which nes game is better

I severely dislike the original Zelda. It's probably just because I was too dumb to figure it out as a kid. I should play through that thing now.

Didn't even have to think about it.

SMB3. Always Super Mario Bro's 3.

Super Mario Bros. 3 of course!

Zelda.

Problem with the first LoZ game was a complete lack of direction. It was a very, VERY prototypical open-world game which resulted in a game that had you aimlessly wandering around. It was one of the shining examples of games that required a strategy guide to get anywhere in, or at least the map from Nintendo Power.

SMB3 was my selection, as it's a game that has held up much better against the test of time.

I still go back to SMB3 every few months. It's been years since I've touched the original Zelda.

@yukoasho said:

Pretty much my thoughts as well.

Zelda did a lot of cool things and really encouraged exploration, but it required a huge amount of trial and error to actually figure out what you were supposed to do, or the use of a walkthrough. Still a pretty great game, but the lack of direction was a big flaw.

For me it's not so much the aimless wandering that's objectionable, personally I like it when games take the training wheels off any let you figure out how to proceed on your own. The objectionable part to me about Legend of Zelda is all the "push this very specific rock in a very specific direction to proceed" bullshit.

@keres - There it is. In this regard at least, I found Zelda II to be much better. Of course, Zelda II had other issues.

@kevin_cogneto The specific rock in a specific direction thing is rather part of it, though. So much of how to progress in that game was completely and totally fucking arbitrary. Compare this game to Link to the Past. It's nowhere near as hand-holdy as GameCube and Wii games, but you're never not told where to go. It just becomes a question of "how do I get there?" An open-world game shouldn't drag you by the nose, but it should respect you enough to at least give you an idea of WTF to do. Even the Neutopia games were better about this.

That last dungeon is fucking retarded...just played through it, a month or so back...I dont recommend if your not a patient person.

The original Legend of Zelda has aged horribly. Doesn't help that SMB3 is one of the best Mario games. SMB3 any day in this scenario.

These kinds of "battle" polls are considered spam here on Giant Bomb. Locking this down.