8. Spirit Tracks
As I said before, Im a Zelda fanboy to my very core, and damn proud of it, but even I had a hard time getting excited for Spirit Tracks. Zelda on a Train was a concept that was somehow both oddly unique and incredibly boring, but worst of all, it felt restrictive, a stark contrast to the freedom the series is famous for. Of course, I still bought it (my fanboyism is pretty extreme), but I had no desire to play it. In fact, it sat on my shelf for over two years before I finally gave the wretched game a chance. And I absolutely loved it. The sheer amount of surprising fun that is packed into this game is staggering. What shocked me the most was how enjoyable traversing the train track overworld was. Whether youre avoiding evil bomb-trains or using the cannon to discover new secrets, its a blast just getting from point A to point B, and once youre at point B, it gets even better. The dungeons are all expertly designed, and the addition of Ghost Zelda adds an extra layer of strategy to puzzle-solving. Its true that much of the exploration that makes Zelda great has been lost, and its a very short game; purists may scoff these deviations, but for those of us with a busy schedule, Zelda streamlined is a beautiful thing.