Retrospective: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
It's 1998. After years of waiting and hype, Nintendo finally debuted a new installment in the Legend of Zelda series for a gaming console. Weighing in at 256 megabits (32MB) and packed full with all-new 3D locations and two different Links, the new "Zelda" was supposed to attract a broad audience of gamers from the very young to older players who had grown up on the NES and SNES titles. Although the Nintendo 64 never caught up with Sony's PlayStation, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Zelda no Densetsu: Toki no Okarina) provided the biggest sales spike in the console's much too short lifespan. But more significant than the game's sales was the effect the title had on the industry and the critical acclaim it won even from the most jaded game critics. There isn't much that hasn't been written about Ocarina of Time -- after all, our old IGN64 site features more stories about Zelda than any other topic -- but I'll try.
Check out this cool, understated beginning. No booming orchestra, no fancy intro. The game knows it's good -- it doesn't have to try hard.
If anybody ever writes a bible for game designers, then this should be the first sentence: "Play through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time." I've played a lot of games in my life. I've played Pong. I've played games on the Fairchild Channel F, the Atari consoles, on Apple computers, on the ZX Sinclair, on PCs, on the C64, on the Atari 400 (and later XL and ST machines), the Amiga, the Vectrex, various Game Boys, the NES, Colecovision, Master System, NeoGeo Pocket, the Genesis and all its attachments, Super NES, 3DO, PlayStation, Game.com, Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and Xbox 360. And those are just the ones I can mention off the top of my head. I don't even want to think about how much money I've spent on arcade machines in the last 20 years. As the former EIC of N64.com/IGN64, I've played every single N64 game that ever hit the market, from the Australia-only HSV Adventure Racing to obscure Japanese games like Getter Love! Heck, I've played countless games that never made it out… But never again has a game instilled me with as much respect for a development team as Ocarina of Time.
Were you one of the first to own Ocarina of Time? Then you should have the special "shiny" box on the right -- not the boring standard edition (left).
It's not that the visuals were beyond anything ever done on a console at the time. It's not that other games haven't sounded better or had more compelling characters or a more appealing storyline. It's that no other game has created a gaming experience as complete and organic as this game. When the game debuted, it was THE 3D adventure game, providing a template for the genre for years to come. Nintendo's EAD team didn't just take Zelda and turn it into a 3D game, it designed a whole gaming experience around the 3D perspective.
Since there are so many gold copies, they aren't really worth much more -- but what about the 'red blood' version? It's true, early copies of the game had Ganon bleeding red blood. Since the game's rated E, this was soon (and quietly) changed.
The story of Ocarina of Time begins with a little bit of Hylian lore. In the game, this back story isn't explained until later in the quest, but the manual lays out the mythology right from the start:
A long time ago… Before life began, before the world had form, three golden goddesses descended upon the chaotic land of Hyrule. They were Din, the Goddess of Power, Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom and Farore, the Goddess of Courage. Din, with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land to create the earth. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth to give the spirit of law to the world. Farore's rich soul created all life forms who would uphold the law. These three great goddesses returned to the heavens, leaving behind the golden sacred Triforce. Since then, the Triforce has become the basis for Hyrule's providence. Where the Triforce stood became sacred land.
Old footage (left) shows the Triforce, supposedly included to let you switch between young and old Link. In the finished version, a similar scene involves the Master Sword instead.
The saga of the sacred Triforce echos through most the adventures in the Zelda franchise. Though the actual Triforce is not found in Ocarina of Time (it was originally meant to be obtainable as shown in early alpha footage of the game), it effectively guides our hero's quest in his first N64 adventure. As far as story goes, everything is directly integrated into the quest. As you play through Ocarina of Time, you learn about both Link and Zelda as well as their adversary, the evil Ganondorf. The moment the mysterious thief from the desert is mentioned by name, returning players will have figured out that Ocarina of Time is in fact a prequel. Though Zelda fans have fought Ganon before, the game marks the first time they get to see the vile creature in its pre-pig days. Gamers who have never heard of Ganon or Ganondorf before will of course be in for a nasty surprise at the end of the game...
Playing Ocarina of Time
Think back to when you first played the game. Do you remember how well constructed the whole adventure was? Modern games love to throw players out into a wild, wide 3D world to dazzle them with sheer size and go "here, this is all yours to explore!" Nintendo designed Ocarina of Time as a game for both fans of the series and complete newbies. It all starts off in a rather confined area. There are plenty of things to do, but the area is limited so that you don't get carried away or confused.
As you explore the Kokiri village, you learn how to use the controls, how to pick up objects, how to fight, and how use the camera system. Returning Zelda players will try to do all the stuff they used to be able to do in the old games, and new players will have a chance to figure out all the things Link can do versus other 3D game heroes. Most players will spend a lot of time in this first area just messing around with their sword, cutting signs, and slashing bushes. The cool thing about this first level is that returning players don't feel like they're starting all over again. You can jump in the water and swim. You can pick up rocks. You can jump (albeit automatically). But one look at your empty inventory screen and you'll start to dream about all the things you will eventually be able to pull off in addition to all of these actions. When viewed from a modern player's perspective, many of these actions are now commonplace in games. Super Mario 64 had shown us how to navigate 3D and simultaneously control the camera view. Ocarina of Time showed us how to interact with a living 3D world.
Then you enter the first dungeon, the Deku Tree, and you find out how well the classic Zelda gameplay concepts work in a 3D environment. A lot of what makes LoZ stand out from the glut of adventure games of the '90s is the tight integration of simple story elements (told via real-time cutscenes) and an intelligent orientation system. Although pretty much every game on the market at the time insisted on pre-rendered clips to tell the story, in Ocarina of Time, there is never a break between "story" and "game." It's all one experience. As you enter the first dungeon, the camera pulls out and shows you the scope of the environment. Whenever you unlock a door or trigger an event, the camera moves behind Link and has him look in the right direction. There are orientation aides in the form of a detailed map system with arrows. Nintendo was very aware of the fact that a roaming 3D environment is far more complicated to navigate than a static 2D map where up is always up. Despite its brilliance, Super Mario 64 made the pitfalls of platform navigation in a 3D game painfully clear -- with Zelda, NCL used what it learned and adjusted the controls and camera system for adventure gameplay.
How things can change... A fence turns from an insurmountable barrier into an obstacle (left). A lake without water presents a completely different experience (right). You return to the same environments, yet the experience changes.
One of the coolest things about past Zelda games was the existence of an overworld, which linked all the levels together. Instead of taking the easy way out and giving you a Final Fantasy-style overworld map to navigate, NCL created a huge, realistic hub to link everything together. This was no small feat, considering the N64's lack of polygon muscle. Weren't you amazed the first time you stepped out into Ocarina of Time's overworld and saw the scope of the landscape? There it was, a sprawling landscape -- large enough to create the feel of exploring a realistic world. This isn't like the small garden area around Peach's Castle in Super Mario 64. The dungeons in the old Zelda games were so close together, if you just translated the old overworlds into a 3D environment, the result would have been Disneyland, not a living, breathing world.
Nintendo's solution? A sparse, realistic Hyrule that merely hints at all the adventures to be had. You see a mountain in the distance. You see a fence that's too high to climb. You see a cave entrance underwater. You see the expansive size of the world and think about the things you will be able to do. There are no invisible walls and artificial limiters that force you to turn around. If you see something interesting, chances are that you can get there. And once you're familiar with the overworld and start to worry that it'll take too much time to travel around, the game gives you Epona. The horse is not only a cool gameplay feature; it's a necessity for this kind of game. Using Epona, you can travel around more quickly and enjoy the same environment on a different level. Once you've got the horse, you explore the same landscape again and what once was a huge barren stretch of land linking hot spots suddenly becomes an obstacle course. It's an old Nintendo trick that few developers know how to pull off effectively. Nintendo repeats this technique a few times in Ocarina of Time. When you find the Lens of Truth, you begin to wonder how many invisible doorways there are in Hyrule. When you get the Stone of Agony, you start to wander around just to find more hidden underground secrets. And let's not forget the ultimate change, Link's growing up from inexperienced kid to a more competent warrior. While you'll find similar game design in many modern videogames, the Zelda and Metroid franchises continue to reign supreme as they get it just right.
It's easy to forget all the things you get to do in Ocarina of Time because there is just so much here. Do you remember the Deku Tree? Or how about Zora's Domain, the Lost Woods, Kokiri Forest, the Forest Temple, Lake Hylia, Gerudo Valley, Hyrule Castle, Lon Lon Ranch, Death Mountain, the Goron Village, the Water Temple, the graveyard, Lord Jabu Jabu, the Shadow Temple, or the Desert Colossus? There are so many memorable moments and sights in Ocarina of Time. Remember how cool it was to be able to fish near the lake? Have you already forgotten how you figured out the reflective Mirror Shield? Or how about that ominous-looking windmill, hunting Skulltulas at night in Kakariko Village, stepping into the open field underneath the Water Temple, or the surprise when Evil escapes the well? And let's not forget the bosses, like the oversized Dodongo, the creepy spider Gohma, and finally the hulking Ganon.
Compare this with other adventure games and you'll quickly find that this kind of variety coupled with carefully planned action-adventure gameplay and pacing is unique indeed.
Ocarina of Time's influence on the rest of the gaming world is profound. Most 3D adventure games now feature a lock-on and quick-center camera system, more games now use in-game cutscenes to tell the story to prevent a break between gameplay and story telling, and many third-person games allow for a manual first-person aiming system when using ranged weapons. But as ground breaking and enjoyable as Ocarina of Time was, there were also some pitfalls. For starters, the game was definitely too ambitious for its own good. Apart from the N64's technical limitations which necessitated a less than smooth framerate, Nintendo basically had to create the 3D third-person adventure from scratch, so less time was spent on making certain quest elements more intuitive and others less obvious. One example for this could be many gamers' inability to figure out that you'd have to be on horseback to get Ingo to challenge you to a race. Another example would be the constant "hey" reminders from Navi. Designed to help out gamers find their way to the next challenge, Navi actually ended up distracting from the game. Nintendo should have been a bit more confident in the gamer's ability to find things through exploration -- or, in this particular case, should have at least given you the option to turn off the Navi nag hints. Critics also point at the fact that the "dark world" in Ocarina of Time wasn't nearly as cool and distinct as the one in Link to the Past, that the popular Overworld Theme was sorely missing from the soundtrack, that it was confusing that time stood still in some areas, or that use of the boomerang was limited to Young Link. But in the end, the game's shortcomings are minor compared to what the game does right. Ocarina of Time is an amazing game. It may look dated visually (especially when played on a large TV set), but the gameplay remains top.
Should you go back and play it?
I hope you already did. There is so much stuff to do in Ocarina of Time, playing through it only once doesn't do the game justice. Yes, the visuals are dated by today's standards, yes the midi music sounds tinny, but what a brilliant game it still is!
Where can I get it?
Everywhere. The gray version of Ocarina of Time can still be found in many game stores, both used and new. The gold cart is a tad trickier to find if you're looking for a new, mint condition one, but used gold carts are also plentiful. You can of course also check the Nintendo Classifieds forum, or scour Ebay and related auction sites.
Ocarina of Time was also made available for the Chinese Nintendo iQue system, which allows players to download games to flash memory cards via special kiosks. The iQue is exceedingly rare outside China and the clunky controller doesn't quite deliver the same experience when playing Ocarina of Time, but it's interesting for collectors nonetheless.
Luckily, a slightly enhanced version of Ocarina of Time is also available on GameCube as part of the
The legend of zelda: Ocarina of time / Master Quest compilation as well as The legend of zelda Collector's Edition disc. The two were made available via special bonus offer, as pack-ins, and even sold (not sanctioned by Nintendo) in stores. If you're not a purist and have no issues playing the game without the Nintendo 64 controller's patented Z-Button setup, grab one of these special edition re-releases for GameCube and relive one of the most pivotal game releases of the last decade once more.
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