The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

1998 video game for the Nintendo 64

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time[a] is an action-adventure video game. The game was published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was published in Japan and North America in November 1998. In December, it was published in the PAL regions. It was the fifth Legend of Zelda video game. It was the first in 3D.[10] In the game, the player character Link goes on an adventure to save the kingdom of Hyrule from the evil Ganondorf. To save Hyrule, Link must fight against Ganondorf and all his minions. A special object in the game is the sacred Ocarina that Link can play after he learns the songs, causing different effects depending on the song he plays, such as moving him to certain places around Hyrule (making it much easier and faster to travel), and starting rain (for example to water plants or fill dry lakes).

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Developer(s)Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Shigeru Miyamoto[1]
Producer(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
Designer(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
Yoichi Yamada
Eiji Aonuma[2]
Yoshiaki Koizumi
Artist(s)Yusuke Nakano
Writer(s)Toru Osawa
Shigeru Miyamoto[3][4]
Yoshiaki Koizumi[5]
Composer(s)Koji Kondo
SeriesThe Legend of Zelda
Platform(s)Nintendo 64, GameCube, iQue Player, Virtual Console (Wii, Wii U), Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch Online
ReleaseNintendo 64:
Nintendo GameCube:
iQue Player:
  • CHN: November 17, 2003
Virtual Console (Wii):
Virtual Console (Wii U):
  • NA: July 2, 2015
  • EU: July 2, 2015
  • AU: July 3, 2015
  • JP: December 22, 2015
Nintendo 3DS:
  • JP: June 16, 2011
  • EU: June 17, 2011
  • NA: June 19, 2011
  • AU: June 30, 2011
  • KOR: September 27, 2012
  • CHN: October 27, 2012
Nintendo eShop:
  • EU: October 4, 2012
  • AU: October 4, 2012
  • NA: October 18, 2012
  • JP: November 1, 2012
Nintendo Switch Online:
  • WW: October 2021
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

It was included in The Legend of Zelda: Collectors Edition

Story change

In the Kokiri Forest, the Great Deku Tree asks the fairy Navi to tell Link to come to him. When Link arrives, he learns that the Great Deku Tree is dying because of a curse placed on him by an evil man called Ganondorf. Link is the only one who can save him. Link must enter the Great Deku Tree in order to save him from the curse.

Although Link defeats the most of the monsters inside, he is too late to save the tree. Before the Great Deku Tree dies, he gives Link the Kokiri Emerald, a magic stone, and tells him that it was a man in black armor who put the curse on him. He also tells Link that he needs to go to princess of Hyrule at Hyrule Castle. Before he leaves, Saria, Link's friend, gives him the Fairy Ocarina, a magic instrument.

At Hyrule Castle, Link sneaks pass the guards and meets Princess Zelda. Zelda shows Link, through a window, a strange man with evil eyes. She tells Link that the man is Ganondorf. She also tells him that Ganondorf wants to steal the Triforce, a magic symbol of the Gods, and take control of the world. To defeat him, Link needs to find three magical "Spiritual Stones" (Kokiri Emerald being one of them), six great medallions and the magical Ocarina of Time.

Release change

Ocarina of Time was a very popular game, and many people liked it. Five million copies of the game were sold around the world after six months, and 7.6 million copies were sold in total.[11]

Many people were happy with this game, although there were a few, small problems. One problem was that players cannot skip through the parts where people talk. Another was that players cannot play against the boss monsters that they have already killed.

Overall, many websites and magazines think that Ocarina of Time is one of the best games ever made. GameSpot,[12] Famitsu,[13] IGN,[14] Electronic Gaming Monthly,[15] and Edge[16] all gave the game perfect scores.

Ocarina of Time 3D Version change

Master Quest for Ocarina of Time 3D is not available from the start. To unlock it, the main quest has to be completed first. Upon doing so, the player will have an option to choose between the Main Quest or the Master Quest after starting up the game, allowing a second playthrough of the game with redesigned dungeons.

This version of the Master Quest has two significant changes. The entire game has been mirrored, similarly to Twilight Princess for the Wii, making Link right-handed as well as flipping the entire overworld map and the dungeons. In addition to the game being mirrored, all of the enemies and bosses will cause twice as much damage to Link, which also applies to the Master Quest's own Boss Challenge version.

Additional Content change

The disc also includes preview trailers for then-upcoming games for the GameCube and Game Boy Advance. The selection of trailers differ by region, with Japan having more trailers from different companies and promoting the "Capcom Five". The A Link to the Past & Four Swords trailer is also different, having narration and focusing more on the Four Swords in the Japanese trailer.

Europe and North America

  • The Wind Waker
  • A Link to the Past & Four Swords
  • Metroid Prime
  • F-Zero GX
  • 1080° Avalanche
  • Wario World
  • Hot Clips (montage of footage from various games)

Japan

  • Mario Party 4
  • Resident Evil Zero
  • Ultimate Muscle: Legends vs. New Generation
  • Mr. Driller: Drill Land
  • F-Zero GX
  • Resident Evil 4
  • Dead Phoenix
  • Viewtiful Joe
  • P.N.03
  • Killer7
  • A Link to the Past & Four Swords
  • Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Australia

  • Metroid Prime
  • Hot Clips (montage of footage from various games)
  • A Link to the Past & Four Swords

Korea

  • The Wind Waker
  • Metroid Prime
  • F-Zero GX
  • 1080° Avalanche
  • Wario World

History change

In the late 1990s, Nintendo developed an add-on peripheral for the Nintendo 64 called the Nintendo 64DD. The Nintendo 64DD used magnetic disks, with a larger memory capacity than the cartridges used for the Nintendo 64, allowing for more content and improved models and textures. While Nintendo hoped that the Nintendo 64DD would attract third-party developers, they also began developing several first-party titles, one of which was Ocarina of Time. Struggling to attract interest to the platform, Nintendo moved development of Ocarina of Time to the Nintendo 64, which was released on a cartridge. At the time of this change, the game featured more content than the cartridges could hold and so parts of the game had to be removed.

Shigeru Miyamoto announced that an expansion would follow Ocarina of Time, tentatively known as Ura Zelda. The expansion was planned to include rearranged dungeons from the original game. The Nintendo 64DD became a commercial failure in Japan, and so most of Nintendo's planned titles for the 64DD, including Ura Zelda, were never released. Miyamoto insisted that the game would continue to be developed, and in August 2000 indicated that Ura Zelda had been completed for some time. Despite this, Nintendo could not decide on how to release the game, and considered different methods such as a magazine tie-in.

Remnants of Ura Zelda's 64DD origins still remain in Ocarina of Time. Several error messages exist in the game's data regarding wrong disks being inserted. A "Disk" tag can also be made to appear in the title screen by modifying the RAM addresses of the game. A save file can also be flagged as a "Disk" save and a "Disk" icon will appear next to the save file on the file select screen. The file will be permanently grayed out and inaccessible, unless the game is tricked into thinking the expansion disk is inserted. Attempting to open the file afterwards will crash the game, presumably due to the game trying to load non-existent files.

Notes change

  1. Known in Japan as Zelda no Densetsu: Toki no Ocarina (Japanese: ゼルダの伝説 時のオカリナ, Hepburn: Zeruda no Densetsu: Toki no Okarina) or The Legend of Zelda: Toki no Ocarina (Japanese: The Legend of Zelda 時のオカリナ, Hepburn: Za Rejendo obu Zeruda: Toki no Okarina).

References change

  1. "A Link to Zelda's Future". GameSpy Articles. IGN Entertainment, Inc. June 6, 2004. Retrieved September 15, 2010. GameSpy: My understanding is that during the last days of the creation of Ocarina of Time, Mr. Miyamoto was taken off the project. / Eiji Aonuma: It was the opposite. At the beginning of the project, his attitude was "Okay, guys, I will let you go ahead and make this game." At some point, he said, "No, no. I've got to get on here." He jumped in and took control of the direction. It was not him beginning then leaving, it was him watching and then taking over the reins. I think maybe we were moving a bit slow for him. Obviously, Mr. Miyamoto had a large passion for Ocarina of Time. He could not hold back anymore. He jumped in and started giving direction.
  2. "The Previous Game Felt As Though We'd Given Our All". Iwata Asks: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Nintendo of America, Inc. Retrieved October 18, 2010. Eiji Aonuma: Our first 3D The Legend of Zelda game for the N64 turned out to be The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I did some direction on that one, although it was only partial: I was in charge of dungeon design.
  3. "Question and Answer Session with Mr. Miyamoto". Nintendo E3 Report 1998. Nintendo of America Inc. (via Internet Archive). May 27, 1998. Archived from the original on October 7, 1999. Retrieved May 30, 2010. Shigeru Miyamoto: However, the scenario and game modes are only about 50% my idea.
  4. "Interview mit dem Meister". Club Nintendo (in German) (Ausgabe 4). Nintendo of Europe GmbH: 17. August 1998. Shigeru Miyamoto: Die komplette Story ist von mir. / The entire story is from me.
  5. Chris Kohler (December 4, 2007). "Interview: Super Mario Galaxy Director On Sneaking Stories Past Miyamoto". Wired: GameLife. Condé Nast Digital. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
  6. "Release Information". IGN. 1996–2010. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 "Release Information". Zelda Dungeon. 2001–2010. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Release Information". Giant Bomb. 2010. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  9. "Master Quest Release Information". IGN. 1996–2010. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  10. "How Ocarina of Time Defined The Legend of Zelda Franchise". Collider. 2021-06-18. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  11. "GDC 2004: The History of Zelda". IGN. 26 March 2004. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  12. "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  13. "Zelda Receives Highest Ever Famitsu Score". IGN. 14 November 1998. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  14. "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Review". IGN. 26 November 1998. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  15. "Retro Review: Zelda Ocarina of Time". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  16. "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time review". Edge. Bath: Future Publishing. December 1998. pp. 84–87.

Other websites change