The Top 100 Moments in Zelda Part 1: 100 – 91

There are many amazing moments in Zelda that provide a wide array of emotions. We’ve been asking our fan base in the forums for nearly a year and half to give us all of their favorite moments and the response has been glorious. With over 400 moments submitted it’s been hard for me to narrow it down to just 100. While the order of these moments are based on a number of factors, in the end they are abirtrary, and just making the list at all is an accomplishment in my book. We begin what will be a multi-part series by presenting moments number 100 to 91.

Top Moment in Zelda #100: Salvatore’s Sinking Ships Game – The Wind Waker

Spliiish… Spliish… KABOOM! Who could forget one of the best “minigames” ever introduced in Zelda? It wasn’t just that the game itself was fun (come on, it’s a mini version of Battleship!), it was the all too shocking hilarity of Salvatore’s voice reactions that really took gamers by surprise. The game itself can be found in The Wind Waker on Windfall island in the Game Room.

#99: Link Comes Out of Wolf Form Wearing The Hero’s Clothes – Twilight Princess

This scene isn’t too big of a shocker. but Link’s reaction is very fitting. It’s almost as if he finally realizes what he must do in accepting the quest bestowed upon him. Not only that, it naturally directly references the clothes worn in Ocarina of Time. Naturally this has been done before (The Wind Waker), but something about seeing this moment in “the best” realistic graphics to date just brought a very nice touch.

#98: Link Discover’s Flute Boy’s Transformation – A Link to the Past

Skip to about 7:40

I’ll let the description on youtube do the talking here.

Before tackling the Water Gate Dungeon, Link remembers the old man from Kakariko who told Link of his lost son. The carefree, nature-loving boy, renowned as a virtuoso at the flute, is said to have enjoyed playing vibrant melodies to the animals of the forest grove southeast of the town. His father hadn’t minded that much, but he expresses his worry to Link, as his son had not returned from the grove for a very long time. Link decides to investigate for the nice man and try to locate his son.

Searching in trees and behind rocks at the forest grove to no avail, Link suddenly hears an eerie, and yet captivating tune wafting through the sweet air. Turning around, he spots a boy clad in green, sitting upon an old stump, playing a blue flute to the animals that surrounded him.

It’s the lost boy!

Link dashed up to him…only to stare dumbfounded at a completely desolate tree stump, the animals having ran off into the woods, and the boy…no where to be seen.

What on Earth just happened? o.o;; Creeeeepy…

However, upon returning to the Dark World, Link discovers an odd creature who is revealed to be the changed form of the young boy. Turns out, the boy went in search of the Golden Power, but changed into an animal. His heart was not at rest, and so his true transformation wasn’t complete. As a request, the creature asks Link to take his shovel and find his flute, so that Link may put his soul to rest. Link does so, returning to the Light World and discovering the flute buried in the soft rich soil off the grove. Pressing the flute to his lips, Link begins to play…

The grove becomes deathly still. The echo of the last note resonates through the trees surrounding. Animals of all types peeks out of their hiding places, attracted by the familiar tune. Link bows his head in reverence to a lost soul that finally found peace.

#97: Dawn of The First Day – Majora’s Mask

The world is about to end, Skull Kid is about to allow the Moon to destroy Termina. You have a flash back to learning the Song of Time from Princess Zelda. Quickly you whip out your horns and play it just to see what happens. You end up traveling back in time to the Dawn of the First Day. A truly memorable moment.

#96: Freeing Epona from Lon Lon Ranch – Ocarina of Time

This moment mostly sticks because it’s really the first time horse riding was truly introduced as a main means of transportation in Zelda, and it was what started the relationship between Link and Epona as an adult. Ingo being the sore loser he is wasn’t going to let you have the last laugh, but good thing you’ve been practicing jumping fences right?

#95: Redead Raping You – Ocarina of Time

In reality they are “eating you”, not “raping you”, but I think at this point we all get the point. Sure, we may laugh at the action these days, but back in 1998 this was scary as shit. You’re like “wtf are these guys?”, then they scream and commence the humping. It’s one of the scariest moments to experience the first time in all of Zelda if you hadn’t known what was going to happen.

#94: Satisfaction of Finally Killing Thunderbird – The Adventure of Link

Thunderbird is one of the single hardest bosses in all of Zelda, mostly because he is extremely frustrating. The feeling of satisfaction is rarely higher when playing this series then when you beat “any” boss in The Adventure of Link, let alone Thunderbird. To this day, my kill count to death count is a staggering 5 kills to 68 deaths. Damn you Thunderbird… damn you.

#93: Stealing the Fisherman’s Hat – Ocarina of Time

This was only shocking and memorable simply because it was allowed to happen. Sometimes you can find glitches to do odd things, but the ability to actually jack the guys hat was built into the game, and served no purpose other than pure entertainment. Classic.

#92: Playing the Ballad of the Wind Fish – Link’s Awakening

This was simply brilliant, especially for it’s time. Not only is the music catchy, the use of all the games instruments only makes it that much better. Music is a big deal in Zelda, and this nabs the first mention on the list related to just that.

#91: When Chickens (Cucco) Take Revenge – A Link to the Past

While it’s more infamously remembered in Ocarina of Time, the attack of the angry chickens originated back in 1992 via A Link to the Past. Whoever’s idea it was to have the Chickens take revenge must of really enjoyed torturing players. Many first time players had no idea what was going on or how to stop it, though most got a great big laugh the first time. That is, of course, until you realized you hadn’t saved your game in 4 hours.