Out of all the Legend of Zelda main games, do you feel they have improve or went downhill?

I have played just about all the Zelda games in my life time, but never play the very first Zelda game on NES and Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was my first ever Zelda game on SNES. Anyhow, Anyone else feel that each Nintendo console Zelda game gets a little better or worse? This is my opinion and I feel as if the series somewhat died after playing Skyward Sword but Breath of the Wild was a huge improvement but not that big of a jump in my opinion for me that is.

• A Link to the Past 10/10
• Ocarina of Time 9/10
• Majora's Mask 8/10
• Wind Waker 8/10
• Twilight Princess 8/10
• Skyward Sword 5/10
• Breath of the Wild 7/10

As you can see, here's my ratings and after playing Breath of the Wild, it isn't too bad though I hate the divine beasts. Hopefully the next Zelda game puts back normal dungeons. And so with that, do you feel Zelda is improving or going downhill?

@davillain-: My ranking of best to worst:

• A Link to the Past
• Breath of the Wild
• Majora's Mask
• Ocarina of Time
• Minishcap (I know you said main ones, but I really like this one)
• Wind Waker
• Legend of Zelda (NES)
• Twilight Princess (Only played 5 or so hours of it)
• Skyward Sword (Never played, just watched my wife play a few times)

I actually liked the divine beasts because they were short. I prefer the overworld in Zelda games. I never really liked the dungeons in any of the games.

I guess it is like if you are a window person or an aisle person on Airplanes. For Zelda games I am an overworld person.

Haven't played them all but Breath of the Wild after two playthroughs just doesn't have the charm of the much beloved Ocarina of Time.

I wish they'd port the 3DS remake to Switch. Because cooking and breaking weapons isn't fun in the world of Zelda. I realise people would defend BotW for climbing on almost anything but I already played this game called Dragon's Dogma in 2012 and that let me climb almost anything also.

My rankings would probably go something like Majoras Mask > Breath of the Wild > Wind Waker > Ocarina of Time > Oracle games > Skyward Sword > Link's Awakening > Link to the Past > Twilight Princess > the others. Twilight Princess I'd put around the 7-8 mark.

I've never had a great love of LttP. For me, it always felt far less polished and less precise than the other 2D titles, and I honestly struggle to remember any dungeons or bosses from it.

Downhill from the great Wind Waker...

Twilight Princess was lame and drab, Skyward Sword was a disaster. BotW has no genuine zelda in it left...

generally improved. they dont tend to have the same impact as they once had upon release perhaps (BOTW aside) but the games have gotten better. i mean i played OOT after wind waker so when i played it the game felt very rough. i could see why it was held in such high regard but WW was smoother, nicer to play, more refined and has aged much better.

TP was nintendo giving their audience what they asked for. still a dam fine game but....yeah. thats what happens when nintendo listen to the public. mopey zelda. hell of a reception at E3 though.

I cant really judge SS. i have it. what i played i liked. but every time i sit down to play it i get distracted by something else.

BOTW is an absolutely wonderful game and the absolute kick in the backside the franchise needed. its a brand new structure for the series and one that gives nintendo loads of room to play in for future games. this is a very very good thing. the old structure was very tired. im not saying the old structure should be completely scrapped mind but switching between them, picking and choosing elements from them and so on is an option for future games and should lead to far more interesting installments. BOTW was only scratching the surface of this new approach and it was already an amazing first run of it. long may it continue.

I would say that they have generally improved overall from game to game however having said that it doesn’t necessarily mean that it coincides with which ones that I consider to be my favourites. My list of favourite Zelda games, just sticking with console games, are:

1. A Link to the Past

2. Breath of the Wild

3. Twilight Princess

4. Ocarina of Time

5. Windwaker

6. Skyward Sword

7. The Legend of Zelda

8. Majora’s Mask

9. The Legend of Zelda II

@davillain-: Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I think Breath of the Wild may just be the greatest Legend of Zelda game of all time.

There are not so great aspects to it, but nothing "bad" that I can think of, really.

Breath of the Wild is indeed a great Zelda game, no doubt. Divine Beasts I didn't like about and I guess I'm old school to the Dungeons. Personal opinion, I think it is fantastic. One of my top 5 of all time. And I still enjoy playing Ocarina of Time.

Not bad, that's a solid ratings.

1. Ocarina of time / Majoras mask are the best ones

2. Wind Waker is cute but I cant take toon Link seriously

3. A Link to the Past is fine but whatever

4. Twilight Princess is fine but whatever

5. Skyward Sword is absolutely terrible

6. Breath of the Wild is pretty good but the Divine Beast/dungeon designs are all weak

7. The classics are the classics but I dont care about them at all

Those are my Hot takes

Wind waker the worse of the recent ones botw the best ocarina was the pinnacle of the older ones.

I did not care for the Zelda franchise prior to Ocarina of Time and I still don't. 2D Zelda just doesn't appeal to me.

Ocarina of Time was the first Zelda game that I really got into and I still consider it to be the best Zelda game of all time and one of the greatest games of all time.

Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess were decent, but they all had things about them that I really did not like and kept me from loving them like I love Ocarina of Time.

Skyward Sword was garbage and I had considered the Zelda franchise to be dead to me after this one. I almost did not even give Breath of the Wild a chance because of how down I was on the Zelda franchise after Skyward Sword.

Breath of the Wild is the only other Zelda game besides Ocarina of Time that I love, but overall I still think that Ocarina of Time is the best.

I came to say basically this. Each new game generally refines and improves upon the last one, but doesn't feel as special because you've done most of it before. People have a wide range of criticisms about Skyward Sword, but it really wasn't that different from Ocarina of Time. If SS had come first, I think opinions would be reversed.

Personally, I think all the Zeldas are great. They got formulaic for a while, but it is a formula that I love.

Generally speaking the quality of the series has declined, though that's not to say each successive entry is worse than the last. The original and A Link to the Past are the best ones and Skyward Sword is the worst.

Despite Skyward Sword's bland overworld and that annoying collection bit in the forest...that game had some of the best dungeons, set pieces, and boss fights of the entire series.

I know lots of people just hop on the bandwagon and call it terrible, but I think it's still quite a lot better than the blandness of Twilight Princess (and others).