Description
For the first time,
The Legend of Zelda makes its way to 3D. Our hero Link is once again called for to save the Kingdom of Hyrule, and this time he has a time travel device called the Ocarina to help him in his quest.
Ganon is once again up to his old tricks, and Princess Zelda, as well as the Great Deku Tree, ask for Link's help. To guide him, a young fairy called Navi shows him the tricks of the trade. You begin the adventure with the task of collecting your sword and shield, and then saving the Deku Tree from the evil that has attacked. From there, you travel to Hyrule, and the many worlds that stem from Hyrule Field.
There are many new things in this
Zelda compared to past versions, including the use of time travel and the two different Links on each side (young Link, who you start the adventure with, and teen Link, whom you must turn into to complete certain areas of the game). Weapons are also a key feature, with bombs, swords and other nifty gadgets available to help you in your quest.
Alternate Titles
- "ゼルダの伝説 時のオカリナ" -- Japanese spelling
- "Zelda no Densetsu: Toki no Ocarina" -- Japanese title
- "Zelda64" -- slang
- "Ura Zelda" -- Slang for Japanese title of Master Quest
- "TLoZ: OoT" -- Informal abbreviation
Part of the Following Groups
User Reviews
The Press Says
| Adrenaline Vault, The (AVault) |
Nintendo 64 |
Jan 15, 1999 |
 |
100 |
| PGNx Media |
Nintendo 64 |
Jun 29, 2002 |
10 out of 10 |
100 |
| Nintendo Gamers First |
Nintendo 64 |
Feb 25, 2002 |
10 out of 10 |
100 |
| Thunderbolt Games |
Nintendo 64 |
Apr 12, 2008 |
10 out of 10 |
100 |
| neXt Level |
Nintendo 64 |
Jan, 1999 |
100 out of 100 |
100 |
| Power Unlimited |
Nintendo 64 |
Dec, 1998 |
9.9 out of 10 |
99 |
| Official Nintendo Magazine |
Wii |
Jan 11, 2008 |
95 out of 100 |
95 |
| HonestGamers |
Nintendo 64 |
1998 |
9 out of 10 |
90 |
| GameSpot |
Wii |
Mar 05, 2007 |
8.9 out of 10 |
89 |
| WiiDSFrance |
Wii |
Apr 22, 2011 |
8 out of 10 |
80 |
Forums
Trivia
Development
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time started life in development for
Nintendo's 64DD add-on for the Nintendo 64 (which was a disk drive that was only released in Japan with little fanfare). The 64DD flopped in Japan and it wasn't even released in the USA. As a result, this game, instead of being released in disks, was crammed into a cartridge (which was the biggest N64 pre-Expansion Pak cartridge released, in
terms of space).
Cartridge
Due to overwhelming fan requests, Nintendo decided to release the original production releases of the game as a gold-colored cartridge, restoring the 'golden cartridge' lineage that had previously been broken by the SNES version of
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for Game Boy.
Versions
There are at least three different versions of the game: 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2. The golden (limited edition) carts, as well as some gray carts, are all 1.0. The majority of the ordinary gray carts are 1.1, and many of the later produced ones are 1.2.
The only notable change between 1.0 and 1.1 is that the Fire Temple music was changed a little bit. It had a chant from an Islamic prayer looped in the background which offended some members of the Islamic community. 1.1 also fixed some bugs, the most famous of them being the sword-losing bug. In 1.0, if the player saves the game in the end battle after losing the Master Sword, and restart the game, they don't have the sword anymore, but they can use all items while riding Epona.
Fan remake
Daniel Barras was making a PC fan remake of the game, titled
Ocarina of Time 2D. Basically, this was to be a remake with all of the story, areas, creatures and items from
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, using graphics similar to
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Regrettably, Nintendo was not very happy about this (or any other
Zelda remakes that use
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past sprite rips), so the project is gone now.
Stone of Agony
The Stone of Agony allows players to feel a rumble to find hidden areas. This of course only works if they have a rumble pack accessory attached to their N64 controller (or are playing the
Gamecube version). For the Wii Virtual Console version, this feature has been disabled.
Left-handedness
Link has always been left-handed, but it is particularly noticeable starting with this game. In the
original title, this wasn't always noticeable due to sprite-flipping techniques. The reason for Link's left-handedness is that his creator,
Shigeru Miyamoto, is also left-handed.
Voice acting
Voice acting for the adult Link was done by
Nobuyuki Hiyama, who also did the voice acting for Link in
Super Smash Bros. The person who did the voice of Link as a child,
Fujiko Takimoto is a woman. This explains Link's extremely high voice.
Zelda references
Many of the character names, such as Rauru, Mido, Ruto, Saria, and Darunia, are actually names of towns in
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
The characters Malon and Talon are based on Marin and Tarin from
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Marin was a Zelda lookalike who also had a beautiful singing voice.Tarin was her father and had a liking for mushrooms (he resembled Mario).
Other references
Both Talon and his assistant Ingo resemble Mario and Luigi, although it's interesting to note that they have an antagonistic relationship. Both Talon and Malon wear medallions that are shaped like Bowser's head.
Looking through the windows of Zelda's Castle, players can see pictures of Mario, Bowser and other
Super Mario Bros. characters adorning the walls.
When using a GameShark, the player can make Arwings appear that will attack Link. The Arwing is the primary spacecraft of the
Star Fox series.
The horse in the game is named after the Celtic horse goddess, Epona.
The lantern-carrying ghosts called Poes are named after the famous horror writer
Edgar Allan Poe.
In the Forest Temple the player encounters the four Poe sisters: Joelle, Beth, Amy, and Meg. They are named after the four protagonists of the novel
Little Women by
Louisa May Alcott.
Awards
The game has also appeared on a number of magazines' "Top Video Games" lists, including:
- #11 "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll published by Game Informer Magazine (Issue 100, August 2001)
- #8 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time" by EGM Issue #200 (Feb. 2006)
- #2 "Game of All Time" by IGN.com. It was beaten only by Super Mario Bros. for the NES.
- #1 "Top 200 Nintendo Console Games of All Time" by Nintendo Power Magazine (issues 196-200).
Information also contributed by
Andrew Shepard,
Attila,
Big John WV,
festershinetop,
Guy Chapman,
Mark Ennis,
Matt Neuteboom,
ModestMr.Green,
Tiago Jacques,
WildKard, and
WWWWolf.
