Just the other day I was looking over at GameRankings.com, a site that offers links to all the various reviews of a particular game, and it combines them to form an aggregated score. In particular I was looking to see how the various Zelda games racked up against one another, and the results I found were a bit surprising. It was no shock that Ocarina of Time topped the list, but how the games fell in line afterwords, was a bit surprising.
Ocarina of Time – 97.66%
Twilight Princess – 95.29% (Gamecube)
The Wind Waker – 94.47%
A Link to the Past – 93.50% (Super Nintendo)
Oracle of Ages – 91.89%
Majora’s Mask – 91.80%
Oracle of Seasons – 91.50%
Link’s Awakening – 91.23%
The Minish Cap – 90.21%
Phantom Hourglass – 88.79%
Spirit Tracks – 86.76%
Missing from the list above, is the original Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, primarily because there just aren’t many reviews for these classics, and I didn’t think the GBA Classic Series re-releases did them justice critically. Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures were also not included, as the list was focusing on games that were primarily single player titles. Obviously games such as the Tingle titles, Cd-I titles, and other smaller spin-offs were not included.
It seems that after Ocarina of Time, there is a notable drop, and then Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, and A Link to the Past fall in line. After that, there is a cluster of 5 Zelda titles fitting within roughly 1.5 percentage points. There is drop-off with Phantom Hourglass, and another notable drop-off with Spirit Tracks. The meaning for these lower reviews is open for interpretation, and I really cannot point my finger as to why they are so low. From a critical stand point, I cannot see how Phantom Hourglass would be lower than a game like The Minish Cap, since in general, reviewers seem to look for new features and unique experiences, and I think the move to the Nintendo DS really did that for Zelda, but not so much the jump to the GBA with the Minish Cap.
So from a fans perspective, what do you guys think of such a list. Do the critical reviews of these Zelda titles match up to how you rank them in the Zelda series. Does Spirit Tracks really deserve the lowest rank amongst the single player Zelda titles? Let us know in the comments below.
I am in the process of finishing a 100% completion run through Spirit Tracks, and the reviews it is getting are on par with my experience thus far. I am planning to write a full review for GameFAQs in the near future, but I am seriously leaning toward an 80% rating. Spirit Tracks, in my opinion, is a better game than Phantom Hourglass, though. I never wrote a full review for it, but I would tentatively give it about a 73% rating based on my only play-through.
OOT
WW
TP
PH
ST
And the others? MM, PH… and a lot of them than you "lost in the way".
………………………………………………………. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! WHy the hell is ST down there. It deserves to be higher up. It should be like on of the top 4 with PH being in 6th. Minish Cap should be like in 5th or something. The Temple of the Ocean King was annoying where you would have to visit the parts you've already solved. In ST, you could choose to revisit floors but only for treasures and stuff like that. Somethings wrong with the people who got ST to the bottom.
Spirit Tracks i know it would be a tran reck from the title
I think spirit tracks should be above Phantom Hourglass, I found it more challenging even thogh the train was too slow and the bunnies annoyed me, im not quite shure where the Minish cap should be above it or not.
idiots TP was the worst game of the series 1it lacked any ominous cutscene 2 ganon looks like my granny 3Link is not a girl 4they should have stayed with OoT Voicers and finally Midna's more anoying than my sister(Navi)…I noticed that people only call Navi anoying and not Tatl maybe cause she has attitude
So people are idiots for having an opinion.
Idiot.
ST bunnies are easy Mac (to catch I mean)
Tome the rabbits was a VERY DIFICULT part. Every time i lost ones i must to go to a station and return where the rabbit it.
COME ON TP WORSE AS MARIO GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And what exactly do Mario games have to do with Zelda games? And I already went through this with some other guy: These are OPINIONS. Don't call people idiots for having a different opinion than you. That makes YOU look like an idiot.
I understand that of course OoT is first, although it's not my personal favorite, its an absolutely amazing game… My list would go as follows:
ALttP 100%
OoT 100%
TP 98%
MM 98%
LA 96%
OoA 95%
OoS 94.5%
MC 94%
ST 92%
PH 90%
WW 85%
Yeah I never liked Wind Waker, everytime I've attempted a second playthrough, I became bored with it halfway through Dragon Roost Island… And the DS games, even though fun, aren't really doinf it for me… I hate the boat/train too.
i think they had ocarina of time, twilight princess, and winwaker right, but after that i think the ratings were a little too critical…though i am a huge fan of the few three games, i enjoyed the other ones too, like i dont understand why they would rank spirit tracks so poorly. i liked the game, not my favorite, but i liked it. as was said in the article people really like the new features that are included in newer games, so for that reason i would think people would appreciate spirit tracks. just an opinion though!!!
Don't listen to this bullshit, i've played Spirit Tracks, & it's one of the greatest DS games ever made in my opinion. It's the brilliant music that makes it so great.
wow that is so wrong. personally i think that OOC and OOA werent the best Zelda titles. that doesnt mean i think they were bad i just dont think they should b above PH and ST
Personally i think ST is in the right place. Although i did like the game i got board very quickly, and the themed dungeons were poorly done. For example the third dungeon the Ocean Temple to me was meant to be a water themed dungeon, yet it contained no water within the dungeon what so ever.
I think that OoT gets to much hype, it is a good game but its not the best (to me anyway). I think that the game at the top should be ALttP as to me that is the game that should be referred back to for creating Zelda games in the future. It should be followed by TP in second and then OoT in third. PH wasnt the best game either, but it was better then ST. It should at least be ahead of LA as well.
The list should be as follows:
1. ALttP 99% (no game is completely perfect)
2. TP 98%
3. OoT 98%
4. OoA 97.5%
5. TMC 96%
6. OoS 95.5%
7. MM 94%
8. PH 92%
9. LA 92%
10. ST 90%
Not included in the list is WW due to not having played it yet.
Man, there are a whole bunch of things wrong with theese rankings.
1. Majora's mask
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Wind waker
4. Spirit tracks
5. Phantom hourglass
These are the only ones i've played, I don't have a whole lot.
The ratings are still all pretty high for games
all of you fags who like TP more than OOT are stupid. in my opinion, the cel-shaded toon link games made a big difference to the series, even though ocarina of time is still on top, id say wind waker, minish cap & four swords adventures is a close second (all as in 99%,OOT-100%)
Good god.
These ratings are nasty.
Spirit Tracks is up w/ my top 3 favorites.
Damn them.
1.OoT-its really fun and challenging, and the master quest was fun
2.TP-it was long and i like long games
3.MC- i liked the story line
4.MM-i hate that you got to go back three days back again just to save it but its fun to play
5.ST-i didn't like that it was short but in my opinion it should be higher than PH
6.LOZ-no comment , it was just fun to me
7.PH-this game wasn't really bad acuity, just the fact that i can beat it in one day
8.LOZ 2-the worst i have
i still just don't have WW,Oracle of ages/Seasons,ALTTP,LA
LOL @ all the newbies saying AoL was the worst game. Your only arguments are the fact it was too hard for you, aww poor noobs. Why don't you fucking grow a pair and quit bitching.
have any of you noticed next to twlight princess it says gamecube meang for that system now that is off.
Spirit Tracks is better the PH, why is TP so high, it was a great game, but not better then MM? Geezus…