I personally think it's a toss up between Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Wind Waker wins for originality, but Twilight Princess wins for telling its story so darn well. The cutscenes in that game are breathtaking.

However, for most important, I'd have to say Link to the Past. Every Zelda game following has copied LttP's story in some shape or form

Majoras Mask.
I find that storyline most innovative and original.

Majora's Mask hands down had the deepest darkest and most compelling story line to date in any Zelda game,and it's one of my favorite storyline's ever.

MM

Dude how did I forget about Majora's Mask?! Wow, I'm going to have to retract my response. The best Zelda story is Majora's Mask, followed by Wind Waker.

Definitely Majora's Mask.

Wow. Everyone likes Majora's Mask that much? I disagree strongly. Majora's Mask's storyline came down to the same thing. Someone wants to destroy the world; go stop him. No plot twists whatsoever, and a lot of side stories that didn't really contribute to the storyline other than giving more attachment to the NPCs

I think the best storyline so far would have to be Twilight Princess. While Windwaker had a good storyline, the story was too far between all of the gameplay and really didn't develop as well as it could have. ALttP had the same problem because it just wasn't as long as Twilight Princess. TP really gave enough time to develop the story.

That being said. TP is not my favorite game. In fact, I might like MM even better, but that's tough to say. I certainly liked WW better. Ocarina will always be the best though.

Now that's an interesting question. Too many people underrate the stories in these games. It always gets cut down to the basics (rescue the princess) or ignored in favor of treating the pacing (do a few intro dungeons, get Master Sword, do even more dungeons) as the story.

I think I might agree with everyone so far that MM and TP should get top mention here. MM definitely gets points for really creating a world, at least. Few other games in the series have done quite so much with NPCs and sidequests as they did in MM. LA and TWW were pretty lively, but usually we see a lot of generic nameless NPCs that just don't do anything truly noteworthy. (The Zora race in particular really needs to shape up. They've gone through OoT and TP with exactly two noteworthy characters per game, and then the rest are generic NPCs.)

And then what sets TP apart is the way that the story ends up being more about Midna's quest. Yeah, it's in Hyrule and Ganon's involved and Zelda ends up needing rescuing again, but that side of the story just doesn't play center stage like it usually does. Instead we've got Midna trying to track down the man that stole her throne and cursed her and her people, meeting Link and deciding that he'd make a fitting tool to help her in her quest, and slowly learning to care for the well-being of his people as much as she cares for her own.

The thing about MM's story though... Outside of the amazing amount of depth provided in sidequests and NPC interactions, the main story is really rather simplistic. The Skull Kid obtains the mask and it corrupts him and now he wants to destroy the world. Why? Who knows, who cares! All you need to know is that you have three days to stop it. Don't get me wrong, the atmosphere it creates in the game is very intense, of course. And the game is amazing for that. It's just a very straightforward premise that calls on a different overused cliche from the rest of the series.

(More thoughts on other Zelda games later, maybe. I stayed up way too late tonight already writing this much.)

Links crossbow training!!!!! yeah!

Tingles Rupee Land. Best story ever.

The Wand of Gamelon

I found Twilight Princess's story interesting. I haven't played Majora's Mask, though, so I can't say it's better.

Link's Awakening. It's my favorite.

Twilight Princess had the best story I think. That ending was just brilliant. Gets me every time...

I remember when I first played Wind Waker. Whenever someone was revealed such as Ganon or Tetra, I would always gasp in surprise. I was disappointed with the speed from the 2nd pearl to the 3rd pearl, and the Tower of the Gods boss. But the story helped wonders for the game.

@Corbie

Yeah! Link's Awakening glued me to my Game Boy all those years ago.

I also concur with the praise for Majora's Mask. Some of you are saying that the bare outline of the plot was simplistic, but the basic plot premise is far less important than the continual storytelling through the various characters you meet and the overall atmosphere that was maintained throughout.

To me, MM never appealed to me. Just the fact of a game that didn't include the storyline that is in most Zelda games, it seemed to me like a filler. But I never have played it.

Agrees with this.

I've never really cared for any of the Zelda stories. Besides a few outliers, the enemy is always Ganondorf. So I'm going to say Ocarina of Time. It had some nice plot twists, but it also never really got in the way of the game. And it didn't hide the fact that you're gonna fight Ganondorf at the end.

Either Link's Awakening or Majora's Mask. Top two games of the Zelda series for me. Not only are the most fun, they tell the best stories too. Both so in-depth.

However Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time come a close third and fourth respectively.

Whoa, Corbie's the only one who has any love for portables? I thought the storyline for Phantom Hourglass was really good, and Minish Cap had some interesting stuff going on and I wish they'd do another Vaati game. That being said, I'd probably have to vote for Wind Waker.