Known for his extensive work onThe Legend of Zeldaseries dating back toOcarina of Time,The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildproducerEiji Aonumahas been the franchise’s lead producer for almost 20 years. As the driving force behind theZeldaseries, some fans may be curious to learn whichZeldagames stand as his favorite. Well, Aonuma recently revealed that his top threeZeldagames areTwilight Princess,Ocarina of Time, andPhantom Hourglass, withPhantom Hourglasstaking the top spot.
Aonuma divulged his top threeZeldagames in a recent interview withGame Informer. Some fans may be surprised at the order in whichThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildproducer ranked the games, but the reasoning behind his rankings make sense. He explained thatOcarina of Timewas the first game that gave him an opportunity to design a 3D world, which is why he holds it in such high regard, andTwilight Princessis closely behind it because it was his attempt at creating something better thanOcarina.
As for his top rankedZelda,Phantom Hourglasson the Nintendo DS, Aonuma offered a couple of different reasons why it’s his favoriteZeldagame.
“This is something my wife also likes,Phantom Hourglass. That’s number one. I was developingTwilight Princess, and the goal for that was to make something better thanOcarina. But then that game was something I proposed as a new style of gameplay, and I was a producer on that game for the first time, so I have a lot of sentiment for it.”
Besides revealing his top threeZeldagames, Aonuma also pointed out aZeldagame he feels is underrated. Aonuma namedThe Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroeson the 3DS as an underratedZeldaadventure, going as far as to claim that he loves the game. Unfortunately, the majority of video game critics didn’t share Aonuma’s love for the quirky multiplayer-centric title, making it thelowest-ratedZeldagamefrom Nintendo to date.
Perhaps the comparatively poor critical reception toTri Force Heroesis whyBreath of the Wilddoesn’t have any multiplayer options, but even so, Aonuma hasn’t given up on the concept entirely. In fact, he has teased in the past that the nextZeldagame on the Nintendo Switchcould support multiplayerin some capacity.
Regardless of what the future holds forZelda, it’s interesting to learn what the franchise’s lead producer thinks are the best games in the series released so far. It will also be interesting to see ifThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildedges one of those games off Aonuma’s list if he’s asked this question again a year from now, especially since its taking some bold risks with the franchise’s established formula, likeadding voice actingand featuring amassive open world.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildwill be available on July 07, 2025 for Nintendo Switch and Wii U.
