The Zelda Franchise is known for their difficult puzzles. And true, no Zelda game is a walk in the park, but I believe some take more skill and induce the rage quits more than others.
Ocarina of Time
This game was made when games seemed to be just a tad harder. There weren't many signs and characters to guide you along and Navi, the guide of the game, proved to be almost useless when it came to helping you through the game. So we were forced to fend for ourselves and sit through hours of brain-numbing puzzles. A lot of the time, I had no idea what was even going on in the story, let alone the puzzles. It took me three hours to even find where the Zora river was. This game didn't baby us around, and the puzzles were difficult, to say the least. You had to look at them in a different way every time because all of them were creative and outside the box. They incorporated the new items without shoving their functions in your face. But how do these puzzles match up against the others? We'll talk comparisons at the end.
Majora's Mask
I have to say, this game tested my patience more than any other game. Not only were the puzzles repetitive and demanding, but the game itself was a giant puzzle. At every second you had to tell yourself, "Do I have enough time to do this" "Am I going to make it in time" "Why is the Happy Mask Salesman so happy" and a billion others. Time was the biggest thing in the game. If you didn't finish the designated tasks in the set amount of time, you had to start them ALL OVER! This is what caused the anger and the rage quits. But what about the actual puzzles? The one I am going to focus on is Snowhead Temple. This, like the game, is a giant puzzle. Almost all the rooms affected the entire temple. The tower design was very creative, and you had to think of how each move would affect the puzzle. But were the actual puzzles harder, or was it the stress behind the time limits that created the difficulty?
The Wind Waker
This game is sometimes treated like the baby brother of the franchise. It's cartoon graphics and upbeat music created a childish atmosphere, but was the puzzles equally juvenile? Most players, especially ones who had played the previous games, probably flew through the beginning of the game without any trouble at all. But the later parts of the game grew more and more difficult. Some of the puzzles caught me off guard, and I was stuck mulling over them for hours. The puzzles I enjoyed (sort of) the most were the ones found in the end dungeon. They were creative and incorporated riddles, which are always (mostly) good. So this game's nature may be just a cover for the tricky and difficult puzzles. But was it actually harder than the other games?
Twilight Princess
This game set a dark tone right off the bat. The realistic effects were the complete opposite of the Wind Waker's cartoon graphics. But as we learned from the last game, graphics do not equal difficulty. But to put it bluntly, this game was hard, really hard. Like most of the games, the first dungeons were nothing big, the wolf section was more annoying than hard, though it wasn't easy either. But even the first dungeons had their share of tricky puzzles. The next sections were where the developers went all out. The dungeons were full of puzzles. At every turn, there would be a new conundrum (like the ice blocks) that would take hours (ice blocks) and send us throwing our controllers (did I mention the ice blocks?) and take long breaks. This game shoved the puzzles in our faces and played no games...except the one on the screen. But will it survive against the other games in this battle?
Skyward Sword
This game is not known for being hard, mostly the opposite, but I have to disagree to a certain point. True, a lot of the dungeons were a piece of cake, but the few near the end took that piece of cake mentality and shoved it down its throat. The time stones and a few other new components were absolutely amazing and not only added a whole new degree to the graphics but definitely to the puzzles. There's really not much else to say about the puzzles, but the new items really helped with the puzzles, which we'll talk about next time. Will this game secretly beat the others...?
Comparisons
Here is the final list of my opinion on the hardest and easiest games in the Zelda Series from easiest to hardest:
NUMBER 5: The Wind Waker
This game had some hard puzzles, but none of them really stumped me. It had some creative puzzles, too, but not as much as some of the other games
NUMBER 4: Skyward Sword
This game was pretty close to number five. It was a pretty easy game in comparison, but there were some really hard and creative aspects that made up for some of it
NUMBER ???: I hate to do this, but I could not decide for the life of me on these other two. So...(pause of shame) I had a tie.
Ocarina of Time-Twilight Princess
Ocarina of Time had hard puzzles throughout, except at the very beginning. And the Water Temple pulled the rest of the weight because holy cow it was hard. Twilight Princess was really hard, and that's about all there is to it. It wasn't super creative, but the puzzles had very cool mechanics. It took the longest to beat and the wolf sections, though extremely annoying, were pretty cool.
NUMBER 1: Majora's Mask
Majora's Mask had the most creative puzzles of the bunch. The time aspect was very hard but was not technically a puzzle. But the puzzles that were based on the time limit were the hardest. The dungeons were the most serious and personally took the longest and most effort to complete, mostly because they sometimes had to be beaten two or three times. So, yeah, patience is a virtue, and it is one I totally forgot about while playing this game.
So there you have it. You might not agree with the list, but hopefully, you have experienced some of these Zelda puzzles because even though most of them made me mad and want to quit, they were the most fun parts of the game. The stories are great, but the puzzles are the things that make the Zelda series so cool and original. I hope you enjoyed it, and Happy Adventuring! :)
~Stalfos
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