The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

About
Ocarina of Time, the first Zelda game for the Nintendo 64, was undoubtedly one of the most widely anticipated games of its age. Released on November 23, 1998, it was the first of the Legend of Zelda series to be in 3D (previous Zelda games had utilised a front or top-down view). It is generally considered to be a classic, most famously scoring a perfect 40/40 in Famitsu Magzine - a feat which only six games have ever achieved, the five others being The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Nintendogs, Vagrant Story, Soul Calibur and Final Fantasy XII.

Plot
Based on the events of Ocarina of Time

The Boy Without a Fairy
In Kokiri Forest, all the forest children have their own guardian fairies, bestowed them by the Deku Tree... except one. His name is Link.

That is, until one day, when the Deku Tree, as he neared death, sent Navi the (annoying) fairy to deliver the lad a summons. In order to test young Link’s courage, the Deku Tree bade Link venture inside his hollow and break the death curse cast on him by a wicked man in black. Link did so without hesitating, but, of course, his efforts were fruitless—the Deku Tree’s death was sealed in the pages of fate before he even began. With his last breath, the Deku Tree bestowed upon Link the spiritual stone of the forest and entreated him to travel to Hyrule Castle to seek an audience with Princess Zelda.

Zelda told Link of her dreams, that she had seen him come from the forest and break through the veil of darkness, bearing hence a green and shining stone, accompanied by a fairy. She also warned him of Ganondorf, the desert man clad in black armor, and his evil intentions to steal the Triforce of legend, and insisted that Link track down the other spiritual stones so that they might get to the Triforce first and put an end to his plot. Link set out for Death Mountain and Zora’s Domain, where he assisted the Gorons and the Zoras in quelling the calamities that Ganondorf had wrought in his pursuits and was awarded with the other two stones. He then returned to Hyrule Castle to inform Zelda of his success just in time to witness the second half of his dream come to pass—Ganondorf attacked Hyrule Castle in an attempt to steal the Ocarina of Time, another key to the Sacred Realm of legend, and Zelda was forced to flee in order to keep the sacred relic from Ganondorf’s hands. She passed on the Ocarina to Link as she made her way from the castle.

Link made his way to the Temple of Time and used the four keys to open the Door of Time. Behind it lay the Master Sword, the blade of evil’s bane, resting in the Pedestal of Time. Link withdrew the blade, unlocking the gateway to the sacred lands. But then something no one could have anticipated happened—the Master Sword, though it accepted Link as its master, the chosen hero, sealed him away in the Sacred Realm. Ganondorf, who had suspected that Link might have held the keys to the Sacred Realm, took the opportunity and crossed over into the sacred lands, and seized the Triforce from the temple of light.

The Hero of Time
The Triforce is a scale that measures the three virtues ruled by the goddesses—Power, Wisdom, and Courage. If the heart of one who holds the sacred triangle carries all three of these forces in balance, that one will acquire the True Force, the divine authority to govern all, but if that one’s heart is not in balance, the Triforce will separate into three parts—Power, Wisdom, and Courage—and only one part will remain for the one who touched the Triforce—that part embodying the force that one most believes in. If an unbalanced heart would seek the True Force, then that one must strive to acquire the two lost parts, which will rest within others chosen by destiny, who will hold the crest of the goddesses on the backs of their hands.

When Ganondorf laid hands on the Triforce, the prophecy came to pass—the Triforce split into its three parts, and only the piece of Power remained in Ganondorf’s hand. Ganondorf conquered the Sacred Realm and became the King of Evil, but his lust for power was not satisfied. In order to gain complete mastery of the world, Ganondorf started hunting for those chosen to hold the other two Triforce parts.

There existed a prophecy of deliverance from evil—it spoke of five sages, who dwelt in five temples. Together with the hero chosen by the gods, the awakened ones would bind the evil power and return the light of peace to the world. Because of the evil power in the temple, however, the sages could not hear the awakening call from the Sacred Realm, and so over seven short years Ganondorf’s powers of darkness, enhanced by the Triforce of Power, ran unchecked across Hyrule. His hunt for the other two Triforces was in vain, for their bearers had all but disappeared. His search for Princess Zelda was similarly futile, for she had gone into hiding. Still, Ganondorf’s powers were ever-advancing, and they transformed the once-pristine light world into a world of monsters.

When all hope had died, a miracle came in the form of a young man clothed in green, the long-lost Link, who appeared as if from nowhere. A man named Sheik, one of the survivors of the Sheikah, told him of Ganondorf’s conquest over the last seven years, and of the legend of the sages. Wielding the blade of evil’s bane, Link set out to break the curses on all of the temples. Then he returned to the Temple of Time and discovered that there was a seventh sage: Sheik, who was in fact Princess Zelda herself, in disguise as a Sheikah to avoid Ganondorf’s pursuits and to await Link’s return. Princess Zelda had been the one chosen to receive the Triforce of Wisdom when it separated into its three parts, and Link, in turn, had received the third piece, known as the Triforce of Courage. In revealing this to Link, however, Zelda also revealed herself to Ganondorf, who promptly kidnapped her, bringing her to his fortress, Ganon’s Tower, constructed where Hyrule Castle once stood.

He confronted Ganon in his keep, where a climactic battle unfolded. Without a strong, righteous mind, Ganondorf could not control the power of the gods, and so he was felled at Link’s hands. The sages, their power now awakened, cast the evil incarnation of darkness into the void of the evil realm. Princess Zelda herself then sealed the gateway, and, thus, Ganondorf the dark lord vanished from Hyrule. Zelda then instructed Link to lay the Master Sword to rest and close the Door of Time, and he returned to his original time. Link, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as the Hero of Time.

Timelines
In most timelines, Ocarina of Time is considered to take place chronologically first out of all the Legend of Zelda games. However, disputes arise as to the precise nature of the timeline established at the end of the game. Whether that involves a new timeline created in which Ganondorf will not exist in Hyrule or whether Link was merely sent back to the child timeline he was in whenever he placed the Master Sword back in the pedestal is not at all clear from the ending sequence, and is an issue of contention among Zelda players.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Ocarina of Time was revolutionary. All of the previous Zelda games, though they had the same core of exploring dungeons and using items, had nowhere near the same effect. The three-dimensional environment, the enhanced sound, and the greater graphical capacity allowed Nintendo to create a truly realistic environment beyond that which had been done before, allowing for cheerful environments like Hyrule Castle Town and Kokiri Forest and separating them completely from dark areas like Ganon's Tower and the Shadow Temple. The unique style of gameplay was later used in other Zelda games, which never reached the same level of originality that Ocarina of Time did.

Versions
There are three different versions of game cartriges, 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2. The differences are minor, but include cartridge colour (1.1 and 1.2 are grey, 1.0 can be gold or grey) and a minor sword glitch in 1.0 that was fixed in 1.1. The color of Ganon's blood was changed from red to green. Minor glitches in the Twinrova fight scene were corrected. The background music in the Fire Temple was changed to edit out a choir that Nintendo felt resembled a holy Muslim chant to avoid offending Muslims.

It was later rereleased for GameCube on a bonus disk that came with Mario Kart: Double Dash!! in Europe and was available in the U.S. by getting a new GameCube bundled with the disk or with a one year supscription to Nintedo Power. The disk also included MM, LoZ, AoL, a TWW Demo and a Retrospective of the Zelda series. It was also released as a bonus disk with TWW, including with a remixed OoT Master Quest, which presented brand new dungeon puzzles.

In 2006, it was announced that the original N64 version would be availble for download on the Wii's Virtual Console in the future.

Dungeons

 * Inside the Deku Tree
 * Dodongo's Cavern
 * Jabu-Jabu's Belly
 * Forest Temple
 * Fire Temple
 * Ice Cavern
 * Water Temple
 * Kakariko Well
 * Shadow Temple
 * Spirit Temple (child)
 * Spirit Temple (adult)
 * Ganon's Castle

Inventory Items

 * Deku Stick
 * Deku Nut
 * Fairy Slingshot
 * Fairy Ocarina
 * Bottles
 * Bombs
 * Bombchus
 * Din's Fire
 * Magic Beans
 * Farore's Wind
 * Boomerang
 * Ocarina of Time
 * Hookshot
 * Fairy Bow
 * Megaton Hammer
 * Longshot
 * Fire Arrow
 * Lens of Truth
 * Ice Arrow
 * Nayru's Love
 * Light Arrow

Ocarina Songs

 * Zelda's Lullaby
 * Epona's Song
 * Saria's Song
 * Sun's Song
 * Song of Time
 * Song of Storms
 * Minuet of Forest
 * Bolero of Fire
 * Serenade of Water
 * Requiem of Spirit
 * Nocturne of Shadow
 * Prelude of Light
 * Scarecrow's Song

Equipment

 * Kokiri Sword
 * Master Sword
 * Giant's Knife
 * Biggoron Sword
 * Deku Shield
 * Hylian Shield
 * Mirror Shield
 * Kokiri Tunic
 * Goron Tunic
 * Zora Tunic
 * Kokiri Boots
 * Iron Boots
 * Hover Boots
 * Fairy Slingshot Ammunition Capacity Upgrade #1
 * Fairy Slingshot Ammunition Capacity Upgrade #2
 * Fairy Slingshot Ammunition Capacity Upgrade #3
 * Fairy Bow Ammunition Capacity Upgrade #1
 * Fairy Bow Ammunition Capacity Upgrade #2
 * Fairy Bow Ammunition Capacity Upgrade #3
 * Bomb Ammunition Capacity Upgrade #1
 * Bomb Ammunition Capacity Upgrade #2
 * Bomb Ammunition Capacity Upgrade #3
 * Goron Bracelet
 * Silver Gauntlets
 * Golden Gauntlets
 * Silver Scale
 * Golden Scale
 * Epona

Item and Character Upgrades

 * Super Spin Attack
 * Magic Meter Upgrade
 * Defense Upgrade
 * Deku Stick Capacity Upgrade #1
 * Deku Stick Capacity Upgrade #2
 * Deku Nut Capacity Upgrade #1
 * Deku Nut Capacity Upgrade #2
 * Child's Wallet
 * Adult's Wallet
 * Giant's Wallet

Quest Items

 * Stone of Agony
 * Gerudo Membership Card
 * Kokiri's Emerald
 * Goron's Ruby
 * Zora's Sapphire
 * Light Medallion
 * Forest Medallion
 * Fire Medallion
 * Water Medallion
 * Shadow Medallion
 * Spirit Medallion

Mini-Boss Appendix

 * Big Octo
 * Meg Poe
 * Flare Dancer
 * Dark Link
 * Dead Hand
 * Iron Knuckle

Boss Appendix

 * Parasitic Armored Arachnid Gohma
 * Infernal Dinosaur King Dodongo
 * Bio-Electric Anemone Barinade
 * Evil Spirit from Beyond Phantom Ganon
 * Subterranean Lava Dragon Volvagia
 * Giant Aquatic Amoeba Morpha
 * Phantom Shadow Beast Bongo Bongo
 * Sorceress Sisters Twinrova
 * King of Thieves Ganondorf
 * Ganon

Related Articles

 * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest

Links and Reviews

 * Ocarina of Time page on ZU: Includes maps, strategies, game info and more.
 * Ocarina of Time review on VGRC.net: 9.75 out of 10