I am working my way through Ocarina of Time 3D — slowly, because I can only play during work hours — and I’m enjoying it. It’s fun!
I do admit, however, that I would enjoy it even more if this were Wind Waker I were playing instead. I dunno why, but I’ve always loved Wind Waker more than any other Zelda since the original. And the seafaring parts would be perfect for killing time on the train. Why, I’d kill a man to have a portable version of Wind Waker! (Preferably a Tingle cosplayer.)
Link is peering into your soul, by the way. He knows that you think Ocarina is way better than Wind Waker, and he’s having none of it. Look at that expression. I hope you’re as disgusted with yourself as Link is.
(Seriously, has any other game ever had a hero as expressive as Wind Waker’s Link? It’s been nearly a decade now. You’d think the rest of the world would have caught up after all this time.)
I consider Wind Waker to be better than Ocarina as well so I don’t know why Toon Link is looking at me that way. It’s not my fault!
Wind Waker holds a special place in my heart. Timeless art style, wonderful music and that wide open sea. I loved spending all that time filling out each and every dot on my sea chart. I even enjoyed simply sailing around. So much so I barely teleported the first time I experienced the game.
Of all the N64+ Zeldas, Wind Waker left the biggest impression. Especially the underwater end game.
One of my favorite moments from Wind Waker is when you first get the hero clothes and just how bored and uninterested Link looks. Wind Waker isn’t my favorite Zelda game, but that has to be the most personality Link could ever hope to muster.
“And the seafaring parts would be perfect for killing time on the train.”
If you brought a book to read so you’d have something to do during the seafaring parts, maybe.
…but yeah, I’m with you and everybody else in the thread: Wind Waker is a way better game than Ocarina.
Wind Waker is better of course! You feel free in this game, the way you used to in the first Zelda. I can’t stop wondering why people only looked at Link’s tonny look, thought taht “seafaring” (great!) is boring, or criticized the Trifroce hunting.. I loved it. (but I think the endgame is rushed.. some items are not very usefull except for one dungeon..)
Honestly I’ve never thought OoT was anything special; I don’t think it stacks up to any of the console titles since.
I respect Tingle cosplayers. It takes a brave person to do it.
Well I think Ocarina of Time is far better than Wind Waker (I’m not much of a fan of this game period) so he’s probably looking at me.
“Why, I’d kill a man to have a portable version of Wind Waker! (Preferably a Tingle cosplayer.)”
If that’s what it takes, I will help you hide the body.
I’m sooooo happy to see some well deserved love for Wind Waker! Not my favorite Zelda, but definitely my favorite 3D Zelda!
Has it really almost been ten years? Gosh. I think it doesn’t seem like such a long time ago because Wind Waker still feels so contemporary.
I still can remember when Ocarina of Time was just a few years old, I can’t believe it’s over 10 years old.
THANK YOU! I’m always met with strange looks when I say I far prefer Wind Waker to Ocarina. Love it.
I like Wind Waker a lot too. Maybe the 3DS will finally bring about a sequel that doesn’t shoehorn in touchscreen garbage or some stupid repeating dungeon.
Aw, I liked Spirit Tracks. Actually I liked most of Phantom Hourglass too, but I wouldn’t try to defend the time-limit dungeon.
And while the touch controls in both are merely adequate when it comes to swording things, they’re aces to use with most of the tools. And the great dungeons focus more on the tools than sword combat anyway.
Me too – in fact I thought Spirit Tracks was outright fantastic. I don’t understand the hatred it gets. It was the first Zelda in a LONG time to actually do something new and interesting with its puzzles. Seems like 99% of them these days are “Push block onto switch” or “Hit switch with boomerang/arrows.”
I personally think it just gets a bad rap from Phantom Hourglass (which was also pretty decent but yeah, that Ocean King dungeon was awful) and all the jerks who refuse to like anything with Wind Waker-style graphics.
I’ve always thought the cel-shaded Link is truer to the original intent of the character design than, say, the Twilight Princess version. Obviously due to graphical limitations Link had to be squat and cartoony on the NES and SNES but I don’t really think they had a realistic-looking adult character in mind anyway. Cel-shaded link also is kind of amusingly impish and, yes, expressive.
I haven’t even played Wind Waker, actually I don’t even own the game. I should probably buy it sometime.
Wind Waker is one of those things that just makes living life so much more worth it. Honestly the only thing I don’t like about WW is that Zephos doesn’t show up, laugh, and then ride away on his cloud in the last scene.
Real talk: Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker are both fantastic games! Anyone reading this who hasn’t played either/both, should definitely do so.
In terms of presentation, however, Ocarina of Time hasn’t aged so well, and definitely deserves a face-lift. The N64 was not kind to its games, what with the 320×240 resolutions and low framerates. Wind Waker has aged ASTOUNDINGLY–better than any other game I can think of. It’s the sort of game that will still be beautiful for years to come.
Windwaker is also the only modern (read: 3-D) Zelda game that comes anywhere close to equaling the original in conveying the feeling that you’re amidst a huge, untamed world to explore where hidden treasures could be lurking in any given nook and/or cranny. That was, in my estimation, OoT’s biggest shortcoming, with it’s “big hub with a bunch of ancillary arenas” approach. (In fairness, though, still haven’t played Twilight Princess, so maybe it’s better about that?)
I can’t fully comprehend this undercurrent of Wind Waker love. (Unlike the Majora’s Mask love-in, which I totally get). Graphical amazement aside, I found Wind Waker slightly underbaked. Then again, it’s been eight years since I’ve played, and it’s due for a return trip. Same with a lot of Zelda games, however. I’m planning a Zelda Roulette this summer and letting the luck of the draw decide what game will get me geeked up for Skyward Sword.
Wind Waker is definitely better than OoT. I don’t mind the boat sections all that much, and the music is amazing. Neither can touch Link to the Past though. As far as I’m concerned, that game is perfect.
/fistbump Biff
Same here. I’d love a 3DS WW.
Ah, I just started WW a few days ago. It’s worth booting up on the Wii if you have component cables, the game looks great in progressive scan. Ocarina is OK; to be honest, I prefer my Zelda in 2D and top-down.
It isn’t really an apples-to-apples comparison. OOT was a new format for the series, and full of mechanical innovation. It was a technical rather than an aesthetic marvel, sometimes sprawling and ungainly.
Wind Waker benefits from improved technology and developer expertise. It is a refined, nuanced aesthetic wonder, and has the most charming renditions of the world and characters to date. Mechanically, though, it plays it safe, and the whole experience feels, if not “constructed,” then at least “produced.”
That said, fighting Wizrobe-spawned mobs in WW is the best combat experience in any Zelda. TP was definitely a step back.
Got this far without anyone mentioning Majora? For shame.
I replayed Wind Waker only a couple of months ago, actually. It’s still damn fine stuff.
I loved playing this game and looking at it so much that I even got all the color figurines that require you to take photos. I really need to get some component cables for the Wii.
LttP supremacy! WW was cool too though.
Sorry, but the sailing and the triforce piece collecting holds WW to a tie with OoT for best zelda game.
On the other hand, OH MY GOT DAT FINAL BATTLE.
Those were my biggest gripes about Wind Waker too. You take them out and it would have been a pretty flawless game.
Maybe Nintendo will do a Wind Waker 3DS with better sailing and the triforce hunt replaced with, you know, dungeons :P
I’m still hoping that the 3DS port of OOT sells well enough to justify a 3DS port of Majora’s Mask. Aesthetically-speaking it’s the polar opposite of Wind Waker (dark, murky and laced with Day of the Dead-style freakishness) but it’s still my favorite Zelda of all time, at least from a gameplay perspective.
Wind Waker deserves kudos for its art style, but it was really half a game. It peaked in the fight against the bird before falling off a cliff (though the final fight with Ganon was pretty amazing).
I think I like Twilight Princess better.
Wind Waker builds atmosphere in a way very similar to Shadow Of The Colossus, I would argue, and looking back that’s why I loved it more than any other Zelda, even the first(!). Something about sailing around a mostly empty world, not to mention exploring the frozen-in-time-temple, gave me that same sense of exploration and loneliness as Colossus did albeit, obviously, in a different way and not as all-encompassing.
Your game is filled with lame filler BS, Toon Link, and even your daddy admits you kind of suck.
Okay. Okay. I’ll see everyone else’s two cents and raise you two more: if you like the 2D Zeldas, especially presented in console format, you owe it to yourself EVEN WITHOUT OWNING A SINGLE GAME BOY ADVANCE to check out Four Swords Adventures for the Gamecube. Even as a single-player game, it’s a much shallower but every bit as fun second coming of Link to the Past (down to using tweaked versions of many of the same sprites, musical motifs, and sound effects).
Wow, I thought I was the only one who really fell in love with Wind Waker! I really enjoyed OoT and TP, but there was something about the art style in WW that I found irrepressibly charming and fun.