Nintendo Highlights The History Of Zelda's "Mighty Demon King" Ganondorf

This Ganondorf won me over mostly because we see his rise to power and just a bit more of his backstory compared to other Ganons. Actually giving him a voice at last does go a long way too.

My first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, so that one.

It’s interesting how the one in this game seems to parallel that one. With events in the past that feel very much like they’re meant to be reminiscent of the events from ocarina of time.

Suavemente! Suavemente!

In terms of a sympathetic Ganondorf, The Wind Waker. He actually had a reason for trying to acquire the Triforce other than for the sake of power; he was trying to find a better life for his people, who suffered the harsh desert environment every day.

In terms of bada**ery, Twilight Princess. His design and battle are my favorite of the entire franchise. I never thought I'd see the day where I would have to fight a possessed Zelda, nor did I think I would fight Ganondorf on horseback and finally a one-on-one sword duel (The Wind Waker doesn't count, as Zelda helped you there; nor does Ocarina of Time count, since that's Ganon, not Ganondorf). Plus, his death scene was so chilling, perfectly wrapping up a dark outing in the series.

By the way, this isn't Matthew Mercer's first rodeo playing Ganondorf. Years ago, he actually played Ganondorf in the live-action webseries "There Will Be Brawl," with the setting be a dystopian version of the Super Smash Bros. universe. In fact, he was one of the creators of that series! Anyone who has the ability to check it out should. I saw it years ago, and it was definitely an interesting take on the franchise and characters we know and love (and love to hate).

Hopefully Wind Waker HD will come to Switch so I can compare all Ganondorfs, hehe. It's the only main 3D Zelda I didn't play since I didn't own GameCube and Wii U.

He was pretty vile in TotK. I’m not ready to fight him but I’m singing the “I’m about to whip somebody’s ____” song when I reach him.

Totk Ganon is awesome, but wind waker Ganon is just such a menace. He attempts to murder children without a second thought.

@Bigmanfan being fair to him, he very much only decided to actually kill them out of anger, after the king sniped his wish.

Before that, he was relatively ok with the idea of letting them be.

It's kind of interesting to see the gap between Ganandorf from TP (2006) to ToTK (2023). He seems like such a mainstay in the series, yet its been 17 years since he's appeared in a new console game. Although I get his alter egos have had a presence since (like Ganon).

Spaceworld demo 2000 Ganondorf still the best.

Wind Waker's the only time the dude's been even slightly interesting as a character.

For me it is between Wind Waker and Tears of the Kingdom.

The poll is just missing his appearance in Hyrule Warriors.

Can we vote for the Smash Bros version?

Wind Waker, the most interesting as a character by a long shot. Really the only time he wasn’t a one-noter.

This question shouldn't be that difficult, since it's technically the same man in every game, right? I still have to find out how TotK's Ganondorf fits into the picture, so I am choosing my first experience with meeting this threat of a man: Ocarina of Time. Twilight Princess being a close second.

Ganondorf from Tears of the kingdom for me is the best 1. Ganondorf looks awesome in this game.

My first Ganondorf was in A Link to the Past. And before anyone says "That is Ganon, not Ganondorf", he is named Ganondorf Dragmire in the game manual, so, yeah, he may be in Ganon form but his real name was known.

@SwagaliciousJohnson There is debate whether Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are in the same continuity as the other Zelda games, even allowing for multiple parallel timelines. In TotK, Ganondorf has been sealed away since the first king of Hyrule was in power, and he's only released during the present day of the game. Since the other games must take place somewhere between the first king's rule and the BotW/TotK era, it's hard to make Ganondorf's appearances in them fit with the fact that he was supposedly sealed away. The easiest explanation is that BotW/TotK take place in a separate universe, so the Ganondorf seen here is not the same character as in the other games.

@Owl1 You're just in time.... to witness my..... Suavemente.

Prince darkness Gannon is my favorite.

Wind Waker Ganondorf really had character. I even felt a little bit sorry for him in the end so I choose Wind Waker.

Edit: His ending was really poetic. He despised the winds because they brought death in form of heat and cold to his people.
He despised them so much that he was too blind to accept the wind of hope in form of Link and in the end he was destroyed by hope because he stood in the way of hope. His last sentence is just great. This is why I feel sorry for him.

@Owl1 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I was thinking he was in others but before that the main bad guy but he was just named Ganon until Ocarina

I just love the Ganondorf from Wind Waker so much.
Not just the design, but his whole vibe. He feels more human, and not just purely evil.

I have to admit this incarnation of Ganondorf is a great design!

But the more I play the game, the more that 10/10 infuriates me. Thanks for giving me hope to be crushed.

@Polvasti or simply, a new Ganondorf was born in between. There’s at least two confirmed individual Ganondorfs in the timeline, we can make that three.

Perhaps literally every Gerudo man born ends up being an easy vessel for the same evil... Which might explain why they’ve stopped raising them to become kings in “modern times”….

@Eel Yeah, that's another explanation. But in that case too the TotK Ganondorf is not the same character as the Ganondorf from previous games.

So did the game ever explain if there's a connection between Calamity Ganon and TOTK Ganondorf? Normally Ganondorf transforms into Ganon, making them different forms of the same character, right? Like, Ganon only exists because Ganondorf acquired the Triforce of Power. But from what I can tell, the game treats them as two separate entities.

@AstroTheGamosian

Twilight Princess is sooo underrated it hurts! The battles with Zelda and his Ganon form were brilliant and the final showdown is pretty darn epic.

Def this ganondorf, the backstory going to his origin, and his purpose. Also his design is cool.

I hope nintendo continues this route for their villains, give a deep background story next to the main story. I love that about this game. Background (history) story, and the present day story.
Also dont forget the sidequests add to the story mode.

Wind Waker Ganondorf was the only one that I felt some sympathy for after he told Link of how his people suffered while Hyrule was thriving, it made me feel bad about beating him and to a degree question what I was doing.

I'm still lost with the timeline after finishing TotK. It feels like they are retelling Ocarina of time except Rauru is a furry king and not a fat hylian sage.

The boss fight in TOTK makes him the best to me. Phase two of that fight was rude in the best way. A stark difference from the boss fight in BOTW.

Twilight Princess Ganondorf was super BA. His design, his anime bbeg feel, using that sword

Ganon from the Oracle games was perfection.

@TheBigK Calamity is 'dorf's hatred and evil/Id made manifest. Dude covets Hyrule so much it gave his desire form (malice/gloom/calamity) Which is partly why by time you get to the pig form in BOTW it is mindless. So still same being persay or same source rather.

@Ryu_Niiyama Ah okay, I definitely missed that but it makes a lot of sense. Thank you!

@BlueRupee I know, right? It's frankly my favorite Zelda game. It takes the best of both worlds from Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild: an in-depth, linear story with memorable characters and plot twists, and a massive world full of nooks and crannies to explore, with all sorts of treasure to be found.

Furthermore, it has a slew of minigames, including the best fishing minigame I've seen from the franchise yet (and it feels even more like fishing if you play it on the Wii and use the Wii Remote to cast out and the Nunchuk attachment to reel in the fish).

Not only that, we get the best sidekick in the entire franchise, Midna. Her character growth was easily some of the best writing from the series yet, going from a selfish, snarky imp--who used Link for her own ends--into a friend and ally of Link and Zelda (and her true form makes even me go speechless).

So I do wish people would appreciate it far more.

@SwagaliciousJohnson I don’t think it’s meant to be the same man. More like a recurring archetype across different universes (games). There is no in-game timeline. The only continuity between all the games is they exist as games in our reality.

ocarina 3d was mine