This.....can't be a real post. Majora's Mask, other than the visuals, really could not have been more different than Ocarina of Time. And Skyward Sword...alright, where do I start?
Skyward Sword is bright and colorful where Twilight Princess was dark and sinister. Skyward Sword's Hyrule is a dungeon-like maze where Twilight Princess' Hyrule was wide and spacious. Twilight Princess' combat was innocuous and borderline skill-less, whereas Skyward Sword's is intensely physical and timing based.

What are you seeing in Skyward Sword that's merely an expansion pack?

The only thing I'd change about Skyward Sword is its dungeon themes, which are way too conservative. Dungeon #4 is perfection. And a combination of past and future (dungeon 3) is pretty cool, but repeated too often. But 2 fire dungeons? And as cool as the rubix cube dungeon is, it's just a repeat of all the previous ones.

Agreed 100% If anything the only comparison can be made between twilight princess and oot!

I can agree with all that. I loved that last dungeon though. It was both fun and interesting.

Was kinda hoping to fight a giant fire based boss in the other fire dungeon, lol. Other than that I was fine with the dungeons...I mean the final dungeon was interesting.

How is Twilight Princess sinister? And how is the surface labyrinth-like? TP's combat is identical to the three games before it, and while I agree that it isn't challenging or skill-based, neither is SS's.

But yeah, the two games aren't alike at all.

1. Bro, have you seen Zant? And Midna? And Gannon's entire backstory? TP is dark. I didn't mean it was like, mean. Just that it's themes were really, really morose. While Skyward Sword is pretty dang whimsical most of the time, save for Ghirahim and the final boss fight.

2. Labyrinth-like in design, not in mood. If you've played Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess, you know that Hyrule is just an enormous field that connects little towns and dungeons. In Skyward Sword, Hyrule is a basically a dungeon (or a labyrinth) where just getting where you need to go can take hours of overcoming obstacles, puzzles, enemies, bosses, etc. I think we can admit that TP's Hyrule and SS's Hyrule are entirely different beasts.

3. I would actually argue that Twilight Princess' combat is quite different than Wind Waker's. The controls are largely the same, but the enemy AI in Wind Waker is a lot trickier, and a lot more brutal. Enemies really want to kill you in WW, and they'll even start fighting each other just to get to you. It also had a simple-but-effective parry system that TP lacked, that required you to time your hits, where in TP button mashing would usually do the trick.

And Skyward Sword's combat wasn't strategic? So you just beat Lizafolds and Electro-Moblins by wildly waving your arms? I don't think so

Yeah was about to say...some of the enemies in Skyward Sword kicked my butt multiple times. Perfect example being Stalmaster.

Good call. Stalmaster is a d-bag. I'm playing the game now on Hero Mode and I feel like I'm going back to the potion shop at least once an hour now because of enemies like this.

I couldn't beat Ghirahim or Stalmaster with flailing. Also, I'd still be fighting that final boss if I hadn't mixed up an expensive invincibility potion.

I'm serious, "sinister" is definitely not how I would describe Twilight Princess. Some of the game's areas, even the dark ones, are more sublimely beautiful than anything in Skyward Sword.

Yes, because TP's is huge and full of hidden stuff, and SS's is divided into small, isolated, linear sections.

I did that when I saw an opening, and defended when necessary. It's not that hard.

Um, most of the enemies in the game are easy to beat if you know how to counter with shield bashing. Stalmaster was super easy, if I knew he was ready to unleash an attack I would wait closeby and shield bashed his blades to leave him completely vulnerable. Shield bashing works great on Deku Babas (cut them at the stem with one slash), Lizalfos, and Bokoblins.

You can stun most enemies with a shield bash and then flail on them (isn't that still more involved than TP?), but shield bashing doesn't work on everything.
@Astraea Stalmaster nearly destroyed my shield.

Shield bashing doesn't work for me all the time...so I dunno what you guys are talking about. Tried it against Stalmaster, that stupid robo pirate...>.>

Sorry, I didn't really make myself clear. I was talking about sinister from a thematic standpoint. I'm playing through TP now, and I agree it's an absolutely gorgeous game.

As for your comment on attacking when you saw an opening and defending when you needed to...you realize you just described every combat system in any game ever, right? SS's is different because it actually necessitates deliberate physical gestures and near 1:1 swordplay. It's not that the combat is "hard," as you say; just that it feels different.

I think Majora's mask is more sinister than Twilight Princess.
Especially with that big scary moon.

It's more sinister, period. lol

Well, yeah, that's kind of what I was saying before. You swing the remote instead of pressing a button, so it's definitely more physically involved, but you can mostly follow the same strategy as the other games.

I have nothing against Skyward Sword's combat (though the controls feel very loose to me), I just don't think it's much better.

I'm almost finished with the game. What I can say is this game has the best combat and best bosses of any Zelda game. It also has the best character development/relationships of any Zelda game, though some may argue that point. The dungeons, while good, don't have any mind-blowing puzzles or hitches that make them stand out in the series. There's also not as much to explore. It's a more concentrated Zelda game, if you will.

I'm still not sure where I rank this among Zelda games. I have to finish it first for one thing. I have gotten a better appreciation for Twilight Princess after playing this game, for some reason. I loved that game when I played it, but kind of let others persuade me over the years that TP wasn't that great of a Zelda game. Looking back, it was amazing. I'd replay it if it wasn't so long and I didn't have so many other games to play.

That sounds about right. It had way too much hand holding for me but I still had fun playing through Skyward Sword. ALttP and OoT seem like the only games that deserve to be ranked above it.