9 Tiny Issues That Ruined The Reputations Of Great Video Games
6. The "Cartoony" Graphics In The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker
There is a contingent of Zelda fans who think the almighty Ocarina of Time was a mature, serious adventure. It's entirely down to them playing it at a time in their life when no other game had offered such a sizeable environment to get lost in, with world-ending stakes bringing home just how much Link (and you) now needed to make it right.
Followup Majora's Mask somewhat capitalised on this, delivering a strange offshoot to the expected tonality of the franchise, thereby cementing this splinter-faction of fans that would then lose their damn minds at the dreary Twilight Princess. Still, this latter, almost anti-Nintendo-feeling instalment came after the full-on savaging of Wind Waker.
Dragged through the mud for daring to say The Legend of Zelda's 3D aesthetic should mimic its thematics as a hero's tale for all ages, Wind Waker did redesign the very look of everything from Link's body shape to the worlds themselves, but it was also a damn fine Zelda game.
Naturally there were many critics and fans who went with this instalment anyway, welcoming the refreshing change of pace from the morbid, somewhat surrealist Majora's Mask, but to this day, Wind Waker has a strange reputation as being a "Zelda for kids".