#most underrated zelda game

[hytiaa]

Spirit Tracks Zelda and Link, my beloved. Experimented with a mix of my own style and the Spirit Tracks style, especially with the eyes. (Zelda dragged her bf away from his train for bonding activities and he is Not Happy)

Drew this for one of my fics after the LU Community Write-a-thon. To everyone on that server, thank you for being so kind <3

[spectralrxbbit]

the legend of zelda: the minish cap

[girl4music]

Honestly, it’s all about the characterisation. Twilight Princess is a great game for me mostly for that reason. The gameplay is pretty average for most RPG games. Might be a little more unique for a Zelda game but the mechanics are largely the same as they always were.

But it’s the characterisation that keeps me going back. Especially Midna. I mean let’s be honest. This game is about Midna. It’s called TWILIGHT PRINCESS. It’s not a “Link’s” title or has anything to do with any object, weapon or environment. It’s literally who she is. The Twilight Princess. They just get characterisation SO RIGHT and that makes you really care about the game when you likely otherwise wouldn’t. The music is great - but, like you, I HATE that it’s MIDI files and not full out orchestral pieces just like the previous games in the series before it. It’s not until Skyward Sword do they actually change this. Electronic music will always be a poor substitute in effort to save money. It’s essential to the experience as you said. When it’s done properly it makes a huge damn difference to the way you experience the game.

It is my favourite game of all time but it’s only because characterisation is massively important to me. Otherwise - I can understand why it’s so underrated.

[lovely-english-rose]

what is with people and calling THEE most popular and known entry in any series underrated- like yall dont even KNOWWWWwwwwww what it means for a game to be underrated or underappreciated

[estelle-the-witch]

@noyin

dude zelda minish cap is literally so magical, its like a ghibli movie to me. sure tears of the kingdom has sprawling cg vistas or whatever BUT IN THE RAFTERS ABOVE THE BAKERY THE LITTLE GNOME PEOPLE HAVE OPENED A CAFE

this lil dude put a candle in a mug inside his home. this is like a fireplace to him. his tablecloth is a leaf. Are You Seeing This

you can shrink down and help an overworked shoemaker who fell asleep at his desk by fixing the shoes for him. look at this. you are smaller than his goddamn pinky finger

this guy LIVES inside a library book that he CARVED OUT!!!! u can see the freakin depth of the pages and how they overlap each other where he carved them. im crying. minish cap you will always be famous

[bellshazes]

dreaming up a syllabus for an imaginary course on metanarratives about gameplay, which i think would go something like:

unit 1: who do you think you are i am - auto-documentary & games

Vlogs and the Hyperreal, Folding Ideas

The Slow Death of Let's Play Videos, Meraki (to ~10:00)

World Record Progression: Mike Tyson, Summoning Salt

ROBLOX_OOF.mp3, hbomberguy

Life as a Bokoblin: A Zelda Nature Documentary, Monster Maze

optional: Braindump on the History of Let's Plays, slowbeef

unit 2: what like it's hard? - intro to challenge narratives

Chapter 26: Games as Narrative Play: Two Structures for Narrative Play, Rules of Play

A different kind of challenge run: Minimalist 100% (BOTW), Wolf Link

Surviving 100 Days on Just Dirt, Mogswamp

Can You Beat DARK SOULS III with Only Firebombs, the Backlogs

Is it Possible to Beat Super Mario 3D World while permanently crouching?, Ceave Gaming

The Pacifist Challenge - Beating Hollow Knight Without Collecting Soul [CHALLENGE] - Sample

optional: How to 100% Snowpeak Ruins in under 15 minutes, bewildebeest

unit 3: nelly you don't understand, i AM the narrative - form and function

The Future of Writing about Games, Jacob Geller

Can You Beat GRIME Without Weapons?, the Backlogs

Mushroom Kingdom Championships, Ceave Gaming

My Life as a Barber in Hitman 2, MinMax (Leo Vader)

MyHouse.WAD - Inside Doom's Most Terrifying Mod, PowerPak

optional: Mega Microvideos, Matthewmatosis

the theme and structure is mostly intended to introduce at least one critical or historically contextual work followed by examples of the type of narrative in question.

in unit 1, this is the idea of "How do people talk about their own experiences in the context of YouTube and playing video games?" across three rather different kinds of documentaries. unit 2 is intended to take that lens of who is telling what tale and dial in on challenge running, where i first noticed the way some videos turn the story of overcoming a challenge into its own narrative that is distinct from but related to the narrative events of the game itself. unit 3 circles back to the bigger picture with a variety of examples that, to me, are maximally metanarrative, the emergent story of the player-narrator now functionally replacing the game's embedded narrative.

bonus unit: broken narratives

Glitch & the Grotesque at the MLA, Sylvia Korman

Watching time loop movies to escape my time loop, Leo Vader

The Stanley Parable, Dark Souls, and Intended Play, Folding Ideas

Breaking Madden, Jon Bois

The TRUTH about the Pizzaplex in FNAF: Security Breach, AstralSpiff

this one is highly underdeveloped, but i'd love to work out something more robust building on randomizer challenges that produce intentionally bizarre, semi-ironic "lore," and bois-esque endeavors to break games so hard the story itself crumbles. but that's really out of scope so i'm just including the links to things i couldn't bear to get rid of. more rambling abt the challenge runs I chose under the cut.

Challenge runs represent one of the most obvious places to start, due to being extremely plentiful and having a hook that makes a "here's how I did X thing in Y video game" format almost unavoidable. Minimalist 100% is an underrated and sweet straightforward example that I mostly include as a baseline for reporting-out style narrative; here are the facts, here's what happened, this is the thing that it is. Mogswamp's 100 Days on Just Dirt is similar in style, but the physical measuring of days is a delightful and, more importantly, external narrative device.

Now oriented, we get a taste of Ceave Gaming's narrative approach to Mario challenges with the no-crouching run, and while we still aren't at the degree of player-characters being constructed for the narrative's sake, the spirited belief in crouching sets the stage for other rhetoric in more extreme cases we'll see later.

The Backlogs' entire body of work qualifies here, but GRIME is the strongest inspiration for putting this list together. I include the DS3 firebombs run because what was initially a factual description of how his wife's use of firebombs inspired him to play differently in the original DS1 firebombs run has developed into full-blown multi-game narrative arc with the Firebomb Goddess (his wife, who also voices the character) compelling his in-game character to achieve his destined quest. Grime takes that even further,

In-Game Documentaries

I include Life as a Bokoblin mostly as a contrast to My Life as a Barber - there is a level of fictionalization and roleplay involved in the Zelda in-game documentary that highlights exactly what I want to single out when I am talking about metanarrative, the story about a story.

[twiixr4kidz]

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE ANYTHHING FOR YOUNG NEIL!!🙈🙈🙈😁😁😁 maybe like boyfriend headcanons :3!!

YESYESYES i love young neil he's so severely underrated

young neil bf headcanons!!

he's the silliest goose you ever will meet

most of your date nights will consist of either playing video games or watching movies

he doesn't mind if you wanna do something else though!! if you wanna go out for like, pizza or something, he's totally onboard

he infodumps to you about the legend of zelda and there is nothing you can do to get out of it

he gets a little nervous in public sometimes (he's kind of a hermit) so he clings to your side like a little kid

he's either holding your hand so tight his knuckles turn white or he's fidgeting with the bottom of your shirts

neil isn't necessarily shy though

if a creep is trying to get in your pants, he will literally start a fight wherever you are

he also talks a lot since he feels so comfortable around you so he'll probably just ramble about silly things that pop into his head

i hc him as a total stoner (sorry not sorry xD) and i can imagine he'd always invite you to shmoke with him if you were feeling up for it

and if you're not, he won't force you at all

one thing about neil is that he is very easily entertained

if you want to get him into your favorite show, just put it on and he'll eat it up

he LOVES. LOVES LOVES LOVESSSSSSS when you borrow his close

you're sleeping over at his place and you forget to bring pajamas?? whatever, he has an extra hoodie for you to wear

his eyes won't leave you for the rest of the night

he's not the biggest cuddler at first but when he realizes you like it, it begins to grow on him

sometimes neil will sneak up behind you and he'll stick his freezing cold hands up your shirt just to scare the shit out of you

he thinks it's hilarious

he loves you so much, but he also loves getting on your nerves

[wildsage00]

I have now officially rolled credits on all 21 mainline Zelda games.

...also both Hyrule Warriors games.

My Personal Favourite: Majora's Mask Most Underrated: Spirit Tracks Special Shoutout: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (the world gives me the same vibes as BOTW Hyrule or Laputa from the movie Castle in the Sky and it just deserves more respect)

Top games based on sheer enjoyment (in no particular order): Breath of the Wild (100% in master mode), Four Swords Adventures (singleplayer), Age of Calamity (100% with DLC), Echoes of Wisdom (100%).

Personal Recommendation for tumblr: Tunic (2022) (this game is a love letter to Zelda 1 and so very important to play. combat is tough but it's so worth it)

Now I just need to finish Link's Crossbow Training and Cadence of Hyrule...

[sharonaparadox]

[Images: fanart of Marin and Link from The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening sitting together on a log on the beach beside a palm tree, Mt. Tamaranch visible in the background. Link is leaning forward casually and looking ahead with a smile as Marin looks over to her companion with a grin.

A second image shows thumbnails of the artist’s pieces of fanart for other games in the series. These include Link fighting against Ganon, Link fighting against a white-haired Dark Link, Link walking up to the Master Sword in a wooded area, Marin and Link sitting together, Link holding a sword in one hand and wearing a Golden Gauntlet on the other, the Fierce Deity looking at the viewer and posing with a weapon, Link playing the Harp of Ages with large gears and an hourglass in the background, the four Links facing off against Vaati’s final form, Link sailing on the seas with the King of Red Lions, Link and Ezlo walking around the stalks of grass, Link in wolf form fighting an enemy alongside Midna, Link looking up at the Phantom Hourglass as Linebeck looks at a torn map, Link and a ghostly Zelda riding the Spirit Train away from the Demon Train, Link reaching out the viewer while Fi flies behind, Link hiding behind Stalblind, the Links dressed up in various outfits while the green-haired one kneels in front of a chest, Link charging atop a horse to face Calamity Ganon, and the logo for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. End description.]

Link and Marin!

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Game Boy (1993)

[zelda-heritage-posts]

Based on GameRankings.com

[minas-linkverse]

If your still interested in talking about ur opinions on zelda games... how about phantom hourglass

Phantom hourglass is a facinating one to ask about, because the feelings I have for it are so contradictory.

The game looks stale, at worst ugly... BUT it does have some genuinely memorable and fun designs and locations too.

The gameplay is jarring and hard to get immersed in, yet it also does some of the most fun and innovative tricks the DS ever got used for??

The music is nothing new, yet Linebeck's theme slaps extremely hard????

The story is odd, and has terrible decisions like making Tetra into a damsel and the odd choice of ending... 🤨

Yet... I love Linebeck. I love the ghost ship concept. I think Bellum is an excellent and underrated antagonist! The ocean king stuff was neat and oh how I adore Ciela. She isn't rly a character that got written well or respected by the narrative that was supposed to be about her... But what you can make it into with a bit of your own imagination is soo fun.

Not to mention how Phantom Hourglass has perhaps the best humour in a Zelda game and stuff from dialogue to cutscenes is so immersive, silly and lovable.

Phantom Hourglass is absolutely worth experiencing, and to many it'll be a real special hidden gem. Others like me arent gonna be able to get past the many issues... But I think its an incredibly charming clunky mess. I really like it. 💛

[thelittlelegends]

The Legend of Zelda is the first in the series! It's a beautiful open world game that features a top down view. If you were to tackle this beast, I highly recommend using the guide, as when I say open world, I mean it- the game doesn't hold your hand at all as you're set loose in the world of Hyrule. Either that, or you could watch a play-through of this game here!

Reblog and add what you love about the game, things you would like to see, or other resources for those who would like to learn more about it! Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Links to existing fanworks

Most underrated characters

Your favorite gameplay mechanics, story moments, etc

Analysis of story themes, character arcs, and so on

Favorite game items

Best music moments

That art idea you don't think you'll ever get around to drawing

Story tropes that are perfect but no one seems to include

(Don't know what's going on? Check out this post!)

[maddrumsticks2]

Just finished Skyward Sword! And I finished A Link Between Worlds a few days ago.

So, double post time! I'll start with ALBW because I had a few days to sit on that one.

Also just realized that with the completion of Skyward Sword, I have officially played and completed every 3D Zelda game! YIPPEEE!

(Long post below the cut!! Along with major spoilers for both aforementioned games!)

Ravio is SO SILLY. Though, he's already talked about a lot. Anything I could say about him has probably already been said.

But hey, I can't help but really like this silly guy who stole my house and all my rupees, okay? He's a little rascal.

So instead, I love Hilda having a clear motivation behind her actions. She is just trying to restore her kingdom. She wants her people to thrive. But she turned to the triforce instead of trying to find better meds to maybe help her people. Though the place was literally breaking apart, so maybe there really wasn't anything else that would've worked.

The story of this game is really heavy in the last 30 minutes, and that's really it. Before that it's just dungeons. Oh, and helping Ravio retire. I absolutely LOVED that XD

So, the distribution of the story could've been done better. But really, this game is so underrated for a Zelda game. Also, the whole moving through walls thing is super fun. LOVED that mechanic. Altogether, great game.

Okay, on to Skyward Sword!

SO good. This game does NOT deserve all of the negativity the surrounded it for some reason. Sure, I used button controls (I couldn't figure out motion controls for the life of me pff) but STILL! I think the Switch version definitely made it easier on me. Though idk what the Wii version is like so I shouldn't be trying to compare them lol.

On to non-gameplay stuff, the dungeons were so cleverly designed. As someone who is not particularly smart, I never found myself super stuck in the dungeons. Instead, I had a lot of fun with them! That's always a plus with me, but I don't find too much shame in looking up a walkthrough here or there.

Story! So fun! I loved Groose's character arc especially. I totally despised him at first but he reached silly status pretty quickly. His character was handled really well, too. He didn't just flip personalities. He showed his flip through his actions, not his words. Which for Groose is a perfect choice.

Also, Ghirahim is SUCH a theatre kid. Nothing can change my mind on that. (And before anyone gets mad, I'M a theatre kid. I know what we act like.)

I find it interesting that the whole game only takes place in three regions that you visit over and over again. Other Zelda games have done this before, but I think Skyward Sword does it the most. I loved all the regions, but tbh I think the forest was the most boring to me. The Ancient Cistern was cool though. I won't deny that. Also, Eldin was probably the most traumatizing for Sky. SO many bad things happened there lol. Like being burned because of how hot it is, then finding chains Zelda has definitely been bound in, being told he was too late. Then he comes back later and not much traumatizing stuff that time. Maybe getting chased by lava, probably not lasting trauma, just scary for a minute lol. But when he comes back a final time, the volcano erupts, covering the sky in ash and leaving him with no return to the sky. To make matters worse, he gets beaten up and captured by monsters and all his stuff was stolen. Wow I just wrote a lot about Eldin pfff

Sadly, I already knew about the whole Zelda is Hylia thing. I kinda wish I hadn't known that. That cutscene probably would've been cooler if I played this game in the complete dark.

Also, Link is so subtly expressive in this game. He actually has facial expressions! I love how at the end of the game, you can SEE Link's determination. You can see his desire to cut Demise down and save his world. I LOVE his expressiveness!

One thing I didn't know was that Demise was the Imprisoned. That actually surprised me.

Then there's Impa. I already figured out that the Old Lady was Impa before the reveal. So that was just "I called it." But here's the silly part about that cutscene: I read fanfic saying she died once. But of course I let my guard down. I believed that the author had Impa die from Ghirahim hitting her. And so, literally one text box away from the scene, I sent my sister in law a text like "lol, idk why I thought Impa dies. She's literally been here the whole time."

I had to send a text probably two seconds late saying "nvm, she died."

Whoopsies, silly me XD

Last thing I wanna say! (I think.) The whole lightning in the end battle is SICK! And now all the lighting scars people give Sky make sense. That's probably one of my favorite scar headcanons, honestly. That and Wild's blast scar. Also love giving Twilight a nasty arm scar, but I'm getting off track.

So yeah! Those are my silly disjointed thoughts on both the games I finished recently! Now I only have 2D games left to play. My list became so much smaller! It went from having ten games to just five.

Just have the Oracles games, Link's Awakening, the original and Adventure of Link to play! (I'm debating which one to start with. Probably the Oracles games to I can get Legend's character down better.)

Yay! Wall of text!

[doubtfulloser]

For the Zelda asks; 10, 26, 39

10. Favourite item? The hookshot for sure, always fun unlocking this and using it to explore. 26. Favourite handheld title? Minish Cap! That game's so underrated. I remember, when I first picked it up, I immediately fell in love with the art style. I love the story, dungeons, game mechanics, basically everything about that game. I hope it gets a remake or something, more people need to play it! 39. Which Zelda game, in your opinion, had the most satisfying ending? I just answered this, but I went with ALBW! Thank you for the ask! :]

[sapphicseasapphire]

YOUR SKY AND PIPIT COMIC MADE ME CRY

PIPIT NEEDS MORE RECOGNITION🫡

Best SS side character ong

HAPPY TEARS I HOPE???

But yeah! Pipit’s a favorite of mine haha! In my opinion, he’s the most interesting side character on Skyloft! By far! (Groose isn’t on Skyloft anymore so he doesn’t count!) He’s also one of the most underrated characters in any Zelda game.

• He’s an upperclassman at the Academy who actively stands up for Fledge and Link against Groose.

• He’s SO SUPPORTIVE. Every time you talk to him, he has something encouraging to say. He genuinely really cares about Link and Zelda and is one of the few people who believes in Link.

• He’s the only student at the Knight Academy who doesn’t live in a dorm.

• He lives at home, but you never see him there.

• The Worst Mother on Skyloft Award goes to Mallara! (Pipit’s mom). The reason Pipit’s never at home is because his home is a mess and his mother is the WORST.

• Mallara has really nice furniture and ceramics and stuff but it’s all messy. Pipit’s corner of the house is the only clean area, but his furniture is all worn down and scratched up. His blanket is patched. Everything he has is well used and mended.

• I kind of view that as a metaphor: Mallara has nice things but doesn’t care about them enough to take good care of them. She has an amazing son but doesn’t care enough about him to take care of him. Meanwhile, Pipit uses what he has, even if he doesn’t have much.

• ALSO he’s struggling financially. When you clean Mallara’s house, she gives you twenty rupees and tells you to say hello to Pipit for her. (There’s a reason she doesn’t say hello herself. There’s a reason Pipit doesn’t talk to her).

• If you clean her house enough times and then walk by it at night, you’ll hear Pipit yelling at her. I don’t know the exact quotes but he said something along the lines of “I gave you that money to buy bread and you spent it on a housekeeper! If you keep this up, I won’t be able to afford to go to the Academy next year!”

�� Bro’s a full time student and also works the night watches at the Academy just to have the money to put food on the table and put himself through school. He gives some of this money to Mallara and she IMMEDIATELY turns around and spends it on Link.

• THAT’S A WHOLE OTHER THING. Mallara pays Link to clean her house because she’s too lazy to do it herself. She tells him to talk to Pipit because she’s too lazy to do it herself. She expects Link to be her housekeeper and her messenger because she’s not willing to put the work in and do the bare minimum for her home or for her son.

• This whole time I’ve been calling it her house. But the game calls it Pipit’s house. PLEASE did he buy the house too?? So that his mother could destroy it?? Crying.

• He has the sweetest little crush on Karane and the game gives you the option to tease him for it! I will always give the letter to Karane because it makes me happy to see him happy. He deserves it! “You like her?” Such a little brother response.

• He literally says something along the lines of “don’t I deserve to know true love?” about Karane. Like. This guy’s never experienced genuine love in his life. His mother sure isn’t giving it to him.

• Link and Pipit are 100% brothers and I’m writing a whole fic about how Link was adopted into that problematic family and what that means for Mallara and Pipit. Suffice to say, Link and Pip are quite close! For my au, Pipit is the first person to really and truly understand Sky since he knows Link so well (literally grew up in the same house) but also knows Aepon! (Took care of the Loftwing while Link was away on his adventure). In many cases, he understands Sky better than Zelda does. Better than Sky knows himself! There will definitely be more Pipit content from me because he DESERVES SOME LOVE.

[hollysoda]

I can’t wait for my autism assessment where my counsellor asks me if I have any special interests, so I proceed to explain why The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is one of the best and most underrated games of all times, and she immediately hands me the diagnosis