Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time review

In 1998 Nintendo would release a game that would change the course of gaming history. The game in question would go on to be one of the most influential games in the industry and credited as one of the greatest games of all time. What game? It could be none other than The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina of Time.

Ocarina of Time follows Link, a ten year old boy who is plagued by nightmares of an evil man in black. Link lives in the Kokiri Forest with the Kokiri people. The Kokiri are children who each have a fairy as their companion, only Link doesn’t have one.

The Kokiri forest and its inhabitants are watched over by the guardian spirit, The Great Deku Tree. The Great Deku Tree asks the fairy, Navi, to be Link's companion and to bring Link to him. Link is told by the Deku Tree that he has been cursed and Link needs to go inside of him and defeat the source of the curse. Once defeated the curse takes effect and kills the Great Deku tree and with his dieing breath, instructs Link to visit Princess Zelda.

Zelda tells Link about a man from the desert who is visiting the castle and when Link looks through the window, he sees the evil man in black from his nightmares. That kickstarts a grand adventure that spans two time periods and many epic battles.

Ocarina of Time was, at the time, a masterpiece. Anyone could boot up the game and get lost in the mysterious world of Hyrule. Even my mum picked it up as something to do when she was pregnant with me. And from what my dad says, it was quite hard to get her away from it. So it was only a matter of time before I found Zelda for myself.

We had quite a few games for our N64, mostly sport and racing games but our top 3 were Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye and Ocarina of Time. I was drawn in by the logo; I’m a big sword guy so the sword and shield caught my eye and the cartridge was gold - it just seemed special. I remember finding the Kokiri sword and feeling like, yes this is the one.

Look at any game made since Ocarina of Time was released and you will find something taken from or connected to it in some way. Everything about Ocarina is pure innovation; innovation that inspired an entire generation of gamers.