Zelda Games Ranked Part One

Anyone who knows me knows I love Zelda, I've been inspired by watching a video on this subject elsewhere, so decided to give it a go myself. I've played many Zelda games over the years, in fact I think I've played all of them, albeit some partially, but my memory is not always the most reliable of things so lets see how this goes!

Disclaimer note: this is only my opinion! Please feel free to tell me your own.

D TIER GAMES:

The Legend of Zelda: the original game was a great game, but for it's time, it's been surpassed and built on by everything after it. It's still difficult, but it's not one I ever feel like picking up and replaying.

Adventure of Link: No, just no. No thank you, never again.

Four Swords/Four Swords Adventures (ignoring the Link to The Past bit): I have zero memory of either of these games, I think that's telling enough that they deserve to be low tier for me.

Triforce Heroes: I'll be honest, I've only played a little of this, I didn't really enjoy what I played. The concept is fun though and I can see how others would enjoy it.

C TIER GAMES:

Phantom Hourglass: This was a fun little game, completely murdered by the whole Temple of The Ocean King segment, which was improved upon by Spirit Tracks. Again, it's not a game that sticks in my memory too much. I remember playing it, I remember completing it, I remember getting REALLY angry at the Temple of The Ocean King. Beyond that...not much sticks.

Spirit Tracks: This was a difficult one to place for me, the dungeons were mostly fun. The Tower of Spirits, despite being better than Phantom Hourglass' version, still broke the story up for me and I didn't enjoy it. The weirdest thing about this is I got all the way to the last part, and just...stopped playing. I can't even tell you why this happened, but I have absolutely zero memory of the final boss, but I do remember the sand dungeon, so I must have got that far. Also, the instrument on this game was the most infuriating mechanic I ever came across on the DS.

Skyward Sword: Another odd one. Someone else put it quite well, this is a terrible storyline but with great characters. Ghirahim was the standout for me, alongside Groose. However, that does not excuse the fiendishly linear storyline, the inability to explore Hyrule, the Silent Realms (ok, this one is personal, I hate the pressure I feel when doing them) and fighting the Imprisoned THREE TIMES. Once was bad enough! The dungeon design was mostly ok, the Ancient Cistern was actually pretty amazing, especially when you know it was based on a story called The Spider's Thread (go check it out).

B TIER GAMES

Oracle of Ages: This is a good game, a very good game. It hasn't aged too well, the swimming controls are a nightmare and there are other better handheld Zelda games. It's a challenging game, and we know the Zelda games handle time travel mechanics well. It's a solid B for me.

Minish Cap: We're at the point where I think all the games are good, but it's getting to the nitpicking stage. Apparently this game has six dungeons, but maybe I just zoomed through it. Either way, it wasn't long enough for me. From what I remember of it (this is now a recurring theme for the games lower down the list), I did enjoy it...just not massively. Cute graphics though.

We will continue this in part two!