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https://amp.tmz.com/2023/08/10/king-of-the-hill-dale-johnny-hardwick-voice-actor-dead-dies/

Aren't they relaunching the show soon?

redrocket posted...

Son, I am disappoint. :(

Thanks for doing these, though. Theyre great!

I enjoy doing them. I might just redo the Star Wars one, honestly.

Lolo_Guru posted...

since it was missed before

Fairy Spell (zelda 2)

Okay fine, since I made the mistake, I'll do one last one.

WazzupGenius00 posted...

Damn, these 3D scans of old rubber Zelda figures just came out today, wouldve nominated these for sure if they were earlier

https://archive.org/details/keshicorner_stacks?tab=collection&query=zelda&and%5B%5D=year%3A%221986%22

Wow, you have the luckiest timing ever. Two last ones, then.

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ganondorf (WW)
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Nintendo
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Shadow Temple
Bombchu
Song of Storms
Morshu
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Child Link vs Adult Link
Biggoron's Sword
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik
Gerudo (Race)
Link vs Cloud

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Dead Man's Volley
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle
Twinrova
Legend of Doom (Mod)
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Link
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Tatl & Tael
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Future of the Series
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Game Over Cutscene (MM)
Ravio
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
OoT Title Screen
Medli
Showdown at Old Kakariko
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Radio Zelda (Commercials)
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Fairy (Spell): What's most interesting about this spell isn't really the fact that it turns you into a clearly female fairy, which is an odd move for a game from like 1987. It's the fact that it provides you with so much freedom to move around and bypass obstacles. This is definitely the most freedom of movement that the game could have possibly provided you in a sidescroller, which is like... kind of amazing? It's neat that the game's developers weren't like "we need to limit Link's movement at all times in order to ensure that the player can't get around our puzzles," and just give you the ability to turn into a fairy princess and fly around them. I think the next game to have that philosophy was BotW, right? Every other game in-between them is obsessed with making sure you can't bypass challenges by limiting the ways you can move. Roc's Feather sure as hell doesn't let you jump over more than the tiniest of gaps, and the Pegasus Boots can only be used in straight lines, etc. In a way, this is the climbing/parasailing of its time, which I appreciate. But in all seriousness, explain to me why they made this a fairy instead of like a bird. That had to be a conscious choice.
Dark World
Great Deku Tree
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi
Tetra
Gold Skulltula
Like Like
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Any% Speedruns
Sidescrolling Segments in Isometric Games
Sidon
Poe Collector

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Chopping Signs
Dragons (BotW)
Tunics
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Rito
Toon Link
Princess Zelda
Stamina
Companions
3D Scans of Old Rubber Zelda Figures: I'm not going to lie to you, I saw the first one, Moldorm, and did not see a Zelda boss at all. They must have known, right? They must have. God, is that what Armoses used to look lke? What a ****ing stare into the 80s this is, it looks only somewhat like the series does today. Imagine a game coming out today where Zelda looks like this normal boring woman, or a lovingly-crafted super detailed game with Darknuts that are just guys. A lot of these enemies aren't even identifiable as the things they are. Actually, this is reminding me of those super detailed figma figures, the ones of anime girls that cost like 300 dollars each. I once looked at them and was like "who on Earth would spend this much money on these things?"
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Hylian Shield
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Leveling System (AoL)
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Ganondorf's Execution (TP)
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Trains
Christianity Imagery
Shop Fusion Collab
Marin
Agitha
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
Cast Performances
1/2 Magic Meter
Milk
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Lord Jabu-Jabu
Spirit Flute

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
Lizalfos
Ganon
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
8.8/10
Lon Lon Ranch
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Whip
Video Game Concerts
Malo
Makar
Slingshot
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Beetle (Item)
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Link to the Past x Super Metroid Randomizer
Zelda Kirby (Smash)
Tarrey Town
Picto Box Quest (WW)
Minish Cap Figurines
Eagle's Tower
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Link and Zelda (Captain N: The Game Master)
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Claude M. Moyse's Creepy German Phrases
Volga
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA)
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hylian Shield Lunchbox
Low Heart Beeping
Spell (Spell)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Tingle
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP)
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Cody Rhodes' Theme Song
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

WazzupGenius00 posted...

When NES Ganon is invisible he still moves around (in a sort of figure 8 pattern) and deals contact damage, which does twice as much damage as the beams he shoots. So really hes still about bulk. And the idea of him being mindless is a retcon based on timeline placement later on, that wasnt what they had in mind at the time they made it.

You know, these are good points, and they probably should knock Ganon up a few ranks... but he's still pretty lame to me. He's definitely got the most interesting fight I can think of in an NES game, but that's all LoZ Ganon has going for him. I just don't think he looks at all cool visually, is the issue, and he's completely embarrassed by OoT's introduction of Ganondorf, who does everything Ganon does, but better.

And for no reason, here are the top and bottom rankings of each topic we've done so far:

• Final Fantasy: Final Fantasy (Name) / Lightning Dodging
• Flags: Kimono Project / 9/11 False Flag Theory
• Metal Gear: Metal Gear Solid 3 / MGS Snake Eater Pachinko
• Pokemon: Red Battle (GSC) / Lickilicky
• Star Trek: Star Trek: The Next Generation / Profit and Lace
• Visual Design: Metal Gear Solid / Angela Anaconda
• Legend of Zelda: Link (Soul Calibur II) / Zelda Timeline

I tragically lost the Star Wars rankings.

Alright folks, thank you for indulging my word barf about Legend of Zelda. No idea what the next one of these topics will be about.

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
Lizalfos
Ganon: I'm going to say it: Ganon sucks. Changing his name to -dorf and becoming a green human was the best thing that ever happened to him. I view Ganon as basically just a Bowser knockoff, right? Add King K. Rool to this pile of late 80s/early 90s "big animal guy who wants to be king" characters. But where NES Bowser is this weird mishmash of turtle and dragon and at least looks cool, and you can at least presume that as the King of the Koopas, he's the king of like a neighboring kingdom and wants to take over the Mushroom Kingdom (and later he just wants to bone Peach), Ganon just shows up. He doesn't even fight you repeatedly throughout the game like Bowser does, so at least you know who he is first. Everyone is like "watch out for Ganon lol," and then when you finally reach him, he just teleports around and shoots energy balls at you. It actually is a great fight by NES standards, and it's actually a cool idea for him to fight you using magic instead of bulk like Bowser does, but I mean... if you're going to go that route, why is he a giant pig monster in the first place? Make him like a crippled old man who's super weak physically, but teleports around and has force fields or whatever. Make him look like Saruman. Make him look like anything except a giant pig monster that's going to smash you with his giant muscles, and then uses magic spells instead. Hell, I just went onto the Zelda Wiki, and even it says that LoZ's Ganon is "mindless" by this point. He's just there to have a final boss, basically. And I'm going to say it: pigs aren't as cool as turtles and dragons. I'm sure pigs are actually smarter than turtles, but they look stupid, they aren't intimidating at all, and even boars, which actually are dangerous, still look like doofuses. The original Ganon to me is clearly just like the Japanese manga version of orcs, where they're just pointlessly evil pig guys instead of green guys. Why Japan did that, I don't know, but that's what it is. He's worse than King K. Rool, who's at least silly and ridiculous and does things like pretend to be dead and roll a fake credits sequence so he can sucker punch you, and King K. Rool also sucks. Yeah, I said it. King K. Rool and the Kremlings are trash, they're just discount Bowser and Koopa Troopas. And yet he's still way better than the original version of Ganon. Ganon even looks worse than just having regular Ganondorf in regular clothing stab you with a regular sword. He's just a big blue pig-man wearing vaguely royal-looking clothing, with a trident. Can you imagine if they never made Ganondorf, and Ganon was still the villain who shows up in every game, and he just grunts and shoots energy balls at you? What I'll say about Ganon is simply this: he works fine as like Ganondorf being corrupted by too much power in the moment. Like, Ganondorf is doing evil things, Link shows up and beats him in a fight, so Ganondorf juices himself up on magical power and turns into a giant monster that goes on a rampage, that's fine, that's a sensible use of Ganon. But whenever Ganon shows up instead of Ganondorf, I'm just disappointed. I remember playing FSA, and I don't remember anything in that game, but I remember being disappointed that the final villain is Ganon. Honestly, maybe I'll take back what I said about how Ganon should be in Smash, because he's honestly really of lame. No one likes pig monsters in the first place, and the fact that Ganondorf has like emotions and characterization and a backstory and the potential for banter, or at least to get annoyed at you, makes him so much more compelling as a character. And this actually runs contrary to what I said about how WW Ganondorf is the best one, because he's degenerated to this sorry state, and obviously Ganon is even more degenerated, but the difference is that one is a guy and one is a pig monster, and people inherently care more about guys than pig monsters.
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
8.8/10
Lon Lon Ranch
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Whip
Video Game Concerts
Malo
Makar
Slingshot
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Beetle (Item)
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Link to the Past x Super Metroid Randomizer
Zelda Kirby (Smash)
Tarrey Town
Picto Box Quest (WW)
Minish Cap Figurines
Eagle's Tower
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Link and Zelda (Captain N: The Game Master)
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Claude M. Moyse's Creepy German Phrases
Volga
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA)
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hylian Shield Lunchbox
Low Heart Beeping
Spell (Spell)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Tingle
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP)
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Cody Rhodes' Theme Song
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Dead Man's Volley
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle
Twinrova
Legend of Doom (Mod)
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Link: I said this before, but Link to me is basically the most generic hero possible, in a good way. He has no traits except those you expect to find on any Hero's Journey protagonist, and his defining attribute within the story, courage, is both the most generic hero attribute ever and something that doesn't really express itself as characterization. This is definitely on purpose, because even Mario (Mario!) has more characterization than this. It's obvious this is done to emphasize the "you are Link" element of the character, and this isn't unique to Link, since silent protagonists were common in 80s and 90s. About the only things Link has that makes him stand out are elf ears and a green tunic and floppy hat, and that's probably also to his advantage. He has no really defining attributes that distinguish from the Platonic ideal of heroes, but he does manage to have a unique visual style. So, in the regard of being a memorable main character for your adventure series, he's perfect. But if you're looking for some kind of like really interesting character? He's not just worse than the noncharacter Zelda, he's worse than, like, Samus. At least Samus like looks away in determination and anger when she sees dead soldiers, or chooses not to attack a Metroid she's bonded with. Then again, being the world's most generic hero is still better than, like, what happened to Sonic. To be clear: Link is a blond hair dye and a set of green clothing, not a character. And that's not a bad thing.
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Tatl & Tael
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Future of the Series: I'm of two minds on this. I don't think we'll ever get another 'lesser' title ever again, like LA or OoX. I think LBW is the final one, aside from remakes. I think that for the foreseeable future, the only Zelda titles will be huge event releases. There's nothing wrong with that, but I do sort of miss the shorter, more digestable games. Sometimes I want a game that's nine hours instead of eighty, and BotW and TotK sure don't scratch that itch. And don't you dare tell me that you can beat them in half an hour or something and link to some insane speedrunner who does it on a GCN Donkey Kong bongo or something. I think sort of the advantage LoZ has, as opposed to Mario and Pokemon, is that it doesn't really lend itself to being pimped out with spinoffs. Mario is the master of this, he'll put his face on anything, but Pokemon isn't far behind. With LoZ, you know you're always getting a fairly polished title that isn't some quickly-made piece of crap no one actually cared about. I can so easily imagine like a LoZ phone game where you adventure through four randomly-assembled rooms in a roguelike dungeon, and the plot would be that a wizard keeps turning back time so you need to play it again and again and again in order to get the real ending, or some stupid thing like that. As for Fire Emblem, it has way fewer games than the others, but man, its identity as a brand has really shifted toward waifus and gacha. I don't hate modern Fire Emblem, but you can really tell the difference between the pre- and post-13 games. LoZ never really lost sight of its own identity like that. And as for Nintendo's other series, ha. They can't even really be compared anymore. There was a time when like Kirby or Metroid or Star Fox seemed like they might be big, but now they're lucky to get one mid-budget short title every five years. Did you know that Captain Falcon is in more Smash games than F-Zero games? LoZ has sidestepped the fate of all of these series, and remained as Nintendo's chief "we're going to basically take all of the games in the series seriously, and not dilute the brand" series, which is doubtless to its benefit. I'm sure it was a strategic choice, too, because although in 1998, Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon might have seemed roughly as popular as each other, two of these are way easier to make a billion spinoffs and toys out of than the other. Now, watch me be wrong, and tomorrow Nintendo announce The Legend of Zelda: Link's Kitchen, where you have to keep your mom-and-pop restaurant alive as the Ganonburger chain expands into Castle Town, or some stupid thing like that.
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Game Over Cutscene (MM)
Ravio
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
OoT Title Screen
Medli
Showdown at Old Kakariko
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Radio Zelda (Commercials)
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Great Deku Tree
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi
Tetra
Gold Skulltula
Like Like
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Any% Speedruns
Sidescrolling Segments in Isometric Games
Sidon
Poe Collector

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Chopping Signs
Dragons (BotW)
Tunics
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Rito
Toon Link
Princess Zelda
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Hylian Shield
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Leveling System (AoL)
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Ganondorf's Execution (TP)
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Trains
Christianity Imagery
Shop Fusion Collab
Marin
Agitha
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
Cast Performances
1/2 Magic Meter
Milk
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Lord Jabu-Jabu
Spirit Flute

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ganondorf (WW)
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Nintendo
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Shadow Temple: Someone nominated "Your favorite temple," and it's the Shadow Temple. I like it because it's nothing like the rest of the game, but it fits perfectly. For no reason, it's talking about Hyrule's bloody history that it wants to forget, but it tells you nothing about it. It just throws lots of skeletons at you, which is great. It's got illusions, it's got undead, it's got grossness, it's got shadows, it's got everything. It's easily the most imaginative temple in OoT, and I have a hard time thinking of another in any game that's better. The fact that it's just right next to a town, too, like it's not even that much of a secret. Bongo Bongo isn't even close to my favorite boss, but he's at least still memorable. No one remembers ****ing Arrghus from LttP, get out of here with your discount Beholder.
Bombchu
Song of Storms
Morshu: The thing about the CD-I art, and what I think has made it so enduring as meme material, is that it looks simultaneously cheap as dirt and super detailed, to the point of absolute hideousness. I feel like cheap animation in the modern day is either CGI or very simple 2D animation with circular heads. The CD-I Zelda art, like, someone clearly spent time drawing and animating every frame of these hideous monstrosities, way beyond the point of reason. Like, you could have more easily drawn a normal-looking thin shopkeeper who maybe raises his hand up and down while he talks to Link, and it would have looked better and less ugly, but instead they made this super animated fat guy, with lots of details that must have taken a lot of time to draw... and it looks horrendous. It looks much, MUCH worse than the cheapest, laziest indie VN with only one drawing per character that you could buy on Steam right now. I just can't explain it. It's too much effort to be lazy, it's too much effort to be cheap, and yet it's undeniably lazy and cheap. The game would actually be better if it was like a Final Fantasy title, and the cutscenes and dialogue are just character sprites moving on the screen and text boxes saying "blah blah blah." I just can't fathom the decision-making process that led to these cutscenes. The voice acting, sure, anyone can hire crap voice actors off the street in 1993, but the animation is what gets me, because it has the hideous and abstract-y feeling of like Rugrats animation, but dialed up to 11, and I can't tell how much of it was intentional, or why.
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Child Link vs Adult Link
Biggoron's Sword
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik
Gerudo (Race)
Link vs Cloud: It's not even the most compelling GameFAQs Contest rivalry. I'm not even sure it's in the top three. I think what makes this so legendary to us is that it's the only one that can actually decide who wins a contest. Mario vs Crono is fun, but ultimately, it only matters for your point total. Link is just so overwhlemingly powerful in these contests that he is objectively not defeatable except with shenanigans. You just can't touch him, and that's an accepted fact. But the one character who ever did, the one character who ever damaged that should-be perfect record, the one character who reached up and slashed the face of God, was Cloud Strife at his zenith. The fact that Cloud even scored 40% on Link in the last contest I view as Cloud's victory. It's a moral victory for sure. It's like, this rivalry is obviously very one-sided, and Cloud will never be able to do anything like it again (if we even have another contest in the future), and Cloud is no longer even really comparable to Link in terms of general video game noteriety, but it was something. It's something fun that changed the contests for the better, and I appreciate it for that.

Mario Bros

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Chopping Signs
Dragons (BotW)
Tunics
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Rito
Toon Link
Princess Zelda: Zelda is basically not a real character until Wind Waker. Until then, she's just the demure, determined, and kind princess, but that's all she is. And don't tell me that she's more than that in OoT because of how Sheik acts, just don't even bother. That might actually be WW's most enduring legacy, is making Zelda into an actual character, because afterwards, she's USUALLY a real character who does stuff and has personality and opinions. Not always, but usually. She's a little more malleable than Ganondorf and Link, though. In TP, she's just very reserved, in SS, she's very anime schoolgirl crush, in ST, she's a little more kiddish, and in BotW, she's back to demure and determined, but she's way better about it. But, like... she's still not really a key to the adventure in most of these games? ST and SS are the only games where she actively takes part in what's going on, in all of the others, she's like "hey Link go do this thing." And yes, I know that she does stuff in TotK, but I'm not counting that until I actually play the game. I don't have much to say about this character. She's more complex than Peach, but... not by that much.
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Hylian Shield
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Leveling System (AoL)
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Ganondorf's Execution (TP)
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Trains
Christianity Imagery
Shop Fusion Collab: I watched this entire thing, I have no idea what it is. A series of strange, random game segments set in stores, I guess. I am guessing that this is a bunch of content creators making a vague storyline where they each create a segment in a shop based on a real game, but some of them are clearly way better than others. Like, obviously the ones where someone went into the actual game and put models of the item into the store are much more impressive. A few of the games, I don't even know what they are. I also notice that LoZ comes up quite a few more times than any other game, only Undertale/Deltarune shows up more than once. I don't know, this is mildly clever, but it goes on for way too long. They should've shortened this to like five minutes, that's the maximum length of time where it's still funny. And the real life segment, ehhhh, I feel like we're past the point as a society where it's original to have many different styles of animation play out in a row, and one of them is live-action. I'll allow it in Spiderverse, but not here. No Mario store, I notice. Surely it would be easy to integrate one of those Toad House chest options from Mario 3, right? I don't know, man, I appreciate the effort, but it's not really *funny,* you know?
Marin
Agitha
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
Cast Performances
1/2 Magic Meter
Milk
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Lord Jabu-Jabu
Spirit Flute

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
Lizalfos
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
8.8/10
Lon Lon Ranch
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Whip: I'll be honest, I didn't remember this item existed at all. If you showed me like five items from the lesser games, and one was fake, and I had to pick it out, I might've picked this. Like, the purpose of the whip is to pull items and objects to you, right? Do you know what other Zelda item does that, that's been around since the first game? The boomerang! I guess you can Indiana Jones across some gaps, but who cares. There are such cooler items in the series than this thing, it doesn't even register.
Video Game Concerts
Malo
Makar
Slingshot
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Beetle (Item)
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Link to the Past x Super Metroid Randomizer: I'm sorry, is the premise here that you switch between two randomized SNES games at certain points, with the goal of completing both? I... don't find that interesting at all. I would only watch this sort of thing if someone I knew was competing.
Zelda Kirby (Smash)
Tarrey Town
Picto Box Quest (WW)
Minish Cap Figurines
Eagle's Tower
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Link and Zelda (Captain N: The Game Master)
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Claude M. Moyse's Creepy German Phrases
Volga
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA)
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hylian Shield Lunchbox
Low Heart Beeping
Spell (Spell)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Tingle
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP)
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Cody Rhodes' Theme Song
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

One more batch of nominations, and then I'm going to end it.

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ganondorf (WW)
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Nintendo
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Bombchu
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Child Link vs Adult Link
Biggoron's Sword
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik
Gerudo (Race)

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Dead Man's Volley
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle
Twinrova
Legend of Doom (Mod): I wonder what the most modded video game of all time is. Doom is up there, right? It's definitely either an NES game or a GBA Pokemon. What a clever concept for a mod this is, I really like it. I like how they just gave Doomguy Link's hat and didn't even attempt to make him look like Link. I'm very impressed by this, but I have no meaningful comments to add.
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Tatl & Tael
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Game Over Cutscene (MM): I assume you mean the cutscene you get if you run out of time, rather than if you just die. I like how the moon crashes directly into Clock Town, like it's aiming for it, and then Link, no matter where he is, is thrown back by a wave of force. It all lends to a sense of bizarre, ugly unreality that MM excels at. I also like how it's every Link based on what transformation mask he has on, and FDL actually gets a unique scream, which I didn't know until watching this youtube video. It's definitely the most memorable Zelda Game Over screen.
Ravio
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
OoT Title Screen
Medli
Showdown at Old Kakariko
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Radio Zelda (Commercials)
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Great Deku Tree
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi
Tetra
Gold Skulltula: As far as 'collect the things scattered all over the world' quests go, this is probably the second best, after Korok seeds. For the OoT ones, I've never bothered to get more than enough for the largest wallet, but it's still a cool collectable idea. Spiders with messed-up human skulls is such a bizarre, cool, and slightly gross idea, and the noise they make when you're near? Perfectly executed. I also like how they can be in locations you can't reach, and that require the boomerang or hookshot to collect (there's one in Dodongo's Cavern that's meant to be that way, and I always backflip to collect it, because it's just low enough to do it that way). If there's any flaw in how they're handled, it's just that the rewards are so random and vary so much in value. Like, I don't care about getting 10 bombchus for finding 40 skulltulas, are you insane? A heart piece for 50, that's not worth the effort. And a gold rupee at 100, who even remotely begins to care? So, unless you're after 100% completion, there's no real reason to go above 30. Obviously, they're restricted to just two locations in MM, which is probably a good thing, except that the dungeons are now ALSO 'find the hidden things' zones. But at least the rewards are worth going out of your way to obtain, so one problem is solved. Again, like with most things OoT, this to me is the definitive 'find the hidden things' quest in LoZ.
Like Like
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Any% Speedruns
Sidescrolling Segments in Isometric Games: I legitimately can't think of any besides LA, and if you count the overworld, AoL. That game is really more sidescrolling than overhead, though. I mean, this is fine. It's a nice way to change things up occasionally, but I'm never like "oh man, awesome, a sidescrolling segment!" How many sidescrolling platformers have I played in my life? Probably dozens, maybe over a hundred. How many isometric exploration games have I played? Way fewer than that. Actually, it's kind of interesting how little the Zelda series has changed over time in that regard. Sure, it's no longer isometric, but it's as close as you can reasonably be in 3D.
Sidon
Poe Collector

Mom

Hbthebattle posted...

Zelda 1, the game

That one is already ranked as Legend of Zelda (NES), I believe.

I think we'll do one more after this next one, get to 350 posts, and then end the nominations.

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Chopping Signs
Dragons (BotW)
Tunics: It's interesting. Aside from Link's default green tunic, which started off as just random clothing and turned into Important Destined Equipment that needs a backstory in every game, there's never really that much attention put on his tunics. They're just another random piece of equipment. There's never like the destined armor forged by the goddesses or something, it's just "here's a tunic that lets you breathe water" or "here's a tunic that blocks damage better than normal." I like this, I think Link should have a maximum of two important magical items at a time (Master Sword + Ocarina of Time, etc). It's kind of interesting, too, because tunics are basically the equivalent of armor in this universe, and the storybook hero gaining magical armor seems like an easy way to go... but they never really do.
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Rito
Toon Link
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Hylian Shield
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Leveling System (AoL)
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Ganondorf's Execution (TP)
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Trains
Christianity Imagery
Marin
Agitha
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
Cast Performances
1/2 Magic Meter
Milk
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Lord Jabu-Jabu
Spirit Flute

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
Lizalfos
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
8.8/10
Lon Lon Ranch
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Video Game Concerts
Malo
Makar
Slingshot
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Beetle (Item)
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby (Smash)
Tarrey Town
Picto Box Quest (WW)
Minish Cap Figurines
Eagle's Tower
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Link and Zelda (Captain N: The Game Master)
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Claude M. Moyse's Creepy German Phrases
Volga
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA)
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hylian Shield Lunchbox
Low Heart Beeping: I'm of two minds about this. It does feel very imposing, like you're on the edge of death and need to watch out, which is good. But it also doesn't sound very fantasy-y at all, and it's super annoying. I don't want everything to be generic fantasy tropes, of course, but I also think alarm clock noises don't fit any more than MGS Codec calls would fit when you use the speaking stone with the King of Red Lions. And honestly, when you're fighting some kind of big important enemy, and this is playing for the last third of the fight while you try to concentrate to avoid getting hit? It's not helpful. If it only played for two or three seconds, that would be fine.
Spell (Spell)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Tingle: You know, as a kid, I disliked him. As an adult, I still dislike him, but not as much. I get why Japan loves him, though. I don't know, he's just unpleasant, what do you want me to say? Good on Sakurai for not putting him in Smash. It's weird, too, because I think of Tingle as a WW character, but he was introduced in MM, and he's not even unimportant, he's the guy who sells you maps. Like, the idea of this pathetic, ugly man who's obsessed with youth and fairies and heroes who wear green, and who likes magical music is--wait a second, is Tingle just Michael Jackson? Goddamn, I legitimately never put that together until just now.
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP)
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Cody Rhodes' Theme Song
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ganondorf (WW)
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Nintendo
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Bombchu
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Child Link vs Adult Link
Biggoron's Sword
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik
Gerudo (Race)

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Dead Man's Volley
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle
Twinrova
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Tatl & Tael
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Ravio
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
OoT Title Screen
Medli
Showdown at Old Kakariko: This actually is a creative, fun little moment in TP. It's not like the best thing in TP or anything (my favorite fight in TP hasn't been nominated), but like, it's something. Link's been on a lot of adventures, but he's never had a Wild West shootout in a dusty prospecting town before. This is one of those ideas that only needs to be done once, and TP did it, and Nintendo was shockingly restrained in not having another moment like this happen in another game. Like, I love MGS and everything, but there are times when its callbacks and similar moments get to be a little too much. What other weird genres has Link never done? He's had high fantasy, had multiple jaunty pirate adventures, a Wild West shootout... Has Link ever been a Cold War James Bond spy? I don't think he has. God, imagine. You walk into a casino with a black-and-white tunic, a sexy lady plays blackjack with you, and Link just responds with HYAAAAA SHORAAA.
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Radio Zelda (Commercials)
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Great Deku Tree: See, in a normal high fantasy novel or something, this would be a wise old sage who sets you on your quest before the evil magic kills him. But because it's Zelda, we have a twist, where it's a giant ****ing tree. Such a cool idea, too. Link looks like an elf, he's surrounded by elves and fairies, and he lives in the woods, so the connection with a magical tree is completely natural. You never question it at all. And having the source of timeless wisdom be a giant tree that's presumably seen many eras come and go? Great idea. I would prefer if all of the later Deku Trees were the same one (as in, the sprout in OoT, not the original one who dies) who keeps recognizing Link, but whatever. A better question is where all of the fairies went after the Kokiri turned into Koroks.
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi
Tetra
Like Like
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Any% Speedruns
Sidon
Poe Collector

Tibet

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hylian Shield Lunchbox: Listen, man, I was a nerdy video game kid, and I cannot imagine ever bringing this to school. I would be so embarrassed. I know exactly what I would do, too. I would just store it in my backpack, remove the food from it while it's in the backpack, and just keep it in there so no one can see it.
Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC Maps not being Backported to HW Wii U
Link's Crossbow Training: I specifically said in the first post that I never played this! I only watched my friend play it briefly. It looks useless and stupid. Is this actually the first noncanon Zelda game, by the way?
Spell (Spell)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP)
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Cody Rhodes' Theme Song
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Hylian Shield: It's in almost every game, and when it's not, there's a similar-looking shield. Just a generic medieval-looking shield, the same as everyone has seen a billion times. And everyone knows Link as the guy who has a sword and shield. So, you'd think the Hylian Shield is significant, right? No! It's actually kind of interesting how much the Hylian Shield doesn't matter. When you get it, there's never a big to-do over it, it's never some big story moment. You just find it in a chest, get it as a gift, or buy it in a shop. Link getting his hat is usually a bigger deal. For as important a piece of Link's kit as his shield is, for as iconic it is to his general look, the Hylian Shield itself is completely unspectacular. In half of the games, it can even get stolen by a Like Like. To be clear, contrast this against the Master Sword, which is clearly meant to be special. You might say "oh, well, the Master Sword is an important magical artifact, you're not using the important magical shield equivalent, which is the Mirror Shield," and to that I say... is it? The Mirror Shield is just another random piece of Link's inventory to solve puzzles with, except that it's also a shield. It's never part of the story, its acquisition is never presented with more importance or interestingness than the bow or the hammer or the hookshot. What I'm saying is that there isn't really an 'important' shield in the series. It's not the Mirror Shield, and it's definitely not the Hylian Shield. And so, viewing this as just a random unimportant shield... it's fine.
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Leveling System (AoL)
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Ganondorf's Execution (TP)
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Trains: I think we can all agree that the coolest Final Fantasy summon is Doomtrain, right? I don't know how actually good it is, but it's definitely the coolest. Trains occupy a unique space as far as vehicles go. They were invented in the early 1800s (yes train enthusiasts, I know that there were proto-trains in the late 1700s, shut up), right near the beginning of the industrial era. People tend to think of steam and clockwork as the most primitive true "technology," at least as far as genre fiction goes. Things of this era can therefore straddle the line of what's allowable in fantasy medieval as sort of the most advanced technology allowable, while still being old-timey enough not to trigger as too modern for us today... unlike a certain smartphone you get in TotK, for instance. As far as being a method of travel, it's fine. Better than the boat and the bird, at least. I'm not sure there's any good game out there that prominently features a train. RE0 sucks, for sure.
Christianity Imagery
Marin
Agitha
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
Cast Performances: As in, the performances in BotW? They're fine. The only one I specifically remember is Zelda's very British accent. God, how wild is it that LoZ took until 2017 to have voice acting? That has to be the longest any major series has gone before giving in, right? Final Fantasy did it as soon as possible in 2002. I can't even remember if Mario Odyssey had voice acting, actually. If you're thinking that I should complain about voice acting and insist that the series should stay silent, I honestly don't care at all. I'm completely fine with it either way, which means the voice acting either needs to be very good or very bad to elicit a reaction from me. It's neither, so I'm very neutral to it.
1/2 Magic Meter
Milk
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Lord Jabu-Jabu
Spirit Flute

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Lizalfos
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
8.8/10
Lon Lon Ranch
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Video Game Concerts
Malo
Makar
Slingshot
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Beetle (Item): I mean, I already gave a whole sphiel about this in the Agitha writeup, so I don't know what else to really say. As a kid, I always found it annoying to be playing OoT, find a dirt patch, and have to go get some bugs from God-knows-where in case I ever come back, which I never did because I just don't care about 100% completion. But I'll admit that the idea of Link being willing to use anything as a tool in his quest is cool. Gotta come prepared, gotta be adaptable. That's another thing that separates Link from like Mario, who has exactly one standard tool (jumping), and then everything else is either a momentary item he stumbles upon and uses on the fly (Koopa shell), or a magical power-up he finds along the way. I guess SMS changes this a bit with FLUDD, but no one likes SMS anyway.
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby (Smash)
Tarrey Town: I have never once, in any game, played the "make a town" minigame more than was required. This is just a sidequest to help an NPC build a town, right? I just straight-up don't care about that at all, and don't want to spend time on it, unless the reward is exceptionally interesting. Here's a question: what's the largest and most detailed city that's ever been in a Zelda game? I guess it has to be Clock Town, right? Zora's Domain in BotW is physically larger, but it has basically nothing to do. But even Clock Town is just five outdoor locations and like twenty indoor ones. And it's explicitly just a town! There's never been like a bursting metropolis in any of these games, has there? Not even a Celadon City. How odd.
Picto Box Quest (WW)
Minish Cap Figurines
Eagle's Tower: This is because I mentioned that I was afraid of the boxer miniboss as a kid, isn't it? I don't remember anything about this dungeon except that guy, but I remember him really well. That's more than I can say for most Zelda dungeons, though, so Eagle's Tower gets a few points just based on the memorability of a boss with the same gimmick as a wallmaster. Completely infuriating if you're a stupid ten-year-old, and--wait. That boxer's name is Blaino? And the miniboss here... *checks notes* Hinox? Oh, God. I don't remember this dungeon at all. Never mind, folks. This is going in the "who cares" bin.
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Link and Zelda (Captain N: The Game Master)
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Claude M. Moyse's Creepy German Phrases
Volga
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA)
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ganondorf (WW)
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Nintendo
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Bombchu
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Child Link vs Adult Link
Biggoron's Sword
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik
Gerudo (Race)

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Dead Man's Volley
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle
Twinrova
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Tatl & Tael
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Ravio
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
OoT Title Screen
Medli
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Radio Zelda (Commercials)
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi
Tetra
Like Like
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Any% Speedruns
Sidon
Poe Collector

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Chopping Signs
Dragons (BotW)
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Rito: Completely unremarkable and boring as a fantasy race. Like, they're just bird guys. They have no interesting culture or anything, and personally, I refuse to believe that a species whose arms are covered in long feathers would care about harps, an instrument that your feathers would surely get stuck in a lot. But in all seriousness, tehy're fine. They're just there. I said this before, but LoZ races aren't there to be interesting on their own terms, or to have their own story arcs, like, say, WoW. They're there so Link can go on an adventure that feels like he's traveling to many weird and exotic lands, and meeting bird guys is more interesting than meeting not!Chinese guys. I feel confident that the Sheikah exist because Japanese people want to include Japanese stuff, AKA ninjas, and the Gerudo made it in exclusively so Ganondorf wouldn't be Hylian, and then they just got to stay. Like, seriously, tell me anything about the Rito as a people other than that they're bird guys. You can't, because there's even less to them than the Zora and Gorons. Besides being an exotic tribe for Link to interact with and providing wind-themed areas to adventure in, the only reason they exist is to establish that WW takes place a long time after OoT so that the Zora had time to turn into them. I'm sorry, that always bothered me as a kid. You'd think that in a water world, the Zora would be the single race best adapted for it, right? But we never meet a living Zora, only a ghost, and they apparently evolved into birds? The logic is so thin. It should have been the Gorons that evolved into a better-adapted race, but I guess they thought that rock guys turning into bird guys is even less believable.
Toon Link
Stamina

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Dead Man's Volley
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle
Twinrova
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Tatl & Tael
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Ravio
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
OoT Title Screen
Medli
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Radio Zelda (Commercials)
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi
Tetra
Like Like: These definitely win the award for the grossest enemy in the series. In sprite form, they' not bad, they look like three white tires stacked on top of each other, but in 3D, they're real monsters. They're also one of the most panic-inducing, not because they deal that much damage, but because they eat your shields. Hearts are a dime a dozen, but shields can usually only be found in stores far away from where you encounter these things. It's such a novel monster, too, something that's only mildly dangerous to you, but that consumes your inventory, making it harder for you to deal with later enemies. The only analogy I can think of is the rust monster from D&D.
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Any% Speedruns
Sidon
Poe Collector

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Chopping Signs
Dragons (BotW): It's interesting to think that dragons have been in the series since the first game, but have never been central to anything. They've always just been sort of there as bosses or minor NPCs. Dragons are such a central concept to fantasy worlds, you expect to see them in almost every one as some kind important plot point at least, but in Zelda? Even the dragons in BotW aren't actually important. They're really cool, and it feels like an important moment when you stumble upon one and it majestly flies through the sky. They were done as well as they could possibly have been done... but that doesn't mean they're actually important or anything. They're just there, like an especially glowy piece of wildlife. Is it wrong that I kind of just want to fight them? You give me this giant world to play around in, and these amazing, majestic creatures to see... but I also kind of want to test my might against them, you know? I don't know what to chalk the relative unimportance of dragons in Zelda up to. The fact that it's Japanese? Maybe. The fact that Mario's main villain is already a fire-breathing lizard? Maybe. It could even just be a coincidence. But I'm actually uncertain if there's any other fantasy setting more famous than Hyrule where dragons are less important.
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Toon Link
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Leveling System (AoL)
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Ganondorf's Execution (TP)
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Christianity Imagery
Marin
Agitha
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
1/2 Magic Meter
Milk
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Lord Jabu-Jabu
Spirit Flute

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Lizalfos
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
8.8/10: At the time, I couldn't believe it. I really wanted to believe that TP was going to blow us away, the same way that OoT did. I wanted to believe that the guy just didn't understand it. I did the exact same thing with FFXIII, when reviews came in from Japan that the game was crap, and I just refused to believe it. Then I played each game, and realized that TP was mediocre, and FFXIII was indeed crap. 8.8 is honestly too high, it's hilarious in retrospect how people harassed that guy for giving the game a B+. I don't think even the most diehard Zelda fan would give this game an 8.8 anymore, right? More like a 7/10 at best. History has definitely vindicated Jeff Gerstmann, a name I definitely I knew and didn't have to google.
Lon Lon Ranch
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Video Game Concerts
Malo
Makar
Slingshot: It's not hard to see why this doesn't show up very often: it's just way too similar to the bow. The Oracle games try to differentiate it by making the seeds ricochet off walls, which is fine for puzzles, but even then, you could do better. There are way cleverer items you could use for ricochet puzzles than slingshot ammo. As I see it, the slingshot's main purpose in OoT is just to help emphasize the difference between Child Link's more hopeful era and Adult Link's crappier era. He puts away the childish toy items and moves on... but I'm probably giving them too much credit. Then it shows up again in TP, and it's completely useless after you get the bow. Why is this even in that game? It's like they just wanted to pad Link's inventory. It even shows up in SS, where its gimmick is firing multiple shots at once after you upgrade it, and it's still not something you'll ever realistically use. I think this might be the most consistently useless recurring item in the series.
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby (Smash)
Picto Box Quest (WW)
Minish Cap Figurines
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Link and Zelda (Captain N: The Game Master)
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Claude M. Moyse's Creepy German Phrases
Volga
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA)
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC Maps not being Backported to HW Wii U
Spell (Spell)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP)
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Cody Rhodes' Theme Song
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ganondorf (WW)
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Nintendo
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Bombchu: The Zelda Wiki only says that "chu" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a mouse makes, so this really ought to be called a bombsqueak. But I mean... is this a Pokemon reference? Pokemon came out in 1996 in Japan, and OoT came out in 1998, so 1997 was probably when most of the work was done. As a kid, I always assumed this was a Pikachu reference, at least. Here's the thing about bombchus: they're really cool, and really useless. For no particular reason, they're rarer than normal items, especially in OoT, so you can't just go ham with them like you can with bombs, secure in the knowledge that if you waste them, you'll find more soon. They're super difficult to aim without Z-targeting, and even with Z-targeting, why are you using them instead of arrows? The only game where they're useful is, shockingly, PH of all things, which uses the stylus to let you plot out the path in advance, making it one of the like eight times ever the stylus was a better idea than just using buttons. I really like the design of bombchus, and honestly? I kind of wish that the Zelda series just used these in general instead of normal bombs. Normal bombs are kind of boring, and bombchus are just so cool and original as a concept. I imagine the alternate dimension where every game after OoT just uses these instead of normal bombs, and I think it's actually an improvement over the real world. Like, there's room to refine bombchus as a mechanic, make them easier to aim and control. More bombchus, Nintendo! I demand it.
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Child Link vs Adult Link: Again, everything comes down to OoT. This is just another one of those things that showed up in literally one game in 1998, yet it's one of the most well-remembered elements of the series. It's exactly like Sheik, it existed literally just one time, yet people treat the difference between Child and Adult Link like it's one of the most memorable things about Link. I guess if you want, you could argue that MM technically has Adult Link in the form of the FDM, but whatever. This ended up defining Link as a character in Smash in multiple ways, but I wonder how much Smash influenced LoZ, too. I said this before, but pre-OoT, Link was definitely meant to be a kid hero (except, amazingly, in the CD-I games. They are truly more influential than any of us realized). Smash comes out right after OoT and "canonizes" Adult Link as the default, and later Young Link as a variation (and Toon Link as another variation), and after that, we get eight games with Child Link (MM, WW, OoA, OoS, MC, PH, ST, and FSA), and four with Adult Link (TP, SS, BotW, TotK). And while you might be thinking "Anagram, eight is larger than four, I know this because I just passed first grade," the trick is that every single one of those games bar MM uses the goofy cartoon WW art style, and MM is made of reused assets from OoT, while the Adult Link games vary between grim darkness (TP), cel-shaded goofiness (SS), and cel-shaded epic and serious (BotW/TotK). Adult Link has way more range, is what I'm saying, and I think that all of this just comes down to the exact moment that OoT came out (right before Smash, right as 3D was establishing itself as the default instead of 2D, right as video games were hitting the mainstream). It's actually almost a shame that we never got another Child/Adult Link game, because it's a cool idea that each version of Link encounters different problems (or the same problems) and has to use different tools to overcome them. Then again, we already had a Hero of Time. I remember after WW came out and called that Link the "Hero of the Winds," people were trying to call each version of Link a different "Hero of X." It's bizarre that they gave two Links, but only two Links, special titles. I wonder if Nintendo planned on giving each Link a different title, then just gave up.
Biggoron's Sword
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik
Gerudo (Race): It's kind of funny how much the lore of Zelda races depends on OoT. Basically nothing is added between OoT and BotW besides that the Zora evolve into the Rito at some point in the WW timeline. But it almost goes beyond that. Everyone remembers the line in OoT about one male being born every one-hundred years, and he gets to be king. You know how many times that's come up in the series? Exactly once, and it's just there to justify why Ganondorf is the king of a tribe of only women. And that's 90% of the Gerudo deep lore, is just their connection to Ganondorf, which never comes up after OoT, and barely matters even within OoT. And don't tell me that in BotW, Urbosa briefly mentions that she wants to kill Ganon because legends say he was once a Gerudo, that doesn't count. I'm actually kind of shocked that that was never retconned, or "another legendary origin" for Ganondorf introduced, like that one is just a theory or something. That's like one of the handful of pieces of lore in the entire series that actually matters at all. And yet, while the Gerudo have more connection to what can charitably be called the main storyline of LoZ than the Goron and Zora, you can tell that for like twenty years after OoT, they mattered way less to Nintendo than the latter two. Those two show up in most games, missing out only occasionally. Aside from MM and its reused assets, the Gerudo didn't show up in a large capacity again until BotW, at the same time the Rito cropped back up. How many LoZ races just disappeared over time? Poor Deku, consigned to the dustbin of history. Yet, people remembered the Gerudo. Is it just because they're sexy amazons? Like, the idea of sexy green-skinned bedouin amazon thieves is just so utterly unlike everything else in the series, everything else in LoZ is like this idealized European fantasy land with magical races and magical monsters. They definitely played into this in BotW, where there's a classroom in the Gerudo city where women learn how to attract men, and they're like "should I beat him up and kidnap him against his will?" Like, BotW is definitely being silly about them. I remember that scene and the part where you dress up as a woman to infiltrate their city, but I don't remember a goddamned thing about the Zora or Goron quests. Was there an angry old man who says you can't help the Zora because you're responsible for the princess' death 100 years ago? Was there lava in the Goron quest? It's also really interesting how LoZ never again added a non-Hyrulian human group. It's just Hyrulians, Sheikah, and Gerudo. There's no like Chinese nation or Indian nation or whatever, it's just Europeans, Bedouins, and Ninjas. And the Sheikah were also added by OoT! Everything always comes back to OoT.

Torlovsk posted...

Offscreen, but he also curses the Great Deku Tree and Jabu-Jabu, and seals Dodongo's Cavern.

Link as a child, Link as an adult

I don't understand your nomination here.

Forgot about the curses, though.

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Chopping Signs
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Toon Link
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Leveling System (AoL)
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Ganondorf's Execution (TP): I can't remember, is this the exact moment when the game stops being about Zant, and becomes about Ganondorf? I guess we need this scene to explain who Ganondorf is for someone whose first game is TP. The lore here is so ****ing deep, as usual: Link defeats Ganondorf in the future, then returns to being a child and warns the King of Hyrule, so Ganondorf is imprisoned or whatever, and I suppose that explains the different sages, but, like... wasn't Ganondorf already running around being evil by the time you grab the Master Sword in OoT? Wasn't the king already dead, and Zelda in hiding? I also like Ganondorf silly faces in this scene. I like how the sages don't really bother explaining, just "by some divine prank, Ganondorf also had the power of the gods." I don't really know what to think about this scene, honestly. I hate deep lore, but it's not really that deep. I know this is to set Ganondorf up as a powerful villain we need to be afraid of, but I don't know, him breaking out of his execution and killing a magical old man before being sent to the Phantom Zone to hang out with General Zod? Does any other Zelda title bother setting up Ganondorf beforehand as a big threat? I remember in OoT, he throws a fireball at Child Link. I don't remember him really doing anything in any other game before he fights you. I don't hate this scene or anything, but it's not some really definitive Zelda moment I'll remember forever.
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Christianity Imagery
Marin
Agitha: It's so strange to me how many games have insect-collecting or insects as a mechanic. OoT, MM, TP, SS, BotW, and TotK all involve finding and using bugs in some capacity. But when I think of Zelda, I never, ever think of bugs as an important part of the series. They're always involved in the most minor of ways that you never particularly think about. Agitha herself is just a random, unimportant subquest giver, and I never would have thought about her twice... What a genius move to make her a default character in HW. Every crossover or big event game like that should have at least one completely random, unexpected entrant, and Agitha works perfectly, because she has a unique gimmick, and is exactly memorable enough that people will recognize her, but not important enough that anyone would expect her to show up. I'll say this, though. Most characters in TP are slightly ugly or offbeat. The only real exceptions are Link and Zelda, and Agitha... is not another exception. I've seen people treat her like she's some kind of cute girl, and man, have you actually looked at her? The Zelda Wiki uses the most flattering pictures possible, and she's still just slightly ugly. Though, I'll say this, too: I worked at a school for two years, and indeed, lots of teenage girls do like attaching those like rhinestones under their eyes exactly like Agitha does, so I guess good on them for nailing that.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
1/2 Magic Meter
Milk
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Lord Jabu-Jabu: There has never been a good 'inside the monster' level ever. I mean the ones where you're in a big fleshy disgusting intestine-like level, something like the black void that you're in when Hades eats you in KI:U is fine. It's not even that the level itself is poorly-designed, and it's actually visually probably the most unique level of the entire N64 era? It's not even the first time you get eaten and have to go into a giant being's insides to fight corruption within, that happens in the first twenty minutes with the Great Deku Tree. Child Link has four dungeons (Deku Tree, Dodongo's Cavern, Jabu-Jabu's Belly, and Inside the Well), and honestly? None are that great. The Deku Tree is definitely the best one. Like, the idea that Jabu-Jabu isn't really a dungeon, and has nothing really to do with the Zora Jewel you need other than that he ate Ruto and you need her to get it, is a fun idea. It's like an accidental dungeon. I'll say this, though: Barinade is a pretty decent boss. Best boss of the first part of the game, definitely. The boomerang is used in a fun way, even if it's not really used very much for the rest of the game? I guess that's the price you pay for being the final item of Child Link's era. Why the hell can't Adult Link use the boomerang, anyway?
Spirit Flute

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Lizalfos: I just realized that Lizalfos and Stalfos have absolutely nothing in common other than being midbosses, but both have the "-fos" suffix. Is... Is Navi just racist? Any enemy she doesn't know the name of, she just calls them what they are, and adds a -fos to the end? Anyway, look. They're fine. There's nothing interesting about Lizalfos at all, except that they'll only attack one at a time in OoT even if they can swarm you. Each game drastically changes their designs, such that the only things they have in common are being large reptiles that can use weapons. It's kind of interesting how the Zelda series makes zero effort to expand on enemy races as people, too. Even Mario put SOME effort into establishing that Goombas and Koopa Troopas are just regular, boring people. Here we have what I presume is a culture of tool-using people not dissimilar to the Zora and Gorons, but there isn't a single one in decades of Zelda games who so much as says a word. Always Chaotic Evil, indeed.
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
Lon Lon Ranch
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Video Game Concerts
Malo
Makar
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby (Smash)
Picto Box Quest (WW)
Minish Cap Figurines
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Link and Zelda (Captain N: The Game Master)
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Claude M. Moyse's Creepy German Phrases
Volga
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA)
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC Maps not being Backported to HW Wii U
Spell (Spell)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP)
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Cody Rhodes' Theme Song
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ganondorf (WW): This isn't even close to Ganondorf's coolest look. If we're just talking about his looks, it's got to be TotK > HW > OoT > TP > WW. But this is definitely Ganondorf's best as a character, in that it's the only time he even comes close to feeling like a real character. I kind of like the way he looks, actually, in the sense of degeneration. In OoT, he looks like some kind of warlord-general-king, slightly fancy, but mostly functional. And in TP, he's wearing very fancy armor and has his hair styled in a way that must have taken hours. But in WW? He's just wearing robes, and he's slightly fat. The only thing that makes him look like a king is the little tiara thing on his forehead. I'm probably reading too much into this, but if you want to take the Zelda series seriously as a real story, then the WW version of Hyrule is definitely a degenerated, destroyed version of Hyrule. It's gone, and the survivors are just eking out a fragile existence in the corpse that remains. Ganondorf and the King of Red Lions are the only remnants of the older, more glorious past, and Ganondorf by this point is just obsessed with recreating the old Hyrule so he can rule over it, and now all he is is a big fat guy wearing loose-fitting robes, pining about what set him on the path of evil in the first place but still fighting just for the sake of power itself. Ganondorf seems almost like a real character, the degenerated remains of a once-greater man, and the last thing tying Link and Zelda and the survivors to the old world, the last kind of pathetic string that needs to be cut before the world can move on. You can also say this retroactively about all of classic Ganon's appearances, as him just being the degenerated version of Ganondorf after centuries of defeat by Link, but WW Ganondorf seems more capable of reflection and realizing that he could have done better. He's by far the most compelling version of Ganondorf ever, but probably the most compelling main villain in any Nintendo title ever? I love OoT, but OoT and TP Ganondorf is just a big jackass who wants to take over the world for no real reason. It's also kind of interesting that this is the moment where Ganondorf goes from being a sorcerer to a fighter? All of classic Ganon's appearances, yeah, he has a trident, but he mainly attacks you with magic, and OoT Ganondorf attacks exclusively with magic until he becomes Ganon. Here, he completely ditches magic for swords, and every appearance after this is no magic, sword-only. And it's always a different sword style, too. He dual-wields in WW and HW, he uses a giant two-handed sword in TP, and he apparently uses a katana in TotK? At least Link is consistent.
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Nintendo
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Biggoron's Sword
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Dead Man's Volley
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle
Twinrova
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Tatl & Tael
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Ravio
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
OoT Title Screen
Medli
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Radio Zelda (Commercials)
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi
Tetra
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Any% Speedruns: Most speedruns I watch are things people link me to because they're funny or neat. I very rarely seek out and watch speedruns on my own. However, when I do watch speedruns, I only ever watch any% ones. As far as I'm concerned, this is the true speedrun, and any other version (such as 100%) is a speedrun with an extra challenge. I think that's the common opinion, right? Like, watching speedruns can be fun as a way to say "oh man, I didn't know you could do that," or "God, this guy is way better than I'll ever be." The most interesting speedrun I think I've ever watched was a TAS of RE4 that took like one hour by glitching through things, but if TASes don't count, then it's a 16-minute Baldur's Gate 1 speedrun, when the #2 place was like 51 minutes. I think I could probably replicate that 16-minute one, honestly, or even do better? But I don't want to steal the guy's strategy, and I'm not a speedrunner anyway, so I've never done it. Regardless, even if I don't like speedruns most of the time, I have nothing against them. I've never seen any Zelda speedrun, only randomized speedrun competitions of Zelda 1 and Zelda 2.
Sidon
Poe Collector

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Chopping Signs
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Toon Link
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Leveling System (AoL)
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Christianity Imagery
Marin
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
1/2 Magic Meter
Milk: Is milk the grossest drink, conceptually? I feel like it must be. Obviously, there are grosser-tasting drinks out there, but I'm just saying, if I had a mask that let me talk to cows, and a cow told me to milk her and drink it to restore 8 hearts, I probably wouldn't. I'd just take the extra hit to my wallet and buy a red potion. I don't know what goes in those things, but it probably doesn't come out of something that talks. I'll admit that from a game perspective, though, this is mildly smart. Potions are like the most common health restoration item in fantasy games, so providing some kind of nice little alternative is nice. That's all it is, though. It's nice. It's not some kind of super interesting or important piece of the LoZ identity.
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Spirit Flute

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
Lon Lon Ranch
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Video Game Concerts
Malo
Makar
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby (Smash)
Picto Box Quest (WW): Wasn't this entire quest just to get like figurines of characters or something? I said before that I don't care about that at all. I'll level with you, when games add the ability to take photos, I never use it. I just don't care about this as a thing to do at all. The only exception is Pokemon Snap, a game I played when I was like eleven, and a game that is exclusively about the photography. I guess I'll put this above the Minish Cap Figurines because they're slightly less annoying to obtain.
Minish Cap Figurines
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Link and Zelda (Captain N: The Game Master): I cannot imagine the licensing hell that this show would be today. According to the Captain N Wiki, this version of Link is also the Link from the Zelda TV show? Really? I mean, this version of Link does look like he's in his mid-twenties, which I guess is the oldest Link we've ever had. Why the hell does he have brown hair, anyway? Is it to contrast with Zelda's blonde hair? This is just another one of those elements that Nintendo would just not allow to be changed today, blond hair is just part of Link's branding now. Holy crap, this version of Link is so buff. The Wiki doesn't say, does he still say "Well, excuuuuuuuuse me, Princess" super annoyingly? Zelda I see is in her full early-mid 90s midriff-bearing gross-colored shirt. She also looks way older, you know, seeing Link in his mid-twenties is a little off-putting, but with Zelda, it's even more. This is a character who should just permanently be between 10 and 18. I like how one of the three images of Zelda on the Wiki is her having a picnic with the main princess from the TV show, because that's what princesses do, right? They hang out with other princesses in nature settings? God, it reminds me of the Disney cartoon Black Cauldron, where the girl just casually mentions she's a princess, but no more details than that are given, just that she's a princess. And they're both wearing pink! Even the Mario princesses had the dignity to not both wear pink. Speaking of which, good for Daisy that she finally wormed her way in Smash and back into the mainline series. She's finally proven that Nintendo likes her more than Waluigi, now let's see if she can reclaim her position as the secondary Mario princess. I doubt it, Rosalina is way better than her, and even Pauline at least has a more unique dress.
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Claude M. Moyse's Creepy German Phrases
Volga: I guess since Volga was nominated, and not Volvagia, I have to focus specifically on the HW character. So, I understand that in the context of a video game about fighting, they wanted to have a bad guy whose shtick was being super strong, and who's not just another evil magic person. I mean, he looks cool, yes. But his personality boils down to "I want to fight a strong person," and that's about it. Why does this character even exist? Like, I'm sorry, but when I think of the LoZ series, I don't think of humanoid antagonists. Besides Ganondorf and the occasional evil wizard, you mostly just fight monsters, right? There isn't a single playable character in this game who's just a big monster besides Ganon. This should have been the Moblin King or even just Volvagia the dragon. Again, this guy looks cool, but I don't know what I'm supposed to feel about him.
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA)
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC Maps not being Backported to HW Wii U
Spell (Spell)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP)
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Cody Rhodes' Theme Song: This might just be the most tangentially-related nomination on any of these lists, but I'll allow it. I have no idea what pro wrestling songs sound like normally, but this is trash. I'll never listen to this again. By the way, I googled his Triforce tattoo, which is not the first tattoo that comes up when you google "Cody Rhodes Tattoo," and it's like a half-inch dark line on his ring finger. Pretty weak.
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Nintendo
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Biggoron's Sword
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Dead Man's Volley: No one calls it that, and you know it. You can call it that if you want, Zelda Wiki, but you know damn well that everyone calls it tennis. I'm actually shocked at how many games use it, I only remember it from Agahnim and Ganondorf in OoT. To me, this is another one of those things that's so intuitive to someone who plays a lot of video games, but probably not so much to someone who doesn't know anything about video games. I remember playing one of the Zelda games (don't remember which) where there was a puzzle to light some candles according to some pattern. I figured it out instantly, and my sister (who was watching me play) was confused about how I knew, but to me, it was obvious. Playing tennis with energy balls is probably a similar situation. The logic of it is shaky, but the idea of turning your opponent's power against him, and of a frantic back-and-forth test of timing and skill, makes complete sense from a boss battle perspective.
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle
Twinrova
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Tatl & Tael
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Ravio: The idea of a Reverse World Link being a huge coward, and deciding the only way he can help is to enlist the aid of Normal Link, is fantastic. What a clever twist, what a good idea. To be honest, I kind of love reverse dimensions. I love Mirror Universe episodes in Star Trek, I love it when the twist is that a normally evil character is good, I just like these ideas in general, no matter how stupid and overdone they are. Link's defining trait is that he's courageous? Of course his alternate dimension duplicate is cowardly and dresses like a rabbit, that makes total sense. I mean, I wish it had gone further, and Hilda was the villain and Yuga was trying to help, but I'm fine with it. Ravio, at least, is a rea;;y solid interpretation of Reverse Link. Although... why the hell doesn't Smash have him as an alternate color scheme for Link? I have to believe that this would be super easy to add. Link's costumes are BotW Link, Classic Link, Red BotW Link, Fierce Deity Link, Dark Blue BotW Link, Slightly Off-Green Classic Link, White BotW Link, and Dark Link. Bro, you can absolutely replce one of those trashy extra colors no one cares about with Ravio, and it would be barely any more effort. I just checked, and even Zelda doesn't get a Hilda costume, how bizarre.
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
OoT Title Screen
Medli
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Radio Zelda (Commercials): I enjoy these, but there's not a lot for me to add. The idea of someone having to finish MM in three days in order to save the world is good, but man, I could easily finish MM in three days. I could probably do it in like twelve hours? I've never tried, but I bet I could speedrun this in like six hours if I really wanted to. I like how the commercial leaves it ambiguous as to if he'll succeed, and it actually captures the bleak tone of the real game. Like, if LoZ was set in a world with modern technology instead of medieval technology, I could imagine a MM-like subquest with a character like this that you have to help.
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi
Tetra
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Sidon
Poe Collector

Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi
Tetra
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Sidon
Poe Collector

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Chopping Signs: I love that this is even an option. It achieves nothing, it's never useful to do in any game, but goddamn, it's nice that you can do it, it's almost like an easter egg? I know that I've chopped more than a few signs in this series. I mean, look, it's stupid and minor, but giving the player the ability to do stupid and minor things like this really makes things feel "bigger" than they are. A better example is MGS, which, even in the crap games, still lets you interact with the world in a bunch of weird and fun ways.
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Toon Link
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Leveling System (AoL): This is the sort of thing I was talking about, back before major series had their identities figured out. No modern series is ever going to make such a drastic pivot, not unless its sales have been dipping for multiple entries. Imagine Nintendo making a normal Zelda title today, like OoT or LttP or something, but with a level-up system. It would just never happen, that's just not part of the games' identity. What AoL did will never happen again; even BotW's open world still fits into the series' existing identity way more easily than grinding for levels. Like, the appeal of Link as an adventurer isn't really that he gets stronger over time, it's that he finds stronger and more varied tools. Again, the easiest comparisons are SMB2 and FFII, two more series that hadn't quite figured out what they were about and did weird things for their second entries (yes obviously I know about SMB:LL, shut up) before pivoting back and being more traditional in their third. Compare this to Mega Man, which instantly knew exactly what it was about, and pumped out like 20 very similar games over the course of 15 years. Can you imagine if the Zelda series was more innovative? Like, if every game had its unique 'thing' that made it different from all of the others? AoL has leveling, MM has transformations and time loops, BotW and TotK have their open world, and that's... about it, honestly. But like, imagine the Zelda title that's more of an action TPS shooter where you have lots of special bow projectiles, and the Zelda title that's more of a horror game where you can't really fight back that easily, etc, etc. It'll never happen, but it's a cool idea for sure.
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Christianity Imagery
Marin
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
1/2 Magic Meter
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Spirit Flute

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
Lon Lon Ranch: I can't think of anything I care about less than Lon Lon Ranch. I live near a lot of ranches, I've seen ranches all my life. Maybe if you're an urbanite Japanese guy, ranches seem exotic? To me, they're the most boring and mundane thing ever.
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Video Game Concerts
Malo
Makar
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby (Smash)
Minish Cap Figurines
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Claude M. Moyse's Creepy German Phrases: It's crazy that these are real. How does this even get past Nintendo? Like, surely you fire this guy once you learn about the first one, right?
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA)
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC Maps not being Backported to HW Wii U
Spell (Spell)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP)
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

WazzupGenius00 posted...

That song was added by Moyse in the German version but I was more referring to lines like Never do it without a condom and give me your juice and Ill give you mine that he added when you use magic powder on the buzz blobs and then speak to them

Added it.

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Nintendo: I mean, it made our childhoods, right?
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Biggoron's Sword
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle
Twinrova
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Tatl & Tael: Tatl was obviously a response to the negative criticism of Navi, but I wonder if they considered not having a fairy companion at all? I guess it doesn't really matter. People talk about Tatl like she's some kind of gruffer or more sarcastic version of Navi, but she's really not. After the opening, she's basically just as helpful and kind as Navi is, she's just less loud. I just checked her on the Wiki, and I swear to God, I remembered her being purple instead of yellow, this is some Mandela Effect stuff happening right now. Yeah, okay, even the Wiki goes out of its way to point out that Tatl "expresses herself with ball-like noises of varying repetition, unlike Navi." I think that's probably a good thing even irrespective of Navi being sort of annoying. It's just as clear (you can make a strained or attentive bell noise), but also just seems more fantastical? Like, you're not a human, you're a glowing light ball. I just want to say again that Zelda has my favorite fairy designs, tiny glowing balls of light with insect wings is so, so good. The fact that Tatl also has her own tiny little subplot about wanting to rescue her brother and feeling bad for robbing people, like, it's not a lot, but it's more than Navi. Again, Navi is sort of the prototype for all of the companions after her, so of course it makes sense for them to be better than her. It makes sense, but that doesn't mean they all are...
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
OoT Title Screen: Easily the best one, nothing else even comes close. All of the others are just the logo floating above water, the logo floating above cliffs, the logo floating in fire... even BotW, for all of its good qualities, has kind of a crap title screen, with the logo just sort of floating over the landscape. The second best one I suppose goes to Spirit Tracks of all things, which is the logo floating over Ghost Zelda while she rides on top of a train that Link is driving. Meanwhile, OoT's title screen is the logo floating over Hyrule Field, while Link gallops by on Epona. It just feels way more adventurous than any of the others. Like, I don't care about seeing the logo float over the Wind Fish's egg, get out of here with that. But OoT's logo, if nothing else, tells you that this is a game about adventuring, exploring, and stabbing things with a sword.
Medli
Saria

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Toon Link
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Christianity Imagery
Marin
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
1/2 Magic Meter
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Spirit Flute

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL)
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Video Game Concerts
Malo: For some reason, I thought this was Mido, the annoying bully Kokiri who won't let you go past him unless you play Saria's song. Hey, Mido, I know Link is older now, but he's not THAT much older, it's still clearly Link, and he even has a fairy with him. Anyway, you nominated Malo, the smart-but-ugly little kid in TP. Look, man, I'll level with you, I don't remember TP's extended cast that well. I remember Midna, Zelda, Ganondorf, the fat bartender lady, the sumo goron, the buy girl, the Zora Queen, the Seven Sages (who aren't the OoT sages even though the timeline implies they should be), and the cannon guy. Don't ask me for more than that, because you're not going to get it.
Makar
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA)
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby
Minish Cap Figurines: I have never understood the appeal of figurines/trophies in games. It's like, yeah, I already know what Link looks like, I've been looking at him for thirty years. People complained when Smash replaced trophies with pictures, but I didn't care. Sure, it's lazier, but aside from achievement-hunting and the third eye Daisy glitch, did you ever once actually care about those stupid trophies? I mean, to be clear, they're inoffensive, but I would never go out of my way to collect these unless I'm achievement-hunting on Steam or something.
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Hidden German Messages (LA): Yet another thing I had to look up. So, a German translator added a song of his own creation to the game that's accessible by inputting his name. This song... is not very good. Stick your job as a translator, Claude M. Moyse.
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC Maps not being Backported to HW Wii U
Spell (Spell): "The Spell spell is a spell," thanks, second Zelda Wiki, of which there are at least two. I hope there's some kind of argument between the editors of the wikis that led to this, like they're arguing over timeline shenanigans and it split apart the Wiki fanbase. Anyway, this spell opens a vault with a key. Great, thanks. You couldn't name this "Unlock" or something?
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Equipment Rental
Cannon Room Glitch (TP): I never knew about this. I guess this is an annoying way for your game to be ruined, but, like... who even discovers these things? Who goes around saving their games in the most random locations to find these glitches?
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Biggoron's Sword: I actually like the idea that a random goron can forge a more powerful sword than the Master Sword, but since he's not a magical being, it's not quite as good at fighting magical evil. That makes a shocking amount of sense for a Zelda game. I also like the implication that to him, it's like a toothpick, but to Link, it's this ****off huge sword where you can't also use a shield. I kind of enjoyed it in OoT, where you collected more and more equipment, and had to switch between it in the item screen, it made you feel like more of an adventurer, and giving you an alternate sword with its own advantages and disadvantages was part of that. Now, granted, I would like it a little more if it wasn't just another gray sword with a blue hilt, maybe make it look rockier or have black metal or whatever, but that's fine, that's good. I even like how it's used in Soul Calibur II, since it's just a really long sword that drains your health. I would never use it, but it is a cool idea.
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Secret Jingle: I think of this as being as much a part of Zelda as the lightsaber vwoosh is part of Star Wars, so I was actually shocked to see it's only in like half of the games. Anyway, OoT/MM > LttP > BotW > LoZ > TP > SS. Goddamn, SS even screwed up the secret jingle by adding an extra tone in the middle, that's just embarrassing.
Twinrova
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster
Ghirahim
Medli
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Shigeru Miyamoto
Navi: Navi isn't nearly as bad as her reputation suggests, but she's still a little annoying. She's the proto-Fi in that regard; she's not really that bad or interruptive of your adventure, but she set a very bad precedent for what came later. She also, unlike every other companion after her, isn't part of the deep lore. She's just a gameplay mechanic, basically. "Here's a glowy thing around the enemy you're targeting." "Here's someone to tell you where to go next." I guess she's part of the plot, the game does kick off with Navi entering your room and telling you to go on an adventure, and I think her presence is why the Lost Woods don't kill you, but like, if this was a later Zelda game, she would be integrated into the story way more. Ganondorf would need to capture a fairy to activate the mystical runes that blah blah blah, you get the idea. Fantastic fairy design, by the way. Way better than humanoid fairies, I always really liked them being balls of glowing light with bug wings, that's very distinctive without being gross. Like, so many Zelda things are intentionally slightly gross, so it's good that the fairies are just cute instead. Has there ever been an evil fairy in Zelda? I don't think there has, right? I think they're exclusively helpful? The only ones I can think of are Tatl and Tael, and that's kind of pushing the definition of evil, since both help you.
Tetra
Phonogram Man
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Sidon
Poe Collector: This is what I'm talking about. Weird, gross guys who have vague implications for the world, but aren't explained at all. What's this guy's deal? What's the value of a poe? What does he mean that he'd be in a different business if he was as good-looking as Link? Why is it safe for him to hang out in Castle Town? None of these things are ever addressed, and it's great. He wants the world to decline to benefit his business, but what the hell do you do with a ghost?

Ghirahim
Medli
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World
Shigeru Miyamoto
Tetra
Phonogram Man: THAT'S his name? I just thought of him as the Music Box Guy, or the Windmill Guy. Well, whatever. He gave us the biggest earworm of the series, so I'll give him a few points. I like the idea of the time loop situation where he hates a kid for playing Song of Storms, and you learn it as an adult from him, go back in time, and play it for him. It's cute, even though there's not really anything else like that in the game. You can bet I was ****ing shocked to see him in OoS, though. He's like the only character from OoT who went on to become a recurring one, right? Him and Epona.
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Sidon

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Toon Link
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Shield (Magic)
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned
Christianity Imagery
Marin
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
1/2 Magic Meter
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Spirit Flute

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky
Great Palace (AoL): I know it's the 80s, I know this was still new at the time, but if we're being really honest? Boring final dungeon. I like when final dungeons aren't just crumbling temples or whatever. And giant crystal mazes don't count, Final Fantasy IX. The elevators are super annoying, too.
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto
Video Game Concerts
Makar
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Hippo Model (LA): I had to look this up. I played the DX version, so I already had the censored version, but even looking at the original on the Wiki... It would never have occurred to me that this is nude? It's like in classic cartoons, where animal characters are just always naked, except for a hat or something. I can't think of anything less offensive.
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL)
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC Maps not being Backported to HW Wii U
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Equipment Rental
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
ReDead: As far as I'm concerned, the only true ReDeads are the OoT/MM ones. They're so disgusting and gross and malformed, and the crappiness of early 3D graphics, the fact that only encounter them in shadowy locations, and the fact that the camera is always far away helps disguise how crap they really look. Even the 3DS versions are a mistake, they give them bright masks and make their bodies a light color, and the better graphics makes it easy to see how laughable they are. The African(?) zombies WW uses, and the stupid puddle monster in TFH don't even count, as far as I'm concerned. Those OoT ReDeads are, to me, the definitive "horror thing in a non-horror game." As a ten-year-old, I ran past those things in Castle Town as fast as I could. The horrible screams they make, the fact that there's no real way to counter them (like putting your shield up or something), their slow zombie movements, and the fact that they crawl onto your back and make munching noises all combine to make easily the most memorable monster in the game. I'm serious, I remember the Castle Town ReDeads better than some actual games I've played to completion. It's just so jarring. Up until this point, you've just been Kid Link running around having adventures, like sure, Ganondorf beat you up, but that's about it. Then you're an adult, the city is destroyed, the sky is black, and screaming zombies are trying to hump you. It's such a disturbing turn, and so, so memorable.
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family
Sheik: I've already talked about Sheik at length, so I'll instead just talk about two other aspects of Sheik I haven't mentioned yet. The first is how naturally the idea of ninjas fits into this world. Until OoT, Zelda had zero ninjas. Then suddenly it's Ninja o'clock. Whenever something unexplained happens? Ninjas. Ancient temple? Ninjas. Someone needs to teach Link something? Ninjas. Who survived the apocalypse the best, and are ready to assist Link? Ninjas. Someone needs to invent a smartphone using medieval technology? Ancient ninja science. Like, pre-OoT, Impa was just an old lady who tells you how to save Zelda. She went back to being an ugly fat woman one time in OoX, and then she became a sexy ninja babe for all subsequent appearances (and I'm counting BotW, because I know she's a ninja babe in the second Hyrule Warriors). I love how Japan can make a giant European fantasy land, and then just casually insert ninjas into things. Looking at you, FFVII. But speaking of FFVII, I was discussing this with my friends about a year ago, and we came to the conclusion that the two biggest plot twists in video games are Aerith dying and Zelda is Sheik. We couldn't think of a single other twist with that level of fame, and they're from within the same two year span. It's actually interesting, now that I think about it, because Zelda's next appearance is in WW, isn't it? And she also has another disguise in that game. So, you'd think that Zelda's shtick would be that she disguises herself a lot... but no, it only happens twice. And both times, the second she drops the disguise, she gets immediately kidnapped by Ganondorf.

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Twinrova
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Wallmaster: There are multiple games where I'd rather be killed than be captured by a Wallmaster. Wallmasters are the #1 enemy I'm careful around in these games. Nothing is more annoying than being caught by one and losing your progress, even if in reality it only takes like 90 seconds to get back to where you were. Again, also, a giant floating hand is just a cool fantasy monster to deal with. This is what helps set LoZ apart from a more generic fantasy setting, where you'd just fight goblins or whatever. It's the weirdness. LoZ always looks like a generic fantasy land, and then you get a couple of unexplained weird things thrown in, which is good.

Important nonsense I just discovered on the Zelda Wiki:

During an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto prior to the release of Ocarina of Time, he stated that the Kokiri disappear when they reach a certain age. Then, the next generation of Kokiri are born as abruptly. He also stated that Link would also disappear at some point in the game.

I'm sure that's not canon anymore, not that Zelda has a canon, but it shocks me that they ever thought through how the Kokiri were born.

Great_Paul posted...

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

I have to veto this one, since I haven't played the game.

Master, I Detect You Are Low on Life
Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Toon Link
Stamina
Companions
Hyrule: I like the Legend of Zelda as much as the next guy, but Hyrule is the most nothing fantasy world ever. That's to its advantage, since, as I've said, I prefer Zelda to not even try to have deep lore, but like... Hyrule is basically one step above a Pokemon region in terms of how much I care about it. It's just a generic medieval European land to have adventures in, with some wacky Japanese stuff and ancient super technology mixed in. Like, it's slightly above the world of Final Fantasy IV in terms of being fleshed out, which is fine. Of course, this is before you consider that there are actually multiple Hyrules across the timelines, but whatever. We'll just ignore the ST one, since it had the audacity to advance to 1800s technology.
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Cuccos: Obviously, they're just chickens. I do like the recurring gag that if you attack them, an endless wave of chickens will fly from everywhere and avenge their friend. How many games actually have you grab one and use it to float down places? I only remember doing that in OoT and MM, but it must be more, right? It's nice that they managed to do something fun with a common farm animal appropriate to a medieval fantasy world, as opposed to... nothing, like with what happens with cows.
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Shield (Magic): This spell reduces the damage you take by half, and turns you red for the duration, disappearing when you leave the screen. I... can't think of an ability with a greater inverse relationship between usefulness and interestingness.
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Gannon-Banned: Goddamn, I totally forgot about Gannon-banned until this. Remember when websites all looked like this? I do feel a certain bit of weird nostalgia for it. Man, he's even complaining about people calling MM "Zelda 2." Imagine anyone even being capable of making that mistake today.
Christianity Imagery
Marin
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
1/2 Magic Meter
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Spirit Flute

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Ben Drowned
City in the Sky: I'm gonna level with you: I don't like sky cities or sky islands. I liked them once as a kid with Chrono Trigger, and that's the only time. It's just such a lazy way to have the advanced magical civilization show off its stuff. I understand that you want to have the advanced magic people live in a magical place that's beyond normal people, and a sky city is an easy way to do that... but honestly? It's just so overdone, even by 2006. Give me advanced magic people who live underwater, who live in a volcano, who live in another dimension, who live anywhere except a floating city. Now, that said, the actual dungeon is pretty good, and it gives us one of the greatest Zelda items ever, the Doubvle Clawshot, and I kind of like the Oocca for being so ****ing hideous. Like, if you saw one of these things in real life, you'd just barf. Why did a people the size of chickens build a human-sized city? How did they build machines that need fingers to work, when they only have stubby little wings? I love it. They're just so gross.
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link
Princess Ruto: I am convinced that Princess Ruto is proof that you can have any female character do literally anything in the proximity of the main character that involves showing attraction, and fans will jump on it forever. Notice that I didn't say "male main character," by the way. Ruto shows up for five seconds as an eight-year-old, says "teehee Link I'm a spunky girl, I'll only give this important jewel to the man I'll mary one day~~~," and then doesn't show up for seven more years, whereupon she's an adult and is mostly just business. They repeated the same basic formula for Mipha, too. Like, this is the most nothing character ever, even moreso than Saria. At least Saria grew up with Link, but is trapped as a child forever, so there's like a connection and a tragedy there that ensures they can never be together or whatever. Ruto is just a sexy fish girl. She's like the sixth sexiest girl in OoT alone, I'll take Zelda, Marin, Impa, Nabooru, and the Bombchu Bowling Girl over her, and those are just the ones I can name offhand. The only thing I really remember her for is saying "Link, you have to carry me around like an object in the worst dungeon in the game," and then you just DO, which is one way to handle an escort quest, I suppose. Second best escort quest of all time, after Ashley? I remember she shows back in up Hyrule Warriors, but I don't remember a ****ing thing about that game's plot, just that Ganondorf has a cool design.
Video Game Concerts
Makar
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series)
Frostare
Nintendo Cereal System
Ballad of the Wind Fish: It was harder than you expct to find the original Gameboy version of this one youtube. I don't know if I prefer it over the remake's version, actually. I don't like the lyrics for the new one, but the ear-splitting Gameboy sounds are... yeesh. I assume the lyrics sound better in Japanese, and it's another translation thing, like with Fire Emblem songs always sounding kind of bad in English.
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Japanese Boss Battle Theme (AoL): Man, I also like loops, but not so much in my music, not if they're only three seconds long. It's a quality three seconds, but it's just three seconds. Honestly, it's more like two-and-three-quarters seconds.
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Divine Beasts
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC Maps not being Backported to HW Wii U
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Equipment Rental
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Rupees: I don't know whose idea it was to make the currency hexagonal jewels, but hats off to him. It's very easy to imagine LoZ where the currency is just gold coins or something. I can't think of a single other video game series with a dedicated currency that isn't either dollars, yen, gold coins, or "credits," you know? I can think of other games where there's a functional currency that's not one of those, like "collect skulls for upgrades" or whatever, but in terms of being an actual in-world currency that's supposedly used by normal people, this is the only one I can think of that's not a coin, piece of paper, or sci-fi credit (does Sonic spend rings as currency? I count those as a coin variant anyway). This really helps set Zelda apart, even if they're named after the currency of real life India for... no real reason? According to the Zelda Wiki, they're based on rubies, and not Indian Rupee,s but that doesn't explain why they're called that!
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Japanese Link to the Past commercial
Brawl in the Family: I am convinced that fully half of Waluigi's popularity stems from this comic. No one cared about Waluigi until BitF started popularizing Waaaaaaa, which he doesn't even really say in actual Mario games. Wa-Elegy is actually one of my favorite stupid youtube songs. I don't even understand the pro-Waluigi in Smash argument at all. Is it just based on him being the highest profile non-Nintendo character not yet in Smash? Because he's the most nothing character ever, and that's what makes him fun. He's a character based on Wario and Luigi, who are based on Mario. Waluigi is the only character in all of fiction who's both two and three times removed from his source, caught in a perpetual nonexistence that is fully justified, since he's also the world's most pointless and useless character. I love Waluigi for this, but he's someone you can only appreciate once you have a highly-developed sense of irony, and BitF really brought him to a much larger audience.

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
Gold NES Cartridges: I had to look this up, I actually didn't know about it. Obviously, I knew about the MM one, I had one myself. This is a fun little way to set the Zelda games apart from other games, though it sort of like implies that Nintendo knows Zelda is just a step above your average piece of shovelware. God, remember when gray plastic NES and SNES stuff looked futuristic and cutting-edge? Can you imagine anything like that playing today? It just looks so antiquated.
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Twinrova
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Ghirahim
Medli
Saria
Subtitles
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Dark World: I'm going to try to list all of the reverse worlds in LoZ, tell me if I miss one (this doesn't count places that are just other countries). Dark World, Dark Realm, Twilight Realm, Illusion Realm, Silent Realm, Lorule, Termina. I mean, look, in 1992 or whatever, the idea of an entire second part of the game that takes place in another dimension that's similar to the main one, and altering stuff in one changes it in the other, was mind-blowing. But today? Man, I don't know. I just want to tell you what the Zelda Wiki says about Lorule: "it is a dark mirror of Hyrule almost entirely congruous with the Dark World as featured in A Link to the Past." No it isn't! Congruous means "in agreement with!" It's just similar because they reused the idea!
Shigeru Miyamoto
Tetra
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Bombable Walls: Ahhhhhhhhhhh, such a classic puzzle. Does this even qualify as a puzzle? Such a classic SOMETHING. It's been used in games since the 1980s, and not just Zelda games. I wonder, was LoZ the very first game where there's a crack in a wall and you have to damage it to go through? Tell me if there's another earlier game. Oh, you wanted me to actually talk about bombable walls as a concept? They're fine. They're basically just a test of your ability to manage your resources (have enough bombs) versus your ability to notice things.
Wind Fish
Gleeokenspiel
Sidon

JonThePenguin posted...

Ballad of the Wind Fish

The writeup on pan flutes made me realize that as someone whose wife runs a shop at our local RenFest, my impression of what instruments are widely known is wildly different and incorrect.

Hey man listen, I once quizzed my class on which famous monsters they knew, and I was completely wrong about what was famous. Everyone knew Minotaurs, but only a handful knew chimera, and it got worse from there.

WazzupGenius00 posted...

The first Legend of Zelda DOES have a subtitle in Japanese. The full name of the game is either "The Hyrule Fantasy: Zelda no Densetsu" or "Zelda no Densetsu: The Hyrule Fantasy" depending on how you choose to interpret it (does the bigger name get first billing, or the one placed the farthest up?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM4CvZ8BFnA

also worth noting that when the Japanese version was ported to cartridge (having been a Disk System release originally) they added a big "1" to the end of the title
https://legendsoflocalization.com/media/the-legend-of-zelda/graphics/jpnzelda1.png

This is actually huge news to me!

Stamina
Companions
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Katsuya Terada: Oh, this is the guy who made all the classic art? ... He's no Tetsuya Nomura. His art is easier to make out what it's supposed to be, though.
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Din (Oracle)
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Christianity Imagery: It's funny how much this wouldn't happen today. Not because it's banned or anything, but because everyone would just immediately understand the idea of a fictional fantasy world disconnected from reality, and how Christian symbols can't be a part of that. I think the only series with this sort of symbology still active is Castlevania, right? Speaking of which, I watched the Castlevania anime on Netflix, and there's like a thirty second aside where Trevor says "vampires are weak to crosses because they hate perpendicular angles, not because of God," and it's like... there are a thousand reasons why that doesn't make any sense. I'd say that you just wanted to remove any religious connotations from the show, but the main villain of the first season is a priest, so I don't know.
Marin
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
1/2 Magic Meter
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied
Spirit Flute: If you were hoping for an ocarina-length write-up about this, you're in for a bad time. It's just a pan flute. That's an acceptably rare instrument for a fantasy world, I suppose, but pan flutes are more common in reality than ocarinas. Like, if I showed a picture of a pan flute to my sister, I think she'd probably recongize it as an Ancient Greek thing, but she'd definitely at least recognize it as a bunch of flutes strung together. If I showed her a picture of an ocarina, I'm not confident she'd know it's an instrument, or a real instrument, at that. It's just that little more notable than the ocarina that makes it slightly less fantastical... though, the Ocarina of Time got to be in two tentpole console releases, the first of which is probably the definitive Zelda game, while the Spirit Flute only gets to be used in Spirit Tracks, so that also damages its credibility as an important Zelda instrument. I do approve of the idea of each Link having a different instrument, though, but the Ocarina of Time feels like a significant magical artifact? The Spirit Flute is just a random flute that's also magical, I guess?

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Ben Drowned
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
David Jr.
Zant
Wolf Link: I wonder how much of this was motivated by MM's transformation masks. It's surely at least somewhat, right? Link had nothing to do with transformations before MM (yes okay I know about the Fairy spell in AoL), and then for two games released six years apart, suddenly he's all about transforming into other creatures, and then that entire element is never brought up again. Anyway, Wolf Link is fine. Mechanically, he's more fun than Deku Link, but less fun than Goron and Zora Link. But there's never a point where he's more fun than regular-ass human Link, and that's a problem. In a series all about using tools, the idea of turning into a creature that can't use tools, and instead must rely on its natural instincts and skills, is good, but I don't know if this is the best possible interpretation of such an idea. It's just... what can you really do with a wolf? You can run around, bite things, dig, and smell. A ****ing fish or bird is more interesting because they let you move in ways that humans can't. A normal adult man can already move in the same way as a wolf, just slower. I guess you can also use Midna to grab things or whatever, but who cares. I think this is just sort of a failed experiment, which is weird to say about a game as conservative and safe as TP.
Video Game Concerts
Makar
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Bagu (Nintendo Comics Series): Here's the Zelda Wiki's description of events: "Bagu also appears in the fourth issue of The Legend of Zelda comics by Valiant Comics published by Valiant Comics. In this issue, he comes from the Moruge Forest and stays at the North Castle for few days, pretending to befriend Link and Zelda, but in a sudden moment, he betrays them and steals the Triforce of Wisdom. Link manags to catch up with Bagu and confronts him. Bagu soon realizes that Link has brought his Power Glove with him, and that he would be no match against such a weapon. He surrenders as he tells his tale to Link: Ganon had kidnapped his two pet frogs, and was holding them ransom, and demanded the Triforce in return. Link reluctantly offers to give Bagu his Power Glove so he can stop Ganon. It is unknown what events occurred during his attack on Ganon, but Bagu eventually returns safely to the palace with both of his frogs." Honestly? This just makes everyone look bad, including the person who wrote this entry, because of the typo with "manags." But in all seriousness... what a random character to get a comic to himself?
Frostare
Nintendo Cereal System
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Divine Beasts: Lame. Sorry. They're probably the biggest disappointment of the game? They look cool, yes, and they all feel significant, but I'm never like "oh man, I'm really awed right now," like I was by the first dragon encounter. The fact that the dungeons themselves are all super easy as well is also a strike against them. And I mean, look, in terms of silly things, I love the elephant one, but if you're trying to take this seriously, it's so stupid-looking. It's like the stupidest giant animal robot you could possibly build. And it's kind of a problem, because these are basically the plot of the game? The plot of the game is 70% about finding these things.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC Maps not being Backported to HW Wii U: Lazy stuff. That's the way it goes, though.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss)
Equipment Rental
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument)
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW)
Hearts
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Japanese Link to the Past commercial

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Twinrova: It's a good joke, that when you kill them, they complain that they're dying at different ages, and one gets annoyed that the other is lying about her age. It's kind of interesting, too. The idea of them being Ganondorf's adoptive mothers is good, it gives them some more significance than being random monster bosses like Bongo Bongo. They're also one of the few human bosses in a dungeon, right? Offhand, all I can think of are Twinrova and Ghirahim, it's almost always an ancient monster or robot or something. The idea of them turning into one superpowerful witch at the end because they have twin powers is also good, and I like how rather than it being a sexy witch, it's still like this ugly, misshapen crone. Like, you google "Twinrova," and it's all sexy fanart that looks nothing like her ta all. Of course, the fact that they ascend to Heaven, then later show up in the Oracle games, presumably reincarnated, raises some ontological questions about the Zelda afterlife that I won't get into. Why are they working to resurrect Ganon again, when their new reincarnations aren't his adoptive mother anymore? I dunno. I can't even say that they're just evil, because their Termina versions are just normal people. Even that's kind of neat. Anyway, I read the Trivia section of Twinrova's Wiki page, and most of it is stupid ("Koume is certain that the potion given to her is Kotake's, even if it was purchased from the Trading Post in Clock Town or other means. Therefore, Kotake may be supplying the Trading Post with its potions"), but to my shock, there actually is something interesting in it: "In The Wind Waker, Koume and Kotake's names are engraved on Ganondorf's swords in Hylian." I'm shocked that this bit of canon was carried on between games, that's actually super interesting and makes WW Ganondorf slightly cooler.
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash)
Ghirahim
Medli
Saria
Subtitles: Adventure of Link, A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, The Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures, The Minish Cap, Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, Triforce Heroes, Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom. Looking back, it's almost surprising they never went back and gave the original game a subtitle, like how Star Trek became Star Trek: The Original Series. Anyway, I'm fine with this. For a series like Zelda, where the connections between the games are tenuous anyway, it's a good idea to give them unique subtitles, even if they don't always make sense. What is the link to the past? Isn't every game an adventure of Link's, and isn't he the hero of the Triforce in almost every game? Why is the Ocarina of Time the titular macguffin, when it has minimal actual story significance? Is it supposed to be Link's Awakening, as in the Awakening of Link, or Link's Awakening, like Link is awakening? How can it be Majora's Mask, when Majora is the mask? It can't own itself. Do you ever really point your sword toward the sky? Which princess is the Twilight one? Those traintracks have nothing to do with spirits until Zelda loses her body, and even then, that's a tangential relation at best. The world may never know the answers to these questions. In all seriousness, Zelda subtitles mostly follow the fantasy novel naming convention of "the X of Y," and usually name themselves after the most important macguffin or person besides Link, which is a good idea for a fantasy series. What else were they going to do, name them Legend of Zelda 5? Legend of Zelda 6? Imagine trying to keep track of the games that way, I can already barely keep track of which Pokemon generation is which after 5.
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Shigeru Miyamoto: My opinion of Miyamoto is the same as most people's: he's sort of the George Lucas of video games. He has some amazing ideas that redefined the genre, and then he got old, and kept getting the way of new ideas. Every story you hear about him post-2010 is just him ruining a video game by playing things too conservatively. God, what has he done since 2010? Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon? Star Fox Zero? Yeesh. And yet, he basically made a third of all the classic games everyone loves, so it's impossible to hate him. At least he never sold Nintendo to Disney. What's the Disney equivalent of computer stuff? Microsoft?
Tetra
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Wind Fish: The most whatever concept in the series, possibly. You'd be hard-pressed to find two concepts less related than wind and fish, though. He should just be the Dream Fish or something. Speaking of which, he's not even a fish, he's a whale. I like his design, though, it's fancy and slightly ugly. Really good for some kind of quasi-demigod or whatever he's supposed to be.
Gleeokenspiel
Sidon
Twilight Princess
Pre-Hyrule Historia Timeline Debates: If we're being really, really honest... these were kind of fun. Sometimes, it's fun to argue about complete nonsense, and no two words better describe the Zelda canon than "complete nonsense." Like, no stakes fan arguments are sometimes fun! They just are! "Is Gilgamesh the same guy in every Final Fantasy?" "Is the Arkenstone a Silmaril, or just a random shiny stone?" "Why can the P3 characters summon personas outside of the magic world, unlike all of the others?" And then these questions get actual answers, and they're not as fun as the fan answers. Like, honestly, why even make the Zelda timeline official if you're not going to do anything with it? They didn't even like arrange it by artstyle, so that all the old games are one timeline, all the cel-shaded games are another, and so on. It's just random and bad. I don't think anyone is very satisfied by the Zelda timeline, including Nintendo, since BotW is apparently set in the distant future after the timelines recombined? How the hell does that even work? I guess I'm not in a position to question how omnipotent goddess magic works, but honestly. These arguments weren't the best thing ever or anything, but they were mildly fun, especially the people who tried to insist it was the same Link in every game pre-WW, and the official timeline took that away.
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Toon Link

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

I know this likely means nothing to you since you already said that you don't play Splatoon, but I just want to point out, this was the only Splatfest in the entire series that had a unique, Splatfest-specific stage layout. Normally Splatfests play on regular versions of stages (or in tricolor's case, a slight modification to accomodate a third team). But the Triforce stage was a complete original layout.

That does make it a little cooler, but if I'm imagining a big crossover thing, I'm imagining the Inklings running around in like the Temple of Time or Death Mountain or something.

You've Met with a Terrible Fate
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Temple of the Ocean King
The Imprisoned (Boss): This isn't the worst boss in Zelda, but it's pretty low on the list, and the fact that you have to fight him three times, and all of the fights are basically the same thing, is pretty bad. He's just a big black blob monsters with toes, and you have to stab the toes while he runs down a spiral, and sometimes he slithers down it like a snake, and it's just so, so lame. No one wants to fight the same boss multiple times unless the later battles have cool new gimmicks added, and boy oh boy, does Groose's cannon not count. This is like the most universally derided part of SS, isn't it? This boss? And the fact that he's also later revealed to be Ganondorf is just icing on the cake.
Equipment Rental
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
Frog's Song of Soul (LA:DX)
Tadtones
Demise
Zelda Timeline

Hey, Listen!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Z3R
Bongo Bongo
Anju/Kafei Quest
Magnet Gloves
BotW Cooking Jingle
Hestu's Gift
Stealing from the LA Shop
Stone Tower Temple
Linkle
Bombos Medallion
His Name is Zelda
Second Quest
Great Bay Temple
Heroic Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Link, the Silent Protagonist
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Groose
Fighter Choices (Smash): Obviously, we need Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf. Those are mandatory. But everything else kind of isn't. Zelda is Nintendo's third biggest series, but the nature of how the games' story works precludes having lots of important recurring cast members to throw into a fighting game. You think I'm going to complain about how Zelda only gets six characters, but I'm actually okay with that. Who else is going to be added? Toon Zelda? Tingle? Vaati? Please. But the six characters we get, well, we have three variations of Link, which, sure, so be it. There are three variations of Mario in Smash if you count Luigi as a partial clone, and four variations of Marth, so I don't fault them for that... even though, like everyone, I'm aware that Young Link could be differentiated quite a bit, if he's representing MM. Instead of transformations, he gets... fire arrows. But so be it, I'll accept that. And Zelda herself? Perfectly fine rendition, no problems with that. I also don't mind keeping Sheik around, even though it's pointless? Like, in the entire Smash cast, I want to say that no other character has been made as irrelevant in their home series as Sheik? Even old FE characters still show up in Engage or Heroes or whatever; Sheik got into Smash just because Melee was made after OoT, and has stuck around through sheer inertia. I guess she was also in HW, for whatever THAT'S worth. But it's not like her presence offends me or anything. The real issue here is Ganondorf. I know they made him a Captain Falcon clone to get him into Melee as quickly as possible (we all know the quote about Sakurai choosing between five clones or one unique character), but like... Ganondorf should have his own moveset. He should clearly be some kind of swordsman/magic hybrid. Like, of every character in all of Nintendo to get gypped in Smash, how did it end being Ganondorf? So, in the end, that leaves us with three Links, two Zeldas, and a Captain Falcon clone. Am I wrong for thinking that Ganon should be a separate character from Ganondorf, also playable on his own? Like, he should just be a big monster man with a trident who shoots lightning at you or whatever. I know we already have multiple big monster men (Bowser, King. K. Rool, Ridley, King Dedede, and sort of Incineroar), but that's the way it goes. So yeah, the Zelda roster would be perfect if they just gave Ganondorf his own moveset and added Ganon as a character. I do, however, appreciate that Link got an update in Ultimate to make him more like BotW Link.
Ghirahim
Medli
Saria
Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Jeremy
Water Temple (OoT)
Hyrule Warriors
Green (Color)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I'm so Hungry, I could eat an Octorok!
Molgera's Boss Theme
Kirby (Link's Awakening)
King Zora
Ganon's Tower (LttP)
The Mask Salesman
Tetra
Royal Crest
The Moon
Dark Link
Door Charge Old Man
Gleeokenspiel
Sidon
Twilight Princess
Rolling in Ocarina of Time
Temple (Smash Stage)
Toon Link: I don't know whether you want me to rank Toon Link, the character in WW, PH, and ST, or Toon Link, the Smash character, or both. Either way, I'm fairly ambivalent. This is probably the most characterization Link ever got, right? He's super energetic, his facial expressions have lots of detail, and he even speaks brief phrases ("Come on!"). My sister once saw pictures of Link and Toon Link. The first one she said "Link" to, and the second she said "Baby Link" to. I don't know, what do you want me to say? All I can really say is that because the game is going for anti-realism, this design for Link aged way better than OoT's or TP's.
Stamina
Companions
Colgera's Boss Theme
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Using Ocarina of Time to speedrun Paper Mario
Ezlo
Dragon Roost Island (Music)
Din (Oracle): I'm assuming you meant the Oracle games' version of Din, a quick googling of "Age of Seasons" gave me nothing. This is as opposed to the goddess Din. I'm gonna level with you: I don't remember a single thing about this character. The only thing I remember about the oracles in the Oracle games is that Din is the Oracle of Seasons and Nayru is the Oracle of Time, and Farore, the Oracle of Secrets, doesn't get her own game. She's just the person who links your games together. What a gyp, I'd feel a little annoyed if I was her. As for Din, she... I don't know what to say, she's an energetic, nice dancer lady. Actually, I've played Fire Emblem 8 way more than this game, and I jut realized that she looks almost identical to Tethys from that game. Coincidence? ... yes.
Ricky, Moosh, and Dimitri
Hand in the Toilet
Malo Mart
Drgn roost island
Screen Wraparound Glitch (LA)
Weapon Durability
Bug-Catching Net
Marin
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Gameboy Zelda Aesthetic
The Legend of Zelda (Rabbit Joint)
1/2 Magic Meter: "1/2 Magic simply halves the amount of magic needed to perform a magic attack." Great, thanks. I actually do remember the purple bat who curses you to have "half magic," though, and that's why it gets some points to crawl up to this tier.
Sploosh and Kaboom (Quotes)
Link Gets Bullied

Well ExcuuuuUUUUuuuuuuUUUUuuUuuuUUUUse Me, Princess!
Ben Drowned
Epona
Zelda's Lullaby: I used Edge instead of Chrome to google it, and goddamn, does Bing have the worst youtube-searching setup ever. Anyway, this is fine. It actually does sound sort of like a lullaby, which is a nice touch, and it makes complete sense for Zelda to have her own theme song. But like... this is not what I think of when I think of LoZ music. This is just another random song among a billion random songs, not notable at all except for its story importance.
Vaati
Squid-Hunt (Minigame)
Nintendo Power LttP Comics
David Jr.
Zant
Video Game Concerts
Makar
Kass
5000 Rupee Heart Piece in MM
Gohma
xenosaga's Impulse Link/Epona Figure
Mechanical Harp: Windmills (Pikmin 4)
Legend of Zelda (NES)
Frostare
Nintendo Cereal System
Ancient Cistern
Triforce Heroes
Primitive 3D Aesthetic
Rod of Seasons
Zelda Kirby
Fishing Minigame (OoT)
Magic Hammer: I'm just going to include all of the hammer items here, regardless of whether or not they technically bear the name "Magic Hammer." To me, this is the ultimate "who cares" Zelda item. Getting it means you can press a rusty switch or destroy a boulder. While it's always nice to open up a new path, I've never once been like "yeah, awesome, at last I have the hammer, this really changes how I play the game." It's just another one of those items that you bring out to deal with a puzzle or kill an enemy that has a hammer weakness, and that's it. It's unique only in the sense that unlike most of Link's items, it actually does look like a real weapon, which lends something to the idea of Link as a weapons master or something, but like... that's so minor. That's like the most minor thing ever.
Forced Stealth Sections
King Harkinan
Heart Pieces Locked Behind Bad Minigames
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Kinstones
Power vs. Wisdom vs. Courage (Splatoon)

I Coveted That Wind
Link (Soul Calibur II)
Fierce Deity Link
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: It's this or OoT for best game in the series, at least until I get to TotK. It's the first game since MM that just did everything right, or at least almost everything. The dungeons are a little lame, and there are no moments in the game that feel super significant, like your quest has taken a new and important turn, but... who cares? The game nails everything else. Everyone talks about this, but how you just wake up, leave a cave, and your objective is to travel to a place, and you're given no instructions about how to get there, is genius. It's just such a bold direction for a series that gets so easily mired in its own traditions, even moreso than Mario or Pokemon. The idea that they just made an open world Zelda game, and that's it, no other tricks or gimmicks or addendums, just do whatever you want whenever you want, is such a good idea. And the physics of the gameplay! Being able to solve puzzles by just farting around with objects is so cool, it feels utterly unlike all Zelda games before, where you always had to figure out what the developers intended for you to do and then follow the plan. Everything about this game just feels so ****ing fresh, and it probably wouldn't have if I played more open world games, but I don't, so it all felt fresh to me. There are even a few moments in the game that feel magical, like when you climb up a big mountain and see a dragon for the first time. Sure, it's annoying every subsequent time, when you're just there to farm scales, but still. The idea that the developers were like "we'll let you solve any problem your own way," and then actually did, is so impressive to me. You know that island where you lose your equipment? I didn't know you were supposed to use a raft to reach it. I stood on top of crag, jumped off, and then just spammed stamina potions to keep gliding until I reached it. There is no other Zelda game, and few other games period, that would have let me do that. I'm so impressed by this game, and my understanding is that TotK is even better. The reason I have OoT over it, though, is that I can more easily imagine myself replaying OoT than BotW. Arbitrary, but there you go.
Paraglider
Zelda/Sheik in Smash
Ocarina (Instrument): You're the writer for a fantasy game, and your main character needs an instrument. It needs to be small and mobile. Do you choose the harp? The flute? The cello? Wait, there was a game where you collect a ****ing organ? Anyway, the ocarina is such a good choice. It's a real instrument, but it looks like a fake fantasy one, and it has that slight air of elegance to it. Even the color of deep purple feels significant (even though it's blue in all of the artwork). You can actually believe that someone would invest vast magical powers into it. It actually seems as powerful and important as the Master Sword, even if it has literally no backstory at all. At least with a sword, you can just assume that someone made it to fight evil people. Why does an ocarina have magic time and teleportation powers? Why does the Royal Family have one? I dunno! And it's funny, too. This is the macguffin the game is named for, this is the key to Link's quest, it's in half of the promotional art, this is the seemingly most important tool he possesses, he pops it out constantly throughout his adventure... and there is no explanation for its powers, Zelda just chucks it at you partway through the game, and the game never really makes a big deal out of it. The Ocarina of Time is there at almost every significant moment in the game after you get it, but no attention is ever drawn to it, not like the other important macguffins in the series. I think the idea of a magical instrument that uses magic songs to achieve magical effects is genius, and the specific choice of ocarina is also great. As a kid, when I got this item, I was like "but wait, what about the Fairy Ocarina?!" They wouldn't just have it disappear today. If this game was made today, the Fairy Ocarina would either break just before you get the Ocarina of Time, or you'd need to use it later for something the Ocarina of Time can't do, like to connect to Saria in the spirit world or something. It's so funny, the game made a big deal out of the Fairy Ocarina early on, and then it's just completely forgotten about as soon as you get the fancier, more powerful one. I also appreciate how the Ocarina of Time is with you in MM. Like, it's nice to have continuity between the games, even though it doesn't REALLY make a lot of sense? I would assume Zelda would want this thing back after you beat Ganondorf, it should have really been the Fairy Ocarina you use in that game, but it's fine. So, question. When you use a transformation mask, is it turning the Ocarina of Time into the other instruments, or do they just have their other instruments with them, and you use them instead of the Ocarina of Time? Because my impression is that the Ocarina of Time is special and magical and unique, and normal instruments can't turn back time or whatever, especially not a random Goron adventurer's drums. Anyway, ocarinas, yes. Definitely the best instrument in the series, but it was wise not to bring it back after MM. I think it's smarter to have each Link have a different instrument, and--wait, there are more ocarinas? MC has the "Ocarina of Wind," and it looks exactly like the Ocarina of Time? ... well okay then.
Midna
Legend of Zelda (Theme)
Link (GameFAQs)
Gerudo Valley (Theme)

Good!
Cadence of Hyrule
Master Sword
Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
Koji Kondo
Triforce
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Gerudo Outfit (BotW)
Swordless Link Trick (OoT)
Cia
The Missing Link
Goron
Hookshot
Champion's Tunic (BotW): I'm going to list the video game characters I think are more famous than Link: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Pikachu, Sonic. That's probably it, though I might be missing something obvious. None of those characters ever really change their iconic looks. Sure, sometimes they'll put on a sports outfit for a minigame or something, but when you think of Mario, you think of red. Link has almost that level of fame, and he has equally iconic clothing, and they just dumped it. I have a lot of respect for them for doing that. It's a signal right away to the audience that this is not like the previous Zelda games, that this game is going to do its own thing. Link's old tunic and floppy hat? Get that **** out of here. Link's favorite color is green? Not anymore. Now Link wears whatever he wants for the stats, like this is WoW or something. I would actually have even more respect for them if you couldn't get the iconic green outfit at all in BotW. It's a minor signal, but every other Zelda game ever either starts you with the green tunic, or you get it early on, and there's a big to-do about it where everyone makes a big deal of it for one reason or another, always emphasizing how this is an important moment in your life. Not only does that not happen, but there's no equivalent moment at all. The closest thing is when Impa gives you this tunic and is like "this is what you wore one-hundred years ago," but it's not played up the same way as like Link becoming a knight in SS or Link gaining Ezlo the magical hat in MC. It was such a daring thing to do that I just really have to compliment them for it. Oh yeah, and the tunic itself is cool, too.
Hearts
Song of Storms
CD-I Cutscenes
Legend of Zelda (Name)
Great Fairies
The Vision in Lanayru Spring
Skull Kid
Going Straight to Castle Hyrule in BotW
Japanese Link to the Past commercial

MacArrowny posted...

1/2 Magic Meter

What does this mean?