Nintendo Life Ranks All Mainline Zelda Games

On the heels of USGamer's ranking of Zelda games, Nintendo Life has decided to do one too. Now, this one doesn't include every game (the CDi stuff and spin offs are not on the list), but here we are.

18. The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes
17. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
16. The Legend of Zelda
15. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
14. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
13. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
12. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventurers
11. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
10. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
09. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
08. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
07. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
06. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
05. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
04. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
03. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
02. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
01. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

SOURCE, if you want to read their reasoning

My takes on the list:

• Twilight Princess is ranked way too low (under the DS games and Four Swords Adventurers, really?)
• Skyward Sword is ranked too high (it should not be in the top ten)
• The Wind Waker is ranked too low (it should be in the top five)
• They got #1 right, at least.

Yeah, I don't even much like Twilight Princess, but its placement here is a travesty. It is absolutely a better game than Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, Skyward Sword, and FSA.
Skyward Sword over Wind Waker, lul.

DJwest said:

Ocarina of Time should be first.
Majora's Mask is too high.
WindWaker should be third.
What did Twilight Princess do to them lol

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I'm assuming BotW is your #2?

OrangeNova said:

I think BotW will be lower in time, it's a great game, probably top 10 Zelda... but I think in like 3-4 years, or after another game, it'll start showing up at like 6th or 7th

Also Skyward Sword should be 15th

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Just like what happened with OoT, am I right? :)

I just love that the honeymoon period for BotW has been extended from "a few months" to "a few years".
Guys, it might be time to concede that people like the game, and nothing is changing that. An improved sequel doesn't lower a great game's esteem, or Ocarina of Time wouldn't be held up in such high regard to this day.

DJwest said:

Nah bro, BOTW is 4th and Twilight Princess is second.

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Ah gotcha. You didn't specify, so I made a shot in the dark :P

OrangeNova said:

No, OoT is great, more like what happened with Majora's Mask.

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BotW is in fact also great.

OrangeNova said:

I never said it wasn't?

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So if it is great, and BotW is great, and it didn't happen with OoT...
???

DJwest said:

It's certainly an unpopular opinion, I know lol

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I mean, even though it doesn't do much for me, I get why people like TP. It's really good at what it does.

Betty said:

Ocarina is still better than BOTW.

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Ocarina is great. I've actually liked it more over the years as time has passed. When it came out I didn't like it that much, and preferred LttP, LA, MM, and TWW. Then I replayed it a few years ago, and liked it more, and replayed the rest of the games, and redid OoT again, and now it's in my top 5. Great game.

Jonneh said:

While I would put Wind Waker ahead any day of the week, I can see a rationale towards ranking Skyward Sword higher. Wind Waker was practically unfinished and only had a small number of dungeons.

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Yes, but on the other hand, Skyward Sword has no overworld, no exploration, three areas it reuses three times each, awful pacing, forced motion controls that work well for combat and literally nothing else, and excessive tutorialization that completely ruins the game.
TWW, unfinished though it is, is a better game.