this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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Gamergate
I'll repeat this as often as this comes up, Wind Waker was widely hated in online forums back when it was announced because the 12 year old who played OoT were now 16 and wanted LoZ: More Tits and Gore and that whole debacle predated Gamergate by 12 years despite basically just being "LoZ has gone woke!!!" with the particular words put through a thesaurus.
I don't know, admittedly I was not on online forums witnessing hatred of Wind Waker back then so maybe the hate was like you say, but I personally was not a big fan of Wind Waker and it had nothing to do with what you stated. For me, it was largely the art style and the ship gameplay that put me off. I've long preferred more realistic-ish art styles in games (not necessarily hyperrealistic, just not like super flat I guess) and have yet to meet a game where I enjoy navigating sea.
Ocarina of Time is one of, if not, my favorite game of all time because it had great puzzles, music, environments, story, and was all-around charming, and is no doubt ensconced in a lot of nostalgia for me, of playing it with siblings. Tits and gore would destroy the charm of it and be more like GTA, not Legend of Zelda. In fact, I would say one of the charming things about Legend of Zelda is the distinct lack of "adult" themes. It feels more like a kid's adventure born out of their daydreams than a gritty hyperrealistic thing.
Wind Waker is not beyond criticism, even on the sailing part (what a slog in the original version in the midgame, honestly). But that wasn't really what the hullaballoo was about back then, because the game wasn't out. I personally do not understand how anyone can not marvel at the art style of Wind Waker but taste is subjective. I think this article gives an allright overview, even with "we were lied to!" by this 5 second trailer clearly styled after OOT with no mention of the actual game
I see, I didn't realize there was controversy about it before it was even out.