- It's a 2D Zelda, which is almost always a good thing. The combat in 3D Zelda games always felt either way too easy or simply frustrating (sometimes even both), the 2D games can be more clever because they don’t have to deal with Z-targeting and camera angles.
- It has vibrant, happy graphics, something I always appreciate in a game. They're also simple graphics, something I feel got lost with newer and better graphics. Something like the original Mega Man or even The Wind Waker will never feel old to me because it has a sort of ageless graphic style. Mega Man X and Twilight Princess, while both great games, will somehow always feel more dated to me.
- It's quite innovative, the rings add some fun RPG elements and are quite an interesting collectable, more so than the usual fetch quests and especially more so than those Kinstones. Every ring did something fun, including making the game harder.
- You have companions in the form of a punching kangaroo, a flying bear and a dodongo, honestly, what more needs to be said?
- Zelda games don't tend to have fun dungeon music, but I think since Capcom also made Mega Man they felt more confident adding more fun music to the dungeons, which is of course most notable in the Dancing Dragon Dungeon.
- The rest of the music is quite fun as well. An absolute favourite of mine is
'Secret Maze On The Sea Of No Return’, which sadly has a much more prominent role in Oracle of Ages, but still plays occasionally in Oracle of Seasons.
- Subrosia, I love that place, from its delightfully bizarre inhabitants to its funky dances.
- The dungeons are fun, the boss fights are fun, everything is fun.
- A jump button. It’s weird how much adding the ability to hop around adds to the overall experience.
- Maple, always fun bumping into her.
- An overworld filled with monsters, which I find lacking in a lot of the more recent Zelda games. Link’s Awakening actually did better in this respect, and it had a far greater arsenal of weapons to deal with them, but I guess you can’t win at everything.
- Pirate skeletons, Gorons, Biggoronsword, seasons, long trading sequence, the cutest Mothula, linking, Magnet Gloves, a cape, huge dragon, occasional platforming, retro bosses, seeds, and so on.
I actually made a
Minecraft resource pack based on it, which is the only one I use because why would I want to use anything else?