[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

I know more about Zelda canon than I should but I also kind of hate every Zelda game after Wind Waker on those grounds.

Zelda Musou is obv. non-canon, just like Link's Crossbow Training

I hope
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Putting it out there right now that Wind Waker is the only game in the series to use its direct canon relationship to a past game in any meaningful, non-fanservicey way.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Canon-wise, Zelda kinda runs into the same problem as Castlevania in that the developers really obviously only started caring about plot after they'd already been making the games for like 15 years, at which point a dedicated series producer came onto the scene (Aonuma and Igarashi, respectively) and took it upon himself to try and fashion a coherent timeline out of a bunch of games that clearly had little to no thought put into anything resembling continuity. The results, predictably, are a schizophrenic mess.

Really I'm still convinced (despite Link Between Worlds restoring some of my faith in the series) that Zelda just needs a complete franchise reboot, where all the shackles of series canon and gameplay traditions are dropped save for a few essential elements (the Triforce, the Link/Zelda/Ganondorf trinity, the general mythology of Hyrule, the whimsical/mythic tone, the puzzle/action gameplay, the emphasis on exploration, etc.) and a team of totally fresh-faced developers (like, say, Retro Studios) are allowed a chance at radically reimagining the game for a different era. Kind of like what Lords of Shadow was supposed to be, minus the all-around mediocrity.

It's bern way too long since Nintendo did anything to shock their fans.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Phantom Hourglass was decent but mostly forgettable. The touch controls were novel but still ultimately a gimmick. And you're better off for having never played Spirit Tracks.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Okay yes, the note-scribbling feature was the most ingenious aspect of the DS Zeldas and I sincerely wish that every game with a map could have that option.

The Ocean King's dungeon was somewhat novel I guess but I remember almost nothing about it except for the general concept.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.