Daily Debate: Which Zelda Game Has Grown On You the Most Over Time?

The greatest thing about art in general is how subjective it is, with The Legend of Zelda franchise in particular being my go-to example of this. If our recent Definitive Ranking video series– as well as its accompanying comments section– is any indication, then your personal ranking of the series is likely vastly different than mine.

That said, even within ourselves, tastes and preferences can change over time. Maybe there’s a Zelda game that you had initially placed on the middle-to-lower tier of your list. Upon revisiting it months or even years later, though, it might have made a much stronger impression on you.

For me, that game has got to be A Link to the Past. Although Super Nintendo titles such as Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, and Turtles in Time were among the first video games I played, I grew up mostly in the N64 era. Admittedly, I didn’t give Link’s SNES quest a try until I was well into my Zelda fandom– I want to say I first played it in either 2008 or 2009.

At the time, I was so used to playing 3D Zelda games that, although I respected A Link to the Past immensely, the adventure’s less linear nature was almost too much for this guy to handle. Having experienced and enjoyed more open-world games in the years since, I was able to revisit the 16-bit adventure a couple of years ago feeling far less intimidated. As a result, I appreciated it so much that I’m tempted to say it’s among my top five favorite Zelda games.

Have you had a similar experience with any game in the series? If so, let us know in the comments below!