Best Zelda game

[rocklobster]

The Legend of Zelda is probably Nintendo's most popular series. But I'm wondering which version is the most popular among you people. So, I've decided to do yet another poll, this time about Zelda! (NOte: I am NOT including the CD-I games. They are an insult to everything that makes Zelda great. After seeing the AVGN review of them, I'm glad I never had a CD-I. What were they thinking? Miyamoto should sue them!

[Robin Firedrake]

I can't exactly fairly answer this because I've only played twilight princess. But it is a very good game.

[Midori]

Why oh why are they radio buttons? How am I supposed to choose between LttP, OoT, and WW? I'll go retro and say Lttp, but I'm not certain.

[MangArtist]

OoT is my favorite, buuuuuut LttP was pretty close. TP comes third.

[Amzi Live]

Wind Waker! I don't know why,but out of all the games this one immersed me into the story in a way that exceeded the others. I totally loved it.

[ADXC]

Yeah seriously, do you expect me to choose between all of these great games?!

Well alright then.

1st-WW(Because I really loved the ocean theme and all of the islands. Also because there was always so much to do.)
2nd-OoT(Really if I didn't play WW before this then it probably would have been my first.)
3rd-TP (Really this was a great game.)
4th- LttP
5th- FSA (Oh man this game was just so much fun.)
6th- MC (Another great game.)
7th-PH (Phantom Hourglass-WHY DID YOU NOT PUT THIS UP THERE?!!! It is a great game and they did well putting it on the DS.)

[Ashley]

Ocarina of Time, hands down. Anyone who votes otherwise gets banned.

[Lil_Ninja]

XDD Ashley, you're awesome

I went with OOC too, but I've hardly played the others... And have only beaten two out of those.. >>.. Haha

And WW was just plain evil.. *has problems with water games.. twitch*

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Ocarina of Time, hands down. Anyone who votes otherwise gets banned.

Then ya better ban me because though I loved OoT, WW drew me in much deeper.

[Radical Dreamer]

Ocarina of Time, hands down. Anyone who votes otherwise gets banned.

True facts; Ocarina of Time is the best.

LTTP comes in at a fairly close second, though. But Ocarina of Time pwns you all. Wind Waker is a really fun game, but the whole "you're gonna spend the next 8 hours of gameplay looking for the Triforce pieces" kind of keeps it from being my second favorite. I do love it, though. XD

[Monkey J. Luffy]

a link to the past. definitely

[blkmage]

Ocarina of Time. Besides being the game that all modern Zeldas are built on, the experience of going from Link to the Past to Ocarina of Time was one of the most amazing moments in gaming for me.

[TheMelodyMaker]

You haven't played a Zelda game until you've played the original one. Actually, I've only played the first four -- but I think Link to the Past is probably my favorite. But I voted for the original anyway just to throw off the poll results.

[KagayakiWashi]

I'm renegade, I voted the original Legend of Zelda. I just finished this game, and it's truly amazing that a game in the 8-bit era can last you so much longer than most modern games these days. I decided to put it down for many months, but just recently picked it up again and got through it (along with Link's Adventure) You see, the art of a Zelda game is to play it without getting any outside help and figure out things yourself. It'll take you forever (or I'm just stupid), but that's what makes them great (unless your "to play" games list is getting too big). So, for what The Legend of Zelda was at the time of it's release, that's why it gets my vote over the titan Ocarina of Time.....besides, without The Legend of Zelda, there would be no Ocarina of Time....right?
Now, I'm not trying to belittle Ocarina of Time, no way. It's amazing in it's own right, but for an 8-bit game like The Legend of Zelda to be as amazing as it is....I just think it's such a great game.
Besides those two, I really like all the other ones I've played (Link's Adventure, Link's Awakening, Link to the Past, Minish Cap, and Wind Waker). I have Twilight Princess, Seasons, and Ages, but I'm not ready for those yet, hahaha.
And to all of you who HAVEN'T given The Adventure of Link a try, you really need to because it's a great game.

[Midori]

I think that, I can't say the best Zelda game because I love the series more than each individual game. Wind Waker is better if you've played Ocarina, and Ocarina is better if you've played Link to the Past, which is better if you've played the original. And all the other games have to fit in there somewhere too. If someone were asking me which Zelda game to get, I'd say get all of 1-5 and MM and WW.

[Whitefang]

Tough vote here. Ultimately, I decided on aLttP, because it was the first Zelda title I played.

However, I think we can flesh this out quite well.
Note that I have sadly not played LA, FS, FSA, PH (Also forgot this one in the poll...), and MC (Yipes, I need to work on these!)

Best Dungeons? Definitely one of the two Oracle games, probably Oracle of Ages.

Best Art? Depends, really. Tie between TP and WW.

Best sidequests? OoT

Best story? OoT

Best adventure? aLttP

Best sense of adventuring? WW (I guess a lot of people found the boat travel tedious, but I rather enjoyed just sailing about.)

Best sequel? MM

Best Zelda? This is a tough one. Zelda's become much more dynamic in the later games. I guess I would rate it like so: TP > OoT (Zelda as Shiek) > WW > aLttP > OoT (Zelda as herself)

So you can see where the concept of best "game" is really hard. I suppose we could bring in gameplay, but I feel that all of the Zelda titles hold their own in this regard.

[Robin Firedrake]

Best Zelda music.

[Jingo Jaden]

OOT in my world. However, if some of the older members voted Zelda one or two I would not be suprised. Like OOT, they rocked the game industry.

[Ashley]

Glad most of you agree with me (or fear for your membership )! I have to say, though, that Wind Waker is also my second favorite. I absolutely ADORED the music, I loved that it felt very "natural" (I never felt like I didn't know what to do next), and of course, the story was amazing. I'd love to get my hands on Phantom Hourglass, but I lack the proper game system.

But nothing compares to the sheer awesomeness of Ocarina of Time, especially the first time. I've played it over 8 times now, and I still adore it.

Plus, I had a lot of nostalgia with that game...my little brother and I spent days playing it together.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Best Zelda music.

Oh, I'm not so sure about that my friend.

Glad most of you agree with me (or fear for your membership )! I have to say, though, that Wind Waker is also my second favorite. I absolutely ADORED the music, I loved that it felt very "natural" (I never felt like I didn't know what to do next), and of course, the story was amazing. I'd love to get my hands on Phantom Hourglass, but I lack the proper game system.

See, now I have a HUGE nostalgia factor for OoT. My first Girlfriend and I played it on her rare visits to my house when I was a Freshman in Highschool, and it was like the last videogame my parents ever bought me, and they only got it for me because I willingly gave up the chance to get one for free in lieu of someone else getting it.
There is a lot to be said not just about the jumps in gameplay, but also in story telling. For the first time, I think (and I've played all the Zelda games that came before it) we had a sense of who this Link was not by what he was saying (for obvious reasons) but by what he wasn't saying, and by his actions.
While I'd say that Twilight Princess certainly continue this tradition admirably, as well as introducing my favorite Zelda character EVER (see my sig), I think Wind Waker was the best at giving us a sense of who Link is. The Link depicted in Wind Waker was actually a very vibrant character for the whole "..." brand of fantasy hero, full of personality that you could glean by his actions. I had a better feel for who the link of the Wind Waker era was than I did for any other link.

[ADXC]

As I said before the reason I like WW the most is because it was the first Zelda game that I had ever played. Basically it's what lured me into playing OoT and the others. So it's kinda hard to call the other ones my choice of best Zelda game when WW got me into the game series in the first place.

You see I was kinda scepticle about the Zelda series, then I was captured by WW which made me change my mind about the series as a whole. So Im not saying OoT is not there because it is, but if it hadn't been for WW I would have never got into Zelda to begin with.

But I will say this though, Im not very fond of MM. Most of you guys probably love it(And hey that's fine and all for you, more power to you.), but I was not made to work under time constraints in that way. It takes the enjoyment out of it for me.

[Raiden no Kishi]

I haven't played much of the series, to be honest, but I've enjoyed Wind Waker very, very much. I may end up getting a copy of Twilight Princess over the summer because it interests me.

.rai//

[Ashley]

While I'd say that Twilight Princess certainly continue this tradition admirably, as well as introducing my favorite Zelda character EVER (see my sig)

I love that you said that on a post where your sig isn't visible...you made me insanely curious and I had to go scroll for it.

[QUOTe=ADXC]But I will say this though, Im not very fond of MM.[/QUOTE]
It struck me as unbearably sad. I never played it personally, but I watched my aforementioned brother play most of it (could you tell we were huge dorks with an N64?), and yeah, it was just incredibly melancholy. Someday, I'm going to get the Master Quest disc which has LTTP, OoT, and MM on it (and a fourth which I can't remember/don't care about) for the GC.

Oh, and as for best Zelda music, my vote is tied between Dragon Roost Island or Gerudo Valley.

Oh, and hey, here's the hardcore rock version of Gerudo Valley! XD

[Nate]

Oh, I'm not so sure about that my friend.

You both fail. :p

Also, as evidenced by my link, LttP is my favorite. I could get into multiple reasons why it is the best Zelda game, but I think the game speaks for itself.

I wanted to like Wind Waker better than I did, and it's still one of my favorites, yet the sailing ruined it for me. Spending ten minutes just sailing to another location is pretty boring. Also searching for the Triforce Pieces was a pretty lame way to artificially add an hour of play time.

I'm the weirdo who thinks Majora's Mask is the second best Zelda game, better than OoT. It did something radically different (and succeeded to me), and the people around town had unique personalities and were interesting if you did the Bomber's Notebook sidequests, as opposed to OoT's static, boring townspeople who just said the same thing all the time. The puzzles were fun and challenging, the use of masks for specific purposes was absolutely brilliant, and the bosses were far better than OoT's...seriously, Goht was a lot of fun, and Stone Temple, where you turned the entire dungeon upside down...that was really awesome.

After that it gets more difficult to rank them. Minish Cap, Oracle of Seasons, and Oracle of Ages were all fantastic, though I'd rank them lower than OoT I think. Wind Waker would be right under OoT, and Twilight Princess below that one. Because while I liked TP, it has zero replay value, and ultimately the sidequests were unrewarding and the wolf parts were kind of lame. I do like Midna a lot though.

EDIT:

Someday, I'm going to get the Master Quest disc which has LTTP, OoT, and MM on it (and a fourth which I can't remember/don't care about) for the GC.

Actually you're thinking of two separate discs.

There's one disc, the Master Quest disc for Gamecube, which has the Master Quest and original versions of OoT on it. The second disc, the Zelda collection, has OoT (original version, no Master Quest), MM, the original Zelda, and Zelda II.

The Master Quest is completely the same except for the dungeons, and the dungeon MAPS are still the same, just the stuff in the rooms and puzzles are different. The game is a bit more challenging, sort of. The first few dungeons are ridiculously hard, but the Water Temple onward seem EASIER than the original. So yeah.

[ich1990]

As I have said before a few times, A Link to the Past is my favorite. It holds the sort of nostalgia most people have with OoT. Second is Ocarina of Time. Third, Twilight Princess. A lot of people didn't like it, I am not entirely sure why. The Navi to Midna change was probably the biggest sidekick upgrade in the history of gaming. After those three, it gets hazy.

4. Wind Waker. I really liked the art and the fact that there was so much territory to explore. I like my games to be extremely open ended, like Oblivion and Fallout 3. This was the closest LoZ ever came to that kind of freedom.

5. Minish Cap, Oracle of Seasons, and Oracle of Ages are all about the same level. I like all of them and have played them through a couple of times each.

8. The fact that I haven't played Majora's Mask all the way through is probably my biggest source of shame as a gamer. Especially considering I own the Legend of Zelda collection for the gamecube and therefore have no excuse for not playing it. What I have played, however, I liked quite a bit. I watched a friend fight the end boss once, and I must say that Fierce Deity Link bumps up the game's value a few notches all on his own.

9. Link's Awakening was fun, but didn't necessarily stand out, especially when you consider how cool Ages and Seasons are.

I have never played Four Swords or Phantom Hourglass, so I can't rate them. The first two Zelda games I have played about halfway through and lost interest. I think I am too young to appreciate them.

[Radical Dreamer]

Oh man, I forgot about Link's Awakening. That game was a LOT of fun, but I've lost my copy somehow (I think my brother sold it a long time ago). Also, Phantom Hourglass is a blast, too, and it makes good use of the DS's capabilities. XD

[Whitefang]

But I will say this though, Im not very fond of MM.

It struck me as unbearably sad. I never played it personally, but I watched my aforementioned brother play most of it (could you tell we were huge dorks with an N64?), and yeah, it was just incredibly melancholy.

The saddest part of MM for me was that no matter how many people I helped, no matter how many sidequests I solved, only the ones I did on the last 3 days would count in the world of Termina. That just strikes me as kind of empty and sad in a way. This is one of the reasons I've never finished the game (in addition to feeling frustrated when the game randomly crashes, I run out of time to finish the temple, or I'm just generally stuck because water temples are stupid).

As for music, I'm more of a Lost Woods guy myself. I also really like The Great Sea, it has untold levels of epic.

[Shao Feng-Li]

I've only played The Minnish Cap (even finished it ), so I voted for that one.

[Amzi Live]

Glad most of you agree with me (or fear for your membership )! I have to say, though, that Wind Waker is also my second favorite. I absolutely ADORED the music, I loved that it felt very "natural" (I never felt like I didn't know what to do next), and of course, the story was amazing. I'd love to get my hands on Phantom Hourglass, but I lack the proper game system.

But nothing compares to the sheer awesomeness of Ocarina of Time, especially the first time. I've played it over 8 times now, and I still adore it.

Plus, I had a lot of nostalgia with that game...my little brother and I spent days playing it together.

Yeah same here,My fav is still WW because of how well they got the sound,and music to enhance the experience. HEh! I liked the sailing too. Still, Ocarina of Time runs second pretty much cause just like most of the Zelda platform games I passed it playing it with friends. XP Nostalgic indeed.
Good Times

EDIT:

Actually you're thinking of two separate discs.

There's one disc, the Master Quest disc for Gamecube, which has the Master Quest and original versions of OoT on it. The second disc, the Zelda collection, has OoT (original version, no Master Quest), MM, the original Zelda, and Zelda II.

The Master Quest is completely the same except for the dungeons, and the dungeon MAPS are still the same, just the stuff in the rooms and puzzles are different. The game is a bit more challenging, sort of. The first few dungeons are ridiculously hard, but the Water Temple onward seem EASIER than the original. So yeah.

Oh yeah,my friend lent me Master Quest cause it came with his GC.
The dungeons are way awesome.lol! If you can manage to get through them. XP I never did.

[Sparx00]

Oh gosh... Do I have to only pick one? This is a hard choice.