Board 8 > Kotaku Ranks the Legend of Zelda Games

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://kotaku.com/the-legend-of-zelda-games-ranked-from-worst-to-best-1792136643

Personally I would put Zelda 2 higher on the list, but I can always respect a list that'll place Majora's Mask higher than Ocarina of Time.

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(also technically an old article, but Kotaku bumped it for the 35th anniversary)

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Zelda 2 near the bottom and BotW put on a pedestal, classic bad Zelda ranking

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BotW #1 all that matters

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seems pretty much perfect, from the games I've played.

eh I think link between worlds is better than link to the past, though

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LeonhartFour posted...

BotW #1 all that matters

Was gonna say this ironically/sarcastically. But people really do think BOTW dominates the whole series to the point that Zelda might as well have not existed before BOTW.

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foolm0r0n posted...

Was gonna say this ironically/sarcastically. But people really do think BOTW dominates the whole series to the point that Zelda might as well have not existed before BOTW.

I don't think anyone is saying that

but I'd also be fine if BotW was the only Zelda game ever made

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I'm sure ranking 20 year old Game Boy games and Breath Of The Wild together is a fair comparison.

Havent played a lot of them still, but I can at least agree with the low LoZ2 ranking. TP way too low for me though and BotW way way too high

Twilight Princess too low

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I think I agree with his top two at least, and with his bottom 1 because I havent played that one and probably never will.
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Immortal Fenyx Rising is a better Breath of the Wild than Breath of the Wild

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That Twilight Princess writeup really irritates me because the game was good despite its bad dungeons and items due mostly to its really strong start and the atmosphere it created.

Also Skyward Sword is too low
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1 way too low

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OG Links Awakening should not be nearly that high

Heres a ranking that is better and actually new:

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/feb/19/the-legend-of-zelda-games-ranked

A bit too harsh on Skyward Sword and kind on Majoras Mask, but a solid ranking.

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the expected BotW worship isn't even the most offensive part of that list

I agree with Phantom Hourglass being low but how are you going to hate on Linebeck, man

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Excellent top 4
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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Immortal Fenyx Rising is a better Breath of the Wild than Breath of the Wild

Genshin Impact is as well and its literally free

We clearly need a B8 ranking of the Zelda series.

This isn't a bad list, but LttP + the Game Boy games are too high. BotW ruffles some feathers here huh? It's a deserving #1 imo.

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Fenyx Rising is more akin to "Kids First BotW" good game but nowhere near comparable.

Genshin Impact couldn't hold my interest more than 2 or 3 before I got sick of it.

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ninkendo posted...

Fenyx Rising is more akin to "Kids First BotW" good game but nowhere near comparable.

Genshin Impact couldn't hold my interest more than 2 or 3 before I got sick of it.

Huge disagree there.

Fenyx takes BOTW's formula and just makes it less obnoxious of a grind with a much better combat system that is easy to learn and hard to master, and more engaging story and character interactions. Exploring the map is much easier and enjoyable with a ton more to see around every corner. Like I can't even think of a single thing BOTW does better than Fenyx aside from maybe the 5 dungeons they have being a little more interesting than the major dungeons in Fenyx.

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ninkendo posted...

Genshin Impact couldn't hold my interest more than 2 or 3 before I got sick of it.

Realized you'd never be able to platinum it?

ninkendo posted...

I can always respect a list that'll place Majora's Mask higher than Ocarina of Time.

*barf*

Majora's Mask deserves no higher than n-th place, where n is the number of entries on the list. (n-2 if we're including stuff like Wand of Gamelon.)

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For Ocarina being criminally low and botw being #1... Its actually decent.

The game boy games ARE that good, and TP being bottom 5 is a grest take!

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BotW is not that good of a game and certainly not the best Zelda game by any means.

Maybe if it had decent dungeons (no, shrines are not comparable, they don't have unified themes or puzzles and also like 1/3rd of them are boring fighting ones, and the divine beasts are all way too short and easy. Plus the locales are all the same), bosses that didn't look like they were copy pasted from each other, and more enemy variety it would get close.

It does a lot of cool stuff in terms of exploration and such but it does way more stuff wrong than right.

azuarc posted...

Realized you'd never be able to platinum it?

it doesn't actually have a platinum!

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swordz9 posted...

Genshin Impact is as well and its literally free

no way

I played like 80 hours of Genshin. Its pretty cool, but the F2P MMO style progression stuff drags it down
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MoogleKupo141 posted...

no way

I played like 80 hours of Genshin. Its pretty cool, but the F2P MMO style progression stuff drags it down

All I know is Im having way more fun with it than I ever did BotW. Some of the RNG type stuff sucks, but its a lot of fun otherwise. Ive already put in like 300 or more hours on Genshin and havent gotten bored of it. Got bored of BotW after my first DB. The only thing BotW has over Genshin is maybe slightly better puzzle variety. The fact this free game has significantly better voice acting than BotW is a goddamn embarrassment to Nintendo though

The 3D ranking here is pretty solid I think, not what I'd have but the general tiers are similar to mine. Go BotW and MM! I have a hard time judging the 2D ones against the 3D, but LttP has been absolutely surpassed by the ones that came after, imo.

The only ones I haven't touched are Minish Cap and Triforce Heroes. Seems universally agreed that Triforce sucks but I've heard varying things about Minish Cap, 8th is probably uncontroversial I guess.

I haven't touched Genshin but boo gacha, boo.

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Minish Cap is a good, but but basically unremarkable 2d Zelda game. If thats a sort of game you like, youll have a good time with it, but its probably the least essential of the 2d games. Its ranked pretty appropriately here.
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Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks above Zelda 1 is an abominable opinion.

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for some reason i feel like the trend in these lists is to aggressively undersell the traditionally most popular, best-in-the-series game and just write it off

and honestly i pretty much just disagree with it full stop. ocarina is somehow despite being the most popular gamefaqs game for like 20 years now underrated, it's wild

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Majora's Mask too low.

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I can respect BotW being #1 even if I disagree with it, but these lists acting like it's the crown jewel of video gaming is lol

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just wait for the cycle in 10 years where breath of the wild is listed as overrated when that opinion becomes too boring for the listicle writers

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Naye745 posted...

just wait for the cycle in 10 years where breath of the wild is listed as overrated when that opinion becomes too boring for the listicle writers

it'll drop once BotW2 obsoletes it in a couple years

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i suspect breath of the wild 2 will be less popular (and well-rated but less critically received) once it's released but there will be a trend to overhype all the ways it was "actually better" in the same way majora's mask has gotten vs ocarina

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Bad list is bad

Mostly because the least deserving Zelda game of its praise, ALttP, is considered the second best in the series.

I respect its influence, but almost every 2D Zelda after it holds up better to me.

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StartTheMachine posted...

Mostly because the least deserving Zelda game of its praise, ALttP, is considered the second best in the series.

'Least deserving' isn't really fair, it pioneered a lot, but I agree with you on the rest. LttP laid such good foundations but everything that follows has iterated and improved on it, I played it for the first time last year and was pretty disappointed that it was just another Oracle/LA/LBW. Of course it came before them but these days I think it's pretty unnecessary to play, in a way that say OoT isn't.

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Naye745 posted...

i suspect breath of the wild 2 will be less popular (and well-rated but less critically received) once it's released but there will be a trend to overhype all the ways it was "actually better" in the same way majora's mask has gotten vs ocarina

I don't see how this will happen. MM was like this because it was a major shift in direction and tone, I don't think they'll do that. I think it's gonna be more like Super Mario Galaxy vs Galaxy 2 where the consensus was the sequel was just the first game but more polished and streamlined and perfecting the level design.

I mean when you think about it, it's remarkable how beloved and good BotW is despite being so mechanically barebones. Not a lot of Zelda gadgets and magic, hilariously low enemy variety, very few traditional dungeons and bosses, not a ton of weapon or combat variety...all they have to do is the same thing, but more, and I don't see how people will be disappointed.

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I think it's gonna be more like Super Mario Galaxy vs Galaxy 2 where the consensus was the sequel was just the first game but more polished and streamlined and perfecting the level design.

consensus take sucks here too, smg1 is still a superior product to its sequel tbqh

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Galaxy 2 is basically the perfect 3D platformer

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azuarc posted...

Majora's Mask deserves no higher than n-th place, where n is the number of entries on the list.

How can people still out themselves this hard in 2021

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StartTheMachine posted...

Bad list is bad

Mostly because the least deserving Zelda game of its praise, ALttP, is considered the second best in the series.

I respect its influence, but almost every 2D Zelda after it holds up better to me.

I would say wow, that's a hot take, but I had my own hot take, so...

I'd suggest trying rando, though. LTTP is pretty awesome for that. www.alttpr.com

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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Immortal Fenyx Rising is a better Breath of the Wild than Breath of the Wild

God, could you imagine someone that actually thought that? Lol

pyresword posted...

due mostly to its really strong start

I... Hope this is just a joke too lol

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Waluigi1 posted...

God, could you imagine someone that actually thought that? Lol

lol could you imagine lol like thinking fenyx doesn't improve on so many of the maddeningly bad stuff in botw lol like its impossible to improve an extremely flawed game lol

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Last place is correct but pretty yikes otherwise.

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I guess I have to be the one to point out that Wind Waker is a bad game that is hard carried by its art style, and without that you've got a game with very little going for it

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KamikazePotato posted...

I guess I have to be the one to point out that Wind Waker is a bad game that is hard carried by its art style, and without that you've got a game with very little going for it

I mean, you didn't HAVE to be the one to be wrong but your service is noted

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Waluigi1 posted...

I... Hope this is just a joke too lol

I'm not, but I am considering everything up to and possibly including the Forest Temple as the "start", which is possibly including more content than the article had in mind.
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HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

I mean, you didn't HAVE to be the one to be wrong but your service is noted

I am 100% behind his viewpoint. Wind Waker is hands down the best looking Zelda game. And then everyone thinks about that and forgets how awful the dungeons were. It's bizarre.

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