Legend Of Zelda: Ranking Every Ganon From Worst To Best

The original, and if not the best, still well up there. Back before he went by the sobriquet of Ganondorf, the monster used the less imaginative alternate name “Gannon” (the second N was dropped the following game with no explanation). He may not have much backstory in the original adventure, but his legacy looms large.

There are no fancy tricks to the Gannon battle in The Legend Of Zelda - no light arrows, no helpful princesses, no fairy helping you lock on with your attacks. It’s just a little elf boy and a big pig monster, locking horns in a skull-floored chamber. Gannon kidnapped Zelda, and as such you need to slay him - what more motivation do you need? While the NES Zeldas lack the staying power of their 3D successors, they were also (for the most part) a whole lot trickier, too, so making your way to that final fight is all the more rewarding.

A skilled player can vanquish the demon in well under a minute, but that doesn’t dampen how influential the original Gannon was. Just like Bowser, with their franchise antagonist, they got it right the first time. The backstory and the combat mechanics would change and evolve, but the hard work was done in the first installment.