Which Zelda Has The BEST Art Style? | Ranking Zelda Art Styles | Zelda Art Style Tier List 

Twilight Princess on B is a Crime

I’d put Phantom Hourglass at B, I actually like the pixilated look. It has almost a claymation quality to it. It’s nostalgic. I like MM at A too

I think pixel-for-pixel, polygon-for-polygon, that _Ocarina of Time_ and _Majora’s Mask_ have the best art style… they’re oh so atmospheric and evocative. same goes for the music, too.

Good list! I agree with everything except botw and ss gotta be s tier

I think the issue with spirit tracks & phantom hourglass art styles is that the resolution is too low for the art style. So in my opinion, it’s a case where graphics can be used to lower a game’s art style ranking. Enjoyed the list/video. However, I believe minish cap should be B tier instead of A tier. Therefore, you are evil and every opinion you’ve ever had is invalid! On second thought, I can see the case for it being A tier so, I’m conflicted…

BOTW art style is my absolute favorite. I’ve had so many moment of awe at how well it works and how beautiful it looks. It reminds me so much of a Studio Ghibli film, which I love. It perfectly fuses some of the darker elements of Zelda with a cell shaded animated style. It will age very well, 30 years from now it will still look great.

You lost it at O.o.T damn!

A link between worlds in C tier is such a heinous placing oml

You're not wrong about Twilight Princess, I just like how ugly some of the characters look lmao. I also was expecting this to be based on the drawn/character art, but I do think the actual pixel art should be taken into account too. Maybe an alternate list with just the concept art/character art? I feel like Ocarina of Time would go up a bit since a lot of the art is really good.

Fair list.. Excuse my deku Tree dots... i think ocarina of time's art style should be next to a link to the past..think about it if ocarina of time had better graphics it would look like underwater hyrule in the wind waker..ocarina of time has the most magical,medieval and fantasy element to its overall art style..fit for a classic fairytale. As for Twilight princess i think you are not wrong..Twilight princess style is realism and can be dark and mature compared to the other games..and those geometric shapes that glow that we see again in breath of the wild do not fit with the art style and overall look it was going for..but then again the art director was probably looking for contrast of styles to add depth. i think majoras mask has a hint of abstract art style to it making me feel uneasy the whole time despite the depressing storyline.. it is far to surrealism for my taste and i would put it after OOT. Overall i dont think there is any right of wrong in this type of list.. just all up to personal taste..just like everyone likes different peices of art to put in their homes. Thankyou for sharing was fun to view. 💐

Pretty solid Essay. I'd give you an extra thumbs up for Wind Waker. It was a cold winter in 2002. I was the only person in the world who loved Wind Waker. At least it felt like it. Agreed on Twilight Princess as well. NPCs are UGLY! Even the Gorons are stupid looking. Link to the Past you gorgeous gem. They better not remake that game. We have Randomizers... and Parallel Worlds. See ya Essay.

Interesting idea for a video. Good stuff.

I wholeheartedly agree with every art style. You’re very intuitive!

Skyward Sword is the best Zelda Game for me right behind BoTW Just perfect from art style to gameplay to “Zelda feel”

Windwaker has one of the best art styles

It’s funny. The HD version of WW is godly, yet with the HD versions of TP and SS I feel like something is lost in the visuals. Certain blur effects which, yes were endemic of their time’s limitations, but were also purposefully crafted as part of each game’s visual identity that conveyed the intended tone

I think BotW belongs in S tier. It's my favorite art style of the whole series, honestly. It combines the best of the "realistic" graphics like in Twilight Princess with the cartoony, cell-shaded style of Wind Waker. I love it. Also, Zelda II definitely has the worst art style. Some side scrolling graphics are decent but that map is honestly the worst looking thing ever. Those portions rank low in the whole NES library for visuals. Just unbelievably ramshackle. It's hard to believe that Nintendo went with that.

My list: 1.OOT and MM (disney-like feel, perfect mix of realistic and stylized, especially in the 3DS versions but also in N64 and concept art. Happy moments feel happy. Dark moments feel dark. Very versatile style and aesthetic.) 2. Skyward sword (same points as OOT and MM, bit more realistic. I can see a point being made for it being first.) 3.Wind Waker (unlike TP, the devs actually used the artstyle they wanted to use and went full-out, timeless artstyle. Probably will age better than the top 2 tbh.) 4.Twilight princess (alright artstyle.. if thats what you'd even call it. It's just realism for the sake of realism. Great game and dungeons but the artstyle hurt it for me.) Didnt rank BOTW/TOTK & 2D zelda's because i havent fully experienced those yet.

I like your videos but I always have to watch them at 1.5 - 1.75x speed. Otherwise I would fall asleep.

Skyward Sword NO QUESTION

Four Swords Adventures brought cel-shaded touchstones into 2D. The official art also has a construction paper aesthetic to it to boot. The in game assets are only improved from ALttP so there's no possible way you could put it under ALttP! To show you just how much people forget about this game, you put MC, TP, SS, and almost ALBW before it! Give Four Swords Adventures a chance. If you haven't played it with *four* players, you haven't played *Four* Swords Adventures. I bought the whole setup to play it with four players via 4 GCs, 4 GBPs, and 4 cables back in high school when it only cost a couple hundred to build the set and it's absolutely worth it.

Okay hold up…you cannot give windwaker S and give phantom hourglass and spirit tracks C. They literally have the same art style. Not the same resolution, but the art style itself is the exact same.

I love how finally Windwaker gets the respect it deserved. It was horribly underrated when it went out.

THERE I GOT YOU! 😁 You ranked the artstyle from the oracle games lower, because they copied the one from awakening. Therefore you should have also lowered the artstyle score from Tears of the Kingdom. :p

Don't know why Minish Cap's in A when it:'s the best looking 2D Zelda game, improving visually upon AlttP. My favorite is SS. To me it's the perfect mixture of cartoony and real, whereas something like BotW is just anime and is bland to me. Another problem with the realism of TP is that some of it ends up looking very generic.

Why did you choose oot 3d and not the og???

I think Oracle of Seasons should be given more credit. The variety of different seasons are really nice, and Fall & Winter especially look great. Not to mention how the character design really gets to shine during all the sprite art cutscenes. But I'm so looking forward to the Twilight Princess review lmao. I mostly agree on the artstyle being kinda meh, but there are definitely some moments where I think it looks nice. Particularly areas with a lot of water, and the (ironically low amount of) dark areas that require the Lantern.

Great list! Oh man, the world needs more toon Zelda. Wind waker is the best looking 3D game ever made. The flat colors really smack you in the face with visual impact. Link's Awakening remake was a real godsend. One of the best looking games too, but WW still has a bit more visual impact. I think going middle of the road like Skywards Sword and BotW is sadly slightly boring. I mean they're still great looking games, but when they go all out exaggerated cartoon style they've made their best Zelda games like WW and Link's Awakening remake.

twilight princess is my only s tier graphic game, wind waker is c tier because they went the wrong direction for art style.

for me, Zelda 2 and AlttP’s art style would be S Tier. but i’m talking about manual and concept artwork, not in game graphics (maybe because i’m an artist lol)

A link between worlds Has the most underrated art style I know!

Great tier list as always! I do love me some Zelda 2 but agree that overworld is ugly.

I don't like the art style in Breath of the wild

Personally could never get into Wind Waker's art style. I get why it's so popular though.

Wind waker doesnt deserve S tier, it deserves SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS tier

Link's lips in skyward sword though 👄

I feel like you are ranking your nostalgia

I feel like for some of these you are mixing up art style and art quality… example botw

I think BOTW is a solid S, it's art style will be ageless if you think of it. Also the minish cap is tier S

I’m sorry how do you games in the early 90s have a better graphic visuals than freaking games from the late 2010s

Your arguing is contradictory. The dungeons in windwaker are totally bland. You rank this issue in other games, but it fits for you in windwaker. Nah, I like your videos, but this one here is not so fair.

Dude watched a Watch Mojo video talking about the Zelda timeline and decided to make his list off of that. If anyone truly played the games for hours, they would understand why Breath of the Wild would be S or even SS tier. Having TP and Mj or even SS at A is ludicrous as well.

While Twilight Princess is an S tier GAME for me, I have to agree with you the weird gothic art style is extremely offputting at times. It always reminds me of the artwork for the “series of unfortunate events” books. But yea, TP art style is not one of the strong points for that game, so you are safe from the torches and pitchforks on that one lol

yikes