When I first started playing Ocarina of Time way back in 1998/1999, I had very low expectations of the game, mostly because I was never into the whole medieval fantasy setting, but from those first days in Kokiri Forest all the way up to my most recent game falling through the skies of Tears of the Kingdom… I can safely say this is by far my favourite game series and it’s not even close.
As of last year I can safely say that I’ve played through every single Zelda game and while most are, in my biased opinion, masterpieces, Nintendo is also guilty of pushing out a couple of let downs as well as you’ll see at the top of this list.
This list is entirely my opinion and I know for a fact almost everyone will disagree with it 😜 enjoy!
20
I said at the start of this that I’ve played every Zelda main line game. One thing I wish I could say is that I completed them all. Well, here’s the problem, Tri Force Heroes, to me, is unplayable. The story is almost non existent, the controls are beyond janky to say the least and the multiplayer leaves a lot to be desired with its region locked gameplay which really limits your ability to play with friends in world where we are socially global, even back in 2015 when this was released.
To me it felt like a bunch of test dungeons thrown together with a very weird fashion gimmick thrown on top as a last minute idea. This is the only Zelda game I really don’t like and I’ve ranked it the lowest because of this. I’d honestly give this a 0/10 if I was scoring these.
19
Fav track – Vaati
Four Swords is a very short game, I think in total I only spent a few hours playing it. Originally it was a multiplayer only game, but for the 25th anniversary, it was re-released with a singleplayer version which is what I played. It’s a very difficult game to get your hands on legitimately since it was removed from the eShop very quickly after release, so I got mine by purchasing a cheap DS Lite with it installed already on eBay. The gameplay itself was very basic and there wasn’t much to it. As it was originally designed with Multiplayer in mind, the main gimmick here was co-operation so singleplayer definitely didn’t feel very special.
The visuals are nearly identical to Minish Cap, which was also developed by Capcom, and it’s also appropriate as this is when we first get introduced to the villainous wind sage Vaati who would go on to be part of Minish Cap and Four Swords Adventures. It’s a fun game, albeit short but not very memorable when compared to the other titles.
18
Fav track – Dungeon
I played this game 30 years after its release around 2016ish on my 3DS. Much like most early games, this was a very challenging one and I’m not going to lie, I abused the save points in the 3DS so I could enjoy the experience of playing the game. The original intent by Nintendo was to encourage kids to share secrets they find in the game so that they could progress by working together. In the 80s/90s this was an awesome concept, but in the modern era this doesn’t really apply anymore with the ease of information.
I mostly used a walkthrough to get me through the game as well, but the times I didn’t really made me feel like I was in an open and somewhat realistic world without many clues, you kinda had to try things out and see if anything happened at the risk of losing precious items like bombs. It’s truly a special game that’ll be remembered forever, but not something I’d revisit regularly.
17
Fav track – Temple
This is probably one of the most disliked Zelda games, it introduced a lot of RPG elements and side scrolling, which is a far cry from any other Zelda titles. So why did I place it above The Legend of Zelda? This felt like SUCH an accomplishment to beat, it wasn’t just challenging, it was straight up torture. The combat is almost pixel perfect so you got a huge sense of accomplishment when you actually beat enemies and especially the bosses. The overworld was simplistic, and frustrating at times, but it really added a sense of scale and different lands that The Legend of Zelda didn’t quite have.
Visually I wouldn’t say it’s anything special, it’s probably the least appealing game to look at, but it introduced some amazing music. For all its faults, it was a really good experiment of new gameplay that pushed Zelda in the right direction for years to come.
16
Fav track – Overworld (Past)
This game is loved dearly by the community, so I’m sure it being this low will be sour for any Zelda fans reading this, but for me this game really tested my patience at times. I love puzzles, but some of these were overly difficult. Now that’s just a me thing, I’m sure a lot of people got through this game with ease but I’ll always remember being frustrated with my lack of intuition or imagination which really stopped me from progressing as quickly as I’d had liked. With that being said, the overworld was immense, there was so much to do and the Gameboy visuals will always have a special place in my heart. It’s a great game, albeit a frustrating one at times for me personally.
15
Fav track – Tarm Ruins
Which leads us to Oracle of Seasons. Think of this as the Pokémon Blue to Ages’s Pokémon Red, although a very similar experience, it actually is an entirely different game with a unique story and overworld. This was a MUCH better experience to me, it focused a lot more on the story and combat, which is right up my aisle. The puzzles were still challenging, but they weren’t anything I couldn’t overcome. When playing both games, you can link them up and fight Ganon at the end of the game who is now a mindless monster acting on instinct, making him quite dangerous. Overall I enjoyed this one quite a bit.
14
Fav track – Map
I played the singleplayer version of this game, and going in I thought it’d probably be very limited like Four Swords since it’s advertised heavily as a multiplayer game but I absolutely loved every second of it. It does get very repetitive at times, even more than your usual Zelda game, but it’s actually really engaging and challenging. This is the only “multiplayer” Zelda I actually really loved playing overall and while this has quite a bad rep, I think it’s awesome. I’d love to someday play this with 3 other friends (But unfortunately because of its age, online multiplayer is a bit of a chore…).
13
Fav track – Title
As of writing this, this is the most recent Zelda game. As you’ll read later on, I adored Breath of the Wild, I think it’s truly ground-breaking and probably the most realistic feeling game I’ve ever played… however it’s successor Tears of the Kingdom fell flat for me especially after 6 years of waiting. It’s a great game, but it’s a pretty poor Zelda title. While it actually had some decent dungeons, a definite upgrade from BOTW, it felt like such a copy and paste in so many areas especially the ridiculous sage dialogue… it felt REALLY rushed.
The depths felt dead and void of any soul (Not in a good way) and the sky islands felt really underwhelming and small. The building mechanics are impressive, but it really made me feel like I was playing something other than Zelda. Other than shrines, I rarely did much with the building side of things. Nintendo has been quite public in saying they had too many ideas in BOTW, which were later added to TOTK, but I really just wish they made this game story DLC for BOTW without all the new gimmicks, then focused on an entirely new game.
I must say though that the final confrontation with Ganon was extremely good, perhaps one of the best fights ever actually especially all of the cutscenes in-between the phases. I went in completely unprepared with no food/gloom prevention and was stuck in a save file where I couldn’t go back to get better gear. I spent hours fighting him really late into the night, failing each time, I woke up the next day after my brain was doing fight simulations all night in my dreams 😂 and beat him first try in the early hours of the morning. Amazing ending, it’s just such a shame that the game itself is really forgettable and too similar to BOTW in most areas.
12
Fav track – Midna in Distress
It took me so many years to beat this. The beginning of the game is very slow and a little underwhelming in my opinion. I restarted at least 3 times between 2016-2023 because I’d just get so bored early on and forget what I was doing when I’d revisit it months/years later. However… once you get past the beginning, this is a top tier Zelda game and it’s very memorable. After Wind Waker’s cartoony backlash, you could tell Nintendo went all in with the darker vibe and as always they hit it out of the park, the game is gorgeous and a great example of how to use bloom correctly in a game.
The dungeons really tested me, a lot more than I thought they would but it was a good kind of challenging which required me to get a lot better rather than repeating mundane tasks. The most memorable thing for me though were the characters, it really felt like a real world that I was trying to save. Overall I really love this one, but the beginning really left a bad taste in my mouth for a long time.
11
Fav track – Forest of Mystery
Like most 2D Zeldas on this list, this was a real challenge for me. A lot of times I was really confused where to go or what to do… but… I really enjoyed that about this game. The hand holding was there if you needed it, but otherwise, explore the entire map and figure it out yourself. This really reminded me of playing Pokémon Red as a kid and having to talk to all the NPCs to figure out what I might need to do to advance.
The dungeons, were incredibly tough, I’d spend a lot of time trying to figure them out as best as I could without any guidance. The bosses in the dungeons, especially Ganon, were very very challenging and I remember spending a lot of time trying to beat them. The visuals are the most memorable thing for me, I don’t think there’s a more beautiful sprite based game out there that I’ve played, it’s truly an artistic masterpiece.
10
Fav track – Let The Journey Begin
Probably the most “trippy” Zelda game, and for good reason. This all takes place in a dream world (Or does it ;D?) where the Wind Fish’s egg looms over the island. The whole plot is that you must wake the Wind Fish, but by doing this you essentially destroy the entire land (Nintendo sure does love its dark undertones), heck even the bosses beg you not to wake the Wind Fish 😱. I really enjoyed the 2D version but the remake in 3D is next level greatness, it had such a beautiful visual upgrade that made it look like a stunning plastic toy/clay sort of world. The game itself feels somewhat similar to A Link to the Past in that it’s quite hard to figure out what to do next (Which I love!) so there’s a lot of exploring and figuring things out. A very memorable game that’ll be with me forever.
9
Fav track – Hyrule Town
This one really had everything, I think it’s the peak 2D Zelda experience visually and it has an incredible soundtrack that’ll have you humming it for years to come (I can’t get Hyrule Town stuck out of my head as I’m typing this). The whole getting smaller and visiting the Minish gimmick is really incredible, major “Honey I shrunk the kids” vibes that really adds depth to the world. I think Vaati is really underrated as a bad guy in the Zelda series, I wish we’d see more of him in the future because there’s a ton of potential there. He seems completely detached from Demise’s curse, and is just a complete piece of shit that wants to rule the world which you don’t often see outside of Ganon in the timeline.
The thing I really like most is how “modern” this game feels compared to others, even BOTW which relies on a lot of futuristic technology. It feels like what a “futuristic” Zelda game should be, which is odd to say because it places very far behind in the overall timeline, huh.
8
Fav track – Great Sea
Oh boy, this one has a lot of hate but I honestly thought it was an awesome game. The main complaint people had about this one were the controls, but I gotta say, I actually thought they were phenomenal and incredibly unique. The DS unfortunately really lacked visually, and it turned Wind Waker Link into a bit of an odd looking fellow but where it lacks visually it makes up for everywhere else. It’s one of those games that looks quite terrible BUT it’s so captivating that your brain makes it look better than it actually is, does that make sense? What I’m trying to say is, it grabs your attention and your imagination takes the wheel I guess, especially looking back on it retrospectively. It captures the overworld exploration of the GameCube’s Wind Waker really well too, which is surprising on a handheld.
This is the sort of game that BEGS for a modern remake, I really think it would fly off the shelves. The repeating dungeons were a bit of a let down and quite tiresome, but it’s definitely challenging and fun overall.
7
Fav track – Overworld
This one got even more hate than Phantom Hourglass, and honestly before I played this game I was convinced I was going to absolutely hate everything about it… but… it turns out I ended up loving this game a lot. It has almost the exact same visual issues as Phantom Hourglass, and the overworld is really dull to look at honestly… but I really love the train gimmick (I never thought I’d say that before playing this). The story is a bit more engaging than Phantom Hourglass and overall it just feels like a bit of an upgrade, especially having Zelda fight by your side for the first time ever.
6
Fav track – Lanayru Desert
So I actively avoided this game in hopes that they’d do a remake, because I heard the controls were terrible on the Wii. Thankfully my patience paid off with the release of the HD version on the Switch which fixed a lot of the control issues that plagued the original. What a great story that gives tells the tale of “The Legend of Zelda” and the origins of the hero, Hylia and Demise’s curse. The imprisoned was really lame, but other than that I can’t think of anything wrong with this game, it was a blast to play.
The timeshift stones and the entire desert area were the most memorable part of this game for me, I think that might be one of my overall favourite parts of any Zelda game. Demise was a BITCH to beat, you really had to figure out his fighting patterns and time things perfectly, I remember spending easily 20-30 attempts at beating him. This is easily one of the best Zelda games ever made, and it doesn’t deserve the hate it got when it was first released.
5
Fav track – Astral Observatory
This game was HARD for me. I really struggled with this, but in a good way, it kept me engaged and pushed me to figure out how to progress. Once you understand the time gimmick and how to use it correctly, you’ll have an absolute blast. The fact that this game was made in a year is incredible to me. Even though it uses Ocarina of Time’s assets, it really feels like an entirely different game with a unique plot (As opposed to Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild).
I’m amazed how dark Nintendo went with this one, and it really makes you see how your actions have consequences, which you don’t see in most Zelda games which are frozen in a specific timeframe that you play in. This game is filled with side quests which you don’t need to do to complete the game, but if you do them, you’ll see whole stories play out that impact the rest of the game… a lot of games rely on fetch quests whereas this game feels incredibly realistic with its quests.
I honestly didn’t think I’d end up liking this game when I first saw it, I remember being very put off by it when I first tried it in the early 2000s but when I got it on the 3DS many years later, it grabbed me straight away and I couldn’t put it down.
4
Fav track – Dragon Roost Island
I’m actually replaying this as of writing this. This might be the most visually beautiful games I’ve ever played. The cell shaded graphics got SO much hate when it released because people were expecting something like Twilight Princess which released a few years later due to the backlash. Honestly, I was part of that camp too as a kid, I wanted something gritty not something that looked like a cartoon. Fast forward to a decade or so later, it’s now one of the most loved Zelda games and its visuals are praised heavily (Including by me). I think once you get over that disappointment from the time, you really see what Nintendo was trying (And succeeded) to do, make an absolutely beautiful cartoon world which was FULL of life. This world really feels alive, and that was a hard thing to do back in the early 2000s.
The controls were a major upgrade from Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask, they really made the games before them feel a bit clunky, allowing for a more loose free gameplay. The story itself is incredible, it really felt connected to the past and explains what happened when the Hero of Time vanished from their world, leaving them without a hero. Now, the best thing about this game is the sailing, when you get into that boat and hear that amazing overworld music… my god… I think I could just do that for hours if you asked me to.
The “Wind Waker” is.. a bit lame if I’m honest, compared to other musical items in other games, it doesn’t even feel like it earns the title of the game at all… if I was going to name this game it’d be something like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Gods to represent what happened with the great flood by the Gods.
3
Fav track – Lorule Castle
Oh my God I LOVED playing this game, it was my #2 Zelda game for such a long time. It takes place in the same beloved world as A Link to the Past, which was a lot of fun to revisit. I actually had (Much like most Zelda games) low expectations going in but the world switching gimmick and being able to flatten yourself on the wall is SUCH a good idea. It really allows for a huge amount of imagination for puzzles and world building.
The game was the first time in a long time where Zelda wasn’t linear (I think since the original?), you could basically do a lot of the dungeons in many different orders, even “renting” different dungeon items. The story was nothing like I thought it’d be and it really surprised me a lot along the way, especially Yuga and Ganon fusing, Lorule Link’s reveal and basically the entire ending.
It also has quite possibly one of the best soudntracks of any Zelda game, ESPECIALLY Lorule Castle’s theme which feels like a remix of different themes from the series… when Ganon’s music starts kicking in midway through, you realise you’re in deep shit and you have to save the kingdom. Most music is ambient for me, and I end up appreciating it AFTER I’ve beaten the game, but the Lorule Castle theme made me stop in the game and go “Oh fuck, this is real”. Such a goosebump moment for me and I knew Ganon was lurking somewhere later in the game waiting for me. Much like Phantom Hourglass, this game SCREAMS for a remake on a modern system.
2
Fav track – Rito Village (Day)
This was the game I visualized in my head whenever I was young playing any Zelda game, but come to life. It’s the version of Link that I always aspire to be, one that explores epic landscapes and is one with nature. You can tell that Nintendo poured everything they had into this game to make it feel like a real world that you’re dropped in, yet, familiar. I waited so long for this game to come out, and I purchased it (Along with my Switch) on the day of release with zero hesitation.
I’ll be straight with you, I was in a shitty relationship at the time, someone who didn’t appreciate me or my hobbies, including special games like this, and when Link ran out of the Shrine of Resurrection and overlooked this GIGANTIC kingdom for me to explore, it hit me right in the gut and I couldn’t share that feeling with anyone but myself. It felt SPECIAL. I was looking at a work of art. I’d never 100% any game before this, but I had to with Breath of the Wild, I needed to do everything in this game and explore every inch of it (And most importantly, not rush it). It’s funny, because I started Breath of the Wild in a dark place in 2017 and in 2022 when I 100% the game, I had such an amazing girlfriend (Now wife!) that I could share that moment with :). It has its downsides, especially in the dungeon department, but everything else elevates it so high.
1
Fav track – Gerudo Valley
This is the game that made me choose the name “Link”. I had never played such an open game before this, it felt like a true adventure was inside this cartridge instead of the usual short game crap you got with most N64 games (N64 is my fav console, but it had some really shitty games). I can’t explain the hook this game had on me, it was like one of those books that you’d pick up curiously and couldn’t put down until you finished every last bit. Much like Wind Waker, this game feels alive, like you’ve been dropped into their world and you have to act quickly.
Leaving Kokiri Forest and seeing this huge field in front of you was breath-taking to me as a kid, I had never seen such a big open space in a game before, I felt like I was outside and it just kept going on forever. The game really challenged my problem solving skills, especially in the Forest Temple where I actually got stuck trying to find a key on and off for a year until I finally realized my mistake. Similar with the dreaded Water Temple, but everyone had problems with that from what I hear. At no point did getting stuck for months ever bother me, I knew it was a challenge that I would overcome and I was in absolutely no rush to finish the game. Heck, even being stuck in the Forest Temple was a treat.
I usually don’t like replaying games but I can’t count the amount of time I’ve revisited this and played it all the way through, even recently I 100% this game which really made me appreciate how much time and effort Nintendo put into this. The music is next level, the temples are unique and well designed, the bosses are memorable and fun to fight and overall it just “plays” really well. In my opinion, this is the perfect game. A remake would be incredible, but the version we have today is more than enough to stand on its own forever without question.
