The Legend of Zelda: Best to Worst

I did a series analysis a couple of years ago where I put in my personal best-to-worst order all the main games in the franchise and gave some thoughts about each. Now that I've finished A Link Between Worlds (which I loved!) I want to make an updated list. As new games come along, I'll reorder it too. But then, Zelda games don't come out terribly often so it's not a bit deal. (Again, I'm not including ports, remakes, or spinoffs in this list) EDIT (NOV 2014): Hyrule Warriors is a fun spin-off too, but it's not a main-series game. I'll revisit this list when the true Wii U Zelda game comes out. Hope it learns more from Link Between Worlds and doesn't make the same mistakes as Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword. (APR 2017) Breath of the Wild is really cool, so I'm revisiting this list and reordering some stuff based on personal taste.

List items

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  1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

  It's great. One of few absolutely perfectly designed games in existence. Truly timeless.

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  2. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

  So stylish, magical, and downright fun. The HD remake on the Wii U just solidifies the solid design choices and gorgeous, immersive world and updates it all for the modern era.

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  3. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

  Really didn't anticipate loving it quite this much. Perfect blend of old and new and a real revelation for what Zelda can be, much like Super Mario 3D Land did for its series, but better. I think it actually transcends the SNES game it's based on across the board and is perhaps the purest Zelda experience in a decade.

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  4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

  It's a revolution for action adventure games and exactly the kind of kick in the pants the series needed. It does the open world better than Skyrim or any other games, there is so much to discover and your creativity is rewarded in the numerous shrines and in the environment. It's truly excellent.

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  5. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

  Definitely a mainstay for me as a kid for long trips and piano lessons. It's a real classic. One of my very favorite games ever.

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  6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

  Really fun and influential. Also, pink hair.

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  7. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

  Ingenious design and controls, fun characters, interesting equipment and dungeons and a full ocean to explore all in the palm of your hand. What's not to like?

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  8. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

  Loved the dungeons, equipment, visual design, controls and world. Strongly disliked the music/sound design and the kinstone fusing system. It's a net positive, though.

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  9. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

  Really odd and melancholy and different. I'd like to see a non-Zelda spiritual successor to this that further fleshes out the themes and ideas since the dungeons and basic Zelda schtick was actually the least interesting stuff in the game.

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  10. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

  I'd almost say I like it better than Phantom Hourglass for the music, characters, and cool dungeons but the train navigation is soooo slowwwwwwwww.

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  11. The Legend of Zelda

  I heard somebody say this game has aged well. I say that person is certifiably nuts. But this game is important, and was really cool for the time.

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  12. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

  I like it, though it's really by-the-numbers and has a bit too many random hard-to-find collectibles for my taste.

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  13. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

  Also like it, though not as much as Seasons. Not sure if that was just an arbitrary decision on my part when I was younger. It's kind of like Chrono Trigger, though simpler in the time travelly department.

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  14. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

  Disappointing, boring and drab. It's got cool ideas here and there and some polish in its level design, and it's certainly not a bad game, but I really didn't like the feel of it and almost immediately forgot it right after beating the end boss. Made almost no impression on me other than complete ambivalence.

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  15. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

  Frustrating and needlessly difficult, but it's at least creative and different than the original. Worth checking out at least once.

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  16. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

  Plagued with fundamental design flaws around every corner that kept me from enjoying the game to any degree. I was enjoying how it started, liked the character-focused setup, and then they saddle you with the worst companion character the series has ever seen and force you to backtrack through the same tired, generic areas over and over again. Weirdly linear, limiting, and off-putting. Then the story goes into complete fan-fiction nonsense really quickly, just like Twilight Princess. Did not like this game at all.

  This is a bad game though, through and through.