The 5 Games that Defined the Zelda Franchise

While Super Mario Bros and Pokémon might be Nintendo’s most recognizable franchises, we all have a special place in our hearts for The Legend of Zelda, and its silent hero, Link. The games are absolutely epic, and send the player to travel the land, looking for objects to aid him in his quest to stop Ganon/Ganondorf/any other great evil in the land of Hyrule. While this might not seem like much of a story (particularly because variants of this are repeated in almost every game), what counts is how stylish the game is, how great it looks, how cool it is to control link, and how vast the land is, always full of things to do, and new places to explore.

[Optical_Matrix]

Not sure 100% agree with this list. For me, Ocarina of Time fully defined the franchise. As for the other four games, I'd argue that Wind Waker, A Link To The Past, The Legend of Zelda and Twilight Princess define it. To this day Wind Waker remains one of the most amazing games I've played in my life. Ridiculously good game. Puts many of this gens games to absolute shame.

[xilly]

I'd disagree completely. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess were so boring that no matter how bad I wanted to, I just couldn't force myself to finish either of them.

[smoothdude]

Ocarina of time was one of those games which I could not put down for the life of me, and I still love it to this day. I have played Twilight Princess, but it was not as great as Ocarina of Time. I am planning on playing Majora's Mask though as I missed that one, and I have heard that it is just as good as Ocarina of Time.

[browngamer4]

No Wind Waker? No Majoras Mask? FAIL.

[okelfo]

Hi! I'm the author of the article, and wanted to give you a heads up for having an awesome taste.

I thought I'd clarify on something: I love both Wind Waker and Majora's Mask, but I just don't think they "shaped" the franchise, as people understand it today. I'm thinking of writing a follow-up with the under-rated games of the series, and my two main picks so far are... you guessed, Wind Waker and Majora's Mask. I hope you'll like that piece better.

[LionheartAce]

This article is stupid. There's only one game that "Defined" Zelda and that's the original. This is just another favorites list.

Also, Majora's Mask is best... <_<

[ChickeyCantor]

Actually it was Link To the past.
Sure the original started it, but most of the folklore in the zelda franchise stem from the story of link to the past.

[Horny]

We can just limit it to A Link to the Past defines 2d Zelda and Ocarina of Time defines 3d Zelda. Both to this day some of my favorite games.