What is your favorite Zelda Title?

Recently, over at Zelda Informer, the website hosted the annual Zelda Versus Best Zelda Game Tournament. I always get really interested in these debates for a lot of reasons. The Zelda fan base has so many fans and they are all different, some born into the early Nintendo era with the NES and the Super Nintendo, and some born into the Nintendo 64 and GameCube era. Looking at this always makes me debate several things.

• Why is the certain game your favorite?
• What about it do you like better than the others?
• Was it the first Zelda game you played?

The reason I ask the last question is because for the longest time, the first Zelda game I had ever played, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, was my favorite game. I had many reasons for this, but the one I found to be most true was that it was the first Zelda game that I ever beat. I did this at such a young age and it made me very interested in the series. But the more I have expanded my collection of beaten Zelda games, the more I question which one I like the most.

The Zelda games that I have beaten:

• The Legend of Zelda (NES 1986)
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES 1992)
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64 1998)
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64 2000)
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC 2003)
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GC 2006)
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii 2011)

 

After playing these 7 Legend of Zelda titles, which are the most popular games of the series, I have a hard time selecting which would among my favorites. There are so many aspects of all of the games that I love, that it is too difficult for me to choose ONLY 1 game that I believe is the best in the series. I have played through Ocarina of Time countless times, Majora's Mask and A Link to the Past about 5 times each, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess about 4 times each, Skyward Sword 2 times, and the first Legend of Zelda only once.

Some of the things that I consider when thinking about what makes each game memorable:

• Dungeon Design
• Boss Fights
• Overall Plot
• Items
• Side Quests
• Music
• Character Development

Some of these things greatly influence my decisions when I am thinking about playing one of the games. If I want to turn to something with fantastic character and plot development with great items, I look at Majora's Mask. But with the low level of dungeons, I can easily look to something else with a great number of dungeons such as Skyward Sword or A Link to the Past.

So to wrap this post up, I would like to know what your favorite Legend of Zelda game is. If you could leave the name of the title and a few sentences or a brief paragraph about why you like that game best and what is so special to you about it, I would LOVE to hear about it. Remember, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and not everyone may agree with yours or will you agree with theirs. Be respectful of others opinions!