Revisiting a Classic: Ocarina of Time is So Good You Get to Play it Three Times
Third times the charm for Nintendo
By Yoyo
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the fifth main installment of The Legend of Zelda series and the first to be released for the Nintendo 64. It was one of the most highly anticipated games of its age, and is listed among the greatest video games ever created by numerous websites and magazines. The gameplay of Ocarina of Time was revolutionary for its time, it has arguably made more of an impact on later games in the series than any of its predecessors even though they had the same cores of exploration, dungeons, puzzles and item usage. Among the gameplay mechanics, one of the most noteworthy is the time-traveling system. The game begins with the player controlling the child Link, but later on an adult Link becomes a playable character as well and each of them has certain unique abilities. Ocarina of Time also introduces the use of music to solve puzzles: as new songs are learned, they can be used to solve puzzles, gain access to new areas and warp to different locations. Dungeon exploration is somewhat more puzzle-oriented than in earlier games but they are not too complex.
I know we all saw the recent Zelda Direct and I also know that we’re all (yes, all of us) are hyped for Ocarina of Time remake. Before I get into the remake, let’s take a moment and remind ourselves why OoT is crowned as one of, if not, the best game of all time. 1998 had a lot of good things: Furbies, the hit blockbuster Titanic and most importantly, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
This game is a very special title. It was the first game to introduce lock-on targeting towards enemies and it became the industry standard for 3D titles. Although not fully open-world, it was revolutionary for the time and pretty much every game that has ever existed since wouldn't really be around without OoT. The Nintendo 64's hardware held OoT back and I believe the remake is a second (third) chance for Nintendo to truly make the game they envisioned back in '98.
Seeing the remake's visuals, it feel like I'm looking at the same game I played back in the early 2000s. Out of all the games I owned on the N64, OoT, Super Smash Bros. and F-Zero X were the ones I spent all of my time playing. Granted, I was a child but being able to escape in the world of Hyrule felt surreal. Watching the Zelda Direct, I felt those exact emotions.
Nostalgia is very strong and most games fall trap to it, OoT is no different, but with a majority of games being the same hero shooter, F2P, 200+ hours slop, it's nice to go back to something simple (which is also why I think people are calling Wolverine mid).
There are so many things I'm excited to experience for the third, yes third, time. Ocarina of Time 3D was and amazing remaster and I still think it's the best adaptation, in terms of staying faithful to the OG. And for some reason, I was able to clock over 200 hours in the 3DS remaster...don't ask me how because I really have no idea.
OoT Remake is in a category of its own. I don't think it'll end up being an exact 1-to-1 remake, I think they'll add some stuff because there's no way they built the game from the ground up just for it to be the exact same, but I'm really more excited to see an entire new wave of Zelda fans fall in love with this game.
BotW is great and it did an amazing job at bringing in a whole new audience, I expect OoT Remake to do the same but tenfold. God I'm so excited...
I've been itching to replay OoT again and I'm determined to hold off until November, but man...I just can't stop watching that direct trailer!
Dare I say, this Link is the best looking version of him. He looks amazing!
I know a lot of people don't like the way he looks, but it's only because they aren't used to it. Nostalgia is eating their brains because OoT has always looked a bit...ugly.
If you rip a picture of Hyrule Field straight from the cartridge with no graphical upgrade, no smoothing, nothing touched, the game looks kind of bad. It did not age well at all, and there's nothing wrong with that! Most games from the N64 haven't aged well (Mario Kart 64 is so ugly). I love that we've gotten to a point in gaming technology where games can look amazing, and this is exactly why I'm so excited to play the remake.
Well all know and love Ocarina of Time, so there's no reason for me to continue on and on about it. I'll eventually come back to this topic after the game comes out to flesh out my ideas more. Until then, here's to counting down the days.
Come November 5th, I'm going to be locked away playing Ocarina of Time like I'm 6 years-old again.
I might be greedy, but I expect a Majora's Mask remake with these exact graphics...please Nintendo, make it happen.