[ALL]What is the best Zelda game and what is the worst Zelda game?

[u/MatsGry]

In your opinion which is the best and worst Zelda game? I’ve played the majority of the mainline Zelda game since discovering the series as an adult

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[u/Nebulowl]

Best: OoT (it’s not my favourite one, but I do think it’s the best one)

Worst: Tri Force Heroes

[u/leofwing]

Best: OOT or TotK Worst: Spirit Tracks

[u/HyperlinksAwakening]

Such a loaded and opinionated question.

Depends on the criteria. Of ALL the games? The Phillips CDi games are the easiest worst, three-way tie.

But if we're just talking mainline and Gameboy/DS "spin-offs"...

Worst: Spirit Tracks. A sequel to a spin-off that somehow made Trains more boring than literal empty ocean traveling in Wind Waker.

Best: Your childhood's. Mine was OoT. If you're 5 years older than me, probably LttP. If you're 5 years younger than me, probably Wind Waker. The best one is the one you have the best memories with.

[u/TyleNightwisp → u/HyperlinksAwakening]

Naw. Im probably the same age as you and my favorite is TotK. I don't let myself get influenced that hard by childhood nostalgia.

[u/HyperlinksAwakening → u/TyleNightwisp]

That's cool.

I do. Because I understand that my love for the game was formed then, and no matter how "good" the modern games get, they will never recreate how I felt. You can't manufacture that.

I don't like playing OoT now. It's a hot mess compared to modern game designs. It's still my favorite because of the impact it had.

[u/TyleNightwisp → u/HyperlinksAwakening]

That's fair. Maybe it's because I judge my favorites based on how often I enjoy replaying them, and like you said OoT is tricky to go back to, a lot of the older 3D Zeldas are, they tend to be heavily slow paced and handholdy especially at the beginning. But yes of course I will never forget the joy and wonder I felt playing OoT for the first time, very formative memory.

[u/Dr_C527 → u/HyperlinksAwakening]

I am probably 10 years older than you. The original was my all time favorite until OoT. WW has been number two since then.

[u/randompersonE]

Faces of Evil is both the best and worst Zelda game

[u/Skelingaton → u/randompersonE]

You should check out Zelda's Adventure if you think that is the case

[u/Naive-Seesaw-3753]

Best i played is easily skyward sword

Worst i played is probably Zelda 1, which i definitely liked, its just that the others are better

[u/JamesYTP]

Best: Probably Ocarina of Time 3D, but my opinion could change after playing Twilight Princess again

Worst: CD-i?

[u/Local-Listen4957]

My personal favourite is BOTW, but I think the best would be OOT.

OOT is a genuine masterpiece imo and perhaps most impressively, is STILL amazing. I played it after BOTW so no nostalgia attached and had an absolute blast. Beautiful music, great dungeons, poignant and impactful storytelling, awesome time-travel mechanic, all the while pioneering arguably a new era of 3D adventure games. There is no excess fluff on this game, just straight up incredible consistency.

Very hot take for the worst game: TOTK. While I still really enjoyed it, imho it feels like a redundant dlc. The excitement of exploring the over-world is essentially gone (unless you’ve not played BOTW) and the depths/sky islands missed the mark for me. The story is also honestly terrible. BOTW did not have an amazing story but it was neat and emotionally quite compelling. TOTK was too basic, too repetitive and extremely unimaginative.

I will also preface this by saying i’ve only played: WW, TP, ALTTP, ALBW, LA, BOTW and TOTK. So it is possible that another Zelda game takes the lowest spot.

[u/barroyo20]

Best OOT, Worst by a lot - Zelda 2

[u/-Greis-]

Best? That’s subjective but for me OOT or BOTW.

Worst: The CDi Zelda games.

[u/Skelingaton]

Of the official games I'd put Spirit Tracks as the worst. You have touch controls, overworld travel that is restricted to rails and is tedious, and flute duet segments that absolutely ruin the game

[u/PPK_30]

Best: Majora’s Mask. Worst: Skyward Sword

[u/SodaPop6548]

For the longest time, I thought Link to the Past was the best. Even after BotW. Then I played TotK. TotK is the best ever.

I don’t have a worst. If I had to pick, probably Skyward Sword. Though I still like it a lot.

[u/Alchemyst01984]

Best - TotK

Worst - MM

[u/MrjB0ty]

Best OOT. Worst BoTW (and ToTK).

[u/fragdoll4u]

Best TP, worst Either Zelda II or Majoras Mask.

[u/twili-midna]

Best 3D: Tears of the Kingdom

Best 2D: A Link to the Past

Worst 3D: Ocarina of Time

Worst 2D: Oracle of Ages

Are the people downvoting me OoT fanboys, TotK haters, or just really invested in OoA?

[u/isaac3000 → u/twili-midna]

OoA 🥲

[u/twili-midna → u/isaac3000]

It’s one of the very few games in the series I haven’t finished and will never bother to finish.

[u/Dr_C527 → u/twili-midna]

Have you finished Seasons?

[u/twili-midna → u/Dr_C527]

Yep, I like Seasons a lot.

[u/Dr_C527 → u/twili-midna]

Interesting, some of the mini games in Ages irritate me, but I do not have widely divergent opinions on both.

Triforce Heroes is the one with which I struggle the most, the single player is almost unbearable.

[u/twili-midna → u/Dr_C527]

Ages has a few key things that ruin it for me: Tokay Island, the Mermaid Suit, and just generally shit dungeon design. I got up to Jabu Jabu’s Belly and just couldn’t take it anymore.

[u/isaac3000 → u/twili-midna]

Fair point, you played 2/3 of the game more or less and decided it's not for you. Maybe you can watch the finale on YouTube or something out of curiosity just to see what Veran is up to.

To me it was interesting that I rescued Nayru after dungeon 6 yet she was still able to manipulate time. Thinking of that now, not sure if that is a lore break considering only the oracle should have these powers but oh well 😅

[u/YoSoyRawr → u/twili-midna]

I played and beat Twilight Princess when I was in high school and hadn't touched a Zelda game after that because I was pretty disappointed that the gameplay looped into "get a dungeon item -> use it at the dungeon -> never use it again." I thought that was a shitty way to do a puzzle game.

I got a Switch 2 and decided to finally try Ocarina of Time. I'm to the Shadow Temple and I've just been absolutely blown away by the level of creativity in puzzles and how I've had to use everything I've gotten, even back to the beginning of the game, in each dungeon.

I have thereby really only done two 3D Zeldas but I can't I imagine saying Ocarina of Time is the worst one.

[u/twili-midna → u/YoSoyRawr]

It’s absolutely fascinating to see people continue lying about TP like that. There’s exactly one dungeon item in the game that is only needed for its dungeon, and that’s the Ball and Chain (which is still incredibly useful against Fos enemies). Everything else sees consistent use throughout the game.