The Legend(s) of Zelda

Ok, so I drink nothing but Hate-R-Aid these days apparently, because I think Spirit Tracks is just god awful. Ok, not that bad, but very uninspired. After seeing Nintendo Power (who since being bought by Future have turned into idiots with poor review skills) make a list of best to least best of the Zelda games, and finding Spirit Tracks to be higher than it should be, I decided to make my own. Post yours here, too!

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
This game defines why I am a gamer. When I first played this bad boy, it literally felt like a natural high. It was so engrossing, such a giant step from ALTTP I was baffled! Still my favorite game of all time. I have logged more hours into this game (and the Master Quest) than any other game I own.

2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past
Another milestone. My SNES never got dusty, but this game brought the entire family together. We would watch/help while one of my bros or my mom would play. Mom sucked, as this game was way harder than LoZ LOL.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Skeptical of the stupid time limit and its lack of coherent gauging of time? I was too. But once I got the hang of it, this turned out to be one of my favorites. Took me a while to beat it, and a while longer to beat it 100%.

4. The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
Again, I was skeptical of this title because of the art direction. And again, upon playing it any doubts I had vanished. The story is very sweet, and inspired me to name both my son Link and one of my new (not quite here yet) daughters Aryll.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap
Not many people are as adamant about this game as I am, but I am a sucker for Capcom produced Zelda. A lot of cool sidequests and collectibles (if thats your thing), VAATI!, and really awesome graphics IMO.

6. The Legend of Zelda
The classic. This is the game my mom played the most with us, she thought it was ultra cool. So did I! I still remember when we beat Dungeon 9, and what's this?!??! A SECOND QUEST?!??!

7. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
I liked this one a lot. Everything I liked about Link's Awakening they did better for me in this one. The season changing mechanic made some very tricky puzzles! Plus, with a ridiculously long password system, you could connect it to Oracle of Ages for an ultimate ending battling Ganon himself!

8. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Lord, how I waited for this. I slept, with my wife (ha!), in Best Buy's parking lot waiting for launch day of this game/the Wii. When we got home, I played this game for 16 hours straight, save the occasional dooby or bathroom break.

9. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Adventure
Lotta guff this one gets, and I don't really understand why. It was/is as close to a Zelda rpg as we have ever gotten, the battling was tough but still fun. The map/world was pretty huge. The boss battles were kinda lame, and Shadow Link being the final boss was horseshit. All you had to do was duck in the left corner and he would just keep running into you! I think that is because the last dungeon itself is so balls hard they figured you got this far, here's the end of the game for you hahahaha.

10. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure
Loved this game. Mainly because I dominate it. Oh, and VAATI!!!!! I hear lots of griping because of the GBA connectivity nonsense, but honestly I loved the way the GBA was used in this game, as with FF: Crystal Chron. Very fun, different Zelda game. Let me note that the Japanese version has 3 choices, Hyrulean Adventure, Shadow Battle, and Navi Tracker (which was initially developed to be a stand alone game).

11. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
By the time I beat Oracle of Seasons, this game felt a bit stale. So I imagine if I had played this one first, thats how I would have felt about Seasons. Nevertheless, this one was a bit tougher puzzle-wise and I didn't like the level design as much.

12. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
This game gets shit on a lot because of the Temple revisiting. I didn't mind. What bothered me was the pointless sailing. Still, a small qualm. The story was fun-filled, the graphics were great. Controlling Link via stylus was cool, but I would have preferred a choice between that and d-pad.

13. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
To this day, the only game in the series I haven't beaten. By the time I get to dungeon 7, every time, I just get bored with it. Don't know why.

14. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Ok, I lied. I haven't beaten this game yet either, and its because it is the first Zelda game where I really feel like they half-assed their way through development. Traveling by train has got to be the most boring, awful choice they could have made. It takes away the fun sense of exploration they gave me in Phantom Hourglass. The story almost doesn't exist, the main bad guy is a leprechaun with a double top hat... Call me crazy but this game just has lame written all over it. It hurts to even type that... :3

It's a difficult list to compile since I love all but one. One through 9 on my list are all great games so just because A Link to the Past is 9 doesn't mean I don't like it. The only game here I don't really like is Adventure of Link.

1. Ocarina of Time :: Favorite game of all time.
2. Minish Cap :: Music and graphics were phenomenal. Go Capcom!
3. Phantom Hourglass :: Online was a blast. Must try if you haven't.
4. Original Zelda :: I can go anywhere in a video game and it's 1987?
5. Twilight Princess :: Waited for this too, mostly for Wii though. Not a stale game at all. Why do some hate?
6. Wind Waker :: Oops. ZeldaAnTales, I asked you where you got that name from (Aryll) and thought it was from Final Fantasy. Great reminder for me here. Didn't hate on the art style like most did, and when it came out I'm glad I stayed positive.
7. Link's Awakening :: Beat years ago and haven't played since so it's pretty vague. What I do remember was that I couldn't put it down until I put it to bed. And Wart was in it!
8. Four Swords :: Great use of connectivity (need more of this with DS/Wii). Only Pac-Man Vs. gave me more fun connecting my GBA to the GameCube.
9. A Link to the Past :: Finally back from the drunken stupor of Zelda 2. I talked about this game nonstop for months.
10. Adventure of Link :: Didn't like much. I will buy the gold cartridge one day however, from a collectors standpoint.

Haven't Played:
Majora's Mask, Oracle of Seasons and Ages, Spirit Tracks

I hear many people think Majora's Mask is the best so it's a travesty that I haven't played it yet. Spirit Tracks sits quietly in the closet waiting for its turn.