The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

aka: TLoZ: OoT, Ura Zelda, Zelda no Densetsu: Toki no Ocarina, Zelda64
Moby ID: 3549
Nintendo 64 Specs
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Description official descriptions

A young boy named Link was raised in the village of the elf-like Kokiri people. One day a fairy named Navi introduces him to the village's guardian, the Great Deku Tree. It appears that a mysterious man has cursed the tree, and Link is sent to the Hyrule Castle to find out more. Princess Zelda tells Link that Ganondorf, the leader of the Gerudo tribe, seeks to obtain the Triforce, a holy relic that grants immense power to the one who possesses it. Link must do everything in his power to obtain the Triforce before Ganondorf does, and save Hyrule.

Ocarina of Time is the first 3D installment of the Legend of Zelda series. Like most of its predecessors, it is an action game with puzzle-solving and light role-playing elements. Gameplay is similar to the previous games, allowing Link to explore the world and complete dungeons to obtain key items and advance the plot. Sword combat as well as many familiar items such as boomerang, bombs, the series' currency (rupees) of various values, heart containers, and their collectible fragments permanently increasing Link's health, etc., return in this installment. Link can now lock on enemies for melee and ranged combat, actively use a shield to deflect projectiles, as well as use various magic items. Dungeon exploration is somewhat more puzzle-oriented than in earlier games. Link can climb certain surfaces, dive underwater, as well as automatically jump.

The game begins with the player controlling the child Link, but later on, an adult Link becomes a playable character as well. Each of them has certain unique abilities: for example, only adult Link can use a bow and arrows, but only the child Link can crawl through narrow spaces. During the course of the game, the player obtains the Ocarina of Time. Learning and playing melodies on that ocarina is needed to advance the plot, complete certain side quests, or travel in time, switching between the two versions of Link. It is also possible to befriend and ride a horse named Epona to facilitate travel between areas.

Spellings

  • ゼルダの伝説 時のオカリナ - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Nintendo 64 version)

76 People (66 developers, 10 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 97% (based on 81 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 425 ratings with 17 reviews)

The game that brought Zelda into the 3D era of gaming!

The Good
This game's wonderful; and even with its already impressive legacy and its age (almost 21 years old as of this review's writing) adds to the game's rather impressive legacy.

The Bad
Sometimes the frame-rate is a little choppy. That doesn't deteriorate the game's splendid graphical fidelity and dungeon-crawling immersion.

The Bottom Line
It's Super Mario 64 meets The Lord of the Rings. It's really that simple and it's that effective.

Nintendo 64 · by John H. (52) · 2019

Absolutely stunning...

The Good
Zelda on the 64 was a masterpiece in every aspect. The time this game was released was perfect as well, there was no game out there that had the gameplay and vastness that Zelda ocarina of time had. I remember getting this for Christmas from my father and almost ran off every wall. I popped it in the first time and I was glued for days to months, after school it was Zelda time!

The best thing about this game was its 3D aspect and the way you could handle link. The target locking system was also very fun, the ability to lock on a target and perform a left/right dodge and a forward to downward sword thrust was "Epic". I liked how they had the Little Link and Adult Link, and how you could change between both later on in the game it made the game never boring really...if you were bored as little link just switch on over to adult. Another option that added so much to this game was the customization of link, you could customize the sword/shield/clothing he was wearing based on the fights he encountering (((I mean come on dude - how EPIC is that...lol))). The mounted combat and the ability to ride on a horse was breathtaking, it added a whole new feature to the game. The ocarina included another part to the game as well allowing you to make musical tunes to buff you or help along your quests - or to even have fun and make your own tune's up. The boss fights put you into the seat of a massive controllable movie where you had to try to keep your sanity while you trying to dodge and fight this 60 foot thing as the camera pans left to right.

Zelda 64 for its time...with the mounted combat/Character customization/targeting-epic fighting system/smooth character game play/vastness of weapons-items. This game was just straight up amazing - and I think anyone who calls themselves a gamer really isn't one unless they have played one of the games that started everything - Zelda Ocarina of Time

The Bad
There were parts in the game that you wanted to just chuck the controller at the wall because you couldn't beat it, since it was so dang hard. Especially the last fight with Ganon, if you didn't know what you were doing it was a constant lose for you. But once you got past that part of un ending annoyance the feeling of getting farther in the game was nothing like you feel in games today.

The Bottom Line
Zelda 64 is still the best game of all time and if you haven't played it, you need to play it. Being 2009 Zelda 64 still surpasses every game I have played currently. Why? because all the current big companies aren't, looking back into what gaming really is - Fun. Everything is a grind fest now or feels like one big linear point system or the game just gives to much freedom that I find nothing to do or any point to doing it. There are some good games out there today -no doubt- but they don't have that click to them like Zelda 64 has.

To conclude...

Everyone needs to look back at history before they can go forward into the future and I hope gaming companies take Zelda 64 into consideration with games to come.

(I have played Zelda ocarina 4 - 5 times through as well as its brother expansion Majoras Mask)

Nintendo 64 · by Mike Wilson (2) · 2009

I just don't get the hype. Are grownups supposed to play this game?

The Good
The graphics were pretty good for its time. I remember the first time I played it thinking the world around me looked so lifelike, surreal almost. There were game features I enjoyed, such as riding a horse, using the bow, rolling, etc. The story had some okay parts, with some nice cinematics. The ending, while I didn't really care for, was still very epic.

The Bad
God, everything. I don't know why people love this game so much. Maybe you have to be a huge Zelda fan or something...I never was. Hey, I loved "A Link to the Past"...that was arguably my favorite SNES game. But this game was just crap to me. I never liked the idea that an eight year old "fairy boy" (that's not a joke -- that's what you're called) can stop evil and what not. It's obvious this game is geared toward a younger audience, but wasn't A Link to the Past as well? And I enjoyed that one immensely.

I guess what I really hated about this game was the way it pushes the childish bit at you. In ALttP, you presumably played as a kid, but it was never a huge part of the game. That's what this game is all about, so I guess if you're an eight year old kid, this game is like an orgasm or something.

While the dungeons are a rather enhanced "Zelda" style design, they just didn't appeal to me. The very first dungeon is the worst, and in the three times I tried playing through this game, it was trudging through that awful mess that made me stop playing it.

The graphics, while good for their time, are too damned childish and have a huge anime overlay to them.

The Bottom Line
I don't get it, really I don't. Grown people play this game and idolize it, yet when I look at it, I see an eight year old "fairy boy" with his wooden sword going around and pretending to be a hero or something. If you're a huge fan of Zelda, I think you could enjoy this game. And if you're a kid, well, you'll undoubtedly love it.

But I'll stick with A Link to the Past and pretend the series ended there.

Nintendo 64 · by kbmb (415) · 2003

[ View all 17 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Am I the only one? GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) Jul 15, 2012
Beta screenshots ? GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) Jun 13, 2009

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The N64 version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

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). Even though it was originally developed and planned for the 64DD, it was announced to much surprise that Zelda would release in cartridge form for the N64 first; further indicating that the disk drive platform was not gaining the traction Nintendo had hoped for.

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. Also the final boss originally had red blood which was changed to green in a later version.

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.

Ad controversy

An advertisement for Ocarina of Time shown in British TV proved to be controversial. Using the slogan "Willst thou get the girl? Or play like one?", the ad provoked complaints to the Independent Television Commission from viewers who considered it sexist. ITC however ruled against taking the ad off the air, stating that "such tongue-in-cheek treatments were unlikely to have the widespread negative affect that those who complained feared."

References: Zelda series

  • 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).

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

  • EGM
    • February 2006 (Issue #200) - #8 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time" list
  • Game Informer
    • August 2001 (Issue #100) - #11 on the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – #43 Top Game of All Time
  • Nintendo Power
    • Issues #196-200 - #1 "Top 200 Nintendo Console Games of All Time"
  • Retro Gamer
    • October 2004 (Issue #9) – #5 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)
  • WatchMojo
    • August 2014 - ranked #1 in the Top 10 Video Games of All Time
  • The Strong National Museum of Play
    • 2022 – Introduced into the World Video Game Hall of Fame

Information also contributed by Andrew Shepard, Attila, Big John WV, festershinetop, Guy Chapman, Mark Ennis, Matt Neuteboom, ModestMr.Green, Tiago Jacques, WildKard, and WWWWolf.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Wii added by Sciere.

Additional contributors: PCGamer77, Jeanne, Joshua J. Slone, gamewarrior, Havoc Crow, BobaMa, Cantillon, Arejarn, Patrick Bregger, Thomas Thompson, FatherJack, John H., WONDERなパン, SoMuchChaotix.

Game added April 3, 2001. Last modified March 11, 2024.