Darkest Zelda Game?

[SavageWizzrobe]

In your opinion, which Zelda game was the darkest?

I'd have to say Majora's Mask. The game contains plenty of dark themes (like death) and basically revolves around the preventing the world from ending. Not to mention that the whole game is an emotional roller coaster.

 

[ZeldaFan64]

Majora's Mask or Twilight Princess.

 

[tetrafan]

Majora's mask that moon is really creepy.

 

[Icetomeetyou]

Majora's Mask definitely. Although I haven't played it I know it very well. I know about the death, pain, the love, and the creepy moon. The fact that so many people are in pain or they are scared for their lives is one thing that makes the game dark. Another thing is the fact that you are trying to stop the world from ending and if you don't you have destroyed so many lives. The death is probably the worst, I mean, you wear dead people's faces in order to look like them. Not to mention the blasphemous Stone Tower Temple, that, to me, appears to go against the Goddesses.

 

[ComposerBrother]

Majora's Mask. I could never do it 100% because I was scared that the moon would fall while in a dungeon

 

[Linebeck1000]

I can tell MM will win, so I'm going to be different and vote for aLttP. I love MM very much, but it just didn't affect me emotionally at all, I'm afraid. My heart is just too hardened these days I guess. But I was just a child when I first played aLttP, so for a kid who had only played happy Mario games before, I thought aLttP was terribly morbid.

It starts off with your uncle dying, the king's skeleton sitting on the throne, and girls being "sacrificed" (of course, you found out later that the maidens weren't really killed, but I didn't get to that part until I was older). Then later on the wise man at the sanctuary is murdered. It seemed like all the supporting characters were being killed off one by one, and you were the only good character left in the world who knew what was going on. Coupled with the fact that I wasn't very good at the game, it gave me a sense of hopelessness. It left a profound impact on me, because I had never experienced death before, IRL or in storytelling.

 

[Kybyrian]

Definitely Majora's Mask. 6 votes for it already and only 1 for anything else, A Link to the Past. It's definitely easy to tell that MM is in fact the darkest Zelda game. I mean, look at this. There are people sitting here waiting for the moon to fall on them within three days, and there is also other dark themes throughout the rest of the quest in other parts of Termina. Everybody is sitting here and the moon is about to fall on their heads, bringing the world to the end, and you see worry in some of the characters and everything.

 

[Chilfo Freeze]

I definitely feel different from the rest of you. I vote Twilight Princess. The game is based on the dark (or twilight, which in this case is close enough) taking over Hyrule. Other than the plot of the game, the scenery and work done on the game also had darker colors in it; way different than WW, MC and what not. TP wins for me.

 

[Majora16]

Majora's Mask without a doubt. The themes of death and the apocalypse made it so erie. The moody music such as the Song of Healing or Oath to Order made the game feel very dramatic and sad. Even the story of Anju and Kafei ended with them being reunited right before the moon crashes into the Earth. The colors and graphics of the game were also much darker compared to Ocarina of Time. It is definitely the darkest Zelda game and probably the darkest game made by Nintendo. Even the logo says a lot about it; it's the only one that uses dark purple text instead of the traditional bright red found in OoT, WW, TP, ST, etc. How the heck did it get rated E?

TP is the second darkest IMO. The dark, colorless graphics and the world being overruled by twilight (DARKness) made the game seem darker, but it didn't deal with death the way that MM did.

OoT also had a bit of darkness in it, but just mainly in the Shadow Temple. That temple still creeps me out. I mean all the torture devices, blood stains, dead hands and prison cells are enough to scare the living daylights out of me! It's probably the closest thing to Nintendo ever depicting Hell in a video game. I think OoT should have been rated at least T just for the Shadow Temple.

 

[Turo602]

I definitely feel different from the rest of you. I vote Twilight Princess. The game is based on the dark (or twilight, which in this case is close enough) taking over Hyrule. Other than the plot of the game, the scenery and work done on the game also had darker colors in it; way different than WW, MC and what not. TP wins for me.

This I agree on. Especially the switch from E to T. I've played Majora's Mask and was close to passing it in 2007 and gave up on it because of the annoying Kafei side quest. But I still plan on playing it beginning to end. But I never really seen it as a dark game until now. I guess I just don't scare or feel easier.

 

[ghmaster29]

Majora by far, twighight princess relied mainly on violence and scary imagry rather than the subconcios element to majoras mask. The over all attachment we feel toward the characters and knowing that any good deed and and any one you helped out (anju and kafie most notebly) will reset to being in destress again. Majora was overall more depressing and left more of an impression.

 

[LozzyKate]

I think that Twilight Princess was the darkest game. The colors of everything weren't very bright and cheery. The plot was dark too, in my opinion that is. I mean, look at that cutscene when Zelda explained why everything was becoming covered in Twilight. Wasn't that just a little creepy? Oh, or even the cutscene in Lanayru Province. They were all dark and really spooky. Sure, Majora's Mask had it's fair share of dark moments and the plot was dark, but Twilight Princess really rolled itself in darkness. To be honest, the brightest point in TP, I think, was when when the kids saw Link after he took the Twilight from Kakariko Village. TP has a lot going for it when it comes to this category. Majora's Mask puts up an equal fight, but I really that TP pushes MM over the edge.

 

[TheGreen]

I voted for Twilight Princess. The game does rely on literal imagery to give it that feel, which I think is not as deep as the thimatical darkness of Majora's Mask, but however, the idea of having your world taken over by twilight is way more scary/creepy/dark than the moon falling. The fact that the twilight is so foreign to everyone, and that all these monsters are making appearances is much darker. As any character who isn't from the world of twilight, one would be scared s**tless: think if you were to wake up to the twilight; the confusion and unknowing would be so depressing.
Also, think if you woke up as a freakin' wolf! That's heavy...

 

[PhantomTriforce]

I think Twilight Princess is the darkest game. All the things you had to collect from the dungeons were black (Fused Shadows and Mirror Shards).

 

[guy]

the original LoZ was the darkest. especially in those dark rooms where you needed the candle, the only game that was almost as dark as that was TP in the cave at the beginning and hyrule castle.