Topic: NWR's Top 10 Zelda Games: A Link Between Games

[Retro Deckades]

A Link to the Past > Ocarina of Time

[UncleBob]

ITT: "Why doesn't everyone agree with my opinions on Zelda!?!"

Also: Link's Awakening is #1, #2 and #3 of the all-time best games ever list.  Period.  Anyone who disagrees is stupid.

[NWR_Neal]

I'll put together some sort of "Inside the Numbers" post on the site or in the forums after we put up #2/#1. I will say that #2 and #1 were the clear favorites as the staff votes came in and were neck and neck throughout.

Link to the Past was a clear #3, but I think the one that hurt it, at least in our staff voting, is that it would be consistently #3/4 on people's lists, but wasn't at the top as consistently as the games above it. By comparison, out of our 23 voters, LTTP appeared as #1 3 times, but our top 2 combined for 12 first place votes.

For #4-#6, it was very even throughout the voting, though a little bit of late love for Link's Awakening made the difference greater. Majora's and Skyward would flip-flop with pretty much every list I got from staffers.

And for the record, one trolling staffer voted for Shadow of the Colossus.

[Khushrenada]

And for the record, one trolling staffer voted for Shadow of the Colossus.

Promote this person!

[Leo13]

Can someone explain to me why everyone claims to love Link's awakening? I couldn't even finish that game I was bored, although I did love stealing stuff from the shop.
I know it's already been said on here that anyone that doesn't love Link's awakening is stupid so I guess I'm stupid hopefully someone can educate me so that I won't remain stupid.

[NWR_Neal]

#2 and #1 are up. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/35521


Bug J.P. to get the forum voting ready.

[Khushrenada]

Ha ha. I knew there was a reason I liked NWR. Wind Waker #1. I honestly didn't expect that to happen but I concur wholeheartedly. Easily my favorite Zelda also. Another reason why Gamecube was so awesome.

In fact, I'm feeling so nostalgic about it right now, I think I'll pop it in tonight on my cube and do another round of sailing across the ocean. I'll take exploration and finding secrets over dungeon crawling in my Zelda design everytime.

[NWR_insanolord]

I put this in the article, and I'll post it here as well. If you disagree with our list, head on over to the Console Discussion section of our forums and place your vote in our NWR Readers' Zelda Top 10 list.

[daverhodus]

ALTTP is #1 for me.

[Chad Sexington]

I would have switched #2 and #3 for my top three.


Wind Waker is amazing.

[Adrock]

Can someone explain to me why everyone claims to love Link's awakening?

How do you explain this to someone who doesn't like it? It basically breaks down to some people enjoy things that other people don't. All the reasons why you dislike Link's Awakening, everyone who likes the game probably feels the opposite. I won't tell you that you're wrong or stupid for thinking it's boring (though I'm sure there's a relevant Liz Lemon gif for how I feel). I didn't enjoy Skyward Sword overall, but I can imagine why people liked it, except the part where Link has to collect the Song of the Hero. I detested that part and I don't think I've read anyone say they genuinely enjoyed it, rather they didn't hate it. There are a few things that I'd chalk up to "not for me" (e.g. motion control sword fighting, playing the harp, the entirety of the Silent Realm) then a bunch of varying annoyances (e.g. terrible story, cliche characters, everything about Fi).

To me, Link's Awakening has the single best music track in the series. It's surreal story fits the game's atmosphere and I'm thoroughly impressed by the scope of the game considering the hardware limitations. Fitting A Link to the Past's basic gameplay onto the Gameboy is nothing short of a miracle to me. If you don't and/or can't feel the same way, it's all good.

[Fiendlord_Timmay]

The Zelda cycle is strong with this thread.

[Retro Deckades]

Adrock brings up an interesting point in the final paragraph of his last post. While I share his opinions on the game itself, Link's Awakening was truly an amazing game when it was originally released because it was not only a friggin' portable Zelda, but it was a huge, enormously ambitious Zelda that rivaled its SNES counterpart in everything except graphics. It was an amazing thing at the time that will never be replicated, so those Zelda fans who weren't around for it simply won't have that same appreciation for the game.

[Chad Sexington]

1) Wind Waker
2) A Link to the Past
3) Ocarina of Time
4) Adventures of Link
5) Link's Awakening

[Pixelated Pixies]

Adrock brings up an interesting point in the final paragraph of his last post. While I share his opinions on the game itself, Link's Awakening was truly an amazing game when it was originally released because it was not only a friggin' portable Zelda, but it was a huge, enormously ambitious Zelda that rivaled its SNES counterpart in everything except graphics. It was an amazing thing at the time that will never be replicated, so those Zelda fans who weren't around for it simply won't have that same appreciation for the game.

I only played Link's Awakening for the first time when it was released on 3DS eShop and I absolutely fell in love with it. I guess you could argue that because I never played it when it was originally released I'll never truly understand what it felt like to play it on a Gameboy, to be blown away by the technical achievement of having a game of that scope on a handheld; on the other hand I do think that the game stands on it's own merits and could be just as enjoyable today as it was back then. It certainly helps that I'm already inclined towards deriving pleasure from classic games, but I really do think Link's Awakening has stood the test of time.

[NWR_insanolord]

Just to further confuse things, despite the similarities, LTTP wasn't on my list but Link's Awakening was #2. That's probably directly related to the contexts in which I played them, though.

[Luigi Dude]

Just to further confuse things, despite the similarities, LTTP wasn't on my list but Link's Awakening was #2. That's probably directly related to the contexts in which I played them, though.

Well if you like puzzles it's not that confusing.  Link's Awakening has a much greater emphasis on puzzles and had much more creative ones as well.  Link's Awakening is when they decided to start creating bigger and more complex puzzles that the dungeons would be designed around while Link to the Past on the other hand has much simpler ones.

So if you're someone who really enjoys the puzzles in Zelda, then I can see why you'd enjoy Link's Awakening more then Link to the Past.

[Retro Deckades]

Adrock brings up an interesting point in the final paragraph of his last post. While I share his opinions on the game itself, Link's Awakening was truly an amazing game when it was originally released because it was not only a friggin' portable Zelda, but it was a huge, enormously ambitious Zelda that rivaled its SNES counterpart in everything except graphics. It was an amazing thing at the time that will never be replicated, so those Zelda fans who weren't around for it simply won't have that same appreciation for the game.

I only played Link's Awakening for the first time when it was released on 3DS eShop and I absolutely fell in love with it. I guess you could argue that because I never played it when it was originally released I'll never truly understand what it felt like to play it on a Gameboy, to be blown away by the technical achievement of having a game of that scope on a handheld; on the other hand I do think that the game stands on it's own merits and could be just as enjoyable today as it was back then. It certainly helps that I'm already inclined towards deriving pleasure from classic games, but I really do think Link's Awakening has stood the test of time.

Very well put. There are many things about Link's Awakening that I feel warrant appreciation, not simply just the technical marvels it showcased when first released.I'd certainly agree that the game stands on its own merits, but I can understand if its not for everyone.