I think any zelda game with great depth in story, awesome music, and and amazing boss battles, are the pure essence of a zelda game…but that’s just me.

How come nobody has coined the term: Vinnk’s links?

Also I enjoyed this a lot.. as a PlayStation convert I missed out on Zelda up until now.

Currently working on Ocarina of Time for the GameCube.

my 2 top favorites are:
1.ocarina of time

2.zelda:a link to the past

but dude,what about twilight princess?arent u gonna put it up there when it comes out? i sure am.

Link To The Past remains my favorite. Ocarina was wonderful, but I never felt compelled to play it over, where as Link To The Past I played probably a hundred times.

They were my two favorite as well!

“Vinnk’s Linnks”… I like that.

What about Vinnks Dinnk? no? ok.

Anyways, I always forget how good some of these zelda games really are. Watching the part about links awakening brought back some memories. That was at a time when Zelda was just another game, to me.

very cool

I wish this one was availible in .mp4 like the previous one…

While I really liked the original NES Zelda, I never owned the NES (played it at several of my cousin’s homes though), this was one of my fave SNES games. Curiously enough though, despite now being a huge Zelda fan, I never owned the SNES version (but I rented it every chance I got).

Aside from OoT, they’re my fave in the series (Wind Waker’s nt too far behind because of the style but I’m sick of sailing for such long stretches).

As for the series being “pure” or not… if you preffer 2D, that’s fine, if you like 3D better, that’s fine too. Personally I think Zelda can exist on both, just look at the Minish Cap (and whatever happened to the DS Zelda anyway?) and then at the Wind Waker or the upcomming twilight princess.

Both styles offer unique takes on the franchise, I see no reason for the franchise to jsut choose one method, they can both stay as far as I’m concerned.

Link’s Awakening was definitely the high-point in the series for me, although Link to the Past was also very, very good. Like any good Nintendroid, I started off with the original Legend of Zelda and loved it, but it and Link’s Awakening just don’t hold up two decades later.

As I’ve noted earlier, the N64 LoZelda games turned the series dead to me, and I fear that TP will somehow be just as pretentious, boring, and all-around lacking in that LoZ magic. If Wind Waker had better villagers, much less sailing (and “cannoning”), and more Earth/Wind-quality dungeons, it could have brought the series back to greatness for me.

Rounding out the pack, the Game & Watch handheld was fun, but nothing to write home about (the wristwatch one wasn’t even that). Four Swords Adventures was a fantastic game (even two-player), but it wasn’t a “real” LoZ. The Oracle games were bumpy in quality (OoS > OoA) and Minish Cap was only decent. I won’t mention the CD-i titles.

links awakening doesnt hold up?

slander! D:

They’re all great, but I think my favourites were Link’s Awakening, Minish Cap, Four Swords, and Wind Waker. Particularily Wind Waker. Why? Everything about the game was perfect to me. And yes, I LOVED sailing around. (Mostly ’cause I love wandering around in open spaces). It had the right amount of puzzles that weren’t annoying or frustrating and for a 3D game, the camera never made me want to throw my controller at the screen like I almost did with Okami yesterday. The 2D games always have a wonderous charm to them despite the restricted medium of the platform they appeared on (for Link’s Awakening and Minish Cap). Four Swords just blew me away though. I was so happy for a 2D game of that calibre on my Gamecube. Oh and the gathering my friends to play it was awesome. From what I played of Twilight Princess, I’m quite sure it’ll be great and won’t fail it’s hype.

I still find the old 2D Zeldas impossible.

But I find all the 3D ones way too easy, thanks to a partner always giving you ’subtle’ advice (Midna FTL).

That said, I loved all I got out of ALTTP (awesome graphics). But I could never do the Spirit Realm parts of the game.

Yay Zelda! Good vid!

“links awakening doesnt hold up?”

Whoops! I meant to say that *Zelda II: The Adventure of Link* does not hold up.

Link’s Awakening still rocks.

I started with links awakening for the GB. When I was young, I would beat the game on a roadtrip to my grandparents house, and beat it again back (trip was about 4 1/2 hours).

I think the first two were rather weak and even the first one just sort of rode on its innovation; granted, innovation is important, and it was a big hit at the time, but it’s aged extremely poorly.

I think the best one in the series is Link to the Past, with its more timeless interface, its depth, and its relative ease in learning how to control Link.

After that, I think the 3D installments are all terrific.

The first legend of zelda was one of the first set of NES games I ever played, and that game is wonderful. I remember learning the recorder in school and then squealing, trying to sing a song to make ponds turn into entrances…

When I played LoZ2: The Adventures of Link, I remember being dissappointed… but honestly, only because its hard. I love it now! Its hard, as hell… I mean dark link? the background and he are the SAME color, and its AFTER the phoenix? Dramatic end to a great game.

Honestly, I’ve never gotten my grubby little hands on any of the handheld titles, I used to have a ROM of awakening but I never really had the time for it. Any later handheld zeldas, I just ignored for the sake of them seeming too unoriginal. I may not have gotten far in it, but its easy to tell Link’s Awakening is original.

Oh I was called thief so early in the game…

Link to the Past made me giddy. I loved it. I love it. To me, it is and will always be zelda perfection. Agraham was a nice addition to the mythos, and though NOA turned it from more religiously dramatic to mystical, that never effected me. I loved trying to find everything. The play control was flawless. How many times did I replay the third pendant boss? I don’t remember. I hate that sucker, though I love the re-fight with the ultimate sword. Ever done the death mountain decent? Fun.

Ocarina of Time… was fun. Ill admit, addictive fun, but 3d and I are still iffy, though that game helped with my acceptance. I disliked that instead of agraham it was Gannondorf. I hated that they turned the rocks into gorons, made those deku things more prevalent than octoroks, and the fish people felt obtuse… to be honest, the thing I hated the worst was as soon as you become an adult you can’t use the boomerang, and i LOVE that thing! Loved, anyway. I hope Twilight and restore our bond.

Majora’s Mask dissappointed me. Zelda does not need a timer. I’ll replay it some day when I’m old with more patience to show my children how good I am -giggles-

Wind Waker is pretty, but… sailing that much? The ease most of the game has? I played less of this than Majora.

I have hiiiigh hopes for Twilight Princess. I’ll likely be slightly let down no matter what, but Shigeru won’t fail me

My favorite by far is Majora’s Mask. It’s just dripping with atmosphere, and the fact that each and every NPC has a life outside of giving you the exact same message every time you talk to them makes you very personally involved in the game. You actually care about saving all of these people because you’ve bonded with them. The only way the game could’ve been better would be if it had been stalled until the days of the Gamecube, and then cel-shaded. If the world were cel-shaded that dreary and surreal atmosphere could have been brought out even more.

After Majora’s Mask comes Wind Waker. It’s true that the game is a bit short and easy and that the sailing can get tedious, but the presentation of the story is top-notch, and I dig the graphics (okay, I admit it, I’m a sucker for cel-shaded visuals). The thing that puts this up to number 2 though is Ganondorf. In the era of only two dimensions, Ganon wasn’t much of a character at all. He was a greedy demon that had either taken over Hyrule or wanted to do so. When OoT rolled around, he was fleshed out slightly and given a backstory, but he was still your generic run-of-the-mill maniacal villain. Wind Waker did wonders for his character. My face was forced back into a smile every time he popped into a cut scene, and both his lengthy monologue about the bitter desert wind and the line he delivers right before dying (”The wind…. it’s blowing”) still send shivers down my spine to think about.

My number three slot is tricky to determine, but it’s definitely a tie between OoT and LttP. They’re both fantastic games that I’ve played through many times. I really don’t think I can pick between them.

After that comes the original Zelda. It’s really a shame I didn’t get to play it when it was first released, because I think I would have really loved it. It’s more or less the precursor to sandbox games like GTA. Unfortunately, I played OoT and GTA before this one, and they both offer a much more expansive and immersive world to explore, leaving this game feeling lackluster. It’s not really that it hasn’t aged well. It’s just that the genre has been pushed far beyond the original standards this game set.

I haven’t played much of any of the others, but what I have played has led me to consider them all as “meh.”

I would have to say my favorite is still ALttP. I enjoyed OoT, but after playing it and everyone touting it as the “Best Zelda Ever”, I had to disagree. While I think it’s very good for it’s time, I think it lacked a lot of the character and little touches that made ALttP unforgettable. Long after I’d beaten ALttP I continued to play it, because it was just a fun and enjoyable place to be. Something spectacular would have to come along for me to change my mind.

I was a gigantic Amiga fanboy during the entire reign of the 2D Zelda titles, and what little I played of them at people’s houses or in stores never turned me on. But the Zelda Collection disc on the Gamecube showed me Ocarina of Time (which I previously played on emulators, but never working right) and I’ve never seen a game before or since that grabbed me the way it did. I keep meaning to try ALTTP again because everyone spurts over it, but I just can’t get past the notion that all those tile-based Zeldas are the same dungeon crawls I’ve been playing for 25 years but with better graphics and annoying dialogue where I’m pressing A over and over for 10 minutes.

I do plan on picking up Okami for the PS2, though. I’d rather it would come out for the Wii but with Clover getting the axe I’m guessing it won’t.

I’m slowly making my way through Oracle of Ages and Seasons on my DC with a emulator, and I’m really impressed at how well the games have held up. I think they could legitimately deserve a face lift for the virtual console.

Raindog,
Capcom still has full rights over every single thing Clover ever did. I wouldn’t put it past them if they felt it was worthwhile. Personally, I’m looking forward to aiming out my arm like mega man.

Link’s Awakening, that’s still my favourite Legend of Zelda.

Sure it was that hard and it was full of jokes, but it was a fun and charming game.

I miss being able to jump.

Ah, A Link to the Past… That game brings back so many memories. I would have t consider it my favorite Zelda game with Ocarina of Time coming in at a near second (all because of the horrible water temple).

Back in the middle school days, I had a friend spend the night, and we were talking about Zelda games. The conversation drifted in the direction of Link’s death tally that showed after beating A Link to the Past. My friend said something like “I bet you can’t beat it without dying.” So I flipped on the SNES and started playing. Six hours later, the “000″ was sitting there next to Link’s picture. It’s a good thing my house’s flaky electricity didn’t go out because there was no “Save and Continue” option in that game.

A Link to the Past is at the top of my list. I’ve played it through so many times, I don’t know how it could possibly be second to anything. I remember the first time I played it, in those opening few minutes when you’re out in the rain, unarmed, uncertain of what’s just off the screen ahead of you… then skulking around the sewers with just a lantern… that’s Nintendo right there.