Oh, if we're including games that are basically Zelda games with none of the Zelda...

5. Wind Waker
4. Link's Awakening DX
3. Link's Awakening DX
2. Link's Awakening DX
1. Okami

Okami was better than any 3D Zelda game I've played... but not better than 3D Dot Gameheroes. Sorry, that game just reminds me why I love the classic 2D Zelda games so much.

I should give Wind Waker another shot though. Actually, I don't even think I own it anymore... well I suck.

Unfortunately, I can only include the games that I have played...

5. Link's Awakening(GB) - I remember playing this game on a family vacation to Colorado as it thankfully made the drive through Kansas tolerable. I never beat it though as I got so freaking lost in that game as it was just so easy to walk off into the unknown. I remember it being so damn hard that I had to put in Tetris to calm my nerves.

4. A Link To The Past(SNES) - I can see why this game is so great, but it just never touched me like I thought it would. To me, it was just okay and a little overrated. The game was just too damn frustrating and cheap for me to enjoy fully. It's a good game, but I have played better.

3. Majora's Mask(N64) - I almost put this game higher because it is so underrated. The main reason I didn't is because the Water Temple is God awful that it kind of ruins the experience for me. People complain about the Water Temple in OOT, but the one in Majora is 10 times worse. I love the 3 Day Mechanic and I loved planning what I needed to do in that time constraint. I beat this one completely and I was very proud of it.

2. Ocarina Of Time(N64) - Majora almost beat this one, but I just had to put this one first because of how revolutionary it was. It is so influential and so unbelievable when it first came out. I have played this game so many times and I learn new things each time I do.

1. The Legend Of Zelda(NES) - This game is tied for my favorite game of all time. I have beaten both quest at least 15 times. I remember playing this game when I was about 6 years old and I have been playing it since then. This game is my home and I remember everything about it. The game is just perfect in my eyes.

I have played Zelda II as well, but that is it for me. I really want to get a Gamecube so that I can play Wind Waker & Twilight Princess. Both look interesting and beautiful in their own right. The handheld versions never really did it for me as I always prefer to stick to the consoles.

That's because 4 Swords was a good game, but it was more akin to Zelda Party than to The Legend of Zelda, at least in my eyes. It was fun as fuck, but was so far in left field that it barely qualifies as a Zelda game. I could easily have seen 4 Swords as a totally different game with a Zelda skin thrown on the top of it.

I could throw it in a top ten list of Zelda games but top five is pushing it. It's like Metroid Prime Pinball. That game ain't fucking Metroid.

Why is everybody bashing Zelda fans? They're, like, the most docile passive people I've ever met.

It's TGH forums man, they've gotta bitch about something.. . . and yes, I realize I just proved I'm guilty of the same thing.

I have noticed that none of the handheld Zelda games outside of Link's Awakening have made anyone's list. Are they not that great? I, honestly, haven't played any of them basically due to the fact that I never really got into the Handheld consoles.

I thought The Phantom Hourglass looked good, but never picked it up.

The only portable Zelda game I've played is Link's Awakening for the original Game Boy. Never owned a GBA but my girlfriend has a DS with Phantom Hourglass. She was really enjoyng it but got stuck at some puzzle and wants me to give the game a shot. Might give it a try on my bus rides to work.

Only thing it lacked was a true overworld. Everything else played exactly like every other 2D Zelda.

In my experience, they're either sheep, haven't played any other games or are as butthurt as FFVII fanboys used to be. It gets very annoying quick on ScrewAttack when you constantly see "Y NO MAJORA 3DS HERR DERP" threads every few days.

Well, it's not like the love is undeserved for Zelda games, though. They're all well made, well thought out, and just plain fun games that keep people coming back. It's the kind of franchise that has legitimately influenced people's lives and perception and whenever something like that exists, it's going to generate a die hard fanbase.

I absolutely hate Halo as a game and a franchise and I think it ruined FPSs forever but I still recognize its influence is on the same level as Zelda or Mario or even Star Wars and don't begrudge its fans...... so long as they don't talk, look, or breath in my general direction.

DC Said it best...IMO the two most similar games in the franchise was Oracle of Season and Oracle of Ages.
And those were pretty good especially when you played both.

Oh yeah, I forgot about those. Although Seasons was kind of pointless. An action focus with the 2D Zelda system on a GBC? Sounds sooooooo exciting....

It also played a lot like Bomberman which is why I have a hard time throwing it in to the "Best Ever Zelda" mix.

Oh please, everyone knows that Strike Force Cobra for C64 is the best game ever made.

Seasons and Ages were fine additions to the Zelda franchise. I think the weakest was Four Swords Adventures if only because to capture the full scope of what the game was trying to accomplish you really do have to play with three other people. I had a chance to a couple of times to play it this way and it is a far different gaming experience than the single player version. I'd rank it near the top in terms of the multiplayer but as a single player quest, it just feels average.

I still think that Zelda has nowhere to go but up. It's a franchise that really doesn't feel stale and I've been playing it for at least 15 years now if not longer. Zelda hasn't jumped the shark just yet. When the first Zelda kart racer comes out, or a Zelda Party game comes out, then you'll know Zelda is dead.



*shudder*

To note: Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures are NOT the same game. And the former is going to be free on DSiWare when it comes out shortly (with online mp)

I was talking about the gamecube one which was a throwback to link to the past but with multiplayer, but I'm guessing a lot of people skipped over it.