Zelda Games - Reception

Reception

The Legend of Zelda series has received high levels of acclaim from critics and the public. GameFAQs has held a contest for the best video game series ever, with The Legend of Zelda claiming the top position. Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword have each received a perfect 40/40 score (10/10 by four reviewers) by Japanese Famitsu magazine, making Zelda one of the only series with multiple perfect scores. Computer and Video Games awarded The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess a score of 10/10. A Link to the Past has won Gold Award from Electronic Gaming Monthly. In Nintendo Power's Top 200 countdown in 2004, Ocarina of Time took first place, and seven other Zelda games placed in the top 40. Twilight Princess was named Game of the Year by X-Play, Game Trailers, 1UP, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Spacey Awards, Game Informer, GameSpy, Nintendo Power, IGN, and many other websites. The editors of review aggregator websites Game Rankings, IGN and Metacritic have all given Ocarina of Time their highest aggregate scores. Game Informer awarded The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword with a score of 10/10. Phantom Hourglass was named DS Game of the Year by IGN and GameSpy. Airing December 10, 2011, Spike TV's annual Video Game Awards gave the series the first ever "Hall of Fame Award", which Miyamoto accepted in person.

Ocarina of Time and its use of melodic themes to identify different game regions has been called a reverse of Richard Wagner's use of leitmotifs to identify characters and themes. Ocarina of Time was so well received that sales increased for real ocarinas. IGN praised the music of Majora's Mask for its brilliance despite its heavy use of MIDI.