Anime Best Zelda

[A user named cat]

Probably the only Zelda fan who's never played through Majora's Mask while having beaten nearly every other game in the series. Hated the time limit aspect. Fuck time limits in all non-linear games especially when you want to explore, get your high heels off my balls and let me play at my own pace. Always put me off from this game but I guess I should go back and play through it eventually to see what all the fuss is about.

 

[AArmanFV]

With the reverse song of time you can win the game in one day.

Edit: Shit, I lied. In 3 cycles you can.

 

[MrRichard999]

Some of these Zelda hacks are phenominal... Should check them out on www.romhacking.net

 

[AArmanFV]

http://www.purezc.net/

 

[boot]

I don't think there is a best Zelda. If I had to choose it'd be between OoT and MM. Majora's Mask is the 'deeper' more intricate game but Ocarina has a better pace and I like how simple it is.

WW is the cutoff for the series. Everything that came after is hard to defend. WW itself is a hard sell.

 

[MRY]

I remember A Link to the Past being absurdly easy -- like, I beat it in a day or maybe two when I bought it as a kid. I know there are lots of secrets to go explore on the side, and I realize that a fair bit of what made the two NES Zeldas hard was grindiness, but I dunno, it was recognizably easier even before I had any kind of a chip on my shoulder about such things. I don't remember feeling any particular satisfaction in beating it, while the original Zelda felt like a huge victory. That said, this is me trying to remember feelings I had a quarter century ago (30 years for the original), so maybe if I went back and replayed them both it would be less obvious now.

I also remember thinking that the plot elements actually weakened A Link to the Past -- the plot was thin but there was just enough of it to feel kind of railroady and lame at the start, and too melodramatic or something. Again, this is how I felt as a chipper 11 year old, not some jaded old man. I mean, Zelda had snippets of dialogue, but there wasn't any pretense at giving a narrative for what you were doing (outside the goofy manual), and that made it feel even more open and exploratory.

So I'd go with the original, not just because it was groundbreaking but because I remember finding it more satisfying than any of the follow-ons.

(Incidentally, a similar argument can be made against SNES Super Contra vis-a-vis NES Contra, but I don't think the same is true of Super Metroid or Castlevania IV; they are a little easier than their NES counterparts, but they were no joke.)

 

[Irenaeus]

I remember A Link to the Past being absurdly easy -- like, I beat it in a day or maybe two when I bought it as a kid. I know there are lots of secrets to go explore on the side, and I realize that a fair bit of what made the two NES Zeldas hard was grindiness, but I dunno, it was recognizably easier even before I had any kind of a chip on my shoulder about such things. I don't remember feeling any particular satisfaction in beating it, while the original Zelda felt like a huge victory. That said, this is me trying to remember feelings I had a quarter century ago (30 years for the original), so maybe if I went back and replayed them both it would be less obvious now.

I also remember thinking that the plot elements actually weakened A Link to the Past -- the plot was thin but there was just enough of it to feel kind of railroady and lame at the start, and too melodramatic or something. Again, this is how I felt as a chipper 11 year old, not some jaded old man. I mean, Zelda had snippets of dialogue, but there wasn't any pretense at giving a narrative for what you were doing (outside the goofy manual), and that made it feel even more open and exploratory.

So I'd go with the original, not just because it was groundbreaking but because I remember finding it more satisfying than any of the follow-ons.

Never played the SNES games, only the NES ones, but from what I read elsewhere, agree 100%.

 

[AArmanFV]

The first zelda was about to explore without the restrictions of the later ones, you could finish it "how you wanted", it's like the rpg transformed into arcade. The second has other approach giving more enphasize in combat with a slight rpg element (Now you grow with exp. points), still one of the best zeldas, so don't believe to the ignorants that say "it's the black sheep".

Then the series started to depend on gimmicks and narrative elements, but were still good games, the problem was the lack of challenge. Then appeared Twilight Princess, yikes.

 

[Damned Registrations]

3rd Zelda was still pretty open, it gave you a suggested dungeon order and some light story elements sure, but you weren't railroaded by them. I consider it a decent tradeoff for all the extra features it had- far more interesting items like the hookshot, ice wand, pegasus boots, hammer, etc. and simply a much bigger world, especially with the mirror and dark world and the way it interacted with everything.

2nd Zelda was indeed ball smashingly difficult, mostly due to extremely fast paced twitchy sword fights with all but the simplest enemies and a steady supply of death pits. The awful translation didn't help either, but I won't penalize it for that. It's a fun game, one of my favourite platformers, but at the end of the day it's too simple. The spells are pretty much all extremely boring. It's not like casting heal or shield is some difficult decision to make. Thunder may as well not even exist, it's a glorified key you use once during the whole game. Jump isn't much better, again it's terribly obvious where to use it and utterly a waste everywhere else.

 

[Somberlain]

The first zelda was about to explore without the restrictions of the later ones, you could finish it "how you wanted", it's like the rpg transformed into arcade. The second has other approach giving more enphasize in combat with a slight rpg element (Now you grow with exp. points), still one of the best zeldas, so don't believe to the ignorants that say "it's the black sheep".

I always thought it was called the black sheep of the franchise because it was so different with its side scrolling gameplay and RPG elements, not because it was "bad".

 

[AArmanFV]

Maybe, but there are a lot of people who think is kind of bad because the unconventional design. And the "black sheep" is a concept that almost refers to something hated for what I known. Or maybe that episode of the cow and chicken teached me wrong.

 

[Damned Registrations]

"Black sheep" generally refers to a a person/animal excluded from what should be it's group by birthright, due to being too different. Zelda 2 qualifies nicely- it doesn't get praised by fans of the rest of the series because it's too different (or more likely because it's too difficult and people hate to admit that.)

 

[Irenaeus]

fans of the rest of the series

are a retarded demographic imho

Outside OoT and MM, what I've seen is shit

 

[boot]

Zelda 2 isn't a black sheep, it's like a black grandfather

 

[Keldryn]

Twilight Princess is probably my favorite. It has the most polished gameplay of the 3D Zelda titles as well as some great dungeons.

Skyward Sword is definitely my least favorite of the main series. Some great ideas in there, but it just had too many problems. Phantom Hourglass is possibly worse though.

The original will always be the "best" as that was the first game that I got with my NES back in 1988, and immediately became the benchmark for all other NES games. At one time, I could play through the first quest (with all hearts and items) from memory in about two hours. Without dying. The last time I tried playing it (on my 3DS), I couldn't stop dying every 10 min or so.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Probably the only Zelda fan who's never played through Majora's Mask while having beaten nearly every other game in the series. Hated the time limit aspect. Fuck time limits in all non-linear games especially when you want to explore, get your high heels off my balls and let me play at my own pace. Always put me off from this game but I guess I should go back and play through it eventually to see what all the fuss is about.

It's irrelevant outside of dungeons, since it's a Groundhog Day situation that you can speed up / slow down / reset at will (until the last second where shit hits the fan) and you keep the important items so you don't need to get the hookshot everytime you reset. You have a journal to keep track of known schedules, so you can resume your stalking if you get sidetracked. And even dungeons won't be an issue if you enter them at the beginning of the cycle, which is like three real life hours with the slowdown effect active.

 

[Ludo Lense]

Majora's Mask. Proof that you can make a dark atmosphere without being stupidly grimdork like 99% of games out there that attempt mature themes...which usually means breasts and enough blood to redecorate your entire city red.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

Zelda 2 is actually my favorite in the series. To me it's an example of a challenging but fair game aside from a few obtuse quests, locations and hidden pathways. It's combat system is so simple, yet so tense and satisfying. Death is always around the corner unless you're playing skillfully and intelligently. I can't stop myself from booting up Zelda 2 every now and then, while the same can't be said for a lot of the newer puzzle-centric cakewalks. It's pure, quality gameplay through and through.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons

 

[Malpercio]

Alttp.

Modern Zelda are the very definition of dumped down shit for casual, the game treats you like you have brain damage.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I honestly can't understand how people can enjoy the 3D zelda games. I've tried playing OoT a couple times before, and I barely get anywhere before I'm sick of the game explaining obvious shit and panning the camera towards things I already knew were going to happen.

 

[Jason Liang]

Zelda 2 The Adventure of Link- I am really fond of this one. The title screen and title screen are both epic. The death screen is awesome too. The best part of the game were the six Palaces and the Great Palace. You really felt things kick up a notch, and exploring the Great Palace was so isanely intense. It's a game where you felt like the enemies are actually more powerful than you; I can't remember another game where I had to run away so often because I couldn't beat an enemy. I suppose there is some of that when you played the first Zelda, but it's even greater in Zelda 2. And that sinking feeling when you see those curtains and you know you've finally found the boss (almost like the boss breathing sound in the original Zelda) is intense. You see the boss and its just standing there, do you dare to fight it? And then you go ahead... and it rapes you. Repeatedly. And the last two bosses in the Great Palace are insane. As far as the magic system, I think it was pretty polished for its time. Shield, Jump, Reflect, Fire, Life, Fairy and Spell are all immensely generally useful abilities throughout the game.

Link to the Past- I didn't own a SNES so I only played this on emulator many years later. But that long intro really turned me off, so the game didn't really click for me.

Link's Awakening- Probably the best marriage of the gameplay between Link to the Past and the original Zelda.

Ocarina of Time- I played through this feverishly; I played it through in 2 days straight, sleeping maybe only 3-4 hours. And the feeling of beating this game was so, so good. But I didn't like that the boss battles were basically all puzzles; there wasn't any straight up fights like say fighting a Gleelock in the original Zelda. I miss the straight up boss fights from the first 2 Zeldas. And the Water Palace made me nauseous

 

[Jason Liang]

Just watched Pro_JN's insane Zelda 2 speedrun.

http://www.speedrun.com/run/9mrdwdzq

If you watch, don't skip the end fight against Thunderbird.

 

[Somberlain]

But I didn't like that the boss battles were basically all puzzles

Puzzles where you know in advance that the key is to use the item you find in the boss' dungeon. I haven't played any new Zeldas in the last 10 years or so but I seriously hope they dropped this tired and predictable trope already.

 

[Machocruz]

I hope one day they'll MakeZeldaGreatAgain, but I don't see it happening with the next game or as long as Aonuma is making them. He needs to read The Odyssey or watch Ray Harryhausen movies, Record of Lodoss War, etc. and get off the faggot baby puzzles and NPC shit. /edgy

Or, you know, play the original again (which Aonuma couldn't beat...).

Link is an adventure hero. He lives by the sword, he's not Bilbo with his riddles and sneaksy Hobbity ways. There have still been whiffs of it here and there, but they haven't stuck the landing in a long ass time. Sailing was a very good idea, Jason and the Argonauts type shit. LoZ only even became a thing because the original nailed a feeling of fantasy adventure in video game form better than anything else besides CRPGs. It was iconic. Futzing around in towns talking to flamboyant NPCs and chasing fucking chickens is not iconic of heroic adventure (unless it's a Rocky movie). Going into a dungeon should be an intimidating prospect. It's where evil lurks. Mines of Moria shit. The temple of Medusa. Like tonally, I can't tell what most of the later games are going for. Cartoony? Well, good cartoons have tonal consistency. They are even dark sometimes *gasp*. I've been a huge animation fan since childhood, I've seen most everything. I have to say that the video game industry doesn't get it, for the most part.

I don't think Nintendo have a central theme for this series anymore. It's just pot luck at this point. So we get trains because the developer's kid likes trains.

Well, Xanadu Next comes out in a week on PC. Falcom get it. Too bad they toil in relative obscurity for 30 years while wannabe filmmakers and their executive slave masters enjoy the fruits of wide acclaim, adulation and enormous budgets.