The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
1998 · Action-Adventure · Nintendo 64
Overview
Ocarina of Time translated the Zelda formula to 3D with innovations including Z-targeting — locking onto enemies for combat — time travel between Link's childhood and adulthood, and the largest open world a Zelda game had contained. It remains the highest-rated game on Metacritic and is consistently cited as one of the greatest games ever made.
Deep Dive
Ocarina of Time was directed by Eiji Aonuma and Toru Osawa at Nintendo EAD. The game's Z-targeting system — locking the camera and movement relative to an enemy — solved the fundamental problem of 3D action combat. The solution was so effective that subsequent 3D action games adopted it as a standard. The time-travel mechanic — moving between a child and adult version of Hyrule — was used to create puzzles requiring reasoning about both time periods simultaneously.
Developer Story
Ocarina of Time was directed by Eiji Aonuma at Nintendo EAD under producer Shigeru Miyamoto. The game took approximately four years to develop and was one of the most anticipated games of the Nintendo 64 era. It launched in Japan in November 1998 and became the fastest-selling game of its year.
Did You Know?
- Ocarina of Time's Z-targeting system was designed to solve the problem of 3D combat — every 3D action game that followed adopted some version of the lock-on targeting approach.
- The game's development was nearly complete before the team discovered that the original camera system made navigation in 3D Hyrule Field disorienting — a camera redesign in the final months caused significant crunch.
- Ocarina of Time holds a record for the highest Metacritic score of any game ever reviewed — 99/100 at its 1998 release, based on 22 reviews.
- Navi — Link's fairy companion who provides hints — became one of gaming's most memed characters due to her persistent interruptions.
