5 of the most ambitious Legend of Zelda games

The concept of The Legend of Zelda, first envisaged around 1985 by Shigeru Miyamoto, has some key features, such as exploration, combat, and puzzle-solving. Zelda has influences such as Peter Pan and the Myth of King Arthur, and threads of Shinto symbolism are included throughout the games, such as the anthropomorphized Deku Tree. The Legend of Zelda has become a bastion of Fantasy for millennials worldwide. Many Zelda games wander from the original concept, but all still have the three features of exploration, combat, and puzzle solving at their core. I think Zelda games are ambitious by definition, as exploration and freedom are integral to what they are. However, some have been used to push the graphical limits of their hardware or to explore the edges of their designer’s creativity, so there’s more than one way of being ambitious. This article looks at different Zelda games and how and in what ways they are ambitious. Read on for some fun facts about Zelda and a showdown to decide which is the most ambitious Zelda game.

Zelda Ocarina of Time

Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the game that brought the series into the third dimension. Developed concurrently with Super Mario 64 (a defining game of the early 3D era), Ocarina of Time introduced many features that would influence not only future Zelda games but games in general. The Z-targeting lock-on system was revolutionary for its time and allowed the playable character to pivot on a point around the enemy. This made maneuvering and combat in 3 dimensions much easier when many developers found it hard to develop games in 3D. As Ocarina of Time was Zelda’s first foray into 3 dimensions, the game was ambitious by definition of what it was. It was also ambitious in that it had a modular, semi-open world. This was in an era when ‘open world’ games hadn’t yet blossomed. Ocarina of Time was one of the most ‘open’ and ‘free’ experiences people had had with video games up to that point.

Ashton Lovell, my colleague at Smash Jump, had this to say about Ocarina of Time;

Nintendo holds the proud crown for developing two of the most revolutionary 3D games in history. Super Mario 64 established the mainstays of the 3D platforming genre. Meanwhile, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time not only brought the 2D dungeon-crawling, puzzle-solving, bokoblin-slaying adventure into the modern 3D age, It laid a foundation that action-adventure games would follow for decades. It could be argued that Nintendo not only revolutionized its own franchise but that it revolutionized the entire art form. Ocarina of Time is not only an all-time great game, it is one of the most historically significant in gaming history.

Ashton Lovell

There are not many superlatives that we can give Ocarina of Time that hasn’t already been said, but for me personally, the text boxes and choice-making within the game helped me to master reading and narrative structure. It also has been a source of inspiration for me, even as an adult. The story itself is simple, yet like all good fairy tales, it has many meanings, as, it can be looked at from different perspectives, and each has some angle or subtext that another perspective lacks. I think that is what makes Ocarina of Time special to so many people, its storytelling.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild

For many years, the Zelda games had followed a similar structure of 3 dungeons, exposure to a ‘second world’, and then a further four or more dungeons. That was how Zelda was until Breath of the Wild. Breath of the Wild was a complete revolution in that it flipped the whole structure on its head. It used Super Mario 64-like shrines (similar to collecting stars in Mario 64 but in puzzle format where you win a spirit orb upon completion). Together with an explorable, fully open world that included cooking and crafting mechanics, Breath of the Wild was a huge success. The game sold more than the previous Zelda (Skyward Sword). My colleague Adrien Cozmuta had this to say about the title;

Zelda has historically been associated with memorable dungeon action. Then Breath of the Wild came along and what followed was an open-world reinvention. Breath of the Wild was risky for the franchise, bucking the well-developed original Zelda trend. It opened Hyrule to expansive exploration more so than anything before and gave players incredible freedom and environmental storytelling. See Hyrule Castle in the distance? That’s yours to explore, if you dare! The risk was ultimately well worth it. Breath of the Wild is found at the top of most Best Games of All Time lists, kickstarting the Zeldamania we are all currently part of.

Adrian Cozmuta

Whether we are currently in an era of ‘Zeldamania’ is debatable if we compare it to such things as the Pokemon phenomenon. However, Breath of the Wild has indeed reinvigorated the series. With the Zelda movie on the horizon, Breath of the Wild will surely influence that production, and many who watch the film in 2026 or 2027 will indeed have grown up with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game has shown new ways to play Zelda, and the structure has been completely rejuvenated despite still being based on exploration, combat, and puzzle-solving.

Zelda: Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker boasted a fully open world (in the form of the Great Sea) in an era where most open worlds were modular (such as Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask). Its feature of interconnected islands that sit on a great sea was ambitious for its time, and it executed it very well. The cel-shaded art style was initially criticized but it has since been recognized as an attribute that has helped to make Wind Waker a timeless classic since cel-shaded graphics have aged a lot better than more realistic graphics.

The Wind Waker was a great step up from previous games regarding narrative, cinematics, and scale. The cutscenes were epic and memorable, such as those with the Helmaroc King. A few of the other cutscenes stand out, such as those early Ganon scenes, and as an observer, it is visible how the cutscenes had developed since Ocarina of Time. The game was a great achievement and was ambitious in its execution, particularly the first half of the game (it could be argued that the second half was rushed).

Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Zelda: Link’s Awakening was the first Zelda game for a handheld console, and it was created on the humble Game Boy, which was lacking in power. However, Takashi Tezuka and Kazuaki Morita believed that they could complete the task of creating a full Zelda game for the Game Boy, and after a few months of work (after normal hours), they were confident enough to show their project to the Nintendo directors, who officially green-lit the project. Not only did Nintendo manage to create a Zelda for the Game Boy, but they also created a game with features on the same level as A Link to The Past. The game included environmental storytelling, side quests, many NPCs, and optional content. Many of these features wouldn’t have been possible on the NES and were thought not to have been possible on the Game Boy. It seems all of this makes for an ambitious handheld Zelda game.

Link’s Awakening borrowed a few assets and enemies from the Mario series, including the chain chomp, goombas, and more. It also had a more whimsical, less serious tone than A Link to The Past. Zelda: Link’s Awakening was upgraded with a color version for the Game Boy Color in 1998. It also was re-released on the 3DS virtual console and had a full remake for the Nintendo Switch in 2019.

Zelda: Twilight Princess

I remember when I found out the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker would use realistic graphics. Ocarina of Time had been my favorite game growing up, and still only fourteen, I was hyped for the return of ‘mature’ Zelda. Looking back, it is silly that realism meant better for me back then, but Nintendo probably made the right decision to use realism to sell units. The general hype around Twilight Princess was massive. It rivaled the hype for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild over ten years later. When Twilight Princess was released, it was, of course, a dark and moody adventure, but there was no way it could have lived up to the hype. It didn’t flow as well as Ocarina of Time, and it wasn’t as cinematic and polished as The Wind Waker.

I think it deserves a spot on this list because back then, a realistic Zelda on the Gamecube was a hugely ambitious task. As I’ve said, the hype was massive, and everyone who had played Ocarina of Time was keen to see Link in beautiful Gamecube-era graphics. We did get that, but it couldn’t capture the magic of Ocarina of Time. It was still a great game, though.

Conclusion

Overall, in terms of ambitious Zelda titles, it’s a close call. Link’s Awakening was a feature-full Zelda title for the humble Game Boy, but it did little to push the series forward. Wind Waker was an early non-modular open world. The Great Sea was a lot of fun to explore. Its graphical style is timeless. However, it wasn’t released at a crossroads for the series. Twilight Princess had a lot of hype but, in the end, didn’t live up to it. It comes down to Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild as the most ambitious Zelda titles. Ocarina of Time brought the series into 3D, flowed almost perfectly, and has become iconic for the series. Breath of the Wild completely rejuvenated the series, and Nintendo made a 10/10 at their first attempt at a new game style. For those reasons, I think that Breath of the Wild deserves to be crowned the most ambitious Zelda game of all time.