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Episode 469: The Zelda 2D Ranking Hootenanny (Patreon)

Published:
2022-07-15 12:29:23
Imported:
2026-06
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Good morning, or perhaps evening if you find yourself on the opposite side of the planet from me. I'm Jeremy, and I'll be your host this episode as we take a searing, groundbreaking look at a little-known corner of video game history: A cult classic series called The Legend of Zelda. 

You may never have heard of these tidy, tiny adventures from a plucky upstart developer called "Nintendo," but to those in the know, they leave a lasting impression. This week, Diamond Feit and Stuart Gipp join me (Jeremy, your host this episode) to look back not only at the history of these games but also their relative merits. Nintendo has made many Zelda games, and here we evaluate them through the critical lens of criticism and decide which is the best and which should never have been created. But only the ones that play in a two-dimensional aspect! Many Zelda games have ventured into 3D; those, I fear, are for another discussion.

Cover art this episode by Greg Melo. Edits by Greg Leahy. Hosting by me, Jeremy.

10:09 - 30th Anniversary Concert: The Legend of Zelda Main Theme

25:33 - The Adventure of Link: Palace 1

34:53 - A Link to the Past: Hyrule Castle

42:46 - Link's Awakening (GB): Sword Search

51:48 - Link's Awakening (GB): You Found Your Sword/Overworld | Oracle of Seasons: Tarm Ruins

1:00:48 - Four Swords Adventures: Snow

1:08:22 - The Minish Cap: Minish Village

1:14:28 - Phantom Hourglass: Linebeck's Theme

1:23:19 - Spirit Tracks: Full Steam Ahead (Realm Overworld)

1:28:53 - A Link Between Worlds: Lorule Castle

1:37:43 - Tri Force Heroes: The Dunes

1:47:11 - A Link to the Past: Triforce Chamber

Closing - Link's Awakening (Switch): Staff Roll

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Comments

blim

These Ranking Hootenanny's are wonderful. Please keep making them. By the way, Minish Cap is really good.

Vanja

Oracle of Seasons is my number one since I got the cartridge back in the day. I love how the tone dances between goofy and fairly dark relative to other 2D Zeldas. It's got such a strong atmosphere and the slightly opaque presentation combined with some unique mechanics make it a standout. I didn't care for Ages at all though, honestly. The map design there just did not click for me. Seasons very much feels like a modernization of the original LoZ minus some of the more extreme "NES hard" obscure progression beats. For me, it's the only Zelda game that feels fully kin with Link's original outing

littleterr0r

Jeremy reconfirming that he's my favorite Retronaut with that first place ranking of Zelda 1.

Hayden Scott-Baron

I was relieved to hear so much support for Phantom Hourglass. I feel like its structure would be appreciated much more after all the popular roguelikes. Wonderful note taking too, which massively defanged the enemies moving in patterns! I love 4 swords on GameCube but it’s absurdly difficult to coordinate. I feel so lucky to have been in a position to complete it with the same group. Well worth the effort.

Graham McNaught

Stuart has a very cheap chippy. Tri Force Heroes is only worth just under two chippy teas up here in central Scotland. Still not worth it 😂

Andrew O.

Finally a hootenanny where I'm not wondering if I slipped into an alternate dimension of questionable taste. I thought Stuart would be taking the place of Nadia and assert a terrible entry as being the best. Imagine my surprise when I heard everyone sing the well deserved praises of Link's Awakening. (Take that Miyamoto! Also, Adventure of Link is better than Wii Music!) And while I love ALTTP the criticisms were valid.

Eino Keskitalo

Fun episode! The only Zelda I've managed to finish is Minish Cap, so that's a pretty good one in my books! Even if I spent a bit too much time trying to fully complete it (I have the buggy EU release). I've also played the first Zelda with the quickly mentioned GBA NES re-release. I wonder what's so bad about it! Finally, from listening, I got some spark to finish my journey with Seasons.

Mikey Cox

Great episode, I would have put Link to the Past 2 as my number one even if it is quite ugly, it’s just so much fun. Phantom Hour glass stylus controls just ruined it for me, I had the worst gamer rage of my life trying to do a stupid roll against a boss. Wound up throwing the stylus across the room and never playing that game again.

Andrew Webb

I can’t believe the game you have to pause constantly to switch between items is the number 1 2d Zelda. Psssh.

PurpleComet

I'm going to back up Jeremy's recollection of Zelda 2. It wouldn't surprise me if many people never even got the hammer in that game. The game was punishingly hard in so many places. And some of the hints are so obtuse you'd be hard pressed to figure them out on your own. I never even bothered trying to finish it until Nintendo put out a player's guide for it. I just don't enjoy Zelda with stylus controls. Touching a screen to move Link around and swing his sword doesn't feel satisfying to me. Spirit Tracks is the only game on this list I never finished besides Triforce Heroes (which I never picked up) because the final battle requires you to perform 3 spin attacks in a row and no matter what the third one always failed for me. I kept my DS in sleep mode for weeks, trying it again and failing on the 3rd spin attack every time until eventually I just looked up the ending on Youtube.