Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series debuted on the Famicom in 1986. Throughout 34 years, the Zelda series has grown larger with each generation. Reaching from four hours on the NES to over 100 hours in Breath of the Wild, Nintendo has achieved massive success with an ever-growing franchise.
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However, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that some titles were too short whereas others overstayed their welcome. Even among some of the greatest games of all time, there were instances where the game length could have been adjusted with a bit more polish. In some cases, however, games were an otherwise decent length but could have used more extras from a remake.
10 Too Short: The Minish Cap
Right off the bat, perhaps the most familiar game synonymous with “short” and “Zelda” is The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap for Game Boy Advance. Following the GBA port of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, the GBA clearly showed it was capable of running a Zelda game with over a dozen dungeons.
Unfortunately, The Minish Cap consists of five dungeons, not including the last one. This is less than the usual number of 8 in standard entries or with more “mini-dungeons” such as in Majora’s Mask. To make matters worse, the Mirror Shield was obtainable only after beating the game. They serve no purpose in advancing the story or use in dungeons in any way.
9 Too Long: Twilight Princess
Twilight Princess was meant to be the biggest Zelda game of its time. This title was ambitious for going for the 40-hour mark. Even with the standard 8 dungeons, the adventure felt like it was presented on a grand scale.
However, this included making Hyrule Field a little too big at times. Often bereft of enemies or activities, much of this time was spent with Link traversing an open world with little to do. While it was ambitious to make a game this big at the time, Nintendo could have also opted to include more activities in the open world.
8 Too Short: Link’s Awakening (Switch)
GREZZO became known for remaking Zelda games on modern systems. Sometimes they do their job a little too well. In this instance, Link’s Awakening is a near-identical remake with HD graphics, arranged music, and a couple of additions or improvements.
Oftentimes, when games are remade or re-imagined, this comes with new levels or bosses. In Link’s Awakening‘s case, it at least included the Color Dungeon which was already released in the Game Boy Color release. A game this good, remade over 20 years later, deserves more add-ons to keep us playing outside of Hero Mode.
7 Too Long: Skyward Sword
Skyward Sword was perhaps the definition of overstaying one’s welcome. The chronological beginning of the series’ saga intended to be longer than Twilight Princess. For better or for worse, it succeeded in every way. Rather than just making the overworld a little lifeless, players trekked through the empty sky for minutes at a time.
To make matters worse, Skyward Sword forced the player to trek back and forth through most of the game. It was not uncommon to go to one region for something, enter another region to get a key item, and then come back to the first. Fighting the Imprisoned nearly half-a-dozen times also contributed to its padded length. While a re-release may come to Switch, there’s no telling if a remaster would fix the game’s pacing flaws.
6 Too Short: Majora’s Mask 3D
When Majora’s Mask came out, it was considered as the “black sheep” of the series. It didn’t follow many of the traditional Zelda rules and one of them was the dungeon count. While players fought through mini-dungeons, in the overworld of Termina, there were only four main dungeons throughout the game.
However, Majora’s Mask became one of the most popular and favored games in the series over time. Even with the four dungeons, the number of side-quests the players could do more than made up for this. Unfortunately, just like with Link’s Awakening, the remake didn’t add content outside of some upgrades and improvements.
5 Too Long: Phantom Hourglass
The storyline sequel to Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was the series’ debut on the Nintendo DS. As with Wind Waker, this meant sea travel. Unfortunately, this meant maybe a little too much seafaring.
Link would draw a route and go back and forth between islands on his boat. However, aside from fighting a few random sea monsters or pirates, it was easier to just leave the DS be while Link sailed. To make matters worse, players had to return to the Temple of the Ocean King every time they cleared a dungeon.
4 Too Short: Wind Waker HD
Wind Waker would have initially been “too long” thanks to the cumbersome Triforce quest. The number of rupees to pay for and the Triforce Charts became overly long. However, Wind Waker HD condensed the second half considerably.
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Unfortunately, it doesn’t address one of the fandom’s most common issues to address: that Link gets the 3rd pearl without putting up a fight. There is no “Jabun’s Dungeon” as there were with the other two pearls. Even in the remake, we would love to play more Wind Waker with an additional dungeon.
3 Too Long: Spirit Tracks
As with Phantom Hourglass, Link’s second outing on the DS was a touch-screen adventure with cumbersome levels of traveling. However, as this follows Phantom Hourglass by hundreds of years, the seeds planted across the sea became new lands, forming a new Hyrule with a new overworld. Joined by Zelda, Link would rescue the world once more.
Unfortunately, by replacing the boat with a train, players still had to travel back and forth repetitiously across Hyrule. They also had to go to the tower every time they cleared a dungeon. Thankfully, they did not have to start at the beginning of the dungeon unlike in Phantom Hourglass.
2 Too Short: The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D
Much as with Link’s Awakening and Majora’s Mask, this entry addresses the issue of the lack of extra content. Keep in mind that Nintendo was not always this bashful with adding extra content to their games. Super Mario 64 DS, for instance, added a whole 30 stars not originally seen in the N64’s Super Mario 64.
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Unfortunately, GREZZO has a habit of being bashful as it might somehow threaten the purity of the original release. While Ocarina of Time 3D does have a Hero Mode (Master Quest), the Boss Rush they added also lacks any sort of incentive. While Ocarina of Time held a history of rumored content, it’s a shame GREZZO never capitalized on it with more dungeons or challenges. Despite this, Ocarina does feature a plethora of side-quests to offer the player.
1 Too Long: Breath Of The Wild
It’s a stretch to even say Breath of the Wild was “too long” to begin with. This beautiful title paced itself well across the 100 hours it was given. With five major dungeons and 120 Shrines, the player left entertained. Furthermore, it even made the overworld brim with life and new discovery.
Even then, it can’t be helped but to be noticed that Breath of the Wild is quite overwhelming in its scope. The long treks across Hyrule Field are, at this point, part for the series’ course but with a bit more action this time. Even if it’s polished well throughout, whether it’s “too” long or not, make no mistake. Unless the sequel manages to succeed this, Breath of the Wild maintains itself as the longest game in the franchise!
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