Let's do this: what is the best 3D Zelda game?

Eh, not really. To be clear, A Link to the Past is my all time favorite game, and this one channels it pretty perfectly.

As far as pure design goes, I prefer 2D Zelda to 3D Zelda.

I prefer 3D Zelda's to 2D, but love both. ALTTP and Oracles are the best 2D ones I think.

I have played OOT countless times and I even played it twice on the 3ds remake. No other Zelda game has had that impact on me, it just never gets old.

This is tough, but it's between Wind Waker and Skyward Sword. I'd say Skyward Sword was much better designed and had far better dungeons, combat, and bosses, (best combat and bosses of the entire series) but the story and world of Wind Waker are by far the best in any Zelda. I really can't decide.

Ocarina of Time.

2 so more years ago, OOT 3D make the water temple simple as cake. ( Like it should have in the n64) Perfect... Even had the master quest.

Wipe off the fog on those nostalgia goggles for Ocarina, same with Majora's Mask.

Best 3D is the Wind Waker

Best top down is A Link Between Worlds

Majora's Mask. It's the only one that I would argue that has been great on its own merits, and will probably continue to stay great. On a narrative level(yes a videogame story) it's surprisingly way better than it has any fucking business being. Going the darker tones that internet plebs want Zelda to go down, but with some actual grace to it. I mean it's not even an argument worth having that it's the best Zelda game in the narrative department. It frankly isn't even close between it and the other Zeldas sans maybe parts of Twilight Princess. The other zelda games are pure black n white Zelda drivel. The side quests are wonderful, the time limit/save slots frankly gave the game a sense of tension, urgency, and make the game more engaging for how efficient you need to be as a player. It offsets the fact that if you play enough puzzle games(especially from this gen) that Zelda dungeons are stupid people friendly. Also as much as some people don't like the punishment for failures, and how much that can force some retreading, I still think it's not as offensive in pacing as a Twilight Princess.

Which before Arbiter Grounds is an absolute chore at times. For not only those lame wolf fetch quests, but more because those opening dungeons are pretty typical Zelda dungeons. In fact it felt like a going through the motions Zelda. Skyward Sword is the worst paced Zelda game. Constantly getting in its own way with those lame motion controls that add very little to the game, those fetch quests which are universally boring, and as good as the dungeons are(excellent even), the combat even with the addition of motion controls were like who gives a **** territory? There is no real satisfaction to it, because there is no meaningful depth to that gameplay. It's a whole lot of wait, block, slice in the angle the game wants you to.

Ocarina has the most impact. Wind Waker is just solid. Pacing isn't too bad till the end, but the dungeons are by far the weakest in the series(one could argue MM in that department), and the boss fights suck. Universally. So yeah Majora's Mask. But that pick might be less that it's interesting, and more so that it's just the least Zelda, Zelda game. Because seriously **** Zelda.

OoT>MM>SS>TP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>dog shit>>>>>>>>>>>>CD-I games>>>>>>>>>>>>>>WW

Majora's Mask to me, and this is coming from someone that played Ocarina of Time first.

Here are my rankings.

1. Majora's Mask - Dark, meaningful, and fun in all its subversive strangeness.

2. Ocarina of Time - The landmark. Not much more needs to be said.

3. Wind Waker - Full of personality and charm. And questionable design decisions.

4. Skyward Sword - After the intro sequence, and until the 25-hour or so mark, the game is sheer bliss. Past 25 hours and its sheer torture.

5. Twilight Princess - Some good moments are offset by its awful art style and general desperate Ocarina-wannabe vibe.

I could type up a really long response here, but if I had to some things up:

-Twilight Princess is an amazing experience. I think gamers are thrown back by the slow start with the wolf. However, the world opens up tremendously and builds into a game of epic scope. The combat is solid, more polished than Ocarina, and the dungeons feel a lot like the 8/16bit series--the game starts to feel like A Link to The Past, artistically. The quest for the mastersword is one of the best moments ive had in a game in a very long time.

-Wind Waker is probably the most polished of the bunch. In ways I feel the combat is the best. I really like the countering/etc. The game is on the easy side, however.

-Ocarina, though a relic to some, STILL features some of the best structure/pacing in a game, ever. There's never a dull moment.

They are all great games. It is hard to choose one, objectively, because there are areas of each game which slightly out do the other.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the best.

Majora's Mask by a long shot.

Twilight Princess.

The only 3D Zelda I was able to get through to the end. Which happened twice.

Firstly, Naveed, I agree with what you said about Fi. Navi was, honestly, pretty tolerable once you get past the first dungeon. Granted, she didn't really have any sort of back story that made her more interesting, but still, I think she was more than tolerable. Tatl, King of Red Lions, and Midna all played terrific roles in the story of their games. Then, along came Fi. She'd tell you things that were already blatantly obvious ("Master, I calculate that hitting that switch has a 90% chance of opening the door") and when you actually needed help, (I did a few times) she wouldn't tell you anything useful. She was beyond frustrating, which is why I was legitimately happy to see her go.

My personal fav 2D zelda is Lnk's Awakening. There's something that's incredibly sad about it once you learn the truth of the island. But I also love Oracle of Ages and Seasons (Ages a bit more for me) and ALTTP is great too, although I think people tend to overblow its greatness. I can see why, back when it was first released, people thought it was the second coming of Jesus, but now, I'd say all it is is a very well designed game.

But, and I know I'm gonna get flak for this, I'd say Spirit Tracks is pretty high on my favorite Zelda list. Not in the top 5, but I enjoyed the game more than most. I personally didn't feel the train restricted exploration, and the game improved on every single flaw of Phantom Hourglass. Not enough side quests? ST fixed that by giving the player side quests out the ass and tons of unlockable portions of track. Awfully repetitive "central" dungeon? ST fixed that by opening up a new portion every time you visited, making every visit feel fresh. Not only that, but near the end of the game, the puzzle design got to be pretty tricky, especially in the last run on the tower of spirits.

If we are being completely objective and not giving extra consideration to the game's impact at the time of release, then I would say

1. Wind Waker

2. Skyward Sword

3. Majora's Mask

4. Ocarina of Time

5. Twilight Princess

I'll say Twilight Princess Wii (if they had Motion + incorporated at the time) but my main reason for saying TP is because I like Midna >>>> Zelda and I hope Midna is playable on Smash in both her forms

OoT- 10

MM- 9.7

WW- 9

TP- 7.9

SS- 6

Skyward sword

Ocarina

Windwaker

Twilight princess

Majoras mask

Ocarina

Majoras Mask

Twilight Princess

Skyward Sword

Wind Waker

But they are all incredible in their own right.

I think that Twilight Princess was the most polished and complete, but was also the least fresh.

Ocarina of Time remains the legendary experience that recent entries continue to echo

I liked Navi more than Tatl, personally, but I agree about the rest.

I am ashamed to say I have not beaten Link's Awakening. I got to the second to last dungeon I believe (Turtle Rock?) and I couldn't figure out how to beat it. I looked and looked and found no way to progress. This was years ago though and I have not tried since. In fact I think the game file got erased or corrupted. As for ALTTP, I still think it is an amazing game, but I am inclined to agree with you in that it isn't quite the masterpiece you may remember it to be. The art style is still my favorite among the 2D games. The game was revolutionary for it's time and is still very epic and awesome in most ways. It just lacks towns/quests/scope. When I was little, the game seemed so huge and like there was so much to do, but now I feel it is a bit shallow in that sense.

I have not played Spirit Tracks yet. I own it and have yet to play it. I know, as a self proclaimed Zelda fanatic, I feel awful I have not even given it a chance, I just had little interest in it between all the negative things I heard and the fact that I am sick of (despite enjoying PH) the art style and especially the touch screen controls.

Same here. Though to be fair, the only 3D Zeldas i've tried was Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

What's interesting about both is that they do a damn good job at being vague as hell sometimes regarding your immediate objective. That irritated me in Majora's Mask because of the time limit, and i put the game on hold indefinitely. I know the time limit is malleable, but it still manages to induce stress, and i don't like that. But, i may give it another go. There's just a lot of interesting stuff going on. It's crazy how open to interpretation the story of the game is, and i think i wanna have my own interpretation as well.

As for Ocarina of Time, the vagueness didn't bother me as much, because i could play and explore at my own pace. Unfortunately, i was bored out of my mind wile playing and trying to give it a solid chance. It irks me to use this cliche word, but for me the game is painfully generic, and that's obviously due to its age. There's no defining feature. There's nothing underneath it all, so there's nothing for me to dig in, so to speak. And the plot offers me zero motivation, because it's simple, predictable and bland, so that's out the window.

But what killed it for me was the slow ass pace thought this generic, bland world. Just little tidbits that add to the whole, like for example, climbing vines and ladders take a irritating amount of time due to how slow the animation is. The boredom of slowly going from dungeon A to dungeon B thought the almost empty world, devoid of anything interesting, so much so that Hyrule is basically like a black hole sucking every ounce of excitement out of me.

I don't think it's overrated or a bad game, the mechanics are still solid and easy as hell to grasp. But it's not for me.

A Link to the Past may be vague as well, doesn't have much of a plot, and arguably it's simplistic in comparison to other handheld 2D Zelda titles. But man, the pace is fast, relentless and never lets you go until you're done. Pure fun from start to finish, basically.

2D >>> 3D, up until now, for me.

I voted for Skyward Sword. I know I'm I'm in the minority for this and I can see why, but it's ny personal favorite. I won't deny it has a ton of flaws especially the terrible filler (collecting notes in the flooded woods was terrible) but I enjoyed the combat. The dungeons. The bosses. Demise was under developed as a character but you manage to learn how fundamental he is to the actual "legend" which brings to my main reason for choosing it. The lore is just amazing. It's pure Zelda fan service. Almost everything is explained. Master sword origins? Hyrule name origin? The reason for the apparent eternal reincarnations. As far as lore goes, whether people like the game or not, it cannot be denied that it cannot be beaten as far as lore goes. As a Zelda fan that was just amazing. It makes me wish for a Zelda game pre Skyward Sword that explains the battle between... Well the two people who started the legend.

@NaveedLife: I can see why that would turn you off. I personally loved the art and touch screen controls, and the fact that the game felt so complete made it amazing to me. What other negative things have you heard about it?

the touch screen controls make the game too easy. I love the features they added like drawing on the maps and such, but not the movement and combat controls. I heard the flute was awful and the train makes the game very linear and boring.

OOT>TP>WW>MM could not get into SS or the handheld ones for ds

Only Zelda Link Between Worlds and OOT are 3D on 3DS

So the rest dont count