Yup, this has quickly become one of my favorites. It's crazy how much it does right, they absolutely nailed it. It's the perfect Zelda game. Not the best Zelda game, not quite, but the absolute quintessential Zelda game.

I wish I'd play on Hero's Mode though, the lack of stakes really takes away from the oomph of the game's brilliant economy! The optional dungeon treasures are excellent, but I don't feel their utility in my bones.

Secret_Tunnel said:

Nintendo has completely forgotten the art of great title screens and credit sequences. The credits in BOTW/TOTK are an embarrassment compared to OoT/MM. For all my issues with those games, lame ending sequences are the worst.

But guess what game has an awesome credits sequence? A Link Between Worlds!

@Secret_Tunnel

Link's Awakening and A Link Between Worlds are the two best 2D Zelda games, whichever way you'd like to order them. Good takes!

I'm definitely overdue to replay ALBW, it's been over 10 years now...

@TheBigG753

The Minish Cap more than deserves to be in that conversation!

@TheBigG753
@V_s

My ranking is:

1. Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Link's Awakening
4. Wind Waker
5. Majora's Mask
6. A Link Between Worlds
7. The Legend of Zelda
8. Phantom Hourglass
9. Minish Cap
10. Skyward Sword
11. A Link to the Past
12. Adventure of Link
13. Oracle of Ages / Oracle of Seasons

Not counting the multiplayer games, or Twilight Princess and Spirit Tracks which I haven't played in ages.

Link's Awakening is a special game. It's one of those rare games that I think really has something important to say. Even setting aside its metanarrative, the world is magical.

A Link Between Worlds has enough of a story to be epic and entertaining, and is mainly concerned with refining 2D Zelda's game formula to a golden sheen. It makes A Link to the Past nearly fully irrelevant for me.

Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass are both really fun, but I'd give the edge to PH for its inventiveness.

V_s said:

The Minish Cap more than deserves to be in that conversation!

I have MC at #3!

@Secret_Tunnel

I think what I appreciate most about Link's Awakening is that it's the last Zelda game that doesn't add this big, new gameplay hook to set it apart from previous entries. It's just classic Zelda game design in its purest form, with all of the fat trimmed off of it. It is just masterful, and nearly a perfect videogame in that respect. That in and of itself (in addition to the strange narrative and setting) is what makes it unique in the series and I love it.

I've almost finished another playthrough of this. For the record, here's how my rankings have changed in the past two years:



I've come to see ALttP's greatness... but I still think ALBW is the better game. ALttP-style Zelda is inherently flawed to me in how it wants to do this Metroid-style item-gating thing in a massive world that takes 15 hours to play through. No one wants to remember where all of those cracks, posts, and spinning top tracks are!

But ALBW at least makes it better with its always-on map, its pins, its 360 degree movement and fast screen transitions, and its Maimais acting as trackers of where you have and haven't fully explored. And the dungeons are genuinely cool, and the wall mechanic is genuinely surprising. It really is ALttP-style Zelda perfected.

Would I put it above Link's Awakening, unlike TheBigG753? I'm not sure. LA has a lot going for it too.

Either way, give me BOTW-style Zelda from now on. 3D with clear views to distant landmarks. Lots of empty space to give plausible deniability to the rest of the map so that you're not tempted to systematically sweep the whole thing. No item gates, climb any surface, unlock all powers from the start. It's holistic in a way the old games never were, and it's what Zelda wants to be. I'll say it again: landing on an island in Wind Waker and not being allowed to explore it because you don't have the right item yet was never fun.