The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time vs Metroid Prime vs Super Mario Galaxy

Metroid Prime.

Ocarina is whatever, and while Galaxy is terrific it's way too much of a push over. Prime is GOAT tier.

Completely different genres.

You sexy bastard. Good question. I've thought of this before. And it's BLOODY hard to come to a conclusion.

The safe answer is Ocarina. Defined 3D gaming, "best game evar", etc. Plus, it's goddam Zelda! I feel it has aged very well, there are games to this very day that do their combat worse than the Z targeting, sword n' shield combat of Ocarina, but I could be wrong, new gamers might find it aged badly.

Meanwhile Metroid Prime was fiercely unexpected, just about perfect and hasn't aged a bit, graphics and gameplay both top tier still, I'm confident of that. Even Retro never surpassed their original. This made the Gamecube a serious system to take note of, at least for me.

Galaxy is wonderful but a bit held back by it's SD graphics, forced motion segments, and easy difficulty (no, those "Mario's Purple Coins" levels were NOT hard). Still utterly fantastic, but not QUITE at the peak of the other 2.

Hmmm. Heart says Ocarina, head says Prime. Now I want to play all 3 again. Thanks :P

Ocarina is a mediocre game, haven't played Metroid Prime outside of a few Wii pointing hours, Galaxy is what every game should aim to be.

Galaxy.

Prime is in another league.

Metroid Prime for me :)

I adore OOT, but Prime is just more my thing wit its sci-fi setting. Never played Galaxy.

I was never all that in to Ocarina of time

Metroid Prime is fantastic in almost every way

Super Mario Galaxy was butchered by its more inventive and better designed sequel

Read the OP

Haha, thanks.

Personally, I agree, this is hard question, but I have given it a lot of thought, and I think the answer is very plain.

3) Ocarina of Time may have been pioneering, and it may hold up well, but being the blueprint for every single 3D adventure game going forward means that it has been infinitely improved upon, mechanically and from a design perspective. This is not to say that Ocarina of Time is no longer good, because it is, but it's also the most 'loosely' designed of these three, lacking the tight design and sheer creativity that the other two exhibit.

2) Super Mario Galaxy is a masterpiece of game design, but it does have some problems that hold it back a little- the motion controls aren't obstrusive, but annoying, and the game is far too easy right until the end, with the Special Star challenges (or Purple Coins, Green Coins, whatever they called them in this game- you know what I mean).

1) Metroid Prime is flat out a work of art. In every possible way, it is a game that has never been outdone. Let's consider:

• Graphically, it still looks stunning
• The level and world design are top notch, outdone only by Echoes, which perhaps got too complex for its own good at times
• Mechanically, Prime is unrivaled
• The soundtrack is amazing
• The atmosphere and ambiance is incredible
• Metroid Prime is also a masterpiece of storytelling- it has a grim, dark story to tell, and how it tells the story is integrated into how the game itself plays. If there was ever a Citizen Kane of gaming, Metroid Prime would come closest

Really, I don't remember much that was wrong with Prime to begin with- maybe there was backtracking at the end? It's been a very long time, so I am forgetting. But that game is a masterpiece, and I think it wins out this, or mostly any other, contest.

Zelda for legacy and Galaxy for everything else.

Metroid Prime > SMG > OOT.

I guess I'll answer these questions:

• Which game had the best graphics of the three in context of the time of its release? Metroid Prime
• Which has the best artstyle? Super Mario Galaxy
• Which has the best mechanics? Super Mario Galaxy
• Which has the best level design? Metroid Prime
• Which has the best soundtrack? Metroid Prime
• Which has the most replayability? Metroid Prime (I beat it multiple times)
• Which has the best legacy? Ocarina of Time

Oh and Metroid Prime easily has the best atmosphere of the three. It also has the best boss fights.

@charizard1605:

"it [Ocarina] has been infinitely improved upon, mechanically and from a design perspective." - You say that, but there are almost no games that attempt to do what it does, and they don't come close to surpassing it. Darksiders, as a game that takes obvious inspiration from Zelda, or Elder Scrolls games, which have fantasy worlds with dungeons, or the Fable series, with it's superficial resemblance to Zelda's world and combat, are all good games, but I don't think any of them comes within 1000 miles of the Forest or Water temples of Ocarina. In terms of "large scale fantasy adventure", there are of course RPGs that are much bigger and complex, but action adventure games? I can't think of many (or any, to be honest) except other Zelda games and Okami.

I don't think it's nostalgia, I can genuinely play Ocarina today and see world, level and puzzle design, not to mention atmosphere and polish, that 2015 games haven't reached.

(We broadly agree on Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime, so that's cool :P)

(I would also put forward Bioshcok and Portal as equally amazing in gameplay and story, in the "Citizen Kane" contest. Yeah yeah I know, SW hates Bioshock, whatever...)

Mario 64 is considered the best game on the console.

Sure, but I would say Ocarina's own sequels did Ocarina better, at least from a mechanical and design standpoint (let's pretend Skyward Sword does not exist). Plus, again, remember, Ocarina of Time is the proto-3D game- largely every single 3D adventure or 3D action game draws from it, and nearly 20 years of that iteration have made it so that nothing in Ocarina is as special now as it was back in 1998. It's only a very good game now, instead of being a very special one, and as far as its design goes, it is far worse designed than either Galaxy or Prime, which are the two games we are comparing it to!

I would definitely agree with Portal. Bioshock, eh, not so sure. I would put Souls there instead :)

Metroid Prime>Galaxy>OoT

OoT has the strongest nostalgia factor.
Galaxy was the most creative of the bunch, and I actually died in that one (didnt get any game overs though)
Metroid Prime was the most well executed of the bunch, and GOAT material along with X-COM: UFO Defense

All 3 are some of the best games ever made though.

When you compare a Hanzo sword... you compare it to every other sword in the world NOT made by Hatori Hanzo.

This is my favorite SW topic/poll in a long time!

• Which game had the best graphics of the three in context of the time of its release? I wasn't into video games/old enough to understand Prime or OOT when they came out, but I'd probably go with Prime
• Which has the best artstyle? Prime
• Which has the best mechanics? OOT
• Which has the best level design? Galaxy
• Which has the best soundtrack? OOT
• Which has the most replaybility? Prime
• Which has the best legacy? OOT

I agree Zelda's own series did improve on Ocarina, but that's like 0.00001% of games since Ocarina came out. You are acting like most (or at least many) games have bettered it. I struggle to think of them.

Every 3D action/adventure game since has of course a debt to Ocarina, and may do mechanics stuff like movement or combat or whatever better, but how many have a Forest or Water temple equivalent? How many are as polished, or have such a range of atmosphere, from the childlike whimsy of Kokiri Forest to the terror of the Redeads to the peaceful bustle of Castle Town? I must dispute the "not special" charge. The world, level/dungeon design and puzzles of Ocarina are still far beyond just about every other game I've played. Only the very best modern games like Souls, Portal and Arkham Asylum can give me that "Ocarina Feeling". Do the random modern day action adventure games have equivalents of the Water and Forest temples? The genius of warping between child and adult? I respectfully submit sir, that they DO NOT, and that a brand new gamer would prefer Ocarina to most modern action adventure games :P

MP has forced lock-on shooting and Ocarina has average combat. So Galaxy wins.

The water temple sucks

Sure it does. On...

@locopatho said:

@jg4xchamp said:

@locopatho said:

but how many have a Forest or Water temple equivalent?

The water temple sucks

Sure it does. On...

He right doe. Water Temple is a bullshit slog.

@drinkerofjuice: If you can't/don't figure it out and just brute force it by trying everything and anything until SOMETHING works, it's horribly dull. I watched a friend do that. If you actually figure it out, it's challenging and incredibly satisfying to complete.

It's an easy ass group of puzzles, it is a slog to play. It's not dull because it's hard, I play harder puzzle games, it's boring, because it's a tedious exchange.

And when we were kids it was its worst when we had to go menu hopping all day from switching from the boots to no boots to boots to no boots. The 3ds version fixed that part, but not the part where the puzzles are a pushover. Which in 3d Zelda, they've always been a pushover.

People need to stop using the word defining without looking up the word.

For this thread the answer is prime. Also pretty sure Prime isn't consensual considered the best game nintendo put out in the GC era but ok.

Yeah I wouldn't say that. It was much more annoying than it was challenging. The puzzles thrown at you were no more difficult than what you get in the temples you enter before or afterwards. But because you constantly had to alternate between regular and iron boots in the N64 version, it made the majority of the temple feel like a chore to get though. A lot of the satisfaction I felt was me being glad that shit was finally over instead of any kind of triumph.

Super Mario Galaxy > Metroid Prime > Ocarina of time

@jg4xchamp:Fair enough. It's not easy for me (and I would suggest, most gamers, judging by it's general rep), it's a headwrecker and I love the rush of figuring it out. I genuinely forgot the swapping Iron Boots part, no question that's shitty.

@drinkerofjuice: Again, fair enough, to me it was a mammoth challenge and made my brain hurt more than any game before, and most since.

@TigerSuperman: "Defining: state or describe exactly the nature, scope, or meaning of." - Ocarina did an excellent job of describing the nature of 3D games ;)

The puzzles aren't that difficult, lol. And jgx and drinker are both correct, it's a slog and a shitty dungeon in general.

@ultimateimp: They are (were, since I remember the solution now) very tough for me, and I ADORE that dungeon, so you can eat my ass ;)

Man- Fire and Water Temple weren't even the best temples in the game. Shadow Temple, Spirit Temple, and Gerudo Valley were the best areas in Ocarina. And honestly, while those areas hint at some of Nintnedo's level design brilliance, on the whole, nothing in the game is exceptionally designed, certainly not as well designed as it was in games that came before and after Ocarina (within the series, I mean). Is Ocarina still a better designed game than most games released today? Yes, but I think that has more to do with other developers not being anywhere close to Nintendo as far as level design and mastery over mechanics goes, rather than Ocarina being anything particularly special in that regard.

@charizard1605: Good thing I didn't mention Fire, but Forest:P And really, I'd say 3/4 of the dungeons are interchangeably awesome anyway.

"Is Ocarina still a better designed game than most games released today? Yes"

"It's only a very good game now, instead of being a very special one,"

These two statements confuse me. It's better than most games today, but still not special? (With great politeness) I don't understand. (With seething rage) WHY YOU TALK SHIT!? :P

Edit: Also, Shadow Temple sucked, just a rehash of the Well, the Hover Boots are shit (worst item in the game) and the boss? Bongo Bongo? A pair of fucking hands? Ugh :P

Forest Temple actually is pretty cool, yeah. One of the better areas in that game.

Anyway, a game can be better designed than most games today, but not special. For instance, let's consider Pikmin 3. Exemplary design, nothing special. New Super Mario Bros. U is very well designed, but it is nothing special. Shadow of Mordor? Well designed, great playing game. Nothing special.

The 'specialness' can come from more than just the core design :p

Metroid Prime, like that's not even a contest.

prime, zelda, smg. Mario is just too simplistic.

@charizard1605: That seems crazy contradictory.

"This game has great design and is terrific fun!"

"So, a pretty special game?"

"NO! BOG STANDARD MEDIOCRITY!"

"Specialness" is an amalgamation of shittons of stuff sure, Ocarina retains it's sense tho.

Hey, when someone (apart from other Zelda games + maybe Okami) surpasses Ocarina, it'll be a glorious day, a day when the tyranny of Zelda over Metacritc ends. But the day IS NOT YET HERE!!! TODAY WE FIGHT! (Sorry, turned into Aragorn briefly)

That's an interesting question you ask- does any non Zelda game outdo Ocarina of Time?

In my opinion, later Elder Scrolls games and Witcher 3 easily do. Also, not being special is not being mediocre :p It's just, being what you are. A good, maybe great, game, nothing that stands out is all.

Metroid Prime i'd say. Love Galaxy 2 mind you, but it's not fucking with Prime.

OOT has aged very poorly. And has a huge amount of nostalgia surrounding it. Galaxy isn't even the best super Mario galaxy game. Prime wins by default.

@charizard1605: I love Elder Scrolls games but they beat Ocarina in areas it doesn't (or couldn't) compete. Like, scale, amount and variety of quests, character growth, freedom, non linearity, looting, stealth and magic systems, graphics, orchestra music, etc. Stuff like dungeons, level design, puzzles (a major one), even the melee combat and horse riding is less stiff and more enjoyable in Ocarina. Hell, even the basic ass plot of Ocarina is more interesting and better executed than Elder Scrolls main stories. Again, I love the ES games :P

Skyrim maybe a better fantasy adventure but wherever it goes toe to toe with Ocarina, it loses I think. That's basically my point: there are better games than Ocarina since, but nothing that's really outdone it's specific formula (except opther Zelda + maybe Okami). If you want that particular brand of fantasy adventure, Ocarina remains one of the top couple of games in existence.

It'd be freaking awesome if it COULD be surpassed. I adore the formula, I had hoped Dark Cloud (Sony) and Fable (MS) would be Zelda type series but neither are.

Wouldn't you say Witcher does it? Better plot, better combat, better world design, better horse riding... I guess Ocarina still wins in terms of soundtrack and individual level design, though.

Ocarina is structured so well. It plays through like a well edited film.

It could very well, need to play it yet!

Oh man, you haven't played Witcher 3 yet???

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has the most greatest metacritics in the entire world. According to professional critics who have read books and went to a college, it's the the most goodest the world has ever witnessed.

Yup, work + social stuff are busy at the moment so I'm mostly playing short actiony/platformy stuff when I get time. I have a long weekend at the start of August with nothing planned, so I think I'll crack into it then :)

@locopatho: Man, are you in for a treat :D

I give 5/7 to Ocarina of Time. Oh, and Prime doesn't belong in the conversation.

I don't really know and I don't really care which game is more a work of art than the other; they've all pushed vidjya games forward in their own ways. But I'd rather replay Super Mario Galaxy than Prime or Ocarina of Time, I'll tell you that much. Super Mario Galaxy 2 even moreso (replace SMG1 with SMG2 pls).

Eat your ass? No, I will suck the fart out of it.