I Ranked Every Legend Of Zelda Game From BEST To WORST!

there's a lot of Legend of Zelda games so I thought to myself it would be totally creative if I went to tear maker and uh ranked all the Legend of Zelda games because nobody's ever done that before I mean but ranking videos are fun I do enjoy doing them and The Legend of Zelda franchise is a great franchise to do I'll have a link in the description box down below should you want to do your own list these are just my personal opinions on ranking The Legend of Zelda games what's the best Zelda game what's the worst Zelda game we'll find out in this video If it upsets you I'm sorry it's not that big of a deal though I hope you get over it and I hope you subscribe if you are new because I want to hit 500 000 subscribers and who knows since these videos are evergreen maybe I already hit it so we could see here we have the different categories excellent two exclamation marks great good okay bad never played Brett will be editing this video hopefully he's done lots of fancy things that keeps you entertained for the first 52 seconds of this video so that you haven't clicked off on it but let's just jump straight into it we're gonna start out with the original Legend of Zelda game I'm gonna to go with great um I feel like this is the game that sort of set the stage for the Legend of Zelda franchise you know you got introduced to all the characters you got introduced to all the different enemy types well not all of them but you sort of got a feeling for what this franchise was going to be it was something very different from what we had seen especially in North America as far as you know an adventure game is concerned there were games on Old on you know older platforms and stuff like that your Ataris or in television had some some styles of adventure games but it was nothing quite like The Legend of Zelda in terms of size and in terms of scope why I don't think it's excellent is because at the end of the day some of the stuff was just way too cryptic and like yeah you could figure it out but I don't know I I think it's a great game it's a game that still holds up very well but it is an older game too so if you were kind of going by the time frame of when it was released sure you could put it in an excellent category but since we've had so many excellent Zelda games since then it's a little little bit harder for me to put it in that top tier category still a fantastic game though next up we have the adventure of link I think this game is okay and it was a stark departure from what we got with the Legend of Zelda the original game but this was at a time where like sequels were kind of you know they weren't really a thing when you think about it you know look at all the sequels that we got during this sort of time point and how different they were from their their predecessor you know this is the only game that was completely different you had Castlevania 2 which you had the standard Castlevania formula and then they went into more sort of side-scrolling open-ended thing which is actually what the Legend of Zelda The Adventure of Link kind of was that's the kind of game that this was of course there was hookers in the game too I mean that was kind of cool the first NES game with prostitutes but you know I I don't think it's a bad game I do like some of the mechanics in it I do like some of the things that were in it but some of the things definitely did not work out for the best you know once again you had so much cryptic stuff and and I get it the cryptic stuff was kind of a focal point of NES stuff because of the limitations with technology but it was far worse in this game than the original Legend of Zelda game so I definitely feel like that holds it back but I think that would be a great game to sort of remaster or reimagine because there is some good potential in there next up we have the Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening for the Game Boy this is the DX version Game Boy Color is it bad have I never played it no it's great I I I absolutely love this game um I think this game is phenomenal I remember playing it as a kid this was really the first Zelda game I played as a kid you know I had played The Legend of Zelda and uh the adventure of Link but I never really sat down and beat those games when I ended up getting a Game Boy and a Game Boy Color subsequently this is the game that I got with my Game Boy Color I did not play this on the original game boy so I played the DX version so that's where all of my Nostalgia comes from and you know it was a return to form for the Zelda franchise it was much more in line with what we saw in the first game and I think that made it a much better game in my in my opinion because it sort of started to get the formula you know you started to figure out how the Zelda games were actually going to work going forward you would get an ability that ability will let you go somewhere else on the map so on and so forth and you kept getting different abilities and as you got more abilities you had more of the map accessible to you so I think that was a super important thing with this game and I think this game definitely you know withstands the test of time um I don't know if the uh the switch version is on here I don't see it on this list but I prefer this version to the switch version of the game I I think the switch version is fine I would put it in good but I would definitely put this game in great because I I just love everything about it you know the setting the characters the the the progression system of the game just a fantastic game from top to bottom great soundtrack too and then we have the CDI games um I'm not gonna talk much about them because I mean they're crap like let's be realistic they probably shouldn't even be on this list but they suck like there's nothing to them they're they're stupid they're just bad I I've sampled them I feel like a lot of people have sampled them it's not something you want to play for an extended period of time but then of course we get into one of the bigger games of the franchise with a link to the past and I'll go ahead and put that in excellent um I would put this in a lesser portion of excellence and I know that's gonna piss some people off but a lot of people this is their favorite really when it comes down to it I feel like people have three favorites when it comes to the Legend of Zelda you either Love A Link to the Past you either love Ocarina of Time or you love breath of the wild those are the three main games that people classify as their favorite and out of those three I would say A Link to the Past is probably the lesser of the three that doesn't mean it's a bad game or anything like that it's a fantastic game but this was a game that I did not experience as a youth I actually did not play this game until I was an adult so maybe that Nostalgia Factor doesn't quite wear on me but I mean and at the end of the day it's it's really the blueprint for modern Zelda games even though the graphical style was that retro style it took everything that was good from the you know the Legend of Zelda and The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening and just expanded upon it so much that game had so much depth to it so many Secrets the world itself of Hyrule had grown so much of course you had the light in the dark system as well with the two different worlds within the game it was a fantastic game man and it was unlike anything that I think we had really seen at that point in time as far as action adventure games were concerned and you know people still this is one of their favorite games of all time and I completely understand it I completely understand if this is your favorite Zelda game by far because it does make sense but when you sort of take away that nostalgic factor I think you know for me personally I would just put it below those other two games that we mentioned so obviously those games are going to be on the excellent list and let's just go ahead and put one of them on there with the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time this is probably my favorite Zelda game I would have to say that this is the the best Zelda game because it took everything that we loved about a link to the past which was great you know it was a fantastic game and then it was like okay let's kind of make it again but in 3D and like that that jump that technological jump within the game which just it was mind-blowing like I don't think people really understand the magnitude of the 2D to 3D graphic shift that ended up happening that so many of us lived through because it was astounding it was astounding to see these worlds out usually we had just looked down upon from a top-down perspective into a 3D style the dungeons in this game are absolutely brilliant yes I don't hate the water temple I know so many people hate the water temple this game I don't hate the water temple I think it's fine the the music the storytelling within the game the gameplay itself you know the targeting system the lock on targeting system and stuff this game just did so much not just for the Legend of Zelda franchise but for video video games in general because I really felt like this was the blueprint for action adventure style games in the 3D world and I feel like this game is still emulated till this day so the Ocarina of Time is my favorite Zelda game and I absolutely love it and I will die on that Hill I don't know when Oracle of Ages and Seasons came out I'll put it in good though I know a lot of people actually really love those two games and they're they're very interesting because although they came out at the same time that they are a bit different it's been years since I've played these games but Oracle of Ages was kind of more puzzle based and Oracle of Seasons was kind of more action based and they kind of played into each other because when you would complete one game you of course would get a password that you would use in the other game so you know from a technological standpoint it was actually very interesting it was almost like you know that and Pokemon Red and Blue were like the first games where it was like you need to buy both of these to experience every single thing that this has to offer um I would love to see these games remastered or maybe brought into like as one game or something like that obviously that would be a lot of work but this was an interesting uh sort of experiment because this game obviously was not developed by Nintendo it was developed by a subsidiary of Capcom at that time and of course this is not the only time that Capcom did do some Zelda games we'll talk about another one in a little bit but I I like these games I'm not quite in love with these games like a lot of people are from a you know graphics and gameplay perspective it's very similar to Link's Awakening you know there is some improvements upon it but at its core it definitely feels Link's awakening-esque but I do love the whole season's mechanic in the game because you know having Four Seasons it actually adds something to the game it actually plays into how you do things you know can in Spring versus winter time so definitely enjoyable games I just don't put them on quite as high a pedestal as a lot of people do all right so this one will be kind of controversial but I'm gonna put Majora's Mask and and bad excellent no I'm gonna say it's good right alongside of Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons I'm not a simp for Majora's Mask I don't think it's a bad game I don't think it's a great Zelda game though and it really boils down to I think the story is really cool because I like the sort of dark and brooding story but it definitely feels a bit rushed you know compared to other games look at the development cycle for this game and it was just I I don't know I I didn't like the whole three-day mechanic I didn't like the strong emphasis on things like masks it always felt like you were rushing in this game it always felt like you you were having to just sort of you know go as fast as you can without actually exploring the world and I feel like exploration in Legend of Zelda games is just so important it's you know it's a staple for this franchise it's really one of the first franchises to encourage exploration and to sort of go against all of that with Majora's Mask it was just it was a game that never hit with me as a kid and it still really doesn't hit with me as an adult I can can see it as a good game but I would be lying to myself if I put it in a great or an excellent category because I honestly don't feel that it is up there with some of the better Zelda games it's fine for what it is but for what it is it was kind of a disappointment for me personally and I know there's people that love that game start the hate comments I don't care what am I gonna do read a comment and cry about it no people are going to disagree with me it's fine Minish Cap um I'll go ahead and put that in great I think the Minish Cap is probably one of the more interesting and different and more Dynamic Legend of Zelda games of course this came out for the Game Boy Advance and once again like I had alluded to earlier this game was also developed by Capcom and it's really weird to think about you know Capcom developing like like Mainline Zelda games like this wasn't you know sort of an offshoot thing this wasn't something like Hyrule Warriors or something which we'll talk about in a little bit this is called The Legend of Zelda Minish Cap of course everything was kind of shrunk down for this that was the whole mechanic it was a tiny link and I I think they did a really good job with this game you know it definitely sort of hearkened back to a link to the past but it also brought in many new things and many new mechanics the graphical style of the game was actually very interesting because I felt like it was a departure from what we had seen before it kind of had more of an animated style to it which plays into an upcoming game that we're going to talk to and I feel like they're actually very very similar in that sort of aspect it's just the different perspectives that with you play these games at I think Minish Cap is super underrated when it comes to Mainline Zelda games and it's definitely something that I feel like a lot of people haven't played but now that it's on Nintendo switch online service like get that expansion pack and play some Minish Cap because it's definitely worth playing like it's a super good game all right we're gonna put some stuff here I never played the four sword stuff so I'm just gonna go ahead and put that down here we'll get it out of the way um the master quest I'm not gonna I mean whatever I'm not going to classify that as its own thing we need to clean up this list a little bit stuff like you know uh the Ocarina of Time 3D stuff once again we're gonna clean up this list a little bit I will go ahead and put Ocarina of Time 3D where it belongs I'll put Majora's Mask 3D where it belongs we also have HD versions of stuff but we'll get to that when we get to it but let's take a look at um The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker this one is going to be a great game and it's funny because initially I didn't love this game um you know when that graphical style hit I think so many people were like what the hell is this because it looks cartoony it looks sort of kitty-ish and I feel like you know coming off of games like Ocarina Majora's Mask we wanted to see a more realistic art style when we got that sort of teaser trailer for for the GameCube and what it was capable of The Legend of Zelda that they showcased during that looked nothing like Wind Waker and a lot of people thought oh well they're sort of dumbing down the game but when we actually got Wind Waker it was a fantastic experience why I don't put it in an excellent is because of the fact that I was not a huge fan of a lot of the boat stuff I know people really liked it you know it was kind of a fun traversal system for people and you could do sort of stuff and you know it played it in the whole motif of the game but just for me personally it never really clicked with me all that much I kind of like the more traditional stuff in most of my Zelda games and I felt like this game there was just some things that sort of deviated From the Path just a bit too much for me personally once again if this is a game that's one of your favorites I can completely understand why it's absolutely gorgeous from a visual standpoint there is some stuff that was annoying that was remedied in the HD version of the game that was available on the Wii U we're gonna go ahead and put that in great as well but still I wouldn't put it in the excellent category it's just a little bit below that for me because of the boat stuff and the water stuff and stuff like that but it's a great game great game I absolutely love it and it's something that you tend to appreciate appreciate more and more as you get older and as you realize you know art style is is a very important thing and not everything needs a realistic art style and I feel like this game did a great job of conveying that not everything needs a realistic art style and could still be a fantastic game now the next game we're gonna talk about oh boy um I feel like this is gonna get me in trouble because people are gonna say you're an idiot there's no way but we're taking uh Twilight Princess and it's going in excellent both versions of it Twilight Princess is probably oh sh it's probably my second favorite I would go Ocarina Twilight Princess breath of the wild and that's gonna blow people's minds but here's the thing Twilight Princess to me was that Ocarina of Time game that I always wanted on a modern platform with modern visuals this game absolutely blew me away and it blew me because it was so damn good yes the the wolf stuff at the start of the game was very annoying where you had to collect the little drops or whatever they fixed it in the HD version of the game beyond that this game is brilliant the whole midna thing the the the whole size and scope of the world that you're in the the different areas that you visit the the centralized Town system the just oh my God I adore this game I absolutely adore this game I think it's absolutely brilliant from start to finish I think from a visual standpoint it was absolutely fantastic because it was the graphical style that I wanted Wind Waker to be and that while I appreciate Wind Waker and everything that it brings to the table I just feel like Twilight Princess is like Ocarina of Time too and I I know that's gonna confuse a lot of people but really when you compare the games like there's there's a lot of similarities to those games there's a lot of similarities to the dungeons there's a lot of similarities to the extra things that you do such as the whole fishing mechanic and then you'll have the whole wolf thing which some people didn't like I can understand it but I definitely enjoyed it so yes probably the most controversial opinion that you're going to see we're putting Twilight Princess in the excellent category a top of the top for me probably my second favorite Zelda game I know people are gonna get pissed about that uh links crossbow training it was okay like I'm not gonna sit talk about links crossbows it was to sell the stupid Wii gun thing but I will be honest I love that Wii gun thing I used it a ton on Ghost Squad and on House of the Dead both The House of the Dead two and three and of course half was the other game that they made I can't think of the other the title The subtitle of the the other house the overkill I think it was Overkill and then you had the Resident Evil umbrella Chronicle stuff so crossbow training it was like 20 bucks fine with me let's take a look at some um Some Ds stuff here because these games were kind of interesting and then we'll get into one that's it um Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass I will say good for Phantom Hourglass I would say okay for Spirit Tracks um Phantom Hourglass is the one that I played when it was new I didn't play um Spirit Tracks until after the fact and they're they're very similar in in how they work because the whole control mechanic is Nintendo wanted to force that that touch screen down your throat it was like Hey the DIA did you know that the DS has a touch screen well you're gonna freaking know it because it it's here and you gotta touch it and touching is good that was actually a Nintendo DS marketing motto that they had but when it comes to these games I think Phantom Hourglass is the better of the two I don't necessarily think they're they're bad games but they're they're held back by limitations you know not only just technical limitations which I feel like people could look past but the fact that you constantly have to control everything with your freaking can little stylus and stuff like that like it just made for a different Zelda experience that I feel like it should have been a more traditional one all because you have a touch pad you know it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to force it into every game because we're actually going to talk about a game in a little bit that has it was developer system with a touchpad and guess what it was barely used or when it was used it was used in a fine manner so for me these games are fine for what they are they're not must play games if you wanted to pick one or the other I would personally pick Phantom Hourglass I think it's the better of the two games kind of you know especially if you're a wind waker fan it's kind of kind of a mandatory uh Play If you enjoyed Wind Waker but just for me personally Phantom Hourglass is a little bit better than Spirit Tracks um Skyward Sword this is tough I will put Skyward Sword okay so this is the Wii version of the game I guess this list was made before it I'll put it in good but if it's the switch version I'll put it in great because I did not enjoy the controls in this game much like games like Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks instead of having the touch screen you had the the wiggle controls the the Wii controller and with Wii motion plus I didn't like it I didn't finish this game on the Wii you know what I'm gonna put this game on okay I'm gonna put it on okay if we're talking about the the Wii version of this game it goes on okay if we're talking about the switch version of the game it goes on great because they fix the controls they made it so that I could actually play through this game and once I was able to play through and beat this game I found a Zelda game that I thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed I had so much fun with this game but I did not have fun with the game on the Wii like I I played it for like I want to say it was like eight or nine hours and I was just like this is dumb like I I don't like this I don't like having to you know it's not in grossing enough to me and I feel like that was kind of a problem with the Wii is once again Nintendo tried to force so much stuff into their Mainline games and it's like bro you don't have to do that you don't have to force it make it go naturally have some sections where maybe you have like one-on-one sword fighting and stuff like that you know games like Red Steel kind of did stuff like that on the launch but it didn't force you to constantly do that underneath those motion controls is a great game in my opinion which is why I'll say the switch version is a great game but for the vanilla version of Skyward Sword once again if you get mad at me I'm sorry but it is just okay um Triforce hero sucks Triforce Heroes was a bad idea it wasn't a good game it wasn't a fun game it was a game built on multiplayer which like I don't know like if four Swords kind of worked because you were all in the same room and I guess if you were all in the same room with Triforce Heroes you could have fun with it but just for me I I did not like this game I thought it was a it was a dumb idea kind of like Metroid Prime Federation Force almost just like tacking on you know why are we taking our Mainline games and trying to make them weird multiplayer games when let's be realistic Nintendo's online isn't necessarily the best and is obviously lacking in some sort of features especially in their first party game so you're already hampering The Experience so yeah Triforce Heroes that can go in the trash can Legend of Zelda linked Between Worlds at the time I thought it was a great game I'm gonna say it's a good game I I don't know if I would have quite put it up with the pedigree of these other games because it was very familiar you know the whole Link Between Worlds where you could you know go on your side and stuff like that and you know go flat against the walls like it was a cool mechanic and it was it was a good game you know a nice solid 10 to 12 hour play through but I just felt like once you were done with the game there wasn't much reason to go back and play it again and a lot of the great games and excellent games do have reasons or they they were they were so unique at the time that it allows them to propel into that upper echelon whereas A Link Between Worlds was it was a really really good game it had a really good premise you know it had a new mechanic in it as well but I just felt like that replayability and sort of that lasting appeal wasn't very high with this game you know how many people really talk about this game when talking about you know main Zelda games for any sort of system never mind that this was a handheld 3DS game when you're talking about the best handheld Zelda games hardly anyone seems bring up A Link Between Worlds I thoroughly enjoyed the game I thought it was very very good but I just felt like the last thing appeal you know that that impact wasn't quite there with this game Hyrule Warriors Hyrule Warriors is great Hyrule Warriors makes me happy this game makes me happy and it's so much better than age of Calamity age of Calamity is not on this list if it was I would put it on okay because age of Calamity is all based on you know breath of the wild whereas Hyrule Warriors takes from everything Hyrule Warriors takes from all the Zelda games and that's what makes it so much better the switch version is the best version 60 frames per second no slowdown a bunch of characters on screen all these remix music tracks I love this game to death koi Tecmo did such a good job with this game and it really started the whole Warriors stuff and now we want all these different types of Warriors games of course we got Fire Emblem Warriors which was fine but I feel like you know Hyrule Warriors was great because there's so many awesome Zelda characters throughout out the history and the lineage of it so many different levels so many different atmospheres that you could take from and having it was just a hack and slash style gameplay it was fresh it was fun it's one of the best Wii U games and I love it on the switch as well no matter what version we're talking about though we'll go ahead and put it in great and then of course breath of the wild I've ever I mean I've already said what this is and this is freaking excellent man it was so different you know when you look at all these games look at all these games most of them are very similar at the end of the day you can see similarities what you know in terms of how the game works in terms of the progression system of the game yes you might have 2D Graphics or 3D Graphics or top down perspective or behind the camera perspective but when we're talking about the mainline games they all sort of flow in the same way and then of course we have breath of the wild which just turn that upside down it was like here's a world go explore it people like to compare it to the first Legend of Zelda game and I I get that but the the exploration is completely different because with the first Zelda game they're still like hard stops like you still have to go and beat the dungeons in a certain order in order to progress whereas with breath of the wild you don't necessarily have to do that you know it it brought a whole new unique perspective onto Hyrule it brought a whole uni unique perspective to what Nintendo games were about and what Legend of Zelda games were about and you know with tears of the Kingdom coming up like I feel like the expectations for this are higher than ever this was the most successful selling Legend of Zelda game of all time and it's just incredible to think about you know how the series managed to stay so relevant while staying so similar and then something completely different comes along and it just throws the whole world of The Legend of Zelda upside down obviously this game did not have dungeons which a lot of people did not like there is hope that tears of the Kingdom will have dungeons but you know for me I I feel like it's a proper evolution you know it's it's that step that Zelda needed because I mean you know I'm not gonna say the games were stale but how many times could you do something over and over again where you have oh we gotta go to the dungeons you got to get this next thing and while it's great you have so many awesome Zelda games to choose from on this list that are in that style and then we have breath of the wild the ultimate open-ended Zelda game with a sequel coming up so I'm gonna go ahead and put that in excellent and that's my list that is my list my rankings for all the Zelda games at least that were available on here I think we did a good job covering them but let me know in the comments section down below what you think just to recap we have excellent Link to the Past Ocarina of Time plus 3B uh uh Twilight Princess both versions breath of the wild great we have the original Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening Minish Cap Wind Waker all versions Hyrule Warriors good we have the Oracle of Ages and Seasons Majora's Mask all versions Phantom Hourglass and A Link Between Worlds okay we have the adventures of Link links crossbow training Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword and then bad we have the freaking CDI and crap ass Triforce Heroes let me know what you think of my list in the comments section down below shout out to Brett for editing this video this should be this is a long video this is one of the longest videos on this channel but I feel like this will be good I feel like people will enjoy this so I hope you enjoyed watching this give me your thoughts in the comment section down below feel free to make your own uh tear Maker list like I said I'll have a link to this list in the description box down below should you want to do your own you want to do a response video to me that's cool even though people will just be like look at all these people making the same style of video and it's like you want response videos to come back but you don't want people to make similar styles of content who cares quick gatekeeping content and as always catch you guys on the next video hit that subscribe button later

Channel: RGT 85

Views: 163,717

Keywords: RGT 85, ocarina of time, breath of the wild, legend of zelda, ranking zelda games, ranking zelda dungeons, ranking zelda, best zelda games, best zelda games for switch, best zelda games of all time, worst zelda games, best and worst zelda games, every legend of zelda game, every legend of zelda game ranked, zelda, nintendo, nintendo switch, nes, zelda 2023, zelda 2024, every zelda game ranked worst to best, zelda games, ranking the legend of zelda games, zelda games ranked

Id: rz7QNGB43fY

Length: 28min 2sec (1682 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 18 2023