EDGE magazine is renowned for being a harsh but fair publication and has gained great respect because of that. You could well be wondering which games the magazine has awarded a 10/10 for and there’s quite a few according to the list compiled by Reset Era member, Phendrift. It’s a solid list, but it’s slightly surprising to see The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword on there. Anyway, here’s the full list of titles that have received a 10:
- Super Mario 64 (1996)
- Gran Turismo (1997)
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
- Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
- Half-Life 2 (2004)
- Halo 3 (2007)
- The Orange Box (2007)
- Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
- Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)
- LittleBigPlanet (2008)
- Bayonetta (2009)
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010)
- Rock Band 3 (2010)
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011)
- The Last of Us (2013)
- Grand Theft Auto V (2013)
- Bayonetta 2 (2014)
- Bloodborne (2015)
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)
- Super Mario Odyssey (2017)
Additionally, these games were rescored retroactively and received a 10:
- Elite (1984)
- Exile (1988)
- Super Mario Bros. (1985)
- GoldenEye 007 (1997)
- Advance Wars (2001)
- Resident Evil 4 (2005)
- Drop7 (2009)
- Red Dead Redemption (2010)
- Super Street Fighter IV (2010)
- Dark Souls (2011)
I’ve played some of these games and they do deserve to get that 10 out of 10.
I find it hard to believe that Skyward Sword is on the same level as OoT and BotW. Not after they had to change so much of the formula to make a game that is so widely regarded as the best game of 2017.
It does seem off. Honestly, there aren’t many games on the list here that I’ve played that I don’t take some issues with assuming you interpret “10” to mean “perfect”. SSF4 is a good game, but it’s far from perfect. The Bayonetta games are great games, but I wouldn’t call them the best of the genre, much less “perfect”.
Advance Wars? I mean, I have it complete in box and everything, but you need to slap some qualifiers on there to fit it in a best of all time list.
To be quite honest, OoT has aged a lot. If you compare Skyward Sword to OoT head to head, Skyward Sword is miles ahead. Skyward Sword is actually a fantastic Zelda, it just received this crazy amount of hate, because of the motion controls. That’s literally one design element fans hated and they’ve been bashing the game for it to this day.
However, what is often forgotten, is that Skyward Sword has some amazing items, some of the coolest areas in Zelda history and some very enjoyable boss fights. It has the first water temple I actually enjoyed. The dungeon puzzles are Zelda-quality, too.
Windwaker gets a pass for a lot of poor design choices and it definately helps that Wind Waker HD got rid of the worst ones or at least made it less annoying. Skyward Sword doesn’t get a pass at all, because a) the motion control and b) it was not the game fans wanted at that time.
When Skyward Sword was released, fans already wanted a Breath of the Wild type of Zelda. When Breath of the Wild finally was released, it was praised to no end and given a pass on many poor design choices, because it’s the game fans wanted. Skyward Sword didn’t have that luxury.
Yes, Nintendo has this weird obsession with motion control and making it mandatory wasn’t the best idea, but the motion control worked absolutely fine. The only problem I sometimes had was between rolling and throwing bombs and that’s it. Contrary to what many disappointed motion control-bashing people might say, I played the entire game and the controls worked great.
I hope Nintendo releases some kind of Skyward Sword remaster for the Switch, preferably without motion control and all the people bashing the game would play it again and suddenly realize: it’s actually a very good, very well crafted game worthy of carrying on the Zelda legacy.
Every Zelda game has it’s problems. The franchise has a very high standard, it’s very well received and loved by fans and critics alike. Just like every other Zelda Skyward Sword has it’s weaker and stronger points. Do I believe it’s a 10? Probably not, but I can see someone giving it a 10. It has less flaws than Breath of the Wild, that’s for sure.
People also complained about the linearity and constant handholding.
I liked Skyward Sword, but I don’t remember it being acclaimed as BotW.
When it first came out EVERYONE gave it a 10/10 only to bash it a couple years later for the motion control combat and graphics.
I remember a couple sites giving it ok scores (7-8) and to this day I still say the motion controls ruined the game. Worst game in the series, the real series.
It was not the motion controls, it was the way WiiMotionPlus handed them, it was awful the constant need for calibration. Otherwise I found them really really good. It was challenging but very fun.
I personally agree that Skyward sword deserved that spot. I played ocarina of time and majoras mask when I was little, along with every three Zelda game. But skyward sword is still my favorite Zelda game to date. I really enjoyed breath of the wild, and it deserves the score for sure, but it still didn’t push above skyward sword for me. I fell in love with the story in that game and I really liked the controls (they aren’t for everyone) I feel like it was linear Zelda at its best. Whereas breath of the wild is the great open world exploration at its best. So to each there own, but I love skyward sword. Awesome game.
So awesome that it killed the entire design direction for the franchise from the previous 13 years.
I’m kidding. I enjoyed Skyward Sword more than most. Still, I wouldn’t give it a 10/10. I’m very reserved with that judgement. As a Zelda fan in particular, I think it’s a highlight reel of everything I don’t like about Aonuma’s preferred design choices.
I know, once again, my view is different than most, but I actually really liked the stylized look of skyward sword haha. Probably one of my favorites. Reminded me of Okami.
I love Skyward Sword! The motion controls are amazing! I wish Nintendo tries something like that in the next Zelda!
I agree with most of the games on here.
I love your handle! Mega Man does indeed survive!
I would definitely have to agree that Skyward Sword belongs on this list. Attempting to put aside my personal feelings for it and the Zelda franchise as a whole, it still deserves that spot.
It is an amazing game, with great story. It’s more linear, but that’s not a fault. It’s controls haven’t aged very well at all, especially after experiencing the Switch, but for their time they were great. So a 10/10 makes sense for the time, but to re-score it with modern standards or to include replayability in the score the controls would obviously bring it down.
Pingback: Estos son todos los juegos a los que EDGE ha otorgado un 10/10
At least Skyward Sword is on that list.
Seriously, I wish we could go back to that game (without just starting a new save file).
I’d give Skyward Sword a 9 or 9.5 out of 10. The only things I didn’t like were the sky which didn’t contain much to do or heavily involve the story, Fi’s constant tutorial crap, & …. Well that’s pretty much it.
Some of the things I love are the story, the art style, Wii Motion Plus controls (not many connection errors for lucky me,) Ghirahim, Demise, the origin of the Master Sword, Fi, Zelda, Groose, etc.
Seeing as how each of the Zelda games on that list pushed the series in a new direction, each one deserves to be on that list. However, TLoZ A Link To The Past should also be there.
I’d love a Skyward Sword remastered.
That would be rather hard since the Joycons don’t have the reliable motion tracking the Wii Remote Plus had.
Hmmm.. is there any concrete evidence behind that? I’m genuinely curious. The motion controls for BotW, Sp2, and Skyrim feel pretty great (of course those are much lower scale).
I figured that you would be genuinely interested in knowing about the motion controls, like I am. This might not be concrete evidence, but i think it shows that it actually might be as good as the Wii motion plus. Skip to 8:45.
https://youtu.be/2K5ajJudepk
futher proof that Zelda will always get a 10 no matter what, I remember when everyone was praising Skyward sword because of how innovative it was regardless of how linear it was, now everyone praises BotW until the next 10/10 zelda comes out and everyone starts pointing out how, empty and lifeless the world in breath of the wild was
oh, also, how they missed the “Dungeons”
gotta love it
Or they’re just genuinely good games. Also, there are great linear and non-linear games.