Is a Capcom-developed Zelda actually one of the best ever made?

Is a Capcom-developed Zelda actually one of the best ever made?

>graphics rivaling that of SNES titles, pushed the limits of hardware it was designed for
>perfect art direction
>some of the best music of the 2D games
>decent story with good characters
>large, well-crafted world filled with secrets and cool places to explore
>great enemy variety
>smartly designed puzzles, rarely challenging but never frustrating or counter-intuitive
>awesome items, especially the slingshot
>the seasons mechanic is the most innovative thing the series has ever done
>decent combat with good bosses
>tons of tangible rewards to find and not just useless rupees, everything from 60+ rings to regular items and upgrades
>the rings actually add depth to the gameplay and are one of the few things ever added to a traditional Zelda game that let you augment your play style akin to an actual RPG
>cool features like being able to grow trees and harvest seeds adds immersion and depth to the gameplay that is uncommon for the series

Overall, just a great game. Audio/visual presentation is on-point, controls are great, gameplay has depth and diversity, dungeons are well designed, great world to explore, everything. I know a lot of people like Link's Awakening, but this is the cream of the crop for me.

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Ages and seasons will always be in my top 3 2d zelda games.

>graphics rivaling that of SNES titles, pushed the limits of hardware it was designed for

You have no idea what SNES graphics look like.

>You have no idea what SNES graphics look like.
Seasons is an unbelievably good looking game for the hardware. When you look at the average GBC game and compare it to Seasons, the differences are huge. I never said it looked "better", but there are plenty of SNES games that look like dogshit compared to Seasons. ALttP is not a huge leap beyond it.

>>graphics rivaling that of SNES titles, pushed the limits of hardware it was designed for

The Oracles are the best 2D Zeldas and among the top 5 Zeldas in general.

Link to the Past, Seasons, and Ages are designed to look like LttP.
Which is a good thing because LttP is relatively simplistic in it's design.
If they had tried to do anything fancier it would've looked like shit.

You stole my post

>If they had tried to do anything fancier it would've looked like shit.
Of course, but who cares? It looks great, easily one of the most impressive GBC games right up there with Toki Tori.

Do you have any idea how many SNES games look like shit compared to pic related?

That's a nice NES game. Doesn't compare to SNES or Genesis though.

I would love a 3d remake of both oracles games and maybe even the third cute version too

>That's a nice NES game. Doesn't compare to SNES or Genesis though
You're out of your mind if you think anything on NES can even begin to compare to OoS, what are you smoking? The only thing I can even think of that looks half as good is maybe Batman, and even that is a stretch. Like I said, it DOES compare, and there are literally truckloads of SNES/Genesis games that look far worse than that.

Oops, meant for

Oracle of Ages/Seasons are definitely my favorite Zeldas. I guess if I had to give some criticisms, the games are a bit too linear. Barring maybe exploits, you have to do the dungeons in a specific order. Though considering that they have the most complex dungeons in the entire series, it might be a fair trade-off. Also fuck the Gasha Seeds, RNG bullshit. Makes getting 100% a pain in the ass.

The director of these games (Fujibayashi) also directed Minish Cap, Skyward Sword, and Breath of the Wild. I have no idea how extensive his creative control has been over every game, but I'd be willing to bet he had more control over OoS/OoA than he did over SS or BotW.

>Also fuck the Gasha Seeds, RNG bullshit. Makes getting 100% a pain in the ass.
I honestly don't mind this personally. It added a little variety to the gameplay. I wish Zelda games would add more features like this -- random enemy spawns, etc. I can see how it would be annoying if you just want to collect everything and be done but I feel it made the experience a little more unique and when you actually got a new item it felt more rewarding.

Nice to see a fellow Seasoned bro. I don't think it's the best 2D Zelda, or even the last handheld Zelda (Minish Cap and Phantom) but I do think it's one of the best. Honestly Ages brings down the reputation of this game so much. I've said it before: the only thing Ages does better is bosses, items, and the final boss. Everything else is just bad, including the final dungeon unlike Seasons. Seasons has the classic LoZ feel, a randomization factor, 5 types of worlds, and just more action. I always regretted asking my parents to only get me one of the games, but after actually playing Ages I'm glad I got Seasons.

Fujibayashi is a hack.

*last good handheld Zelda

IMO:
Awakening > Minish > Seasons > Phantom > Four Swords > ALBW > Tingle RPG > Ages > Spirit Track

This person is 100% wrong. Ages has the best dungeons in 2D Zelda, Seasons is the slackjawed cousin.

yes

>praising Fujibayashi
>had less control than over SS or BotW

Hahahahaha! You really don't know do you? Fujibayashi is single-handedly responsible for every misdemeanor and major screw-up in the Zelda series since he started working on it. Those flaws you're silently intimating in those games? Those aren't mistakes to Fujibayashi. He believes those are the best parts of those games.

Considering that SS and BotW (or even OoA/OoS) are pretty much polar opposites, I sincerely doubt that.

>Fujibayashi is single-handedly responsible for every misdemeanor and major screw-up in the Zelda series since he started working on it

If not for the rest of your post I would think this was sarcasm because it's a monumentally stupid thing to say.

meant to say *(or even OoA/OoS and BotW)

Agreed. I definitely don't blame anyone who prefers LA, ALttP or the other 2D Zeldas over Seasons but it is a personal favorite of mine, and a great game in general. I also agree about Ages, it simply isn't up to the same standard. It always felt so lifeless and boring compared to Seasons, and like you said, definitely brought the reputation down.

>Seasons is the slackjawed cousin.
You are literally the only person I've ever seen say this. I agree with the other user, Seasons is better in basically every way. The dungeons in Ages are tedious and boring.

i like that they are two full separate games, and also had the new game+ stuff with the codes going between the games

>LTTP DESIGNED TO LOOK LIKE LTTP

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY

Do these games have an actual ng+? As in starting over with all your items?

If you don't see similarities between at least SS and BotW then I have nothing to say to you. BotW is just SS with the skyplane filled.

As for Ages. It's obvious what happened is Miyamoto pretty much found a different yarnball to chase and left Fujibayashi picking up his leftover scraps after finishing Seasons (what the GB Zeldas were actually supposed to be like). The problem is that Miyamoto could never anticipate how monumentally stupid and inexperienced Fujibayashi was.

If you start a password-linked game you get an extra heart, start off with the sword right away, and keep all your rings. All the other items are lost. Certain aspects of the game are changed, NPCs reference things in the other game, and there's an extra ending + a couple bosses.

> Phantom > Tingle RPG > Ages

How dare you make me view this post with my own two eyes.

>gasha trees
>rings
>seed satchels

Three of the best ideas in the entire Zelda series and they were killed off after two games. Coming back to your tree and seeing the nut has matured and getting a ring and going to get it appraised and finding out it has a really cool ability was so awesome.

Good exploration + fun rewards. Why won't they bring this back?

The only things that BotW carried over from SS are the stamina system and the item drops, and BotW made very significant changes to them. Oh, and I guess the sailcloth, though SS's version is extremely restrictive and basic (and is based on the deku leaf, which is based on the deku mask). Everything else is completely different. There is a gigantic contrast and I refuse to believe you've played them if you think otherwise. It's night and day.

I'm starting to think you have schizophrenia honestly, and I should stop talking to you. Nothing good will come of this.

>not loving both seasons and ages, as well as link's awakening

>Three of the best ideas in the entire Zelda series and they were killed off after two games. Coming back to your tree and seeing the nut has matured and getting a ring and going to get it appraised and finding out it has a really cool ability was so awesome.
My absolute negro. This is one of the things I loved most. Being able to grow trees was really cool, and getting a randomly generated item from them made it a more rewarding experience. It made the game feel so much more alive and actually added a random element to the game which made it far more interesting than most Zelda games. I always wished you could grow plants and harvest them to make items, I felt like that kind of thing would really fit in Zelda. The Oracle games are the only ones to really scratch that itch.

No disrespect intended to either Ages or LA, Oracle is just a personal favorite of mine. I think we can both agree they are leagues ahead of the others.

It's true I haven't beaten BotW, but I've probably put more hours into both it and SS than you have just be thorough in my criticisms. They both have a very locked attacking scheme that feels very RPG-ish, they both have the same jump system although you can jump in place in BotW and with a little inertia, and they both have a reliance on a stamina system. Not to mention the crafting system. I never said these qualities were negative features in BotW, but if you don't see the obvious tendrils to SS you should pay a little more attention.

>Take LA
>Make more of it
>Make even more of it and sell it as two games

It's such a simple concept. WHy are we always inventing the wheel here?

Honestly, this is one of the worst games I've paid full price for played to completion. Maybe if you played with save states or something it might be mildy enjoyable for the art, but I honestly think I spent more time reloading my save than playing the game.

>It's such a simple concept. WHy are we always inventing the wheel here?
Because, somewhere in the 2000s, Nintendo started believing that they had to "innovate" to make Zelda games that would sell. Honestly, if they had just started making 3D Zelda games like LA and Oracle, I'd be happy as fuck. Just give me classic Zelda gameplay with good items and dungeons, and then throw in some cool RNG shit like Oracle had, that's literally all they had to do.

They had to "innovate" because Aonuma hates classic Zelda gameplay, so he desperately tried to turn Zelda into something it wasn't.

Vastly overrated games

he will die eventually. but we will remain. and then the birth of a new golden age of zelda will arrive. it has to

>Vastly overrated games
No, they aren't. They are fucking awesome, and a single copy of Oracle of Seasons is worth more than your life.

the only 2d zelda game that is overrated is alttp, and even that isn't as overrated as most of the 3d games.

>and even that isn't as overrated as most of the 3d games.
I sincerely hope you aren't talking about OoT, otherwise I agree with this statement.

>cheated and by his own admission never learned from his mistakes, learned to play the game

Oh I wouldn't have thought you wouldn't like it seeing as you never played it and all.

My favorite rings as a kid were the ones that let you punch and turn into monsters. The monster ones were useless but they were fun. And there were like what, 100 rings? Just fun extra shit like that. I also learned that you could make Maple spawn if you went to the top of Black Tower and then back down again she would show up on the first wild screen.

Also Maple and her crashing into you mini-game thing, that was so fun. You could get such good stuff from her and when it happened randomly in the overworld it made the game world feel more populated.

The oracle games had a lot of world buildings that other zeldas didnt. LA did this too by not just having a single town, you could find people living in small houses and stuff all over the game world.

I don't understand what you're saying. Your english is very poor.

>My favorite rings as a kid were the ones that let you punch and turn into monsters. The monster ones were useless but they were fun. And there were like what, 100 rings? Just fun extra shit like that. I also learned that you could make Maple spawn if you went to the top of Black Tower and then back down again she would show up on the first wild screen.
Again, my absolute niggersexual. I totally forgot about the rings that let you turn into like-likes and shit, that was so fucking cool. I remember really liking the punching ring too, no other Zelda game has let me literally punch a faggot moblin in his ugly nose. In terms of rings, I think there are 60ish if I recall correctly, but that was more than enough. Easily the most unique items of any Zelda game barring BotW. So damn cool.

>Also Maple and her crashing into you mini-game thing, that was so fun
Forgot about this also. Running into her and seeing her spill all the items was amazing, especially when you got something good.

>The oracle games had a lot of world buildings that other zeldas didnt. LA did this too by not just having a single town, you could find people living in small houses and stuff all over the game world.
Agreed, these games did so many things right. The world actually felt alive instead of static bullshit like Twilight Princess.

I just ordered a copy of this game earlier today after not playing it since the early 2000s. So pumped to get back into it.

you never really played it because you cheated all the way through it. It's like resetting when your character in a Fire Emblem is about to die before the game autosaves.

Is that articulate enough for you?

I never used the rings much. They were cool as shit but I felt like a cheating fuck using them (And like you said the monster ones are useless).

Still really cool addition though. I loved planting Gacsha (Gacha?) seeds and seeing what I got.

This, though imo most of the 2d zeldas are pretty top notch.

Just looked it up, 64 rings in total which is a good number.

>First Gen Ring
>Makes you look like Link from the first Legend of Zelda game for NES, preventing Like Likes from stealing your shield. You can't use items while wearing it.

That's so fucking cool, I never got this one. There's apparently another that makes you spin twice during a spin move. I remember writing down all the gasha seed locations were and just ginding them for rings. Good fuckin times. Honestly a remake of the Oracles and LA would be an instant buy for me.

Some of the rings were pretty OP like the ones that double your heart pickups and increase damage.

Also remember in LADX the color dungeon that was exclusive to DX where you could get blue or red clothing? That shit was so cool.

Why did these three games have more variety and creative ideas than the others? Also their color palettes were all very bright and colorful.

Cheating my ass.
>complete main quest for an area
>"How much money do you want as a reward?"
>Guess 10 over the number
>get nothing
>Instead of going to the next area, have to spend hours and hours doing menial grinding

Explain how this is more fun, fulfilling, or commendable than just reloading your save and guessing a different number.

They're good but Link's Awakening is still king of the Zeldas.

I got physical copies back in my first year of college that some student was selling on Kijiji for $15 each. I played the shit out of them after classes for the next month, linking them back and forth to get all of the exclusive endgame items (biggoron's sword, bombchu, lvl 3 sword & shield, etc.)

I plan on doing another good run through soon.

Seasons only loses to LA in story and atmosphere imo. Almost everything else is a straight upgrade, though LA is still a fantastic game in its own right.

I'll never forget how much time I spent hunting those super rupees with the shovel in ages and seasons. Also tfw you get one and it plops into the river, lost forever.

I prefer Ages over Seasons but they were both pretty great. I think they dealt with the time-travel and season gimmicks pretty well.

>It's like resetting when your character in a Fire Emblem is about to die before the game autosaves
You don't know how Fire Emblem works. You always have the option to redo the chapter after someone dies to fix your fuck up. The games only autosave at all in the GBA games too, probably so if your GBA dies you don't have to redo the entire chapter.

Take a step back for a moment and realize that these games didnt use those as "gimmicks". They were fully done mechanics. They never came across as cheap fill ins.

I feel like calling them gimmicks takes away a lot of the effort and care they took in designing the entire game around them.

>rivaling that of SNES titles
I'm sorry you grew up with shovelware.
>perfect art direction
>implying there's are outside promotional material
>cool places to explore
They're alright at best besides subrosia.
>seasons mechanic
>innovative
Yea, about as much as riding a boat, or turning into a wolf.
>the rings actually add depth to the gameplay and are one of the few things ever added to a traditional Zelda game that let you augment your play style akin to an actual RPG
They aren't required in any way, are tedious to use, and most of them do little to nothing at all.

It's fine for it to be your favorite, but don't act as it doesn't have flaws.

Yeah, that's true. I thought it was much better done than anything else in the Zelda series, actually. Felt like they integrated it with the game really damn well.

>Defending Tingle's Rosy Colored Shovelware Land

Why

Never forget mermaids cove dugeon 6 in ages. Having to goto the past, beat the boss, and change shit. Also how the changes you made in the past allowed you to be able to beat it in the present time

As a kid my mind was blown away over that. I never considered games could even do things like that. Fuck that dungeon by the way.

Meant for

They are really great. Far better than LA.

Seasons was pretty boring and straightforward to me. Ages was a lot more interesting in its world, dungeons, and puzzle designs.

Ages also has an actual story, which Seasons lacks. And it has memorable moments, like crashing on Crescent Island, exploring the ocean depths as a mermaid, infiltrating the castle, etc. Seasons has like.. Subrosia I guess.

Also, people like to point out that Seasons has "4" different worlds--one for each season. That's silly. It's all the same world with (slight) changes; the enemies remain the same, the people remain the same, and the Seasons mechanic was just another glorified method of traversal. Oh, need to get up there? Better make it spring so you can hop in the flower! Oh, need to cross this gap? Better backtrack to that stump and change it to fall so the leaves fill it in! Backtracking to stumps is fucking annoying, especially when the world is designed so that you might need to travel 15 squares around to get to the next square over. By the way, it arbitrarily decides to cut off your chosen season at a certain point on the map because reasons.

The only thing Seasons has over Ages is the items, which are unique and cool. Other than that, fuck it.

I've been playing through the whole series again and ranking them as I go. Just finished Wind Waker, and so far, Oracle of Seasons is at the bottom of the list.

Sorry for the blog. I'm salty.

I like Seasons overworld more than Ages. It's not only prettier but easier to navigate too since Ages entire bottom half is literally Ocean.

Can Seasons be played as a standalone experience?

amen nigger. the oracle games are criminally underrated and shit on many of the 3D games as well as rivals many of the best of the 2D ones.

Why did you call me a nigger man, what the fuck.

>nigger
Leave.

LttP, Ages and Oracles are the 3 best zelda games ever.
3D zelda games were a mistake, the formula works much better in 2D.
Fight me

I haven't played the Oracle games but I loved Awakening, perhaps even more than ALTTP

It's only easier to navigate at first glance. And then you realize that there are natural walls everywhere not shown on the map and you're stuck trying to fucking remember how to get to that one place you visited three hours ago. Shit can be like a labyrinth sometimes, and not the fun kind.

Ah shit, forgot about Awakening. I need to sleep. My point still stands, i feel that the 2d zeldas are better.

Honestly, that's the only good way to play it. How the password system works is that you have to beat one game and then you get a passcode that let's you alter certain sidequests in the one you play next. If you then beat THAT game, you have access to another dungeon where you complete the story. So either way you spin it, you have to beat Ages to complete the story of the Oracles. But that's also almost not worth the trek it takes to go through Ages for the type of people who like Seasons. But if you're asking more directly "how does Ages relate to Seasons" as far as the main story, there's only one connection. In Ages you meet a group of pirates who have become Stalfos and been cursed to cruise around in a circle for four hundred years on their way to Holodrum. After Link helps them, they sail on. In Seasons this boat has crashed because the events in Ages have already happened. That, and a mystery concerning who the captain was when he was alive are the only things that connect to main characters or story threads from Ages.

The two games are really standalone in that sense.

playing through ages right now

why are the rooms in dungeons so fucking huge compared to Awakening? there seems to be a lot of empty space. The Wing Dungeon is very fun so far, though.

*blocks your progress*

Yes, but there is a 'cliffhanger' at the end that encourages you to buy the other game. You also miss out on a few boss fights and the ability to see characters from one game appear in the other game.

interesting, i had been put off by the idea of having to play both for the proper experience, but perhaps I'll give seasons a whirl. I'll be shocked if it surpasses Awakening however

Just so you know, I had a lot more fun playing both of them together than I would have separately.

I went Seasons->Ages (Which is the chronological order), and there are some neat little tie-ins in a linked game of Ages. I also really enjoyed being able to earn more stuff (the master sword, more heart containers, etc.) by taking passwords back to my Seasons game and hunting down the people I needed to find in its world.

I mean, if it's not for you, I understand. But it is the way the games were meant to be played.

Why do people like Link's Awakening so much? Is it because it wasn't made by Aonuma?

i played it as a kid not knowing or caring who developed what.
LA had a really cool atmosphere that engaged me more than ALTTP. I wish it was a SNES game with ALTTP graphics

Overworld is shittier but the dungeons are better than AlttP.

It's also stupidly silly and cute which I love. But that's mostly because it's a reskinned For Whom the Frog Tolls.

Fuji was testing how much Zelda fans would let him get away with emptiness.

Read my post. The pirates and other miscellany proves Ages comes first. Ages also deals heavily with time manipulation. It makes no sense for Seasons to come first. Seasons is numbered first on the cart because it probably finished development before it.

The mysterious feeling and the melancholy idea of Link striving to find a way back to Hyrule against the well-being of the native populace. The quirky but suspicious characters. The ubiquitous sense of the final boss' presence up until the end where he's begging you to stop because you'll die too. It's like some Odysseyan fable. Which interestingly enough is a reference Nintendo made in the guidebook to the chronology.

Playing through Seasons right now. I appreciate how early Link gets the boomerang in Seasons in comparison to ages.

...

Like in LoZ.

Why did you save this?

the game boy color is 8 bit
the graphics don't rival SNES, not by a long shot
the graphics are good when compared to NES, but, that is about it

Because of youtube.com/watch?v=vtvtZT-PXGk

It was the only honest answer I got.

>>graphics rivaling that of SNES titles, pushed the limits of hardware it was designed for
That's a stretch, I would say the graphics are about on-tier with the Sega Master System or something, I do agree OoA & OoS are very nice looking games though.

because marin was my first vidya crush

I hear this a lot. Were there no other vidya women before 1993?

>saving Sup Forums posts you agree with to your hard drive
>posting them for others to see

This is pathetic beyond words.

I didn't save shit.
boards.fireden.net/v/thread/375567772/#375578685

Don't remind me, getting the rings was an agonizing experience.

>tfw finally get the Fist Ring and when Link punches he doesn't even take a step forward
I felt so disappointed.

There are better looking GBC games than Oracles, though most of them are Japan only. Medarot 5, for example, is beautiful. I like both Oracle games a lot though, yeah.

Yes you did. If you didn't save those screenshots, how did you post them?

People have been jerking off LA for a very long time. Personally, I didn't feel it when I finally played it in like 2008.