The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

is a 1998 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was the first Legend of Zelda game with 3D graphics. It was released in Japan and North America in November 1998 and in PAL regions the following month.

Ocarina of Time was developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis & Development division. It was led by five directors, including Eiji Aonuma and Yoshiaki Koizumi, produced by series co-creator Shigeru Miyamoto, and written by Kensuke Tanabe. Series composer Koji Kondo wrote its soundtrack. The player controls Link in the realm of Hyrule on a quest to stop the evil king Ganondorf by traveling through time and navigating dungeons and an overworld. The game introduced features such as a target-lock system and context-sensitive buttons, which have since become common in 3D adventure games. The player must play songs on an ocarina to progress.

Ocarina of Time was acclaimed by critics and consumers, who praised its visuals, sound, gameplay, soundtrack, and writing. It has been ranked by numerous publications as one of the greatest video games of all time and is the highest-rated game on the review aggregator Metacritic. It was commercially successful, with more than seven million copies sold worldwide. In the United States, it received more than three times as many pre-orders as any other game at the time.

A sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, was released in 2000. Ocarina of Time has been rereleased on every one of Nintendo's home consoles since and on the iQue Player in China. An enhanced version for the Nintendo 3DS, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, was released in 2011. Master Quest, an alternative version including new puzzles and increased difficulty, is included in one of the GameCube releases and the 3D version.

Gameplay

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a fantasy action-adventure game set in a three-dimensional world with an expansive environment. The game world is mostly rendered in real-time polygonal 3D, while a few areas make use of pre-rendered backgrounds. The player controls series protagonist Link from a third-person perspective. Link primarily fights with a sword and shield but can also use other weapons such as projectiles, bombs, and magic spells. The control scheme introduced techniques such as context-sensitive actions and a targeting system called "Z-targeting", which allows the player to have Link focus on enemies or objects. For example, only adult Link can use the Fairy Bow, and only young Link can fit through certain small passages. After completing certain tasks, Link can travel freely between the two time periods by replacing and taking the sword.

Plot

Setting

Ocarina of Time is set in the fictional kingdom of Hyrule, the setting of most Legend of Zelda games. Hyrule Field serves as the central hub, and is connected to several outlying areas with diverse topography which are home to the races of Hyrule. Link collects the other two stones: the first from Darunia, leader of the Gorons, and the second from Ruto, princess of the Zoras. Link returns to Hyrule Castle, where he sees Ganondorf pursue Zelda and her caretaker Impa on horseback, like in his nightmare, and unsuccessfully attempts to stop him. Inside the Temple of Time, he uses the Ocarina of Time, a gift from Zelda, and the Spiritual Stones to open a door. There, he finds the Master Sword, but as he pulls it from its pedestal, he is incapacitated. Ganondorf then appears and taunts Link for obtaining the Spiritual Stones for him.

Seven years later, an older Link awakens in the Sacred Realm and is met by Rauru, one of the seven Sages who protect the entrance to the Sacred Realm. Rauru explains that the Master Sword was the key to the Sacred Realm, and pulling it allowed Ganondorf to enter the Sacred Realm and claim the Triforce. Link's spirit was then sealed for seven years until he was old enough to wield the Master Sword and defeat Ganondorf, who has since taken over Hyrule. The seven Sages have the ability to imprison Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm, but five are unaware of their identities as Sages. Link is returned to the Temple of Time and meets the mysterious Sheik, who guides him to free five temples from Ganondorf's control and allow their Sages to awaken. Link befriended all five Sages as a child, and by placing the Master Sword back in its pedestal, he is able to freely travel between his childhood and the present. Utilizing this power, Link awakens the five unknown Sages: his childhood friend Saria, the Sage of the Forest Temple; Darunia, the Sage of the Fire Temple; Ruto, the Sage of the Water Temple; Impa, the Sage of the Shadow Temple; and Nabooru, leader of the Gerudo in Ganondorf's absence, the Sage of the Spirit Temple. After the five Sages awaken, Sheik reveals himself to be Zelda in disguise and the seventh Sage. Zelda explains that Ganondorf's heart was unbalanced, causing the Triforce to split into three pieces. Ganondorf acquired only the Triforce of Power, while Zelda received the Triforce of Wisdom and Link the Triforce of Courage.

Ganondorf then magically captures Zelda, imprisoning her in a large crystal and teleporting her to his castle. Intending to use Zelda and Link's pieces of the Triforce to increase his power, he telepathically taunts Link to come rescue her. The other six Sages help Link enter the stronghold, where he frees Zelda after defeating Ganondorf, who destroys the castle in an attempt to kill Link and Zelda. After they escape the collapsing castle, Ganondorf emerges from the rubble and transforms into a boar-like beast named Ganon using the Triforce of Power. He knocks the Master Sword from Link's hand, but with Zelda's aid, Link retrieves the Master Sword and defeats Ganon. The seven Sages seal Ganondorf, vowing revenge on their descendants using the Triforce of Power, in the Sacred Realm. Zelda uses the Ocarina of Time to send Link back to his childhood. Navi departs and young Link meets Zelda in the castle garden once more, where he passes on knowledge of Hyrule's fate to prevent its decline.

Development

thumb|The Nintendo 64 with [[64DD attached]]

Ocarina of Time was developed concurrently with Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 for the Nintendo 64 by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis & Development (EAD) division in 1994, for more than $12 million with a staff of more than 200.

Development was migrated from the 64DD disk drive peripheral to cartridge due to the high data throughput of streaming 500 motion-captured character animations throughout gameplay. Early in development, the team had concerns about the data storage constraints of the cartridge; in the worst-case scenario, Ocarina of Time would follow a similar structure to Super Mario 64, with Link restricted to Ganondorf's castle as a central hub, using a portal system similar to the paintings that Mario uses to traverse the realm. An idea that arose from this stage of development, a battle with a doppelganger of Ganondorf that rides through paintings, was used as the boss of the Forest Temple dungeon. Different parts were handled by different directors, a new strategy for Nintendo EAD. Four or five initial teams grew over time, each working on different basic experiments, including scenario and planning, Link's actions, transforming classic 2D items into improved 3D form, camera experiments, motion capture, sound, special effects, and the flow of time. The towns in Ocarina of Time were based on medieval Europe. When creating Hyrule Castle's market, Miyamoto traveled to Germany for inspiration of its half-timbered architecture in Lower Franconia, spending a few weeks in northern Bavaria. Despite the setting being a "medieval tale of sword and sorcery", Miyamoto used the chanbara (samurai) genre of Japanese sword fighting as a model for the combat and was content with the positive worldwide reception. Miyamoto initially intended Ocarina of Time to be played in a first-person perspective to enable players to take in the vast terrain of Hyrule Field better and let the team focus more on developing enemies and environments. The concept was abandoned once the idea of a child Link was introduced, and Miyamoto believed it necessary for Link to be visible on screen. Originally Z-targeting involved a generic marker, but Koizumi changed the design to that of a fairy to make it less "robotic". The fairy gained the name of the "Fairy Navigation System" amongst staff, and ultimately, this turned into the nickname "Navi", which in turn resulted in the "birth" of Navi's character. The "birth" of Navi was a pivotal point in the story's development.

thumb|left|The developers were inspired by [[chanbara (samurai) sword techniques, as seen in this photo.]]

Miyamoto wanted to make a game that was cinematic yet distinguished from films. To promote this instantaneous continuity of cinematic gameplay, the cutscenes in Ocarina of Time are completely generated with real-time computing on the Nintendo 64 and do not use prerendered full-motion video. Toru Osawa created the story based on an idea by Miyamoto and Yoshiaki Koizumi. He was supported by A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening script writer Kensuke Tanabe. Miyamoto said the real-time rendering engine allowed his small team of 3 to 7 cinematic developers to rapidly adjust the storyline and to focus on developing additional gameplay elements even up to the final few months of development, instead of waiting on a repeated prerendering process. Ocarina of Time originally ran on the same engine as Super Mario 64 but was so heavily modified that Miyamoto considers the final products different engines. One major difference between the two is camera control; compared to that of Super Mario 64, the camera in Ocarina of Time is much more limited and is largely controlled by the AI. Miyamoto said the camera controls for Ocarina of Time are intended to reflect a focus on the game's world, whereas those of Super Mario 64 are centered on the character of Mario.

Music

Ocarina of Time music was written by Koji Kondo, the composer in charge of music for most Zelda games. This has been called leitmotif in reverse—instead of music announcing an entering character, it now introduces a stationary environment as the player approaches. In some locations, the music is a variation of an ocarina tune the player learns, related to that area. and players must learn to play several songs. All songs are played using the five notes available on an ocarina, although by bending pitches via the analog stick, players can play additional tones. The popularity of Ocarina of Time led to an increase in ocarina sales.

The official soundtrack of Ocarina of Time was published by Pony Canyon and released in Japan on December 18, 1998. It comprises one compact disc with 82 tracks.--> An American version was also released, although with fewer tracks and different packaging artwork. Many critics praised the music in Ocarina of Time, although IGN was disappointed that the traditional Zelda overworld theme was not included.

In 1999, a live performance album of twelve orchestrated versions of songs from the game, entitled The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Hyrule Symphony, was released in Japan by SM Records Ltd..' All arrangements were done by Ryuichi Katsumata. Hero of Time, an orchestral recording of Ocarina of Times score performed by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, was released by video game label Materia Collective in 2017. A vinyl version was published by iam8bit. It was nominated for "Best Game Music Cover/Remix" at the 16th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards.

Release

Ocarina of Time was first shown as a technical and thematic demonstration video at Nintendo's Shoshinkai trade show in December 1995. Nintendo planned to release Super Mario 64 as a launch game for the Nintendo 64 and later release Ocarina of Time for the 64DD, a disk drive peripheral for the system that was still in development. Miyamoto additionally attributed the delay to Nintendo prioritizing development efforts to Yoshi's Story after that game missed its planned second quarter release slot,

Throughout the late 1990s, the Nintendo 64 was said to lack hit first-party games. Next Generation wrote that "Nintendo absolutely can't afford another holiday season without a real marquee title"; they further wrote that Zelda was "one of the most anticipated games of the decade", upon which the Nintendo 64's fate depended. In March 1998, it was the most anticipated Nintendo 64 game in Japan. Chairman Howard Lincoln insisted at E3 1998 that Zelda ship on time and become Nintendo's reinvigorating blockbuster, akin to a hit Hollywood movie.

Customers in North America who pre-ordered the Ocarina of Time received a limited-edition box with a golden plastic card reading "Collector's Edition". This edition contained a gold-colored cartridge, a tradition that began with the original Legend of Zelda (1986) for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Demand was so great that Electronics Boutique stopped presales on November 3, 1998.

Several versions of Ocarina of Time were produced, with later revisions featuring minor changes such as glitch repairs, the recoloring of Ganondorf's blood from crimson to green, and the alteration of the music heard in the Fire Temple dungeon to remove a sample of an Islamic prayer chant. The sample was taken from a commercially available sound library, but the developers did not realize it contained Islamic references. Although popularly believed to have been changed due to public outcry, the chanting was removed after Nintendo discovered it violated policy of avoiding religious material,

Rereleases

Nintendo ported Ocarina of Time to its next console, the GameCube, as part of The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition, a compilation of Zelda games. This port is an emulation of the original Nintendo 64 version. The emulated port runs at a resolution of 640×480, double that of the original, and supports progressive scan. Another GameCube release included the original game and a second, more difficult version titled Master Quest that was included as a pre-order bonus with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002) in Japan and North America and included in GameCube bundles worldwide. It was also given to those who registered certain hardware and software or subscribed to official magazines and clubs. In November 2003, Ocarina of Time was ported to the iQue Player for a release in China as one of the five games available on its release.

In February 2007, Ocarina of Time was released for the Wii Virtual Console service for 1000 Wii Points. This version is also an emulation of the Nintendo 64 version. Because this version does not support controller vibration, the "Stone of Agony" itemwhich employs vibrations via the Rumble Pak controller accessoryhas no function. A five-minute demo can be unlocked in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008). Ocarina of Time was rereleased on the Wii U Virtual Console worldwide on July 2, 2015, It was also released on the Nintendo Classics service on October 25, 2021.

Nintendo 3DS remake

In June 2011, Nintendo released Ocarina of Time 3D, an enhanced port for the Nintendo 3DS handheld console. It includes Master Quest and adds features including touchscreen and gyroscope controls, a "Boss Challenge" mode, instructional videos to guide stuck players, and a modified version of the Water Temple with reduced difficulty.

Master Quest

After completing Ocarina of Time, which was designed to be able to access data stored on a 64DD disk, commonly translated as "Another Zelda". Described as a second version of Ocarina with rearranged dungeons, In an interview with IGN in 1998, Miyamoto said that he expected Ura Zelda to be released in 1999 under the assumption that the 64DD would be released that year, but acknowledging that he was uncertain over whether the 64DD would actually be released, said that a special edition release may be necessary if the 64DD wasn't released. In August 2000, Miyamoto stated that no online functions had ever been planned for Ura Zelda. According to Miyamoto, Ura Zelda was simple to port as it used few of the 64DD features.

Reception

Upon its initial Nintendo 64 release, Ocarina of Time received unprecedented critical acclaim. It garnered perfect review scores from the majority of gaming publications that reviewed it, Next Generation, Edge, Electronic Gaming Monthly, GameSpot, GamePro, with average scores of 99/100 from Metacritic