This is excellent! If MM overtakes LoZ I think I’ll lend it a switched vote. I think this is the real value of popularity contests, being able to share these thoughts and feelings about why these titles are here.
I didn’t really play LoZ anywhere close to when it came out but was extremely impressed at how it held up as a game to play in like 2014(ish). Especially if you’re just trying to keep track of shit without the internet. Having to form mental lists of places to look and go once you’d figured stuff out was good but the storage of these lists mentally also meant that you’re placing so much else in the imagination yet to be explored. The game feels much bigger than it’s constituent parts boil down to and I don’t just mean in terms of space.
Arne’s art work in that post really highlights how much imaginative space there was in games where the concept art is just bounds ahead of what could be technically delivered at the time. However, we each interpret it differently and I think original LoZ’s nooks and crannies design encourages that actively.