Joystiq Poll: Best Zelda

I voted for Zelda 1, but right after remembered how much fun I had with Zelda 2 back then. Zelda 1 was about discoveries(back then, you could not search on gamefaqs to discover the hidden dungeons which were essentials to complete the game) and skills while Zelda 2 required even more skills. Me and a friend had a great fun with Zelda 2, trying to beat it the first.

Why aren't the Phillips CD-i Zelda games listed? Those were the pinnacle of the series.

hey there are a bunch missing what about 4 swards?

Ocarina of Time is the first best experience to play ever.

Majora's Mask for me.

It feels like Tim Burton's take on zelda, with a bit more artsy, otherworldly flare compared to every other zelda title.



The 3 day "gimmick" really helped add to the atmosphere, and thus created a setting that i have yet to see matched in any other game. One of actual urgency and fear on the final day.



Sure, it was lacking in dungeons compared to other zelda games, and majority of the characters were rehashed from Zelda: OOT, but the overworld map and masks and such just set Majora's Mask apart for me. It just has a special feeling too it that no other zelda can surpass.



I have high hopes for Twilight Princess.

A Link to the Past for me

i liked both oot and mm so much i cannot eved describe but the one game that for some reason drove me to find every single thing was wind waker. (well i did not take every picture and get them made into statues but i did quite a bit of them) i explored every island. there was some part of me that NEEDED to have every square of that dang map filled in. it really brought out the explorer in me so it got my vote. also something is special about those graphics

The Oracle games were awesome.

Ocarina for me, anyday.



My second favorite is Majora's Mask, with both Oracle games at third. Man, the batteries I wasted playing that on my Game Boy Advance. Made me so friggin' glad when I got an SP.



Now, when I think of Ocarina, I think of what a game should be. So far, not a single game I've played has been better than that. However, I know a guy who literally thinks it's the gayest game ever and played it for only 10 minutes. Now, this is the perfect scenario to beat the crap out of him for being the most closed-minded person ever. However, I'm not an immature jerk, and I know it's not worth getting detention over a game. But, I just weep because this is exactly what most gamers are turning into.

I voted Ocarina of Time, because that game just beats everything else in such a way it isn't funny.



Second choice would be Link to the Past. I think that's the game with the most 'medieval' feel to it. It looks, sounds and feels like something out of that age, far more than than any game after it.



And nobody voted Minish Cap. That game has to be my third favourite. Capcom did a massive job with it and I hope it's not the last 2D Zelda game.

Ocarina was the best-Windwaker should be thrown under a fast moving steamroller.

Wind Waker is the not only the best Zelda, but it is easily the most under-rated game of all time.



Of course, Link to the Past has one of the best video game endings of all time.

Strangely, I just finished Ages/Seasons and was looking for a ranking of the best Zelda games.



For me, the best Zelda games are the ones I can go back and enjoy playing again. I don't think Ocarina holds up very well by today's standards. I tried playing Majora's Mask for the first time yesterday on gamecube (collector's disc). It's the only Zelda game I've never beat and the framerate just hurt my eyes. All the 2-D games seem to hold up way better in my eyes.



1. A Link to the Past

2. Minish Cap

3. Oracle of Ages

4. Link's Awaking DX

5. Oracle of Seasons

6. Four Swords Gamecube

7. Windwaker

8. Ocarina of Time

9. Majora's Mask (haven't beat it yet)

10. Legend of Zelda

11. Zelda II

12. 3 CD-I games

Re: 8 - I weep too; you can imagine the laughter I recieved when I announced I had bought a Gamecube where apparently all the games are "kiddy" and "suck".

Gotta be Ocarina of Time, followed by Minish Cap.



I gave up on Link to the Past after losing at the same flying tiles room for the umpteenth time, but I'm gonna try and beat it again sometime.

i loved oot and then mm. i hate the 2d zeldas because they are just that: 2D. I grew up with oot and the zelda games have been an artistic experience rather than just figuring out puzzles.

First time posting here...



I chose Majora's Mask. I've played every Zelda game since the first one was released, except for the CD-i games and the Oracle games, and Majora's Mask is the one that I had the most fun with.



When I think "Zelda", I always think of Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess, but when I think "Zelda experience", I remember Majora's Mask. The darker mood, the bizarre parallel world, the feeling of being pressured by the 3-day limit, while also having the power to control that time. I just loved it all. I must've spent an insane amount of time rolling around Termina field as a Goron, or swimming as a Zora in the Great Bay.



So, if the poll had been about our favorite Zelda "story", I would definitely go with Ocarina of Time. The story and characters were better in that one, in my opinion. But for the Zelda experience, which is what the game is about? Majora's Mask.



Like Syl said, it's like Tim Burton had part of designing the game.



When I look at the videos for Twilight Princess, I see a mix of Majora's Mask, Ocarina of Time, and Wind Waker all rolled up into one. I'm very, very excited for this one.

I think the poll is scewed because too many voters were too young to play any of the NES/Super NES games... and probably even the GBC games. Hence the N64 games were probably the first ones they played.

ocarina, no doubt.

waking up in your little treehouse. the kidnap/dream scene. removing the sword for the first time, the oh so sasisfying logic of the puzzles. man it rocked.

but i have to sat that the minish cap comes a close second, the storyline and puzzles are fantastic to the point of genius. i highly recommend anyone with a GBA/DS to pick up the minish cap.

bring on the twilight...

I have to go with Minish Cap for my favorite, although I havn't yet finished any of the others.



Wind Waker defiantely has some nice style, but I sort of lost track as to what I was supposed to do next with all the sailing back and forth across the ocean.

it has to be oracle, it was such a leap from the previous zelda titles in respect to the way you could control link in a new 3d environment.



And how about that fishing pond? i could suddenly see how games like billy bass fishing could be so addictive.

I voted for The Legend of Zelda IV: Link's Awakening.



My close second would definately have to be Majora's Mask followed by Ocarina of Time.



My reasoning for this is because I love a good story, and I especially love games that seem to focus away from the Zelda/Link aspect and more onto the people around Link. I spent many a night wearing out the batteries in one of those old light and magnifiers for the Game Boy playing through Koholint. I also beat the game with no guides, or any help. The characters seemed much more alive in this game than in any other Legend of Zelda game. Especially Marin. I have to admit that I liked her dialogue the best of all, and I actually started to feel bad as I got closer to the end of the game; because so many hints kept cropping up that waking the Windfish would KILL EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE ON THE ISLAND. Then it felt like many of the people on the island, particularly Marin, were becoming more aware of this. It made the whole idea of winning much more bitter.



Majora's Mask was this bitter feeling taken to levels I had never imagined they could be taken to. The entire game centered around Link effecting the lives of the people around him in both good and bad ways. This sort of hands-on manipulation was -to me- invigorating. Remember the part where you free that little girl's father from a Ghiblo's curse? Remember how it felt to FAIL at that? Or when you failed to protect those cows from the aliens, and when you go see Marin the next day.. she's become a saddened, violated little shamble of her ownself, completely shut-in? Little moments like that. The entire game was built on making the gamer feel emotion. Three emotions in particular: Joy when you complete a task, Regret when you do not, and tension from the time limit imposed on you. I though the games time limit was perfect. It was that added incentive to try harder. Shame too many people were frustrated by the time limit and did not venture further into what was an emotionally powerful game.



Ocarina of Time had that wonderful moment where you end up years ahead in time and realize that all the destruction wraught upon the land is YOUR FAULT. Remember the subtle emotions expressed in the eyes and gestures of the characters? Remember that part on the bridge with Saria? Things like that stick in my mind.



As for Twilight Princess? When I saw the trailer with the Twilight Area in it.. I openly wept tears of joy and I am not ashamed of that at all. This upcoming game has the potential to tell one of the darkest stories in The Legend of Zelda series. I can't wait.

Ocarina of Time. by far the best zelda game ever. i have high hopes for twilight princess though.

this is true...



if you were too young to experience zelda on NES then maybe you should reconsider your thoughts.



i am an 82 baby which means i was a kid playing that game a preteen playing ocarina, which was the best one ever.



i hvaent kept up with gaming with this whole "growing up" but i will say that i love to read blogs like this for the sake of nostalgia.



can i get an amen for all of us that are old!

Ocarina of Time.

When you step onto hyrule field and just look at the vast openness of the world your in nothing else compares.....



The second reason is that this was the first of the series to introduce horseback riding, riding across hyrule on a horse was brilliant.

Are You Guys Kidding Me????



There isn't a question about this, the top 3 are



Ocarina of Time

Link To The Past

Legend Of Zelda



Period



Their order is irrelevant, these games are the games that people say "Super Nintendo, that was awesome because of Link to the Past" or "N64, that system would have died immediatly if it wasn't for everyone buying it to get Ocarina of Time"

After that, you can debate about anything you want, but when a series has 3 main characters: Link, Zelda and Gannon and the game does not feature 2 of those characters (Every other one has only link, save for Zelda in 2/SideScroll and Mask) It can not be the top game. It doesn't hurt that these 3 are the games with the hardest challenges (For you guys not using a book/faq) deepest secrets and most intense storyline



VenoM

Ocarina of time is the best hands down. It had a great story line and you needed to use your head alot more than in any other game. I wouldnt think Majroa's Mask was as good because of the whole "3-day" situation. OOT is seriously a game of thought. Best....Zelda game....ever....