Zelda II was Acclaim's NES Rambo..... but worse.
Man I loved NES Rambo.

I hated it the first time I tried it, but for some reason I wound up renting it again and reached that magic point where the game becomes playable and has a lot of cool stuff. Kinda like Legacy of the Wizard, Faxanadu, Clash at Demonhead, Bionic Commando and Battle Of Olympus.
Wow, this board has such random crazy across the board opinions on stuff. I really do think most of you are just doing it to be contrary. I wonder how many of you truly appreciate the greatness of the PCE, and how many of you are just supporting what was basically the underdog system in the English speaking world just to be a pain in the ass.
Let me help you: "Super Mario Bros. controls like shit." That should troll up some internet discussion. You have my permission to use it at will.
Zelda 3 seems to be, from what I've seen, the most loved game in the series so calling it a disapointment is kind of...well, its an original statement, I guess. Its also insane. Considering they were coming from Zelda 2, which was utter f*cking crap, I'd say it was a huge success artistically. Even Zelda 1, IMO, was pretty lame, but then I don't really dig most FC software anyway. Eitherway I think it might be kind of out-of-context/revisionist to say Zelda 3 was a disapointment when the only other Zelda games were the two crusty-ass FC titles...and Neutopia, of course.
My favorites, without question, are Wind Waker, and Link's Awakening DX. I played these games full tilt to completeion loving them all the way. But then I really didn't like Ocarina at all, which is also very loved by people. To me it was so brown it could have been a Quake Gaiden. Also...I got lost. 
I think the most "disappointing" Zelda game was probably Twilight Princess. Its even more brown than Ocarina.
Sounds like you're as crazy as the rest of us, since OOT is generally considered to be the absolute greatest form of entertainment ever created by man or god.

What's wrong with Zelda II? No fights, just curious to hear why you don't like it (a lot of retro gamers seem to love Zelda II while more casual Nintendo gamers hate it).
It's my favorite game in the series since I love platform RPGs. In my opinion, Zelda II worked out much better as a Zelda sequel than Ys III did as a Ys sequel. The reason being that Zelda II still carries a lot of elements from the first game which makes it feel much more like a Zelda game, like items, music, art style, etc... Ys III on the otherhand, which I enjoy too, didn't quite work out as well as a sequel because it didn't have much in common with the first two games. The only thing Ys III really shared with I & II was the name, a couple of characters, and a few similar items. They're both great games, but Zelda II did a better job on continuing the series.
I think that Zelda II is far more different from Zelda than Ys III is from Ys I & II. But I liked Zelda II for what it was, as its own game. But like most great games and/or games I like(
and the Zelda series in general), it has some big flaws.
I REALLY want to get into Wind Waker, but I just get so bored after the first dungeon. I've tried playing the game multiple times but I loose interest at the same spot. The graphics and music are great and I even like the storyline from what I know of it, but as soon as Link hits the water with that boat, I just have a hard time remaining entertained.
Same with me. I've played through the game twice and each time I quit once I got to the point where you have to sail around the world looking for Triforce maps and then do another dozen laps trying to dig up the actual pieces.
Wind Waker does treat people like human-person-tards during the first couple dungeons, but like most modern Zeldas, the game quickly turns into work instead of fun. But since various kinds of work simulators now fill gaming's best seller charts, I'm not surprised that Zelda's now more popular than ever.

Link's Awakening seems to be more universally liked than LTTP. When I first played it on my original Gameboy, it was more fun for me than LTTP.

I don't hate LTTP, I actually bought it brand new back in the day, even after finishing it in a single day as a rental some time earlier. Of course, the discounted retail price helped sway me.
But masterpiece or not, it doesn't seem to be substantually better than most other decent adventurey like games.