Zelda: Ocarina of Time: the best game ever made turns 25

Saturday 21 November 1998. This date could be any day in the history of the video game industry, if it weren’t for one detail: this was precisely the moment Nintendo chose to launch The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Today, 25 years later, here we are celebrating another anniversary since the launch of this great classic for Nintendo 64. And it is precisely the points that led the game to become a success that we will talk about in the following lines.

After all, why is Zelda Ocarina of Time considered one of the best games ever made? Reminiscent of the Nintendo classic.

The birth of a classic

By 1998, several successful franchises had already migrated into the field of three-dimensional scenarios Final Fantasy VII one of the biggest references at that time. It was about time the same thing happened The Legend of Zeldaand perhaps many know it the initial concept of Ocarina of time It was introduced to the world much earlier, in 1995.

Before E3 had its first edition, industry professionals presented their innovations to the Western world in the former SpaceWorld. It was on this occasion that Nintendo demonstrated what was then known as Zelda 3D Project.

Of course, a lot has changed since we had a chance to see this first concept. One of the proposals, for example, was that this game would be released for the Nintendo 64DDbut the production team eventually left the game in cartridge format.

Speaking of development, Nintendo had a great team at work Ocarina of time. Under the supervision of Shigeru Miyamoto, the game also featured the efforts of Eiji Aonuma, who would become the future director of the franchise, and more than 100 people. to deliver one of Link’s most memorable adventures.

Evolving in every way

The Legend of Zelda: a link to the pastfor Super Nintendo, surprised everyone with its proposal of two worlds and a long adventure by the standards of the time. This was to be expected Ocarina of time he would go further, and he did.

As in the Super Nintendo game, the adventure was still divided into two blocks, but here with an additional feature: a time passage system. The first part of the adventure, for example, is entirely focused on controlling the child Link, scenery that changes just before the halfway point of the journey.

After a seven-year cycle, the protagonist finds himself in adulthood and with a world completely desolated by Ganon’s actions. Zelda, the princess he had known as a child, has disappeared, the kingdom of Hyrule has fallen into chaos and many challenges await him at this stage.

To account for all this, the protagonist literally became an acrobat. With the opening to a three-dimensional world, Link can now roll, jump, retreat, lock onto enemies, and many other mechanics used in games in the series to date.

Much of this was only possible thanks to the Nintendo 64 controller, which with more buttons offered more possibilities to the development team. Some additions also offered another perspective, like the first-person moments with the slingshot, bow and arrow, or hook.

Critical and public success

Working with several new mechanics and maintaining the same magic seen in previous titles, it didn’t take long for the game to become a Nintendo 64 classic.

Thanks to every package contained in the game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time it sold 7.6 million copies on Nintendo 64 alone. It’s worth mentioning that, if you were to consider the Virtual Console editions and the one intended for Nintendo 3DS, these numbers would easily exceed 10 million.

Even specialized critics approved the work done by Nintendo on this game. With a denser plot and several new gameplay features, the title received top marks in several magazines and websites at the time, and Metacritic is proof of this.

The aggregator page shows that it counts cwith an almost perfect score of 99 points, a number based on 22 ratings published in the period. When it comes to the public the score is a little lower, but still commendable: 9.1, considering the 8,363 analyzes available.

For all this it is to be expected Ocarina of time It is still a game that is talked about and discussed widely in the community thanks to all its evolutions. If we add to this the various secrets to explore and, obviously, the magic that only Nintendo can offer in its titles, we have even more reasons to celebrate these 25 years.

Source: Terra

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.