Well I didn't see a thread for this, but then again I didn't really look that hard. So far 3 Zelda games have made the Top 100! YAY
Top 100 Games -IGN
Currently we have:
Ocarina of Time - 4 :'(
Why It Made Our Top 100 ListFew games make it to the top of every best-of list. And only a few deserve it more than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.Nobody knew what the hell an ocarina was before 1998, but valiant and musically inclined Link got a lot of mileage out of that little clay flute. It opened doors, shifted blocks, summoned horses, fairies and scarecrows, changed the weather, turned night into day and broke the time/space continuum. It carried a nice tune, too.
Link's latest rescue mission stacked more challenges in one dungeon than most games had in total, and looked better doing it. That would've been enough, but Ocarina broke ground with context-sensitive buttons and target lock-on features, innovations we take for granted today. Ingenious puzzles made you timeshift between teen and pre-teen Links to use new skills in the past, or plant seeds you'd reap in the future. Ocarina of Time never ran out of coolness, not only bringing Nintendo's other franchise into 3D, but brilliantly expanding the concepts Mario 64 pioneered.
This was adventuring made epic... and timeless.
A Link to the Past - 8
Why It Made Our Top 100 ListWhy it made the list: After the experimental Zelda II, Nintendo brought the series back to its top-down roots for its 16-bit premiere. But from the very moment Link stepped out into the pouring rain at the start of his quest, we knew this was a whole new experience.A Link to the Past took its pointy-eared protagonist on a quest across not one, but two beautifully realized worlds, all detailed with art that is still the envy of pixel-pushers to this day. More importantly, these locales were as great to play as they were to look at, with brilliant level design and the perfect blend of action and puzzles that made every area feel important.
In many ways it was A Link to the Past that brought the Zelda series to maturity. While it would still see many future innovations as it made the leap to 3D, they all owe something to his SNES adventure and its perfectly realized vision.
Majora's Mask - 31
Why It Made Our Top 100 ListZelda's swan song on the Nintendo 64 and the follow up to Ocarina of Time is undoubtedly the oddball of the series. The staple gameplay elements remain -- dungeon puzzles, diverse environments and monstrous boss fights -- but all the while a very unhappy Moon looms above, threatening Termina with an inescapable apocalypse.
With only 72 in-game hours swiftly ticking away, the inhabitants of Clocktown make their final preparations for the impending doom, and you relive it, over and over again. Majora's Mask is not the straightforward fantasy experience the series is known for; it's a surreal and strikingly dark departure that strives to offer something new. Learning the townspeople's daily routines is just as essential as exploration, and the whole game is built with four dimensions in mind. The result is a masterpiece of puzzle solving that only the greatest minds in gaming could have come up with. Most of what's different in Majora's Mask makes the game better, and that is why it's one of the best games we've ever played.
The Legend of Zelda - 42
"Risky" doesn't often leap to mind when The Legend of Zelda is your topic, but back in 1986 it made Nintendo executives really nervous. Even Shigeru Miyamoto couldn't honestly say if he'd leapt forward or built the perfect bomb. Videogames were supposed to be straightforward, no conscious thought required, but Zelda made you figure things out for yourself... where to go, what to do, when to do it.
The kingdom of Hyrule was gaming's first sandbox environment, and to Nintendo's great relief, gamers embraced that unfamiliar level of freedom...with a vengeance.
Young Link's non-linear quest to recover the shattered Triforce and rescue his princess from Mr. King of Evil encouraged you to explore the landscape, quiz locals for clues to hidden dungeons, solve riddles and puzzles, wipe out monsterkind for kicks and maintain a whole inventory of weapons and items. And that rocked. Videogames -- and people who played them -- were ready for something more complex. The Legend of Zelda gave it to them. That legacy's driven the industry ever since.
Link's Awakening - 78
Why It Made Our Top 100 ListThe fourth game in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening brought Hyrule's greatest hero to the Game Boy for a portable adventure that not only emulated the series' elements, but expanded upon them.
In addition to actually being somewhat harder at times than other Zelda games, Link's Awakening was the first top-view Zelda game to feature jumping and platforming, and it made full use of them. It's also the first Zelda game to feature fishing, a favorite mini-game of the series and the first to allow players to assign different items to the buttons and actually opt not to use the sword.
What makes the game truly remarkable is that it holds up to its 16-bit prequel, A Link to the Past, and even manages to surpass it in certain respects. While handheld spin-offs are generally considered the low point for game franchises, Link's Awakening proves that they can offer just as rich a gameplay experience.
I figure since it has some Zelda games in it this thread can stay open. :D And we can talk about the other games in the top 100 also, since that is what this thread is for.
PS. Get on that MM announcement!
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