48| The Legends of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Released: November 23rd, 1998

Definitive Version: Nintendo 3DS; Also on: GC, Virtual Console for Wii and Wii U, N64

Out of all the games I have on this list, this one is likely to be by far the one to get the most complaints in terms of its ranking. In virtually every single "top X games of all-time" lists, one game consistently takes the number one spot. That is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. To be fair, there is a big reason for that. During its release Ocarina of Time was revolutionary. Prior to it full 3D movement games were mostly limited to 3D platformers, in no small part due to Ocarina of Time's director Shigeru Miyamoto pioneering that genre. "3D games" in general still moved around in a 2D space. Sure games like Resident Evil and Final Fantasy VII seemed impressive, but they relied moving around in two dimensional painted backgrounds. Even when games ditched 2D backgrounds and went full 3D, they were still technically 2D. Metal Gear Solid made a huge buzz when it was released two months before Ocarina of Time, and was essentially Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake with polygonal graphics and a zoomed in camera. Unless it was a racing game, first person shooter, or a platformer, the game wasn't going to have full 3D movement. Nintendo could have taken the easy way out by essentially having Ocarina of Time follow in these game's footsteps, but that isn't the "Nintendo Way."

Nintendo actually had Ocarina of Time be a full 3D game. The game had full 3D combat, full 3D interactive dungeons and puzzles, and even a full 3D overworld. In fact the only place in the game that wasn't fully 3D was the main town, as that used painted backgrounds. Usually a developer juggling too much at once leads to an over ambitious project that ends up falling flat on its face. Instead, Ocarina of Time soared to being the most critically acclaimed game of all-time, a title that it still holds to this day. There are primarily two reasons for that. The first is that it solved so many problems with working in 3D that developers just couldn't figure out. For a modern comparison, think of virtual reality. Try imagining making a game like Zelda with the HTC Vive. The concept of just sword fighting with the enemy is confusing enough. One would having to figure out just how to sync the animation and hitbox correctly with the player's swinging motions. They would also have to figure out what would happen when the sword clashes with the enemy's sword or shield. This doesn't even bring up the matter of depth perception. Keep in mind we haven't even begun to talk about how the A.I. will even react toward the player. And all this just for a sliver of the Zelda experience! It comes to no surprised that virtually every VR game designed from ground up so far is very simple and essentially a walking simulator. This was where 3D was more or less at during most of the 1990's, as developers then had the same problems working with 3D as modern developers do with VR today. Ocarina of Time figured all of these problems out, that is one of the reasons why it is so renowned.

Of course, the other reason why the game was so critically acclaimed is because it is so good. To this day, Ocarina of Time is amongst the best games.one can play. Despite laying the ground work for interactive 3D gameplay, it still manages to not feel outdated. This is a very rare thing to see with 3D games of that era that dared to experiment. So it wasn't just the fact that Ocarina of Time solved the many problems of making an action/adventure title in 3D, but that it did it very well from the get go.

Ocarina of Time is more or less The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but in full 3D. The game is presented in a behind the back perspective as the player transverses across the world through various towns, forests, plains, and other locations. The game starts the player off in a village where an infamous fairy greets them. It continues the basic formula of a Zelda entry's opening scene to the first dungeon essentially being a tutorial. The game begins by moving very slowly, as Link explores the town, moves throw mysterious woods, and explores the first dungeon. Once that is complete, the world opens up for our legendary hero. Well, at least somewhat. After leaving the village one goes to the main town. There they will briefly meet the princess and later see her kidnapped. After that, the game opens up where the player explores the overworld to tackle whatever dungeon they want to first. There is plenty of variety as there is a water dungeon, fire dungeon, ghost dungeon, and what have you. Like all Zelda game, the objective is to complete each dungeon to receive a special item and eventually collect the pieces of the tri-force and defeat Ganon.

From the get go, you can tell Nintendo knew what they were doing. Controlling Link is a breeze as he smoothly runs across the screen as he can jump, roll, back flip, and side step. He can also slash and stab his sword and put up his shield with ease. There is also a targeting system in which a reticule stays on to the enemy and black bars cover the top and bottom of the screen like watching a widescreen film. Link locks on to the enemy, as does the camera, making battles easy to focus on and relatively painless to engage in. Combat is admittedly a bit slow, but like Dark Souls, it gives the advantage of the player being able to see what they are doing. The combat is surprisingly refined for the time that it was made, and still to this day holds up well enough. Being honest, I actually find the combat more engaging than almost every Zelda game that came after it. The enemy A.I. reacts very well to what the player is doing, and there is one sub-boss battle that is really impressive to how the A.I. engages in sword fighting, especially for its time.

The heart of a Zelda game is of course its dungeons. Ocarina of Time's dungeons are very well made. They may not be the best in the series, but they managed to get A Link to the Past's polished level design perfectly translated to a 3D space. The puzzles are simple enough to understand, but complex enough to have the player really have to think about what they are doing. Puzzles often take multiple stages to complete, and much of the time require transversing through the dungeon and interacting with the general environment. Sometimes, I feel that they were too advanced for their time. The Water Temple is a good example of this. Personally, I found this to be the easiest temple in the game, but at the time of release it was infamous of being so confusing. This was primarily due to the fact that in order to progress in the dungeon, one would have to raise and lower the water levels. This would require exploring and memorizing where all of the main doors are, and having great spacial awareness. These were things that most game player lacked in the early days of 3D gaming. Sure games like Duke Nukem 3D and Doom required exploration, but that was in mostly on a flat map contained to a single floor with limited interaction with the environment. Ocarina of Time took its exploration to multiple floors throughout its dungeons, with the player regularly picking up and stacking items, observing to shoot down objects and enemies, and so on. The level design was very complex for its time, and in some ways shows how many games have gone backwards since its release, as doing such things highlighting a key to pick and up and open a door across the room to solve a "puzzle" is so commonplace now a days.

In terms of presentation, Ocarina of Time certainly gets the job done. In either version you play, the graphics have a nice and clean cartoony style, and the world has a very washed out colored look to it. Admittedly it seem a bit weird at first, but one quickly gets used to it. There is no voice acting, but personally the game doesn't need it as characters don't have much to say. The music is also very catchy as people are still humming the tunes almost twenty years after the game was released. The game does have cutscenes but they rare. It isn't the most cinematic game, and wasn't even considered as such during its original release, but the game isn't suppose to be cinematic so it makes sense.

It isn't difficult to see why The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ranks so high on so many lists. It is a very well made game that has few weaknesses. Its mechanics and design are timeless, which ensures that the game will enjoyable for generations to come. That said, much like Super Mario Bros., the game has been picked and influenced by almost every game released after it. It is inevitable that games will improve upon aspects of its design almost twenty years after its release. Regardless, the game still holds up very well today and still deserves to be listed among the greats. The fact that it's on the top half of this list speaks volumes of its quality