Play Ball!

Well, Wal-Mart had it's supply of Mario Sluggers out a little early last night, so I managed to score one a day earlier than expected. And man, was it great. I can't say that it's perfect, but it's a stinkin' blast. I played an exhibition game against Yoshi and won handily. If ever a team deserved to get beat 25-0, it was Yoshi's team.

Anyways, today is the beginning of a new series I like to call "Greatest Friggin' Game in the Franchise", or GFGF (pronounced guff-guff). I'll take a look at an entire series of games (Mario, F-zero), and explain why a certain one is better than the others. If there are many games in a series, I may do a top 3 list or something. But I digress...

One of the oldest and greatest franchises of video game history is The Legend of Zelda. Universally considered one of the best series of all time by casual gamers and fanboys alike. The fantastic sense of adventure and immersive storylines have kept fans coming back for decades now.

The first Zelda game was released in 1986, soon after the release of the original NES. It was a groundbreaking game, letting players search all around trying to find new items and new areas. This template has remained as the basic structure for Zelda games. But it could only get better...
In 1991, A Link to the Past was released for the SNES. It gave players the ability to explore a Dark World, a parallel dimension to Hyrule. A similar structure was used in the GBC title Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons.

But, as with many TV shows and games, the series didn't really hit it's stride until a few episodes in. In 1993, Nintendo released Link's Awakening. It took everything great about previous Zelda games and made them even better. The story was incredibly engaging, the music was perfectly suited for each area, and every dungeon was exciting. It was the perfect Zelda formula, and one that, in my humble (but correct) opinion, remains the most perfect Zelda formula to date.

Link's Awakening was a Zelda game that had everything. It made you want to help the townspeople. You just had to keep going, so you could get the next item, and then the next one. Not only that, it took advantage of the Game Boy Printer, letting you print pictures from certain points in the game.

In short, it was the perfect game. And that's not to say that other Zelda games aren't amazing, because they are. But none have been quite as fun as Link's Awakening. Twilight Princess comes very close, however.

Therefore, the Legend of Zelda GFGF goes to Link's Awakening, which, ironically, does not even involve Zelda. Congraturations!

Disagree? Leave a comment!

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Mario Super Sluggers, Pikmin, CrossworDS