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[janoDX]

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All of this is by Metacritic score, there's no panel or anything. Blame critics at the time of launch of every game.

So the ranking is...

1. Ocarina of Time (99)
2. Breath of the Wild (98)
3. Windwaker (96)
4. Twilight Princess (95)
4. Majora's Mask (95)
4. A Link to the Past + Four Swords -GBA- (95)
7. Skyward Sword (93)
7. A Link to the Past -SNES- (93)
9. Oracle of Seasons/Ages
10. A Link Between Worlds (91)
11. Link's Awakening (90)
11. Phantom Hourglass (90)
13. The Minish Cap (89)
14. Spirit Tracks (87)
15. Four Swords Adventures (86)
16. The Legend of Zelda (84)
17. The Adventure of Link (78)
18. Triforce Heroes (73)

Beat me another poster saying "Should have ended with :'Beat me for another kinda pointless Zelda thread'" if old.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

That Skyward Sword score is pretty incredible all things considered.

 

[cyba89]

Wind Waker so overrated.

 

[-GJ-]

Minish Cap deserves to be above Phantom Hourglass at least.

 

[Jacce]

Original Zelda below Four Swords Adventure and Phantom Hourglass/Spirit Tracks lol

 

[alt27]

Should have ended with

"Beat me for another kinda pointless Zelda thread "

 

[Noboru Wataya]

Minish cap is way too low. Other than that I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[Alrus]

Minish Cap is criminally underrated.

 

[KoL]

16. The Legend of Zelda (84)
17. The Adventure of Link (78)

I don't know, I think those two should be higher.

 

[Gurthang]

Breath of the Wild is first on gamerankings tho

 

[Makai]

Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess cannot be above Link to the Past

 

[Machina]

If it weren't for reviewers being tougher while scoring in the modern age, Breath of the Wild would be number 1. Sorry Ocarina.

 

[kromeo]

Wind Waker so overrated.

Ive long since given up trying to understand the love for that game.

More importantly, what is Phantom Hourglass doing with a 90 metascore?

 

[Yes Boss!]

Wind Waker so overrated.

It has incredible genre-defining Toon link. But I personally prefer Twilight above it.

Rather surprised A Link Between Worlds is not higher. Finally played through it a few months back and it was incredible.

Triforce Heroes is really underrated too. Not as an online experience but when played locally it is the best if the Four Swords style game. And so much content.

 

[jett]

This list tells me Zelda games are overscored.

 

[Montresor]

I haven't played Breath Of The Wild (and probably won't) but I would rate the Zelda games that I have played like this:

1) Majora's Mask
2) Wind Waker
3) Ocarina of Time
4) Link's Awakening
5) Oracle of Ages / Oracle of Seasons
7) Twilight Princess
8) Link To The Past
9) Phantom Hourglass
9) Minish Cap
10) Spirit Tracks

I love Majora's Mask and Wind Waker so much. I'll forever have really good memories of those two.

 

[Bubble Walrus]

BOTW is the best for me, now. All the other games had a representation of a world, with your imagination filling in the gaps. With Breath of the Wild, the whole world is right there, to explore. It's incredible.

 

[DylanEno]

Top 5 looks about right. Everything after that.... eh.

(I wouldn't put OoT above any but maybe TP in the top 5 tho - I'm approaching it from a "in no particular order" mindset)

 

[komorebi]

The three best at the top. As it should be.

 

[HF2014]

The Adventure of Link got robbed!

 

[geordiemp]

Remember getting bored with the crap combat in Twilight princess and stopped after about 6-7 hours and went back to excite truck...

Note to self - ignore the pro Zelda reviewers and their rose tinted specs.

As soon as a reviewer gushes over a prior zelda...just ignore,

 

[SunBroDave]

Wind Waker so overrated.

.

Neither Wind Waker nor Skyward Sword have any business being that high.

 

[phanphare]

More importantly, what is Phantom Hourglass doing with a 90 metascore?

it had a novel control scheme that was executed well and played to the strengths of the system it was on, same with skyward sword

I haven't played Breath Of The Wild (and probably won't) but I would rate the Zelda games that I have played like this:

1) Majora's Mask
2) Wind Waker

I love Majora's Mask and Wind Waker so much. I'll forever have really good memories of those two.

mate, play Breath of the Wild. it takes aspects of your favorite two Zelda games and majorly expands upon them.

 

[Redd]

Twilight Princess should be lower and ALttP should be at least at 3 imo.

 

[Velcro Fly]

LttP GBA getting a higher score than the SNES version

 

[sphinx]

I don't know, I think those two should be higher.

Indeed, such bullshit.

reviews are probably for virtual console or some later platform, otherwise I can't understand grading LoZ (NES) anything under than 9.5/10

I will say it, Zelda 1 in 1986 deserves more perfect scores than OOT in 1998 or BOTW in 2017.

 

[iMax]

I don't know, I think those two should be higher.

This was back in the day when 8 was a exceptional score.

 

[Acquiescence]

The last Zelda game I played was Twilight Princess, and no way in hell was that a 95. The only thing that got me through it to the end was Midna.

 

[DylanEno]

.

Neither Wind Waker nor Skyward Sword have any business being that high.

You can shit on SS all you want but don't you fucking dare group WW in with that trash

 

[GoldCrusader]

Top 5 is right, but I would rank them in an another order. Majora and WW would be higher and OoT would be lower.

 

[Übermatik]

This list tells me Zelda games are overscored.

The top five aren't.

 

[flintstryker]

Windwaker should be the lowest of the 3d Zeldas

 

[elrechazado]

So much proof in one OP of that Zelda inflation.

 

[geordiemp]

The last Zelda game I played was Twilight Princess, and no way in hell was that a 95. The only thing that got me through it to the end was Midna.

Well done, I got about 6 hours in and bored to hell.

You cant really trust allot of critics IMO, 7/10 with 3 points for being critics darling

 

[nubbe]

LoZ is exactly for its time what BotW is now
I get the same feeling now playing BotW like I had then when I was 7 years old playing LoZ

 

[SunBroDave]

The last Zelda game I played was Twilight Princess, and no way in hell was that a 95. The only thing that got me through it to the end was Midna.

When did you play it? Because back in 2005/2006 it was pretty ambitious for the time.

 

[GiantBreadbug]

This list tells me Zelda games are overscored.

Great job you did it you solved the conspiracy to give high scores to fun games

So much proof in one OP of that Zelda inflation.

So much proof in this first page of people who can't tell reality from their confirmation bias

 

[RexNovis]

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are by far the most criminally under appreciated LoZ games ever. They are second only to the original and OoT in their brilliance. More people shoukd play them.

 

[RichiRamjag]

.

Neither Wind Waker nor Skyward Sword have any business being that high.

Skyward sword is one of the best zelda games for many of us. I adore it.

 

[mindatlarge]

BOTW is the best for me, now. All the other games had a representation of a world, with your imagination filling in the gaps. With Breath of the Wild, the whole world is right there, to explore. It's incredible.

This aspect will spoil us when playing other games, that's the only downfall to playing this amazing game.

 

[transience]

There's absolutely no way that Zelda 1 would get below, say, a 93 at the time of its release. That game was a massive step forward at the time. That must be a VC rerelease or something.

 

[LordKano]

Wind Waker should have 10 more points or something like that.

 

[BassForever]

ALBW is too high but other then that the list is fairly accurate to how I'd rate them

 

[Strangelove77]

Twilight Princess is one of the most boring and tedious games I've ever played. I can only assume it's one of those "it gets better after 6-7 hours" games.

 

[SunBroDave]

You can shit on SS all you want but don't you fucking dare group WW in with that trash

WW has the worst dungeons of any major 3D Zelda, a barren overworld, and SO much padding between THAT triforce quest and the boss rush at the end.

The art's pretty though and the story has some good moments. Is that all it takes to be a 96 on Metacritic? (Edit: Looking at the scores for Bioshock Infinite, yes, I guess that is basically enough lol)

 

[Nightengale]

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are by far the most criminally under appreciated LoZ games ever. They are second only to the original and OoT in their brilliance. More people shoukd play them.

Agreed. I love em so much, and it was a shock when discussing with the Zelda community that they're not really all that loved,

 

[janoDX]

This aspect will spoil us when playing other games, that's the only downfall to playing this amazing game.

I can't see myself playing another open world game after this one. Maybe MGSV again and FFXV but because those two open worlds are also well done.

But BOTW does this to perfection.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Wand of Gamelon gets no love.

 

[phanphare]

BOTW is the best for me, now. All the other games had a representation of a world, with your imagination filling in the gaps. With Breath of the Wild, the whole world is right there, to explore. It's incredible.

yeah I agree with this. Breath of the Wild is the actual representation of the game you felt like you were playing in your head with stuff like OoT etc.

I also love how Breath of the Wild makes all the other Zelda games seem like representations of a legend from long ago being recounted whereas Breath of the Wild feels like the actual world, if that makes sense.

 

[GregLombardi]

At its time of release Zelda 1 was a 100 no question.