Since 1986 there have been a total of 18 The Legend of Zelda games. Although they been appreciated to varying degrees, one thing's for certain: there all some of the best action-adventure games of all time.
Given the series' longevity and consistent success, there is a large variety of variation when it comes to which releases are considered the best. Who better than to ask for a verdict than the series' producer who has been working on The Legend of Zelda since 1998?
While speaking to producer Eiji Aonuma, GameInformer learned what he considers his three favorite The Legend of Zelda games of all time. They are as follows:
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – "Ocarina of Time is a game that gave me the opportunity to create a 3D world."
1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – "This is something my wife also likes, Phantom Hourglass. That’s number one. I was developing Twilight Princess, and the goal for that was to make something better than Ocarina. But then that game was something I proposed as a new style of gameplay, and I was a producer on that game for the first time, so I have a lot of sentiment for it."
Although Ocarina of Time is a no-brainer given its widespread popularity, Phantom Hourglass comes as a bit of a surprise. It's one of the lesser appreciated The Legend of Zelda games, having debuted in 2007 on the Nintendo DS.
In a 2007 interview, Aonuma shared with GamerNode that he held great appreciation for how Phantom Hourglass "opened up casual gamers to the Zelda series for the first time", and delivered a "new control scheme to the aging Zelda formula".
Phantom Hourglass is the fourth best-selling The Legend of Zelda game of all time. Twilight Princess nearly doubled its sales total with the combined effort of Nintendo Wii and GameCube versions.
So what's your favorite The Legend of Zelda game? Let us know in the comments below.