@Taku128 said:

Personally I think Twilight Princess is the worst Zelda. I just found the dungeons in that game really boring, the overworld empty and dull, and I hated everything where you played as the wolf.

+1. Such a massive letdown.

@gladspooky said:

Hey, the one that actually tried new things is the one people vote for. What a shock.

this and

@JazGalaxy said:

@BisonHero said:

@spankingaddict said:

Zelda 2 , I guess . That's the only one that didn't hook me in . If you think TP is the worst , YOU'RE INSANE !

Zelda 2 is a very demanding game that is VERY different from the other Zelda games, but it really wasn't too bad, compared to the other NES games of the day.

Twilight Princess just did the fewest new things in a Zelda ever, and stuck so very close to formula. It wasn't bad, but it sure was boring. But whatever, I'm sure there are young kids out there for whom it was their first Zelda, and they totally love Midna or Wolf Link or whatever. It's certainly the worst 3D Zelda.

I don't get why people would think it's even a LITTLE bit bad. That is one of the best zelda games. the music is fantastic, among the best in the series, and pushed the NES further than any game of the time. The game is vastly different than it's predecessor, which is a great thing. Especially compared to modern times when games are just garbage clones of one another. It gave you a vastly different look at Hyrule and the people in it. And best of all, the 2d combat was fantastic. It was always challenging and thusly always fun. I think people who didn't play it at the time give it a bad rap in retrospect just because it sticks out so far from what Zelda was previously. I mean, barring the perspective, Zelda 3 has just as little in Common with Zelda 1 as Zelda 2 does.

This.

It's strange and sad that the most different one is considered the worst. I think in a way its also telling of the age of the poll takers.

Out of what I've played, it's got to be Twilight Princess.

The best Zelda is Wind Waker.

I refuse to vote, because I don't think any of them deserve to be called bad.

But fuck skyward sword. Fuck it in it's handholding butt.

I voted for Zelda II, but I my experience is coloured by the fact I'd played several of the 3D and 2D Zelda games before I went and actually tried it out. By saying it's the worst, I don't really feel like that, it was alright. It's the... least-best out of the ones I've played, I guess? 
 
Also, I am extremely happy that Wind Waker has 0 votes. What a fantastic game - even with the triforce shard fetch quest stuff at the end (which younger me didn't really mind, as I could just listen to the great sea music again and again and again... and again). I still remember the day I got my gamecube and started playing it. Goddammit guys, I don't want to buy a Wii U just for Wind Waker. But I might.

Purely out of the 3D console titles I have to go with Wind Waker, to me that game has a real lack of focus, and compared to the rest actually felt too long, it just gets tedious after a point.  
The gameplay is pretty good, but I didn't like pretty much any of the dungeons, I couldn't be bothered to do the loads of side quest stuff, the sailing was so boring, and I just really didn't care for the art direction (not the graphics or the cel-shading but the designs)

@markini6 said:

I remember all the people complaining about Wind Waker before its release, my heart fills with joy at the sight of it having received no votes. Of course now the devious bastards at Nintendo have secured one more Wii U purchase with its remake.

Yeah, but when people mention the hate The WIndWaker received on it's unveiling vs. the praise it got on it's release, it's important to remember that the final game wasn't anything like the trailer that was released.

The trailer featured link wearing what appeared to be eyeliner and a miniskirt running around dodging monsters and winking at the camera. The final link featured him wearing leggings/pants, and a far more assertive and masculine personality.

The final WindWaker was a response to the outrage against the trailer.

I voted Twilight Princess but Skyward Sword isn't much better. In SS they somehow made filling the vessel is even shittier with adding the patrols and the part where you have to collect the music notes is the worst.

@g6065 said:

@Taku128 said:

Personally I think Twilight Princess is the worst Zelda. I just found the dungeons in that game really boring, the overworld empty and dull, and I hated everything where you played as the wolf.

+1. Such a massive letdown.

+2

The Twilight Princess was awful, top to bottom.

From the get-go, when I was trying to get that Cat to go back to it's owners house, and no matter how many valid solutions I came up with to get the cat to the right location, it kept wanting me to do JUST the right obscure thing the developer wanted me to. That happened a number of times throughout the game which just led to my frustration and hating the whole experience.

Never mind the part when the character pops up telling you to collect the 8 magic widgets for no other reason than to make it a zelda game. It was like they weren't even trying. And link turning into a wolf was the most transparent gimmick I think hte series has ever relied on.

Twilight Princess was awesome, and fuck everybody who says otherwise :P

The WORST Zelda game is without a doubt Spirit Tracks. Spending half of the game watching Link slowly riding a train without anything to do, who thought that wasa good idea?

I'm pleased to say that even though some jokers selected Majora's Mask which, as we all know, is the best Zelda ever made the awesomenes that is Link's Awakening is still untouched. Good on you internet

I don't know. I DON'T KNOW!

Gonna say Phantom Hourglass as well, though I haven't even played Spirit Tracks or some of the other Zeldas.

Majora is probably my favourite. Also glad to see no one hates Minish Cap, since that was the last Zelda game I just really, really enjoyed.

Definitely Majora's Mask.

Also, what's up with people all of a sudden saying that Ocarina is bad? When did that start?

@Abendlaender said:

The WORST Zelda game is without a doubt Spirit Tracks. Spending half of the game watching Link slowly riding a train without anything to do, who thought that wasa good idea?

The sailing in Phantom Hourglass was worse. At least in Spirit Tracks, you could set your destination, then just set your DS in your lap for a few minutes, and only have to do anything if you hear the music turn into the "enemies nearby" music. In Phantom Hourglass, you set your destination, then the game randomly spawns spiky fences out of the damn water, with no warning, that you have to perfectly time a jump to get over. Why the fuck does your boat even jump?

Spirit Tracks. Zelda game with trains.

I am stunned so many people voted for Majora's Mask.

Playing spirit tracks now and the train bits fucking blow. I imagine the design meeting went something like, "Well people really seemed to hate the sailing bits in Wind Waker, is there any way to make them more boring?"

Haven't played them all, but I doubt any of them would be worse than Zelda 2. God, that game is terrible.

Second place goes to Skyward Sword. It's not really a bad game though, just bogged down by so many bad decisions and frustrating controls.

Why aren't the CDi games on here? They are the right answer. Anyway I choose Zelda 2.

Of the ones I've played (which is basically all of the main console ones except Twilight Princess), I would choose Windwaker. In terms of gameplay I felt like they put a lot more of an emphasis on the combat then there was in earlier entries, and I really didn't find fighting enemies particularly enjoyable. In addition to that I found a lot of the puzzles less clever, and the items you get weren't nearly as cool. And even though the game is beautiful in a lot of ways, I don't appreciate what they did with the character design, it was kind of difficult to take any of them seriously that way. Not that Windwaker is bad, it just didn't jive with my tastes very well.

Also I'm honestly a little surprised by all of the Skyward Sword hate. I really enjoyed my time with that game.

Phantom Hourglass. Those forced stylus controls killed it.

From what I've played, the first one. That overworld is some cryptic bullshit.

Glad to see the windwaker isn't getting any hate, its my personal favorite but it was my understanding a lot of people don't like it, zelda 2 for me

Yeah, where are the Phillips CDi ones. That's the obvious answer.

Skyward Sword. It was between that and Twilight Princess, but I beat Twilight Princess.

I voted for Spirit Tracks. I wasn't a fan of the control scheme of Phantom Hourglass, but there was a really good game hidden behind it. Spirit Tracks took everything I didn't like about Phantom Hourglass, specifically tracing paths, and built that into it's own game. I feel like it doesn't have many votes because not as many of you have tried it.

But yeah. Zelda 2. What were they thinking?

I thought the GBC games were lame, but not terrible.

I hadn't played anything between Ocarina and Phantom Hourglass until I got the two free GBA games on the 3DS, and what I played of the four swords game bored the hell out of me. I'm glad I missed a whole chunk of these games, I assume it made Skyward Sword feel a lot fresher to me than someone who had played all of those games.

Not played Spirit Tracks either.

TP for me..it was a good game and I enjoyed it somewhat, but it as others have said it was very derivative to OOT w/o offering anything new or interesting. Nintendo played it very safe w/ the GC/Wii crossover taking place (I had the GC version) and it showed.

Zelda 2 is certainly the black sheep of the the family, but I enjoyed it. The overworld wasn't great but the dungeons, magic use and combat were challenging and fun. I would also like to know why people didn't like OOT or MM. I know this is the Internet, but how 'bout some substance, peeps?

Four Swords, by virtue of it being the least Zelda like game of all of them.

Of the 3D ones: Twilight Princess.

Phantom Hourglass - the only Zelda game I did not feel like finishing. Also it left so bad taste in my mouth that I have, not nor I'll ever have, any interest towards the Spirit Tracks.

If Angry Video Game Nerd is anything to go by, you can't have a conversation about bad/worst Zelda games without discussing the CD-i games.

I've only beaten two Zelda games - OoT and MM, and of the two I prefer MM, so OoT is worst by default, despite it still being one of my most formative gaming experiences.

Spirit Tracks - An unbelievably frustrating experience from beginning to end.

Phantom Hourglass. That was the one Zelda game I never beat. Right behind it, I would say Wind Waker.

@BisonHero: I think part of the reason I like Spirit tracks less than Phantom Hourglass is just because I played through all of phantom hourglass and wasn't really jumping up and down to play another zelda like that again. I squeezed some fun out of phantom hourglass and thought it was decent, but the idea of playing through another zelda like that doesn't really appeal to me. I gave spirit tracks a try and got sick of it after about 5 or 6 hours.

My next choice would've been Zelda II, but its been so long since I played that. Spirit Tracks is a bit more fresh in my mind.

Of the ones I've played: Skyward Sword. The world felt barren and none of the dungeons really grabbed me. It might have just been me finally having my fill of Zelda, though.

I think I'll say that Spirit Tracks was not fun or engaging, Phantom Hourglass had it's moments, and all the rest are varying degrees of great and excellent.

I played all the way through Phantom Hourglass, and at points it really felt like a chore to keep going, but I was determined. I think I picked up Spirit Tracks the day I finished Phantom Hourglass, and when I saw that the game was all about taking all the gameplay mechanics I hated from Phantom Hourglass deeper, I put the game down. I can't imagine anyone voting for Skyward Sword or Twilight Princess has played the DS games.

The original. It's just so basic and shallow and doesn't even really have much in the way of story. The way they fit it into the timeline reflects this.

Sad to see the hate for SS. It's my favorite :)

Skyward Sword. I get nothing out of that game. Nothing feels fun about that game for me.

Oh man I should have chosen Twilight Princess. That game was ridiculously bland.

I would say Zelda 2. I don't get all the Twilight Princess hate.

All the people who voted for Zelda II make me sick

I actively dislike Majora's Mask, but of the Zelda games I've almost finished, Twilight Princess is easily my least favorite. To put it bluntly, it's a Zelda game going through the motions of being a Zelda game without any of the enthusiasm. I can't say Zelda 2 because I've never seriously attempted to play it.

WHERE ARE THE CDi GAMES EGGMAN YOU SAID THERE'D BE CDi GAMES

Skyward Sword for me. Never played Zelda 2.

Twilight Princess is Nintendo saying "shit the wrong and stupid part of the internet bitched about Wind Waker being shit! Quick, make OoT again!"

Everything about that game is just trying way too hard to do what OoT did for Zelda games and failed.

@Hailinel said:

The lack of CDi Zelda games on this poll disturbs me.

That would just be an easy cop out answer.