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Nov. 4th, 2014 03:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariFinally, my top four #Zelda games. And all the others in case you missed them earlier!
#1 - Skyward Sword
- The Story: The 25th Anniversary Prequel, Not-Princess Zelda, a native of a floating city high in the sky, is kidnapped by a whirlwind and taken to the surface, where no one goes. It's up to Link to travel down to the surface and find her.
- The Good: Holy crap. Where do I begin. Storywise, this is an incredibly rich game with serious character development the likes of which you get in novels. I've seen all the cutscenes strung together as a movie, and it riveting (although a little choppy). The playful romance between Zelda and Link is a lot of fun to watch...they're children who have obviosuly grown up together - playing at being adults in love...and then all hell breaks loose, with revelations changing their relationship. They're forced to grow up over the course of the game, apart, and there's a strain there - but still devotion. And then there's Groose, the arrogant self-absorbede bully who becomes the arrogant self-absorbed hero. There's the secret of who Granny is (even if it is telegraphed a mile away). And a bored locker check girl who just doesn't care, becoming the locker check girl who doesn't care, but at least is nicer. The 1-to-1 sword play is fantastic, and really brings home the game. You're no longer fighting against a monster with buttons, you're freaking swordfighting with them, and your own skill is what determines how you win. The art style of the game didn't just give the lovely illusion of the world being one gigantic impressionist painting, but hid the Wii's graphical limitations. And the world is vast. You have the usual grasslands, desert, volcano and other lands, but once you're there, you're treated to massively sprawling vistas, hints of temples and buildings around the corner up up a ledge. The sky is a gigantic field of floating islands...and you just...GO there. No load screens, no hidden devices to hide load screens. YOU JUST GO. And, as a prequel, it doesn't just show the beginnings of Hyrule, but even glimpses of what came before - apparently a highly stylized and technological civilization that lived on the world long before Skyloft was thrown into the sky to save the last few Hyrulians. There's a world before this one. And the bosses and baddies. Ghirahim is the protagonist Zant should have been. Campy, cruel, and underestimating...his own fault, and he admits it. But this is a character who is not afraid of you at all...he'll walk up and grab yoru sword for funsies. And the temple bosses...this is on game where you can literally pull the arm off of a boss and beat him to a pulp with it. While there is sneak-missions in most Zelda games, this is the only time where being caught actually filled me with absolute dread at being caught. The mostly orcestrated music helps with that - and the music in this game, all around, compliments the game so much. It can honestly make me tear up. And Zelda...oh, Zelda. Not a princess in this game, she's just an ordinary citizen of Skyloft. Tough, fierce, and willing to go nose to nose with bullies and later even her own bodyguard. And a special treat - while you're having your adventure, she is having hers, which you'll see as the credits roll. This game is astounding.
- The Bad: The difficulty is a bit on the low side. I actually beat the last boss accidentally. Before I fought him, I saved my game, and was gonna sit down and play around with him, just to see if I could find some patterns on beating him. And I did. First time. I had more problem fighting the boss immediately before him. The only challenge I've had with him since is trying to beat him without taking any damage, just for fun.
- The Ugly: Your Navi-ish companion in this game follows along with you, growing with you as the game goes on. Her farewell is touching and sad...and then she goes all robotic cliche on you, ruining the moment.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Such a sweet song of a lost and forgotten land - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tlNlhLGWE4
- In Short: This game made me cry with happiness, and can still do so. Grab it.
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#2 - Twilight Princess
- The Story: Hyrule is invaded by the Twilight Realm, and in order to save her people, Zelda surrenders and stands down. It's only a matter of time before they attempt to expand their territory beyond. Link is captured by the Twilights, turned into a wolf, where he meets an very strange imp with questionable taste in headdresses.
- Bonus Jenn Story: I played this game and got about 80% through it when my save game got corrupted. It was such a joy to play, I had no problem replaying it back to where I was before. After a few weeks of being shocked it was gone in the first place....
- The Good: After so many people complained about the wind Waker's art style, Nintendo did a 180 and went for a hyper-realistic look to the game. The results are incredibly impressive for a Wii title, much less the original Gamecube Title it was originally designed as. The game just looks REAL. While maintaining the cartoony exaggerated character designs of the previous games, they went for a full on HD look to the character textures, giving them an uncanny valley in reverse feel. They look so real that their designs look all wrong. But this works - cause it's Hyrule. The beautful textures expands out not just to the scenery, which is amazingly well rendered and detailed (it all looks so amazingly real), but to the atmosphere, literally. Twilight looks like twilight, there are golden hours, night is approriately dark. There was some serious design work here, and it's impressive. The regions each have their distinct, but very meshed, looks. Castle Town is urban, although in a just-before-the-renaissance way (although the Malo Mart that opens up in Castle Town is PURE 80s cheese, right down to the moonwalk). Kakariko Villiage is an old west town. Ordon villiage is rural feudal Japan, complete with sumo wrestler. Lake Hylia feels like a remote resort lake. The characters are very memorable. Agitha is a crazed fairy princess style bug collector. Thelma is the strong but caring bartender. Malo is a misanthropic business genius infant. And then there's Midna, likely the most well developed character in the entire Zelda franchise. Starting out as a troublemaker, she has her own agenda that she slightly reveals as time goes on before bringing you on as a full partner in her adventure. Zelda also gets some serious screentime, and in a way she's not usually portrayed. Here, she has surrendered her kingdom to the Twilight, and spends most of the game regretting that decision, and depressed at what's become of her citizens. And she makes up for it near the end by saddling up behind you on Epona and being instrumental in the fight with the last boss. The temples are very original, including one that take some serious puzzle-solving power with double clawshots (City in the Sky) and one that's played almsot completely for laughs (Snowpeak Ruins). Also some fun playing the Zelda version of Cool Boarders getting there! This game is great.
- The Bad: I played Twilight Princess after Skyward Sword. Skyward Sword needs precise movements of the Wii Remote in order to make attacks. Twilight Princess on the Wii does not. waggling the wii Remote is enough to do some serious damage. It feels lazy - but then this was the game that came first, so it can't really be faulted for losing the 1-to-1 sword fighting, when it wasn't there to begin with. Also, the game feels like it borrows heavily from Half-Life of all things. Outside world, invading Hyrule, glimpses of the Twilight Realm itself, before going there to fight Zant himself. Feels very like the Xen stuff from Half-Life 1.
- The Ugly: Ooccoo. Really. Go do a google search and click on images. Yike.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Very short, repeats a lot, but for some reason it really feels epic, especially for where it plays - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKWygWknI1w
- In Short: Lovely game, but just needed some added oomph to get to #1 there.
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#3 - Ocarina of Time
- The Story: Link is sent on a quest by the Great Deku Tree to stop Gannondorf, King of the Gerudo, from taking over Hyrule. However, his spirit is sealed seven years to do so, causing Hyrule to fall before he can really begin.
- Jenn's Bonus Story: I first thought about picking up this game seeing the 3DS E3 preview of it. The gorgeous look of the level, in 3D, made me was to pick it up, and did not dissapoint. It was the first Zelda game I finished. After finishing it, my roomie said "Well, you played the best, the rest are all downhill from here." I decided to see for myself, kicking off the "Play All The Zeldas Quest."
- The Good: This is considered the best of the Zelda games, and in fact, often called the best video game of all time. And, indeed, the game holds up incredibly well for being sixteen years old, even with a fresh coat of paint that the 3DS version provided. The story, while sparse, it top notch, spanning two time periods, where you can see the logical extension of the problems that began when you were a child. And along with Majora's Mask, it is one of the most atmospheric of the games (The temples are SPOOKY...the Skultilla House is haunting.... And you see what's at stake in the future timeline, where you see all your childhood innocent and joyous places virtually destroyed). The puzzles and bosses are just hard enough to be a challenge, and you are rewarded handsomely when you beat them. The motion controlled weapons are one of the few times motion control has really worked for me. The music is gorgeously rich and sumptuous.
- The Bad: If this is considered the best Zelda Game, and one of the best games of all time, why is it #3? Because, despite it's perfection, it's missing something. "Thrill." It's an amazing game, and playing it inspired awe and wonder...but not thrill. Not that Awe and Wonder is bad, in fact it's very good. But there's no realy point where I felt thrilled to play it. But the awe and wonder were enough to pique the explorer's curiosoty in me to keep going. Maybe thrill wasn't needed here - awe and wonder may have been enough.
- The Ugly: Zelda's reveal. Through the game, in the future, you meet up with a character who is Zelda in disguise. She (well, he) is handsome, capable, and fierce. But once Zelda is revealed, she becomes The Stock Female Character. Whimpering in fear when you're hurt. Standing on the sides cheering you on. Her alter ego could have just jumped in and helped you save the day. Thankfully, future games fixed this by having a more interactive and strong Zelda (particularly Twilight Princess, Wind Waker and especially Spirit Tracks). And no, I had no problem with Navi. My phone says "Hey, Listen!" all the time.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Spooky. So spooky. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huN376F3QTg
- In Short: A masterpiece...but needs a little more spice.
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#4 - Wind Waker
- The Story: In the future of Ocarina of Time, Hyrule's hero did not appear to defeat Ganonford. In order to save the world, it's flooded, leaving reamnants of civilzation dotted around a new world ocean. Link must travel with a ragtag band of pirates in order to rescue his sister and defeat a ressurected Gannondorf.
- The Good: This game is fantastic. It shouldn't be. It should be long and boring, with long trips in the ocean, lots of trading and fetch quests, and yet...it's a dream to play. Sailing, which you would think would become a hassle, always seems to be enjoyable, really catching the feeling of boating on the open sea, without being boring or tedious. Which is funny as it really is just sailing, with only the occasional interruption for a monster fight (unlike Phantom Hourglasses constant repeated battles). The Story is top-notch, and is the only game in the series to actually make me feel for Gannondorf, as we finally get a reason for Gagnondorf's greed. His last line ("I can feel the wind blowing") makes me feel honestly sorry that I killed the guy. The reveal of Zelda in this game was handled incredibly well, and much better than the reveal in Ocarina. This Zelda, once she comes into being, is mostly just shocked that she is indeed Zelda and looks to be having problems taking it all in. Later on, we see that she's the same old character from earlier in the game, in a nice dress. I liked that, as the Ocarina reveal really hurt the character in my opinion. The story here is fantastic.
- The Bad: I played the HD version, so I won't be saying "The Triforce Quest." I'll go back to the tried and true standby of the art style. I get what they were going for, especially once I sat down and played it through - it's a Saturday Morning Cartoon, complete with all the goofy sound effects, and over-emoting. Still, while I like the Toon Link style for 2D games, in 3D, it doesn't work for me. Except for Medli. She's precious. Also, I'm not sure why they chose this game for the HD upgrade. It would have suited Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword so much better.
- The Ugly: That toothy grimace Link makes in the cannon. Eeek.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Dragon Roost Island. Hands down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axQggW17V6w
- In Short: Don't let the art style turn you off. The story and gameplay mechanics way make up for it.
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#5 - Link to the Past
- The Story: Link is awoken by a voice claiming to be Princess Zelda to rescue her. Links wakes up to find his uncle already armed to save her. He tells Link to stay, and of course, he leaves anyway. Eventually, he finds that not only has his uncle failed, he needs to rescue the proncess, defeat Aghanim, and save Hyrule. But there's a whole nuther world out there he'll find, too.
- The Good: And amazingly deep and complex game, with just as deep and complex story. And once you prove your courage, and get the sword, and defeat the baddie...suddenly, everything changes, and you end up in a dark mirror universe, where you have to do it all over again. Sort of. In this world, everyone's angry with you, you have maidens to rescue, and you're rediscovering everything all over again. And then when you do THAT, then you start having to jump back and forth with the magic mirror and flip around and...it's hard to keep it all straight in your head sometimes! They really took that whole "Let's play in the Z axis, with bridges and platforms above the floor" thing, and then applied it to a whole seperate world.
- The Bad: The game is deep, sure, and it's neat that you spend time in one world, then another, then both...but sometimes it feels like filler. Lots of pendants and crystals and stuff...it can feel kind of like these maidens aren't worth all the running around. Still, it's entertaining because it changes worlds so often to get to the end.
- The Ugly: That Skeleton Woods temple where you have to keep popping in and out of the skulls to move around? I got lost so many times jumping around and trying to figure out the darned dungeon....
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: As with all Link to the Past derivatives, it's the Dark World theme - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BStjuHfP238
- In Short: Straightforward and long A to B gameplay, but a lot of fun tracing those breadcrumbs.
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#6 - Spirit Tracks
- The Story: Far in the future of wind Waker, a New Hyrule has been established, and Princess Zelda's body has been kidnapped. And this time, she (or at least her spirit) is along for the ride to get it back.
- The Good: My favorite of all the portable Zelda games, this feels like a console game stuffed into a tiny screen. The idea of a train in the Zeldaverse sounds wrong, but feels incredibly right. The boss fights are original, and are unique in the use of the items you pick up in their resepctive dungeons. And, last, but not least, Zelda. Having Zelda's spirit tagging along and her commentary really gives her some depth not seen since Wind Waker, and she was a completely different character. She's able to take over phantoms and you can have her move and attack along side you, and can even distract other phantoms by bothering them with incredibly entertaining small talk. She's actually a very formidible, but cheery, companion. She does has a few annoying traits (such as being crying-out-for-help-paralyzingly-terrified of rats), but in general, she's really awesome to have around. One would hope that all the more silent Zeldas are this strong (cf. Twilight Princess). While she may feel to some too cherry, this game in general is pretty cheery, and feels like a nice ending to the pretty cheery "Child Era" timeline. I can't say enough good things about this game.
- The Bad: The same issues I had with the stylus controls in Phantom Hourglass plague Spirit Tracks. In fact, I would say the hardest Boss Fight in the whole series lies in this game, not because he's hard (all he does is spit rocks at you), but because the controls have trouble determining if you're trying to sword swipe the rocks away, or walk right into the rocks. It took me well over two hours to clear that segment of the final boss fight, simply because of the controls. There's also way too much "sneaking" in the game. While in Phantom Hourglass you just sneak around phantoms in one temple, in this game, you have to sneak around EVERYTHING. With a TRAIN. It got to a point where once I took off with the train, I'd save the game, because while it's easy to avoid the phantom trains, if one beelines on you, you're dead. Especially if you're going backwards cause you can't hit a wye in time.
- The Ugly: I HATE THOSE DAMNED BUNNIES. They can stay behind those rocks for all I care.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: The soundtrack to this game is absolutely phenomenal. It's hard to pick a fave, but if I had to it's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f87K0YKjUBc
- In Short: The best of the portable games.
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#7 - Link's Awakening
- The Story: A direct sequel to the Oracle series games (which somehow came AFTER Link's Awakening), Link's boat is destroyed in a storm, and he wakes up on an island where he must awake the Windfish to find his way home.
- The Good: Much like Zelda II, this was my first Zelda game on a portable in the early 90s, although I didn't play through to the end...or even really the beginning. I just borrowed it. So it probably rates a little higher due to nostalgia than anything else...although I had to play it again after fininshing it due to losing my save game so I probably rated it a little lower because of that, so it evens out in the end. While the gameplay feels pretty much like all the other Game Boy series of games, the characters you run into really make the game pop out. They definitely ramped up the personalities on them. While the story is simplistic, they way they make it slowly unfold and reveal makes you want to keep playing to get the next little tidbit of the mystery of Koholint island. And then it puts you in a moral dilemma - stay on the island and never go home? Or leave the island and watch everyone you just met dissapear? Especially after how deep your relationship withj Marin gets in the story...something remarkable given you never say a word to her (and she remarks on that!).
- The Bad: Musically, hearing the Zelda theme repeat iteslf every fifteen seconds for hours on end gets on your nerves. The music, despite an incredible opening, is very simple and repetetive.
- The Ugly: [Spoiler alert] IT WAS ALL A DREAM?! ...and did he die unrescued? T_T
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: That's a heck of an opening for an 8-bit z80 chip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ErE4l1EKM
- In Short: A very light and easy game, with a deep story and surprising moral dilemma.
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#8 - Adventure of Link
- The Story: A direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda, Link must find the third part of the Triforce to awaken the ancestor of the Princess Zelda of the original Legend of Zelda, also known as Princess Zelda.
- Jenn's Bonus Story: This was the first Zelda game I ever played in 1988. It took many years, but I got to the battle with Dark Link a few years(!) later. At that point, the battery in the NES cart died. Fast forward almost 25 years later, I got back to Dark Link and kicked his tail...and then the game ended. I was shocked at how close I got to the end back in 1989....
- The Good: A lot of folks may be surprised at how high I ranked this game, known as the Black Sheep of the Zelda universe, but it was also my first Zelda game, so I didn't know any different. I actually really liked the side-scrolling platformer elements in the battles as I found it took a little more skill than just pointing in the right direction and pressing "Sword." In this case you not only had to worry about stabbing monsters from above and below, but also head-on: high AND low. It made for a very tough but satisfying mechanic for me. I often felt much of the other Zelda games just felt like "point in the right direction and press a button to attack or satnd still to shield." The Experience and Magic systems felt very satisfying, and was my first real experiuence with grinding, which felt much more fun than other NES games I'd played at the time (DragonWarrior, for one, which grinding becomes a chore). I found it vey satisfying.
- The Bad: Oh, my, the skill level on this is intense. I do mention that there's a lot of ways to attack characters, but they require every one of those attacks to beat. And some of them require billions and billions of hits to take down, for minor experience (I'm looking at YOU, Bubbles!). And they all respawn if you move too far away - which is likely a limitation of the hardware, but it's a very hard limitation of the software.
- The Ugly: WHY DO YOU KEEP SENDING ME ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING WHEN I DIE?!
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: I can hear the XP draining in my mind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7Sh82Mzdc
- In Short: Different doesn't always it worse!
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#9 - The Legend of Zelda
- The Story: In the first Zelda game, Link has to gather pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom, beat up Ganon and save the princess. All in 8-bit 1980s processing power.
- The Good: It's the first game, so it's actually hard to say what's good, as it's the first time it's been done. The vast open world, the ability to do any dungeon in any order (well, for the most part). Because it isn't bogged down by a lot of the cruft of each new game, it moves quick. And there's some downright charm to the game that it manages to do this all in 8-bit color and 8-bit pixels. It's a lot of fun, packed in 128Kb.
- The Bad: It's the first game, so it's actually hard to say what's bad, as it's the first time it's been done. While the game has a serious exploration vibe, the lack of narrative makes it feel flat. I realize the narrative of the game really didn't start until Zelda 2...and really took off with Link to the Past, but it's seriously missed here.
- The Ugly: The difficulty level is intense, and I nearly quit multiple times before a friend told me that the best way to play this is actually run away from the enemies until such time as you level up enough stuff with rupees and rupee games until you can level up.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Um...there's only four. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMssCMqMHuk
- In short: Run. Just run. Once your run and level up, it's a lotta fun.
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#10 - Majora's Mask
- The Story: Searching for Navi, Link stumbles across the Skull Kid who turns him into a Deku Scrub. A Mask Salesman turns him human in order to get a mask the Skull Kid stole from him - but he only has three days before the town is destroyed by the falling moon.
- The Good: The good here is very good. Specifically the atmosphere. You have characters in denial, characters in fear (the guards on Day three, trembling at their posts and staring at the gigantic falling moon gets me every time). The Moon, always present, always staring (and even crying...it's not in control of itself) makes sure you know you're in trouble at all times. Everything is falling apart. And even then, there is hope. In what I consider the best sidequest in the entire Zelda series, you spend an entire three-day cycle bringing a fiance and fiancee back together, just moments before the end of the world. It not only nearly made me cry, it made me regret resetting the cycle (which you have only seconds to do) knowing that they would be seperated again. There's so much more - like the creepy Mask Kids on the moon. The atmosphere in this game is absolutely amazing.
- The Bad: The three day cycle. As I've said before, the one thing I hate in games is having to repeat sections over and over again, making only minimal progress. This game, like The Temple of the Ocean King in Phantom Hourglass, is based completely on that idea. And it was infuriating. Especially going through and beating a temple boss on Day Three, and being unable to followup in time before Day three ended. I'd have to reset then fight the boss again (at least I could go directly to the boss), in order to followup with the changes that would happen after bating him. Infuriating, and nearly why I gave up this game.
- The Ugly: The final Majora boss. After getting through the game, the boss, instead f being a threatening monster, is a goof. Doing chicken walks, silly music, ballerina spins...he's not really...very...threatening.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDX4ZwUeOok
- In short: Tons of atmosphere, probably the most of any Zelda game. And a ton of frustrations.
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#11 - Oracle of Ages/Seasons
- The Story: Link is sent by the Triforce to Labrynnia and then later Holodrum to rescue the possessed Nayru/kidnapped Din by switching between the present and past/switching seasons. Actually two games, I played them one after the other with codes from one adding to the second game. So I consider them two parts of the same game.
- The Good: I love love loved the idea of two games linekd together.
while you can playu each game seperately, if they were linked, the second became an extension of that game, with a ton of your stats and items carrying over to the new game, and giving you an extra ending game. I also love Din - a feisty firey dancer and her troupe who happen to be stopping by Holodrum. You even get to dance with her. The subrosians, also, are absolutely adorable for a race of underdwellers.
- The Bad: As much as I liked the idea of a linked game, bringing over your already ramped up sword and items from your other game makes the second game incredibly easy, especially when the normal Level 1 to Level 2 upgrade, suddenly becomes Level 2 to 3. The second game for me was incredibly easy. If you're linking a game, the difficulty should go up a tad.
- The Ugly: You know swapping those seasons around really quick can't be good for the planet.
- In short: Two linked games makes for a long but fun adventure.
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#12 - Link Between Worlds
- The Story: Princess Zelda is turned into a painting by the evil Yuga and whisked off to a parallel univers of Hyrule, Lorule. It's up to Link, with the help of Ravio, a guy who sets up shop in Link's house, to save both Zelda and Lorule.
- The Good: I absolutely loved the story here. You have the happy precious moments looking Hyrule, with the flipside precious moments gone very very very wrong looking precious moments Lorule. Each characters in this mirror universe, isn't an evil Hyrulian, instead, it's more of an equal-and-opposite characterization. Pricess Hilda is just as devoted to her people as Zelda is, but she doesn't have her optimism, and instead despairs. Link's counterpart has a strong heart for doing the right thing, but is a coward and won't confront people directly. The story was absolutely wonderful, and that last scene with Hilda didn't just make me smile, but beam.,
- The Bad: I'm going to be honest here...most Zelda games I played with a walkthrough. This was the first one I didn't, as it had just come out. I played it to the end, but it felt shallow and and not deep at all. But I also didn't have any walkthroughs for side quests. So my "The Bad" feeling that the game was shallow and light may have just been that I didn't know there was more to do. I may replay this again once a detailed walkthrough comes out.
- The Ugly: The rent shop. The whole idea of renting everything I'd need to get through a rent shop really took away the feeling of satisfaction I'd get by earning the items through pushing through the temples.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: While usually I go for the Dark World theme on games based on Link to the Past, this one really makes me happy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfVbmH_TeXI
- In short: Great story, although it feels light, and as if I didn't earn anything.
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#13 - Minish Cap
- The Story: During the Picori festival, Vaati uses his position as winner of a sword tournament to turn Princess Zelda into a statue, and to flood Hyrule with monsters. He then takes off to find the Light Force, a power the previous hero of Hyrule wielded.
- The Good: Really the only one of the Four Sword games I really enjoyed. Even one more step up from Four Sword Adventures, by removing the "collect everything you can to power up" mechanic, it's the only one that really feels like a Zelda game. It's got a vast overarching and deep story that the other Four Sword games are missing. The shrinking and growing mechanic are really well done, and integral to the game.
- The Bad: It's probably just me, but the Picori, while a lot of fun, didn't work for me. There was too much of a disconnect between them and the Hyrulians above.
- The Ugly: The Kinstones. So so so many kinstones. Too too many kinstones.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Not so much a fave, because a lot of the music is based off Link to the Past, but one I hear in my head when I think of Minish Cap - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89AYwg2CK_A
- Final thoughts: A great little portable Zelda game
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#14 - Four Swords Adventures
- The Story: A far-off sequel to the multiplayer Four Swords, Zelda is worried that the Four Sword seal is failing. She calls six sages to check on the seal, when Dark Link shows up, traps them all in crystals, and takes off. It's up to Link to rescue all the maidens.
- The Good: They took everything that was good about Four Swords, and added some great stuff to it (like "story" and "puzzles"). It was also a serious flashback to Link to the Past (considering it's almost all recycled sprites and textures from that game), which is always a nice thing.
- The Bad: It's definintely a game made for multiplayer, and while you can play it as a single player, much like Four Sword Anniversary Edition, you can play as one person. It can be a chore, though...only so many ways one person can control four Links and not have your brain fry. And like Four Swords - the game doesn't "feel" like Zelda. But it feels it a whole lot more Zelda than Four Swords.
- The Ugly: Good luck playing this using the Game Boy as a controller. I tried with my original GBA, and the lack of backlight made it horrifyingly bad to play. Playing on a GameBoy Advance SP with backlight made it much easier, but I always found those systems too small for my monstrous hands. Good thing, though - you can play without the Game Boy systems. I just wanted the full experience.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: As with all Link's Awakening based games, it's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eErXCCYm1l
- Final Thoughts: A much needed step up from Four Swords.
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#15 - Four Swords Anniversary Edition
- The Story: Zelda shows Link the Four Sword from it's own game. He grabs the sword releasing Vaati and splitting link into four seperate Links. Link has to collect a whole lotta rupees to get to Vaati and rescue Zelda.
- The Good: It's just...well...collecting rupees, and hoping you get enough to move on. Once you get to the bosses, it turns back into a portable Zelda game. Some of the themed levels are neat, like the NES/SNES and Game Boy themed levels were clever...but really more of the same.
- The Bad: It's just...well...collecting rupees, and hoping you get enough to move on. Also, it's built really to be a multiplayer game, and with some kajiggering made it into a one player game. I think it'd have been more fun as a multiplayer thing.
- The Ugly: It uses randomly generated levels, and more often than not, I found myself locked out of my objective and having to restart the level so it would regenerate a whole new randomly selected level.
- Final Thoughts: It really doesn't feel like a Zelda game. It feels more like Crystal Castles, with Zelda theming. In fact, it felt so "other" that I'm surprised it's on the official timeline. While I defeated Vaati, there was much much more to do after that. I was so bored, though, that I felt I'd finished the game and left the extra levels for some other time.
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#16 - Phantom Hourglass
- The Story: A direct sequel to The Wind Waker, Link and Tetra are on a quest to find The Ghost Ship, an unruly band of lawless pirates to teach them a thing or two. Instead, they kidnap Tetra, and it's up to Link to save her.
- The Good: This is definitely one of the funnier entries in the series. Linebeck's cowardice isn't just hilarious, but becomes a nice plot point and character development point near the end of the game. It sort of comes out of the blue, but is handled really well, otherwise.
- The Bad: The overuse of the stylus controls. While it's neat to be able to draw ont he screen, and make paths on the screen...using it for attacking and moving is problematic in action scenes, often because the game sometimes confuses an attack with a directional move. Many times, I'd end up rolling right into an enemy instead of attack it. Having to use the stylus to control the path of the boat, the camera angle AND the canonfire all at once really hampers the game play. Other than the controls, the enemies were fairly weak...this game REALLY likes ChuChus. Even the music was mediocre. There's not one track off this game I want to listen to again.
- The Ugly: The Temple of the Ocean King. Having to go back and replay this dungeon over and over and OVER again really pushed one of my gamer buttons. I'm not a fan of repeating things over and over again, especially with little to no progress being made each time. Which was how this dungeon was freakin' designed. Speaking of repetition, the battles with Jolene, repeated and over and over again, became tedious. I was actively trying to avoid her, because she just got in the way of an already very long trip between islands.
- Final thoughts: Not a terrible game. It's an ANNOYING game.
#1 - Skyward Sword
- The Story: The 25th Anniversary Prequel, Not-Princess Zelda, a native of a floating city high in the sky, is kidnapped by a whirlwind and taken to the surface, where no one goes. It's up to Link to travel down to the surface and find her.
- The Good: Holy crap. Where do I begin. Storywise, this is an incredibly rich game with serious character development the likes of which you get in novels. I've seen all the cutscenes strung together as a movie, and it riveting (although a little choppy). The playful romance between Zelda and Link is a lot of fun to watch...they're children who have obviosuly grown up together - playing at being adults in love...and then all hell breaks loose, with revelations changing their relationship. They're forced to grow up over the course of the game, apart, and there's a strain there - but still devotion. And then there's Groose, the arrogant self-absorbede bully who becomes the arrogant self-absorbed hero. There's the secret of who Granny is (even if it is telegraphed a mile away). And a bored locker check girl who just doesn't care, becoming the locker check girl who doesn't care, but at least is nicer. The 1-to-1 sword play is fantastic, and really brings home the game. You're no longer fighting against a monster with buttons, you're freaking swordfighting with them, and your own skill is what determines how you win. The art style of the game didn't just give the lovely illusion of the world being one gigantic impressionist painting, but hid the Wii's graphical limitations. And the world is vast. You have the usual grasslands, desert, volcano and other lands, but once you're there, you're treated to massively sprawling vistas, hints of temples and buildings around the corner up up a ledge. The sky is a gigantic field of floating islands...and you just...GO there. No load screens, no hidden devices to hide load screens. YOU JUST GO. And, as a prequel, it doesn't just show the beginnings of Hyrule, but even glimpses of what came before - apparently a highly stylized and technological civilization that lived on the world long before Skyloft was thrown into the sky to save the last few Hyrulians. There's a world before this one. And the bosses and baddies. Ghirahim is the protagonist Zant should have been. Campy, cruel, and underestimating...his own fault, and he admits it. But this is a character who is not afraid of you at all...he'll walk up and grab yoru sword for funsies. And the temple bosses...this is on game where you can literally pull the arm off of a boss and beat him to a pulp with it. While there is sneak-missions in most Zelda games, this is the only time where being caught actually filled me with absolute dread at being caught. The mostly orcestrated music helps with that - and the music in this game, all around, compliments the game so much. It can honestly make me tear up. And Zelda...oh, Zelda. Not a princess in this game, she's just an ordinary citizen of Skyloft. Tough, fierce, and willing to go nose to nose with bullies and later even her own bodyguard. And a special treat - while you're having your adventure, she is having hers, which you'll see as the credits roll. This game is astounding.
- The Bad: The difficulty is a bit on the low side. I actually beat the last boss accidentally. Before I fought him, I saved my game, and was gonna sit down and play around with him, just to see if I could find some patterns on beating him. And I did. First time. I had more problem fighting the boss immediately before him. The only challenge I've had with him since is trying to beat him without taking any damage, just for fun.
- The Ugly: Your Navi-ish companion in this game follows along with you, growing with you as the game goes on. Her farewell is touching and sad...and then she goes all robotic cliche on you, ruining the moment.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Such a sweet song of a lost and forgotten land - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tlNlhLGWE4
- In Short: This game made me cry with happiness, and can still do so. Grab it.
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#2 - Twilight Princess
- The Story: Hyrule is invaded by the Twilight Realm, and in order to save her people, Zelda surrenders and stands down. It's only a matter of time before they attempt to expand their territory beyond. Link is captured by the Twilights, turned into a wolf, where he meets an very strange imp with questionable taste in headdresses.
- Bonus Jenn Story: I played this game and got about 80% through it when my save game got corrupted. It was such a joy to play, I had no problem replaying it back to where I was before. After a few weeks of being shocked it was gone in the first place....
- The Good: After so many people complained about the wind Waker's art style, Nintendo did a 180 and went for a hyper-realistic look to the game. The results are incredibly impressive for a Wii title, much less the original Gamecube Title it was originally designed as. The game just looks REAL. While maintaining the cartoony exaggerated character designs of the previous games, they went for a full on HD look to the character textures, giving them an uncanny valley in reverse feel. They look so real that their designs look all wrong. But this works - cause it's Hyrule. The beautful textures expands out not just to the scenery, which is amazingly well rendered and detailed (it all looks so amazingly real), but to the atmosphere, literally. Twilight looks like twilight, there are golden hours, night is approriately dark. There was some serious design work here, and it's impressive. The regions each have their distinct, but very meshed, looks. Castle Town is urban, although in a just-before-the-renaissance way (although the Malo Mart that opens up in Castle Town is PURE 80s cheese, right down to the moonwalk). Kakariko Villiage is an old west town. Ordon villiage is rural feudal Japan, complete with sumo wrestler. Lake Hylia feels like a remote resort lake. The characters are very memorable. Agitha is a crazed fairy princess style bug collector. Thelma is the strong but caring bartender. Malo is a misanthropic business genius infant. And then there's Midna, likely the most well developed character in the entire Zelda franchise. Starting out as a troublemaker, she has her own agenda that she slightly reveals as time goes on before bringing you on as a full partner in her adventure. Zelda also gets some serious screentime, and in a way she's not usually portrayed. Here, she has surrendered her kingdom to the Twilight, and spends most of the game regretting that decision, and depressed at what's become of her citizens. And she makes up for it near the end by saddling up behind you on Epona and being instrumental in the fight with the last boss. The temples are very original, including one that take some serious puzzle-solving power with double clawshots (City in the Sky) and one that's played almsot completely for laughs (Snowpeak Ruins). Also some fun playing the Zelda version of Cool Boarders getting there! This game is great.
- The Bad: I played Twilight Princess after Skyward Sword. Skyward Sword needs precise movements of the Wii Remote in order to make attacks. Twilight Princess on the Wii does not. waggling the wii Remote is enough to do some serious damage. It feels lazy - but then this was the game that came first, so it can't really be faulted for losing the 1-to-1 sword fighting, when it wasn't there to begin with. Also, the game feels like it borrows heavily from Half-Life of all things. Outside world, invading Hyrule, glimpses of the Twilight Realm itself, before going there to fight Zant himself. Feels very like the Xen stuff from Half-Life 1.
- The Ugly: Ooccoo. Really. Go do a google search and click on images. Yike.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Very short, repeats a lot, but for some reason it really feels epic, especially for where it plays - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKWygWknI1w
- In Short: Lovely game, but just needed some added oomph to get to #1 there.
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#3 - Ocarina of Time
- The Story: Link is sent on a quest by the Great Deku Tree to stop Gannondorf, King of the Gerudo, from taking over Hyrule. However, his spirit is sealed seven years to do so, causing Hyrule to fall before he can really begin.
- Jenn's Bonus Story: I first thought about picking up this game seeing the 3DS E3 preview of it. The gorgeous look of the level, in 3D, made me was to pick it up, and did not dissapoint. It was the first Zelda game I finished. After finishing it, my roomie said "Well, you played the best, the rest are all downhill from here." I decided to see for myself, kicking off the "Play All The Zeldas Quest."
- The Good: This is considered the best of the Zelda games, and in fact, often called the best video game of all time. And, indeed, the game holds up incredibly well for being sixteen years old, even with a fresh coat of paint that the 3DS version provided. The story, while sparse, it top notch, spanning two time periods, where you can see the logical extension of the problems that began when you were a child. And along with Majora's Mask, it is one of the most atmospheric of the games (The temples are SPOOKY...the Skultilla House is haunting.... And you see what's at stake in the future timeline, where you see all your childhood innocent and joyous places virtually destroyed). The puzzles and bosses are just hard enough to be a challenge, and you are rewarded handsomely when you beat them. The motion controlled weapons are one of the few times motion control has really worked for me. The music is gorgeously rich and sumptuous.
- The Bad: If this is considered the best Zelda Game, and one of the best games of all time, why is it #3? Because, despite it's perfection, it's missing something. "Thrill." It's an amazing game, and playing it inspired awe and wonder...but not thrill. Not that Awe and Wonder is bad, in fact it's very good. But there's no realy point where I felt thrilled to play it. But the awe and wonder were enough to pique the explorer's curiosoty in me to keep going. Maybe thrill wasn't needed here - awe and wonder may have been enough.
- The Ugly: Zelda's reveal. Through the game, in the future, you meet up with a character who is Zelda in disguise. She (well, he) is handsome, capable, and fierce. But once Zelda is revealed, she becomes The Stock Female Character. Whimpering in fear when you're hurt. Standing on the sides cheering you on. Her alter ego could have just jumped in and helped you save the day. Thankfully, future games fixed this by having a more interactive and strong Zelda (particularly Twilight Princess, Wind Waker and especially Spirit Tracks). And no, I had no problem with Navi. My phone says "Hey, Listen!" all the time.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Spooky. So spooky. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huN376F3QTg
- In Short: A masterpiece...but needs a little more spice.
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#4 - Wind Waker
- The Story: In the future of Ocarina of Time, Hyrule's hero did not appear to defeat Ganonford. In order to save the world, it's flooded, leaving reamnants of civilzation dotted around a new world ocean. Link must travel with a ragtag band of pirates in order to rescue his sister and defeat a ressurected Gannondorf.
- The Good: This game is fantastic. It shouldn't be. It should be long and boring, with long trips in the ocean, lots of trading and fetch quests, and yet...it's a dream to play. Sailing, which you would think would become a hassle, always seems to be enjoyable, really catching the feeling of boating on the open sea, without being boring or tedious. Which is funny as it really is just sailing, with only the occasional interruption for a monster fight (unlike Phantom Hourglasses constant repeated battles). The Story is top-notch, and is the only game in the series to actually make me feel for Gannondorf, as we finally get a reason for Gagnondorf's greed. His last line ("I can feel the wind blowing") makes me feel honestly sorry that I killed the guy. The reveal of Zelda in this game was handled incredibly well, and much better than the reveal in Ocarina. This Zelda, once she comes into being, is mostly just shocked that she is indeed Zelda and looks to be having problems taking it all in. Later on, we see that she's the same old character from earlier in the game, in a nice dress. I liked that, as the Ocarina reveal really hurt the character in my opinion. The story here is fantastic.
- The Bad: I played the HD version, so I won't be saying "The Triforce Quest." I'll go back to the tried and true standby of the art style. I get what they were going for, especially once I sat down and played it through - it's a Saturday Morning Cartoon, complete with all the goofy sound effects, and over-emoting. Still, while I like the Toon Link style for 2D games, in 3D, it doesn't work for me. Except for Medli. She's precious. Also, I'm not sure why they chose this game for the HD upgrade. It would have suited Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword so much better.
- The Ugly: That toothy grimace Link makes in the cannon. Eeek.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Dragon Roost Island. Hands down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axQggW17V6w
- In Short: Don't let the art style turn you off. The story and gameplay mechanics way make up for it.
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#5 - Link to the Past
- The Story: Link is awoken by a voice claiming to be Princess Zelda to rescue her. Links wakes up to find his uncle already armed to save her. He tells Link to stay, and of course, he leaves anyway. Eventually, he finds that not only has his uncle failed, he needs to rescue the proncess, defeat Aghanim, and save Hyrule. But there's a whole nuther world out there he'll find, too.
- The Good: And amazingly deep and complex game, with just as deep and complex story. And once you prove your courage, and get the sword, and defeat the baddie...suddenly, everything changes, and you end up in a dark mirror universe, where you have to do it all over again. Sort of. In this world, everyone's angry with you, you have maidens to rescue, and you're rediscovering everything all over again. And then when you do THAT, then you start having to jump back and forth with the magic mirror and flip around and...it's hard to keep it all straight in your head sometimes! They really took that whole "Let's play in the Z axis, with bridges and platforms above the floor" thing, and then applied it to a whole seperate world.
- The Bad: The game is deep, sure, and it's neat that you spend time in one world, then another, then both...but sometimes it feels like filler. Lots of pendants and crystals and stuff...it can feel kind of like these maidens aren't worth all the running around. Still, it's entertaining because it changes worlds so often to get to the end.
- The Ugly: That Skeleton Woods temple where you have to keep popping in and out of the skulls to move around? I got lost so many times jumping around and trying to figure out the darned dungeon....
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: As with all Link to the Past derivatives, it's the Dark World theme - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BStjuHfP238
- In Short: Straightforward and long A to B gameplay, but a lot of fun tracing those breadcrumbs.
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#6 - Spirit Tracks
- The Story: Far in the future of wind Waker, a New Hyrule has been established, and Princess Zelda's body has been kidnapped. And this time, she (or at least her spirit) is along for the ride to get it back.
- The Good: My favorite of all the portable Zelda games, this feels like a console game stuffed into a tiny screen. The idea of a train in the Zeldaverse sounds wrong, but feels incredibly right. The boss fights are original, and are unique in the use of the items you pick up in their resepctive dungeons. And, last, but not least, Zelda. Having Zelda's spirit tagging along and her commentary really gives her some depth not seen since Wind Waker, and she was a completely different character. She's able to take over phantoms and you can have her move and attack along side you, and can even distract other phantoms by bothering them with incredibly entertaining small talk. She's actually a very formidible, but cheery, companion. She does has a few annoying traits (such as being crying-out-for-help-paralyzingly-terrified of rats), but in general, she's really awesome to have around. One would hope that all the more silent Zeldas are this strong (cf. Twilight Princess). While she may feel to some too cherry, this game in general is pretty cheery, and feels like a nice ending to the pretty cheery "Child Era" timeline. I can't say enough good things about this game.
- The Bad: The same issues I had with the stylus controls in Phantom Hourglass plague Spirit Tracks. In fact, I would say the hardest Boss Fight in the whole series lies in this game, not because he's hard (all he does is spit rocks at you), but because the controls have trouble determining if you're trying to sword swipe the rocks away, or walk right into the rocks. It took me well over two hours to clear that segment of the final boss fight, simply because of the controls. There's also way too much "sneaking" in the game. While in Phantom Hourglass you just sneak around phantoms in one temple, in this game, you have to sneak around EVERYTHING. With a TRAIN. It got to a point where once I took off with the train, I'd save the game, because while it's easy to avoid the phantom trains, if one beelines on you, you're dead. Especially if you're going backwards cause you can't hit a wye in time.
- The Ugly: I HATE THOSE DAMNED BUNNIES. They can stay behind those rocks for all I care.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: The soundtrack to this game is absolutely phenomenal. It's hard to pick a fave, but if I had to it's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f87K0YKjUBc
- In Short: The best of the portable games.
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#7 - Link's Awakening
- The Story: A direct sequel to the Oracle series games (which somehow came AFTER Link's Awakening), Link's boat is destroyed in a storm, and he wakes up on an island where he must awake the Windfish to find his way home.
- The Good: Much like Zelda II, this was my first Zelda game on a portable in the early 90s, although I didn't play through to the end...or even really the beginning. I just borrowed it. So it probably rates a little higher due to nostalgia than anything else...although I had to play it again after fininshing it due to losing my save game so I probably rated it a little lower because of that, so it evens out in the end. While the gameplay feels pretty much like all the other Game Boy series of games, the characters you run into really make the game pop out. They definitely ramped up the personalities on them. While the story is simplistic, they way they make it slowly unfold and reveal makes you want to keep playing to get the next little tidbit of the mystery of Koholint island. And then it puts you in a moral dilemma - stay on the island and never go home? Or leave the island and watch everyone you just met dissapear? Especially after how deep your relationship withj Marin gets in the story...something remarkable given you never say a word to her (and she remarks on that!).
- The Bad: Musically, hearing the Zelda theme repeat iteslf every fifteen seconds for hours on end gets on your nerves. The music, despite an incredible opening, is very simple and repetetive.
- The Ugly: [Spoiler alert] IT WAS ALL A DREAM?! ...and did he die unrescued? T_T
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: That's a heck of an opening for an 8-bit z80 chip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ErE4l1EKM
- In Short: A very light and easy game, with a deep story and surprising moral dilemma.
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#8 - Adventure of Link
- The Story: A direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda, Link must find the third part of the Triforce to awaken the ancestor of the Princess Zelda of the original Legend of Zelda, also known as Princess Zelda.
- Jenn's Bonus Story: This was the first Zelda game I ever played in 1988. It took many years, but I got to the battle with Dark Link a few years(!) later. At that point, the battery in the NES cart died. Fast forward almost 25 years later, I got back to Dark Link and kicked his tail...and then the game ended. I was shocked at how close I got to the end back in 1989....
- The Good: A lot of folks may be surprised at how high I ranked this game, known as the Black Sheep of the Zelda universe, but it was also my first Zelda game, so I didn't know any different. I actually really liked the side-scrolling platformer elements in the battles as I found it took a little more skill than just pointing in the right direction and pressing "Sword." In this case you not only had to worry about stabbing monsters from above and below, but also head-on: high AND low. It made for a very tough but satisfying mechanic for me. I often felt much of the other Zelda games just felt like "point in the right direction and press a button to attack or satnd still to shield." The Experience and Magic systems felt very satisfying, and was my first real experiuence with grinding, which felt much more fun than other NES games I'd played at the time (DragonWarrior, for one, which grinding becomes a chore). I found it vey satisfying.
- The Bad: Oh, my, the skill level on this is intense. I do mention that there's a lot of ways to attack characters, but they require every one of those attacks to beat. And some of them require billions and billions of hits to take down, for minor experience (I'm looking at YOU, Bubbles!). And they all respawn if you move too far away - which is likely a limitation of the hardware, but it's a very hard limitation of the software.
- The Ugly: WHY DO YOU KEEP SENDING ME ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING WHEN I DIE?!
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: I can hear the XP draining in my mind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7Sh82Mzdc
- In Short: Different doesn't always it worse!
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#9 - The Legend of Zelda
- The Story: In the first Zelda game, Link has to gather pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom, beat up Ganon and save the princess. All in 8-bit 1980s processing power.
- The Good: It's the first game, so it's actually hard to say what's good, as it's the first time it's been done. The vast open world, the ability to do any dungeon in any order (well, for the most part). Because it isn't bogged down by a lot of the cruft of each new game, it moves quick. And there's some downright charm to the game that it manages to do this all in 8-bit color and 8-bit pixels. It's a lot of fun, packed in 128Kb.
- The Bad: It's the first game, so it's actually hard to say what's bad, as it's the first time it's been done. While the game has a serious exploration vibe, the lack of narrative makes it feel flat. I realize the narrative of the game really didn't start until Zelda 2...and really took off with Link to the Past, but it's seriously missed here.
- The Ugly: The difficulty level is intense, and I nearly quit multiple times before a friend told me that the best way to play this is actually run away from the enemies until such time as you level up enough stuff with rupees and rupee games until you can level up.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Um...there's only four. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMssCMqMHuk
- In short: Run. Just run. Once your run and level up, it's a lotta fun.
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#10 - Majora's Mask
- The Story: Searching for Navi, Link stumbles across the Skull Kid who turns him into a Deku Scrub. A Mask Salesman turns him human in order to get a mask the Skull Kid stole from him - but he only has three days before the town is destroyed by the falling moon.
- The Good: The good here is very good. Specifically the atmosphere. You have characters in denial, characters in fear (the guards on Day three, trembling at their posts and staring at the gigantic falling moon gets me every time). The Moon, always present, always staring (and even crying...it's not in control of itself) makes sure you know you're in trouble at all times. Everything is falling apart. And even then, there is hope. In what I consider the best sidequest in the entire Zelda series, you spend an entire three-day cycle bringing a fiance and fiancee back together, just moments before the end of the world. It not only nearly made me cry, it made me regret resetting the cycle (which you have only seconds to do) knowing that they would be seperated again. There's so much more - like the creepy Mask Kids on the moon. The atmosphere in this game is absolutely amazing.
- The Bad: The three day cycle. As I've said before, the one thing I hate in games is having to repeat sections over and over again, making only minimal progress. This game, like The Temple of the Ocean King in Phantom Hourglass, is based completely on that idea. And it was infuriating. Especially going through and beating a temple boss on Day Three, and being unable to followup in time before Day three ended. I'd have to reset then fight the boss again (at least I could go directly to the boss), in order to followup with the changes that would happen after bating him. Infuriating, and nearly why I gave up this game.
- The Ugly: The final Majora boss. After getting through the game, the boss, instead f being a threatening monster, is a goof. Doing chicken walks, silly music, ballerina spins...he's not really...very...threatening.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDX4ZwUeOok
- In short: Tons of atmosphere, probably the most of any Zelda game. And a ton of frustrations.
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#11 - Oracle of Ages/Seasons
- The Story: Link is sent by the Triforce to Labrynnia and then later Holodrum to rescue the possessed Nayru/kidnapped Din by switching between the present and past/switching seasons. Actually two games, I played them one after the other with codes from one adding to the second game. So I consider them two parts of the same game.
- The Good: I love love loved the idea of two games linekd together.
while you can playu each game seperately, if they were linked, the second became an extension of that game, with a ton of your stats and items carrying over to the new game, and giving you an extra ending game. I also love Din - a feisty firey dancer and her troupe who happen to be stopping by Holodrum. You even get to dance with her. The subrosians, also, are absolutely adorable for a race of underdwellers.
- The Bad: As much as I liked the idea of a linked game, bringing over your already ramped up sword and items from your other game makes the second game incredibly easy, especially when the normal Level 1 to Level 2 upgrade, suddenly becomes Level 2 to 3. The second game for me was incredibly easy. If you're linking a game, the difficulty should go up a tad.
- The Ugly: You know swapping those seasons around really quick can't be good for the planet.
- In short: Two linked games makes for a long but fun adventure.
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#12 - Link Between Worlds
- The Story: Princess Zelda is turned into a painting by the evil Yuga and whisked off to a parallel univers of Hyrule, Lorule. It's up to Link, with the help of Ravio, a guy who sets up shop in Link's house, to save both Zelda and Lorule.
- The Good: I absolutely loved the story here. You have the happy precious moments looking Hyrule, with the flipside precious moments gone very very very wrong looking precious moments Lorule. Each characters in this mirror universe, isn't an evil Hyrulian, instead, it's more of an equal-and-opposite characterization. Pricess Hilda is just as devoted to her people as Zelda is, but she doesn't have her optimism, and instead despairs. Link's counterpart has a strong heart for doing the right thing, but is a coward and won't confront people directly. The story was absolutely wonderful, and that last scene with Hilda didn't just make me smile, but beam.,
- The Bad: I'm going to be honest here...most Zelda games I played with a walkthrough. This was the first one I didn't, as it had just come out. I played it to the end, but it felt shallow and and not deep at all. But I also didn't have any walkthroughs for side quests. So my "The Bad" feeling that the game was shallow and light may have just been that I didn't know there was more to do. I may replay this again once a detailed walkthrough comes out.
- The Ugly: The rent shop. The whole idea of renting everything I'd need to get through a rent shop really took away the feeling of satisfaction I'd get by earning the items through pushing through the temples.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: While usually I go for the Dark World theme on games based on Link to the Past, this one really makes me happy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfVbmH_TeXI
- In short: Great story, although it feels light, and as if I didn't earn anything.
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#13 - Minish Cap
- The Story: During the Picori festival, Vaati uses his position as winner of a sword tournament to turn Princess Zelda into a statue, and to flood Hyrule with monsters. He then takes off to find the Light Force, a power the previous hero of Hyrule wielded.
- The Good: Really the only one of the Four Sword games I really enjoyed. Even one more step up from Four Sword Adventures, by removing the "collect everything you can to power up" mechanic, it's the only one that really feels like a Zelda game. It's got a vast overarching and deep story that the other Four Sword games are missing. The shrinking and growing mechanic are really well done, and integral to the game.
- The Bad: It's probably just me, but the Picori, while a lot of fun, didn't work for me. There was too much of a disconnect between them and the Hyrulians above.
- The Ugly: The Kinstones. So so so many kinstones. Too too many kinstones.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: Not so much a fave, because a lot of the music is based off Link to the Past, but one I hear in my head when I think of Minish Cap - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89AYwg2CK_A
- Final thoughts: A great little portable Zelda game
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#14 - Four Swords Adventures
- The Story: A far-off sequel to the multiplayer Four Swords, Zelda is worried that the Four Sword seal is failing. She calls six sages to check on the seal, when Dark Link shows up, traps them all in crystals, and takes off. It's up to Link to rescue all the maidens.
- The Good: They took everything that was good about Four Swords, and added some great stuff to it (like "story" and "puzzles"). It was also a serious flashback to Link to the Past (considering it's almost all recycled sprites and textures from that game), which is always a nice thing.
- The Bad: It's definintely a game made for multiplayer, and while you can play it as a single player, much like Four Sword Anniversary Edition, you can play as one person. It can be a chore, though...only so many ways one person can control four Links and not have your brain fry. And like Four Swords - the game doesn't "feel" like Zelda. But it feels it a whole lot more Zelda than Four Swords.
- The Ugly: Good luck playing this using the Game Boy as a controller. I tried with my original GBA, and the lack of backlight made it horrifyingly bad to play. Playing on a GameBoy Advance SP with backlight made it much easier, but I always found those systems too small for my monstrous hands. Good thing, though - you can play without the Game Boy systems. I just wanted the full experience.
- Jenn's Fave Music Track: As with all Link's Awakening based games, it's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eErXCCYm1l
- Final Thoughts: A much needed step up from Four Swords.
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#15 - Four Swords Anniversary Edition
- The Story: Zelda shows Link the Four Sword from it's own game. He grabs the sword releasing Vaati and splitting link into four seperate Links. Link has to collect a whole lotta rupees to get to Vaati and rescue Zelda.
- The Good: It's just...well...collecting rupees, and hoping you get enough to move on. Once you get to the bosses, it turns back into a portable Zelda game. Some of the themed levels are neat, like the NES/SNES and Game Boy themed levels were clever...but really more of the same.
- The Bad: It's just...well...collecting rupees, and hoping you get enough to move on. Also, it's built really to be a multiplayer game, and with some kajiggering made it into a one player game. I think it'd have been more fun as a multiplayer thing.
- The Ugly: It uses randomly generated levels, and more often than not, I found myself locked out of my objective and having to restart the level so it would regenerate a whole new randomly selected level.
- Final Thoughts: It really doesn't feel like a Zelda game. It feels more like Crystal Castles, with Zelda theming. In fact, it felt so "other" that I'm surprised it's on the official timeline. While I defeated Vaati, there was much much more to do after that. I was so bored, though, that I felt I'd finished the game and left the extra levels for some other time.
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#16 - Phantom Hourglass
- The Story: A direct sequel to The Wind Waker, Link and Tetra are on a quest to find The Ghost Ship, an unruly band of lawless pirates to teach them a thing or two. Instead, they kidnap Tetra, and it's up to Link to save her.
- The Good: This is definitely one of the funnier entries in the series. Linebeck's cowardice isn't just hilarious, but becomes a nice plot point and character development point near the end of the game. It sort of comes out of the blue, but is handled really well, otherwise.
- The Bad: The overuse of the stylus controls. While it's neat to be able to draw ont he screen, and make paths on the screen...using it for attacking and moving is problematic in action scenes, often because the game sometimes confuses an attack with a directional move. Many times, I'd end up rolling right into an enemy instead of attack it. Having to use the stylus to control the path of the boat, the camera angle AND the canonfire all at once really hampers the game play. Other than the controls, the enemies were fairly weak...this game REALLY likes ChuChus. Even the music was mediocre. There's not one track off this game I want to listen to again.
- The Ugly: The Temple of the Ocean King. Having to go back and replay this dungeon over and over and OVER again really pushed one of my gamer buttons. I'm not a fan of repeating things over and over again, especially with little to no progress being made each time. Which was how this dungeon was freakin' designed. Speaking of repetition, the battles with Jolene, repeated and over and over again, became tedious. I was actively trying to avoid her, because she just got in the way of an already very long trip between islands.
- Final thoughts: Not a terrible game. It's an ANNOYING game.
