The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

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.