Zelda - which ones are your favorites?

[Zach]

Out of all the Zelda games, which one(s) are your favorite? What do you enjoy the most about those Zeldas?

I'll likely be the odd one out, but I love Wind Waker. It's an aesthetically amazing game with great locales and a better story than you'll find in other Zeldas. It controls as well as any other Zelda and also boasts some excellent music and some top-notch dungeon design. There's something magical about it, and I knew the first time that I played it that I was in for something special.

Right after that is probably Link to the Past, which was the first Zelda game that I played. I also adore the assorted handheld Zeldas, ranging from Link Awakening to Minish Cap (I didn't enjoy Phantom Hourglass).

How about you guys?

[Placebo Headwound]

Probably Wind Waker and Majora's Mask.

I never got to actually beat Majora's Mask, tho. ;_;

[Samus Aran]

On this forum, you're not an odd one out at all. There are quite a few of us who like Wind Waker the most, and I'm one of them.

It had the best graphical style, looking absolutely gorgeous in its stylish cel-shading and overall nautical, sea-faring look to the whole game.

It has the best music in the series, going for something new with instruments never used before in a Zelda game, with especially good use of flutes, violins, etc.

It has the best story in the Zelda series, going for a post-apocalyptic theme that is hidden from initial view rather than shoving it in our faces, displaying the culminations of man's strive for survival after the worst of disasters.

It has the best map, although many will disagree. I find the boat traveling and assorted islands to be a major plus because I honestly love the ocean, sea-faring, and discovery of uncharted isles. The isolation is something akin to a Metroid game when you're out on your boat against nature with nothing but lonely bits of land here and there. I sorta wish more of the islands were bigger, though.

It has the best combat system, with awesome parries and a slightly customizable stab-combo system. Twilight Princess mostly did this as well but I find it slightly more sluggish and less cool-looking in that game.

And lastly, it has the best Ganondorf. The fight with Ganon might not be the highlight of the game, but Ganondorf himself, as a flawed character, is the best we've ever seen him. He has some of the best lines in the game, and when he talks about the wasteland upon which his people suffered, you finally get the tiniest hint of a reason for his wrongdoings...although he is unforgivable of course.

[Zach]

Yeah, exactly - I love how Ganon is handled in Wind Waker. He's much less of an unstoppable evil force that's just there until the final fight, which is what you find in most other Zeldas. WW's Ganon feels human - he has reasons for what he's doing and has emotions besides hatred that he acts upon.

[Hiro]

I agree, I love Wind Waker. Ocarina of Time is 2nd, and I also enjoy the original Zelda. I would like it if the next Zelda for Wii was like Wind Waker, but maybe with Link being a few years older, like a teenager. Make sure the story is good and it has a challenge, make the islands a bit bigger, give us Wiimote baton control and a some other new stuff, I think we'd have us i winner.

[FAMY2]

 I like them all. Probably OoT the best. But watching Alan stream the two games I don't have makes me appreciate the older games more.   

[Nyerp]

wand of gamelon

[Samus Aran]

Yeah, exactly - I love how Ganon is handled in Wind Waker. He's much less of an unstoppable evil force that's just there until the final fight, which is what you find in most other Zeldas. WW's Ganon feels human - he has reasons for what he's doing and has emotions besides hatred that he acts upon.

Yeah, and as for the battle, I love the Ganon first, Ganondorf second order. It's more refreshing to see him trying his typical guise first before throwing aside all limitations and just going berserk in his normal form. Twilight Princess tried the same thing and made Ganon really boring so it didn't work quite as well. And as for the fight with Ganondorf, Wind Waker makes the actual swordplay much more intense, forcing you to use stylish parry moves just to keep him from kicking your ass with fucking gigantic swords. I just love that, and also how he blocks pretty much everything once Zelda starts helping. And speaking of Zelda helping, that gimmick just adds to the whole thing. It's fucking great.

[Tomboh]

3d: MM and WW
2d: oracles and alttp

[StarPilot]

I haven't played a lot of Zelda games, mostly since my first Nintendo console was the N64. I've only played the GBA version of LttP, WW, and the bonus disc that came with WW that had OoT and Master Quest. Oh, and Phantom Hourglass, but I haven't bothered finishing it, fucking ocean temple thing you have to replay a dozen times.

At any rate, WW is awesome, OoT is also awesome, and LttP is great.

[Kalahari Inkantation]

Wind Waker was perfect in nearly every way. It had amazing music, fantastic dungeon design, and seeing bosses like Molegra fly around on screen just made you think, "Wow, this is spectacular."
I think the only thing I didn't like about Wind Waker was the length. I wish they hadn't rushed it and threw some extra dungeons in.
I also loved how they gave Link more of a home and a family in Wind Waker than he's ever had before. He's not just fighting to save Zelda in this game, but much more of Hyrule's population is in immediate danger, including his very own sister.
and who didn't love blowing up pirate ships cjlubdoods;

However, I'm not sure Wind Waker is my favorite in the series. I think that title goes to Link's Awakening. It was the first game in the series to have a drastically different story, not just the usual "Ganon's on the loose, go kill him and save Zelda". Its low-quality music was beautiful and I love how Link actually formed relationships with characters like Marin. I also thought the ending was executed perfectly. Having that huge, amazing dream come to an end was terribly depressing, but then the Wind Fish flies over head, giving you hope that maybe it wasn't just a dream.

Other games I loved include Oracle of Ages/Seasons, Ages especially. Both games had absolutely stunning visuals, I had no idea the GBC was capable of such detail until I played those games. I also thought the way they linked the games together at the end was phenomenal.
I also love Majora's Mask for many of the same reasons I love Link's Awakening. It was very different and very deep, but at the same time, not stupidly serious like Twilight Princess was. A suicidal moon will crash into our planet and destroy it in three days. Collect masks and play hide and seek with wacky children to stop it.

I also preferred Zelda II to the original. It had much better music and the gameplay was fantastic, and it was also radically different.

The only game that's left a bitter taste in my mouth was Phantom Hourglass. I mean, it wasn't bad, it just could have been so much better. The Temple of the Ocean King was the worst decision in Zelda history, the game itself was very easy, and although it had quite a few great songs, much of the music was very mediocre. I also didn't like that they simply took Link's Awakening's ending and rehashed it for pH while taking the magic out of LA's ending.
it just lacked magic

[Classic]

Windwaker and Majora's Mask are the only two titles I liked. 

[Skylark]

I will play any of them but I love Majora's Mask the most and I agree with what everybody is saying about Windwaker.

[YPrrrr]

I guess I'm going to have to give Windwaker another shot.

Anyway, my current favorites are OoT, Majora's Mask, A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening,  and the Minish Cap

[Cookie]

A Link To the Past is hands down my favorite Zelda game, maybe because it was one of the first games I ever played too. Second would have to be Majoras Mask, and yeah the rest of the Zelda games I liked, but wouldn't say I loved them. Although I did enjoy Twilight Princess a lot even though many others didn't.