The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64 Review) - The Masterpiece of the 90's

Posted by Gemma @ Juicy Game Reviews / TheGebs24

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - N64. A timeless masterpiece

Never before has a video game series driven me to feel so overwhelmed with charm, anticipation and devotion. The Legend of Zelda series is exactly what I am referring to. A series which rose to fame on the Nintendo Entertainment System way back in the 1980s with The Legend of Zelda in 1986. Fast forward to 1998. We were firmly in the Nintendo 64 era in which one of the greatest Legend of Zelda games were ever released: Ocarina of Time. I’ve never come across a gamer that had a bad word to say about Ocarina of Time and whilst it would be easy to talk about the many other influential Legend of Zelda games, Ocarina of Time is, for many, the greatest Zelda game ever made. 

Awaking in Kokiri Forest on a log in Link’s treehouse is where the adventure begins. The soft green and brown textures and soothing presence of Navi, our devoted guide immediately got me feeling engrossed and excited. This was the first 3D Zelda game Nintendo had released and it looked absolutely stunning! The controls were slightly difficult to adjust to at first but it almost felt like the Nintendo 64 controller was built for Ocarina of Time after the first twenty minutes of play time. In those easy moments time was spent rolling through the grass picking up rupees and talking to other random villagers in the Kokiri land. At that moment I could have stayed in Kokiri Village forever but that would have not made for a very exciting game now. 

What are the most stunning memories you have from playing video games? Seeing the Deku tree for the first time has to be up there as one of the finest gaming moments right?! It felt so precious that I almost felt bad for rattling around inside the Great Deku with my sword and shield. From here on in the story unfolded as smoothly as one could have ever hoped. Ultimately the goal is to save the Princess and the wider Hyrule Kingdom from Ganandorf; dungeon by dungeon, collectible by collectible and song by song. With that being said Link exists is two forms in Ocarina of Time: Young Link and Adult Link, both with slightly different abilities. I remember feeling slightly disappointed when I arrived at this part in the game. The Temple of Time lays house to the Master Sword in which only Adult Link can wield. We all know this though right? Now I am pretty certain most of you reading this have experienced The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in some form. Wether you played the original N64 version, the remastered Game Cube version or the furthered enhanced Ocarina of Time 3D on the Nintendo 3DS, Ocarina of Time feels completely solid on any platform. What makes Ocarina of Time so unique are the stories gamers tell about their first play through or how they hounded their parents to buy them a copy. We can boast about the gameplay and story all day long but then I am just recycling many other articles about this majestic N64 title.

The Cemetery (Ocarina of Time) - Where is Dampé?

In 1998 I worked on a market stall on the weekend whilst going to school in the week. It was Christmas and my boss gave me a £100 bonus for all of my hard work throughout the year. Needless to say that £100 lasted for fifteen minutes  in my pocket as I ran to Woolworths and picked up a copy of Banjo Kazooie and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I had 2p change. I’ll never forget how excited I felt when I left Woolworths with Ocarina of Time; happy, excited, frantic and full of anticipation to take on the next Legend of Zelda adventure. For me, Ocarina of Time is timeless  for reasons and memories outlined here. 

Aside from wandering in Kokiri Village another poignant moment in Ocarina of Time was sneaking in to the castle and meeting Princess Zelda for the first time. Sneaking around the mini mazes and avoiding guards took me around three turns on my initial play though. ‘Whistle Blown’ and turfed out of the castle grounds we go! Great times in Hyrule! 

As listed on Zelda Wikia here are a list of the dungeons:

• Inside the Deku Tree
• Dodongo's Cavern
• Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly
• Forest Temple
• Fire Temple
• Ice Cavern
• Water Temple
• Bottom of the Well
• Gerudo's Training Ground
• Shadow Temple
• Spirit Temple
• Inside Ganon's Castle

Dodongo’s cavern overlooks Kakariko Village; another area of Ocarina of Time which held a lot of secrets. Slightly North of the Village stood the Cemetery where Dampé oversees the graves and Poes alike. Oddly the Cemetery seemed to provide a sense of peace with a welcome break from the dangers that lay across the land of Hyrule. Not only did it provide peace but also gave access to the Hookshot later in the game….amongst other things. 

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Kokiri Village looked devine

It's hard to find a dull moment in Ocarina of Time. It's even more difficult to suggest something that's off putting within this captivating adventure. There's no denying the rapport between Epona and Link. The coming together of the two added so much more depth to the Ocarina adventure and travelling across Hyrule field never felt so good! Most reputable review sites give this 1998 masterpiece a 10/10. It's difficult to challenge this. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time seems like the perfect adventure and I don't believe we've seen a Zelda game reach this level of finesse since. We can only hope that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be as consistent as the previous adventures. Okay so Breath of the Wild adopts more strict RPG elements compared to previous Zelda titles and Nintendo admitted that they'd taken inspiration from Bethesda's Skyrim. Will it work? Will Breath of the Wild be up there with Ocarina of Time? 2017 will give us the answer. For now we can replay Ocarina of Time over and over. This game truly is a masterpiece.

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