I feel like all three of these Zelda games fall into this similar spot where they have their fans and they have their haters and it all kind of averages out to them being considered "not quite" up there with the best Zelda games (I'm talking consensus-wise, obviously individuals will put one or many of these are the top of their lists.) I guess you could say the same about Majora's Mask, but it seems to be a bit more loved overall around here

These three are also all really close in our ratings, at 9.29/10(Wind Waker), 9.27/10 (Skyward Sword), and 9.24/10 (Twilight Princess). So I'm interested in how they will stand against each other in a head to head poll. And I didn't include any cop-out answers for Communists who are afraid to put one above the others... you have to pick one or go home.

I also didn't include Four Swords Adventures because that's really a different thing there. And I didn't include Link's Crossbow Training for the same reason and also anyone insane enough to vote for that is insane and should not be allowed to vote anyway.

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Zero said:

@Shadowlink Stop trying your sneaky Aussie cheating methods and just answer the poll honestly!

But I honestly can't choose! TP and SS both have their great qualities.

All I know is, I ain't choosing Wind Waker.

I'd rank them in this order: Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Wind Waker.

They are all pretty similar in overall quality though... each has its strengths and weaknesses. I'm really hoping that the Wii U game goes a step beyond by applying some of the things learned from ALBW. Give us a proper overworld, seamless and fun to explore, trim the excessive fat (a shorter game is fine), and get rid of the hand-holding. Optional hint goggles in every Zelda from this point on, please!

Wind Waker, all dayz.

All are good or better, but Skyward Sword finally improved the combat and mixed up the design in nice ways.

I'm a OoT fanboy. Twilight Princess is an obvious choice.

Pokefreak911 said:

I'm a OoT fanboy. Twilight Princess is an obvious choice.

Why? I think Ocarina of Time is the best one, and Twilight Princess is the worst one.

@Mr_Mustache
Twilight Princess hit every right not for me with a Zelda game. No pointless gimmick (apart from wolf) and just a focus on the exploration of the world and solving dungeons. There is a reason why it is called an Ocarina clone by many people.

WIND WAKER

Of course.

@Pokefreak911

They did a shitty job of putting the focus on exploration of the world considering how long it takes to be able to do that. Compare with Ocarina of Time where you get oriented, do a quick dungeon and you're off!

I do wish that they had made the overworld in Twilight Princess much, much smaller, but it's still probably my favorite of the 3D games. At least it encourages you to find secret caves, heart-pieces and such.

That said, it's still pathetic. Nintendo has yet to make a truly good overworld in the 3D games. I'm hoping that the technology has been the reason for this and we finally get a really excellent design in the Wii U game.

@Jargon
I liked the large overworld but I don't want it again.

After careful deliberation, I've decided it has to be Twilight Princess.

Whilst Skyward Sword did bring some cool stuff to the table (overhauled combat, better economy and some absolutely great characters), Twilight Princess was more well rounded.

Combat was still great, temples were great, exploration was great...so much great. What low points there are, the low points in SS are worse.

See, I personally didn't like the exploration in Wind Waker at all. The novelty of riding a boat lasted for all of maybe a half an hour. After that it was just like...okay, so it takes forever to get anywhere. It's just a giant blue loading screen. Then you sail for 10 minutes only to find 2 Eyed Reef or whatever. And maybe you can't even do anything there yet. And this is all stuff that happens before you get the warp, which, I believe, is actually optional, at least until you need it to get into Mother and Child Isle. Up until then though, you can very well play the game without the warp, from when you get your bow, to entering the final two dungeons of the game.

At least in TP you could practically warp anywhere as long as you beat the black Twilight guys. And let's not get into the warping in Skyward Sword. I liked SS a lot but the warping mechanic was awful.

Well Majora's Mask isn't on this poll, next one down the list is Wind Waker.

@Jargon
OOT didn't have a "world", and 1997 isn't an excuse. I was disappointed as all shit by OOT's lame as fuck overworld. The atrocious overworld music didn't help either. Worst thing about OOT to this very day. Even when I was 11 I knew better. Nothing but emptiness.

@carlosrox
Ocarina of Time like all hell had a world.

@PogueSquadron

Yeah, the giant ocean is easily my least favorite overworld "design" in the series so far... if you can even call it that. The one island per grid on map thing also completely kills any sort of sense of exploration I would have felt. I think the idea of sailing in a Zelda game is alright... but for the love of Nayru, don't make it the whole overworld!

@carlosrox

I think we do have to cut them a little slack because of the N64 hardware. Yes, it was nothing but a hub, but at least it wasn't too big.

@Hinph
I liked it because it was concise and felt real.

@Pokefreak911

Felt real even with the aforementioned one land mass per grid design? I think exploring a seamless world on foot feels more real than that... though I don't care one way or the other about realism in an action adventure game. Give me fun!

@Hinph
I was on about Ocarina, should have been clear.