The 4 Best Zelda Games to Play
The Legend of Zelda video game series is one of the most epic action-adventure series of all time. Ever since the late 1980s, adventure gaming fanatics like me have been working our fingers to the bone to gather the Triforce and save Princess Zelda from her evil captor in the latest installing of the series. And now while awaiting the 15th installment (not count spin-offs and remakes), I thought it would be fun to list my four all-time best Zelda games.
1. Ocarina of Time
This 1998 game was the fifth installment and was followed two years later by Majora’s Mask (more on that later). The setting was the fictional Hyrule Kingdom before the previous four titles. And it was the first Zelda game to go 3D which changed the world of gaming as we know it. There were tons of side-quest with great, great boss battles – especially with Shadow Link. The last boss battle with Gannon was one of the best ones to date, topped only by Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.
2. Majora’s Mask
It’s tough to follow a good act. But Majora’s Mask draws a pretty close second as the storyline sequel to Ocarina of Time. Sure, it’s darker but still totally unique. And the new play dynamic this time is transformations like the Bunny Hood, which doubles Link’s running speed. Plus, there’s fantastic pressure to complete the adventure with the 72-hour ticking countdown clock to the end of the world.
3. Twilight Princess
Twilight Princess beats Ocarina, in my opinion, but it took developer/publisher Nintendo nearly a decade to do it. TP is larger, it is darker and it is more difficult than Wind Waker. It is also much harder, harder to amass hearts and easier for enemies to inflict damage on Link. The only negative is a lack of voice acting and orchestrated music, but in all it’s lots of fun to play.
4. A Link to the Past
This collaboration was completely overseen by Shigeru Miyamoto. He reverted the view to the overhead view?Giving while adding new elements and innovations that would be become staples in later games like the Hookshot, the flute and the Pegasus Boots. A Link to the Past also introduced the existence of two parallel worlds between which you travel: the Light World (which is where Hyrule is) and the Dark World (which was the Sacred Realm until Ganon corrupted it with his acquisition of the Triforce).