If the best best dungeons in The Legend of Zelda is another hotly debated topic entirely. Even so (and rather strangely), finding which game simply has the most dungeons isn't as straightforward as it might at first seem.
When not counting optional dungeons or mini dungeons - like the bottom of Kakariko Village's well in Ocarina of Time - A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds are tied at 12 dungeons apiece. This conclusion also takes into three different sections of A Link to the Past that can be considered a single dungeon. It's understandable why one might count Hyrule Castle, the secret ageway beneath the castle, and Hyrule Castle's tower as separate dungeons since they are visited at different times for different reasons, but since they are all part of one building, it feels more natural to count them collectively as a single dungeon.
Since A Link Between Worlds is a spiritual successor to A Link to the Past, even taking place on highly similar map, it has the same number of dungeons. However, the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past contains an extra bonus dungeon over the original Super Nintendo release. After beating the include Four Swords adventure and defeating Ganon in the main game, Link gains access to the Palace of the Four Sword. This could be considered in the category of optional dungeons, but the Palace of the Four Sword has four bosses, game mechanics unique to the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past, and tougher versions of enemies - all of which help grant it full dungeon status, making it the game's 13th dungeon.
Counting Zelda Dungeons Is Tricky Business
It's tough to definitively say what is and isn't a dungeon in The Legend of Zelda. To use a previous example, the well in Kakariko Village is a required section of the game, and even has a boss-like enemy. It also gives Link an important item, one which has to be used to complete the level. However, many wouldn't consider it a full-fledged dungeon, even though counting it along with the ice cave before the notorious Water Temple and the training grounds in the Gerudo Desert would tie Ocarina of Time with A Link Between Worlds at 12. The same sort of hair-splitting applies heavily to Majora's Mask, where plenty of areas are required to progress through the story need a certain mask to access, but aren't really within the traditional definition of a dungeon.
There are also plenty of dungeons that feel like multiple dungeons in one. The inside Majora's Mask's moon is split into numerous different side dungeons. The same is true for Ganon's Castle in Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker, but ultimately, it makes much more sense to count those as a single dungeon. In a way, the multiple boss fights at the end of various games help legitimize A Link to the Past's 13th dungeon in the Game Boy Advance version, even though it is tacked on to the original Super Nintendo release. The difficulty in deciding what constitutes a dungeon in The Legend of Zelda ends up being a testament to how much the series evolves between releases, showing that not every entry has to rely on multiple dungeon crawls.
