1. The Legend of Zelda (NES) - Honestly, I can't say I'm a huge fan of this game. It was certainly a great game for its time, but without a guide in front of me I just felt lost the whole time as a lot of the areas needed to progress are located in completely random areas that you aren't going to find without an insane amount of trial and error otherwise.
2. Zelda 2 (NES) - Contrary to most, I actually really liked this game. It's definitely a brutal one for Zelda standards, but unlike most brutal difficulty games which I don't like at all, Zelda 2 was fun (almost) all the way through. It's definitely a unique take on the series and has a certain kind of charm about it that other Zelda games don't have. My first time beating it was on Wii Virtual Console which does not have restore points, so I had to do all of it straight through without being able to restore back in difficult areas. Beating the game was an incredible feeling.
3. Oracle of Ages (GBC) - I played this one a ton back in the Game Boy Color/Advance days, though I never did beat it until it came out on 3DS Virtual Console as the game card stopped functioning before I reached the Zora area. It was an overall enjoyable title and I liked seeing how different the world map was when traveling back and forth between the two times. The dungeons were also fairly well-designed, though there were a few instances here and there where I had no idea where I was supposed to go, especially in the Zora dungeon where I got lost multiple times and often felt like no matter which way I went I'd somehow always end up at the exact same place. Still glad I stuck it through to the end though! I'm planning on picking up Seasons later on as well before the 3DS eShop closes down.
4. Ocarina of Time (N64) - I tried and I tried, playing all the way up to completion of the Water Temple, but I just could not get into this game. I was honestly not expecting that to be the case since I had played through Majora's Mask countless times before and greatly enjoyed that one. It's definitely not a bad game, and was definitely great for its time period, but after so many tries I just ended up having to put it down and move on from it.
5. Majora's Mask (N64) - Incredible game. Absolutely incredible. I love the story, the music, the dungeons, everything. Well, maybe except for the Goron race part... Perhaps it's not as content rich as OoT was, but what it might lack in quantity it makes up for in quality with its amazing dungeons (yes, even Great Bay), side dungeons (Ikana Castle and Pirate's Fortress), and sidequests (especially Anju/Kafei and related quests). This title is my favorite game in the series, and my favorite game of all time. I got Majora's Mask for Christmas the year it came out, and I've run through it multiple times a year nearly every year since then and I've enjoyed it every time, often discovering new things about the game in each playthrough.
6. Minish Cap (GBA) - I bought this one on Wii U Virtual Console and it was an absolute blast. I wish I had decided to try the game sooner, but I'm still glad I decided to try it. Excellent dungeons and I loved how the shrinking mechanic was handled. Once I get my replacement Wii U in, I'm going to have to redownload it (assuming remote transfer is still available via Nintendo Support, that is) and start another run of the game.
7. Twilight Princess (Wii) - I don't know what it is about this title, but everything just felt... off about it. I really didn't enjoy much at all about it, though the theme certainly was interesting. I never did finish it and I probably won't end up finishing it any time soon.
8. Wind Waker HD (Wii U) - Another great game and I love the aesthetics. I love the music and enjoyed the story for as far as I got in the game before my Wii U decided to lock me out of it by throwing me an unclearable error about my disk drive being faulty (which I recently learned likely isn't even actually a problem with the disk drive). Again, the dungeons were well designed and very enjoyable to play through. Unfortunately even a remote transfer won't be able to save all of the progress I made, but I still think I'll find another fresh start to be enjoyable.
9. Breath of the Wild (Wii U/Switch) - Another victim of the disk drive error which lost me hundreds of hours of progress, though I ended up buying it on Switch and have made significant progress in that save. Another incredible game in the series, taking my number two favorite game slot for both the Zelda series and games in general. This is one of the only games I've played aside from Animal Crossing (mainly New Leaf) that has managed to steal away so much of my time and remain just as enjoyable for every second as it was at the start. The world building and the exploration was very well done in my opinion. People often brought up the lack of much of a story in the game, and I understand where they are coming from. However, I discovered that most of the game's story isn't just what is explicitly told to us via the memories or characters. So many areas in the game reveal a much deeper story simply in the visuals, placement of objects, or even in the music. Speaking of music, the soundtrack to this game is absolutely amazing (yes, this game does actually have a soundtrack). The soundtrack is often criticized as well because unlike most other games we don't have music blasting at us the whole time as they chose to make it more ambient or just kind of lingering in the background, but I personally liked this approach to the soundtrack this time around and felt it actually worked really well for the tone and theme the game was going for. So much of the music has incredibly deep story or meaning to it as well, such as each of the Divine Beasts' songs or the Hyrule Castle themes. And the main dungeons, while in short supply, were very creative with their mechanics and were a blast to get through. Of all of the games I've played, this is the one I wish I could play for the first time all over again. It was such an incredible feeling that I fear I might not get to experience again from another game.
I have yet to play a core game in the series which has disappointed me in terms of gameplay and story and I am wholeheartedly looking forward to devoting yet another 500+ hours into BotW 2, just as I did with the first game.
