on their own merits. Each new zelda game while staying true to its roots, introduces plenty of new hooks, gameplay variations and items to keep everything fresh. Even games with quick turnarounds (majora's mask, spirit tracks) manage to show a lot more innovation between games than the latest call of duty revision.

[Sam The Man]

Ocarina Of Time is my fave. It has for me the best gameworld & level design possibly of any game ever and there are just so many memorable moments. I also cant remember one piece of music i didnt like and even once the game has been complete there is a desire to go back and find all the heart container pieces and Gold Skulltula's. The Controls are good and auto jumping simplifies things and allows you to concentrate on the main controlling of link. A Link To The Past would be my 2nd choice and its in many ways Ocarina's 2D equal.