Majora's Mask does a really good job of putting a hard order to the dungeons, but t it feels very open because there are so many optional things to do. Maybe some marriage of the two where you have 5-6 dungeons that have to be done in a specific order and then 5-6 optional ones that can be done whenever that give you bonus stuff like better swords and heart containers.
Twilight Princess is like that too.
Couldn't you get the bow & arrow from the first dungeon, reset, knock down the icicle in the north, and continue on that way? You can't do the third and fourth because they require Epona, to get Epona you need the Powder Keg, to get the Powder Keg you need to beat the second.
Yes, if you deliberately leave dungeons early upon getting key items you can "skip." You can technically get Powder Kegs in winter by unfreezing the door, I believe. Ikana also requires Ice arrows, though there's glitches to bypass.
That's correct. Technically you only have to complete the second dungeon first, then you can do the other three in any order. But you need items from dungeons to continue, but you can just get these items and leave. A real fucking weird way to do it, but you technically can do it that way if you really wanted to for some reason.
I think there's strong knockback you can't just push through.
Even though Wind Waker is one of the most linear games in terms of dungeons, it doesn't feel linear because it gets to a point where you can just sail around in the big ocean.
(2/3 of the way through the game)
But that's just 2 dungeons and the Mirror Shield is only there for the light puzzles in one of them
I have these txt files that are checklists of everything to collect in a Zelda game at usually the earliest point you can, with some consideration for convenient routing. So for Wind Waker, I always do a first big round trip after getting Nayru's Pearl where I grab everything you can (which is quite a lot, like two dozen Heart Pieces, a lot treasure charts and their salvaged treasure, both wallet and bomb capacity upgrades, and double magic meter) plus some out-of-the-way photos, then I do a second bout of running around after I can warp with the Ballad of Gales to get all the photos and figurines of NPCs at warpable locations like Windfall and Dragon Roost, then a third bout of warping and sailing around after Forsaken Fortress to grab basically everything else remaining, and then one final trip around after the Wind Temple to get all the Triforce charts and pieces (which is actually about all that becomes available with the Hookshot).
I've actually only done it one time myself. Other times I beat WW I didn't everything else except the figurine collecting. I'd do it again if I played the HD version, since that seems to have made all the worst parts about it less tedious (you can take more pictures before unloading, you don't have to spam Song of Passing to pass time so the figurines are made, and you're told if the picture is good enough when you take it which would especially be useful for Gohma whose picture in infuriatingly picky).
You help a yeti make a soup for his sick wife, and that's the dungeon. I don't see how anyone could hate that twist of expectations.
In recent years I've started watching speedruns. They are pretty cool. Especially if you are knowledgeable about the games being run, seeing what these guys are able to do is really funny. Breaking the games over their knees, but still beating them. Majora's Mask is cool, Ocarina is a classic, and TP is really technical. When you see what a LJA is it fills you with joy, Link jumping over chasms like a super hero.
Speedruns are kinda hit and miss for me, I mostly enjoy speedruns that are more movement than glitches but there reaches a point where the run gets so far from the base game that I can no longer enjoy it as a spectacle. I'm not some kind of glitchless purist but my favorite speedruns are the ones that look like an incredibly optimized regular playthrough with maybe some minor sequence breaks or skips. Truthfully I enjoy challenge runs much better, especially guys like YMFAH who can actually edit worth a fuck rather than just yammer on all video.
Twilight Princess is my favorite but basically any of them are good. I'd stay away from Breath of The Wild or Tears of The Kingdom as your first one though since they're the furthest from the traditional "Zelda formula" of all the games, but they're still good in their own right.
Is there some quality in particular you're looking for? If not, then start with the NES games and play them chronologically.