I disregarded the GB/GBA/DS LoZ games, for reasons that I thought others would assume...
Though I have to say that they aren't bad, and revisit a number of very strong points in the games...
Mostly, it's that the 3D LoZ games are very easy that was a huge turn-off to me...
I watched a friend pick up LoZ and wander around, looking for everything, and getting killed numerous times... spent 230+ hours maxing both quests + LoZ2
the same friend has recently gotten a maxed file in TP in about 80 hours...
Important note here, in my mind...
TP = 3.4GB
LoZ1+2 = 768 kb
(confirm, please?)
I'm kinda saddened by the fact that so much time and money is put into modern games, but so little comes out of it...
Ninja Gaiden took me about a month of playing to finally beat... same goes for Contra: Hard Corps.
Ninja Gaiden Black took me about a week of casual playing... same goes for Neo Conta.
EDIT: I didn't pick up NG until about 2 months before NGB was released (about the time I heard of it, I went "What? Sounds fun!"... also, C:HC is a game from my childhood that I replayed (because I had forgotten it) shortly before I got my copy of NeoC. This time difference is not from an evolution of skill, but rather, a difference in the games themselves, to clarify.
Now, I won't say that NGB and NeoC are bad games, because they aren't... For that matter, neither is TP...
I just wish that for all the time spent on production, or for all the money we shell out, that more would come in a game.
OoT, however, I have plenty of reasons to hate, and here's the one that annoyed me most on my first playthrough of the game:
I'm sure you know it, so do me a favor, sitting on the other side of the world, but still sitting in front of this as you are: Whistle "Zelda's Lullaby".... go on, don't be afraid or shy or whatever... just the ocarina part, if that's all you remember...
Now boot up LoZ2:AoL
THAT'S Zelda's Lullaby...
and I know the first song and the second song are not the same to you, and that's the part that bothers me... I guarantee that 95+% of gamers would whistle the tune from OoT instead of LoZ2...
Again, a lot like that kid who didn't know who Robotnik was...
GAH... I'm only 19... I shouldn't feel like I grew up in the stone ages of gaming!