The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time retrospective

Posted April 22, 2011 by Ally Doig.

For many, the impending re-release of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the 3DS was what got them to invest in the handheld in the first place. The innovation of glasses-free 3D is undoubtedly an alluring prospect, as well as an exceptional achievement in its own right. It’s 3D! No glasses!

However, for all the technical ingenuity a new system can offer, sometimes the new games don’t quite live up to that system’s potential. Occasionally, we need to look back and remind ourselves of how we got to where we are.

For many long-time fans, despite leaps and bounds in the way we play games, the experience of play has them waxing nostalgic, convinced the glory days of the medium have long since passed. “You remember (game X)?,” they croak, in their finest gravelly voices. “They don’t make ‘em like that any more.”

And hey, sometimes it’s true. Take Ocarina of Time. After all, no one East or West – not even creator Shigeru Miyamoto himself – has made anything that more than a handful of fans would say gets even close to breathing the same rarified air. Well, some have got within reach, but the 1998 original still proudly wears its crown.

Now, although a remastered 3DS release is an exciting prospect, there are some nagging questions. Can it recapture the magic? How will this 13-year old game (albeit a highly spruced-up version) fare, here in the cruel, fickle gaming landscape of 2011? Will it really be as special as fans remember? For the answer to those questions we’ll have to hold on until June.

Going back to the original game, though, from the instant the opening melody floats to life and our hero Link rides headlong across Hyrule Field, it all comes flooding back. Without even pressing a button you’re reminded of why you loved this game.

Ocarina of Time managed to walk the fine line between the simple and the truly epic. For the most part, the story sticks to a typical monomyth structure. A hero awakens, he’s called to adventure, has to conquer trials, etc… (you’ve seen Star Wars, right? You know how the Hero’s Journey goes?). It’s a familiar good-versus-evil narrative throughout.

Yet for all its focus on story, it’s not a dialogue-heavy game. Text boxes are kept short and relevant, and there are no turgid or lengthy cutscenes to sit through. You won’t be sifting through hundreds of useless inventory items, or end up carrying so much you’re reduced to a crawl at the worst possible moment, or spend hours grinding to level up. Though it’s been labelled in many ways, I’d say Ocarina of Time is an RPG still, but it strips away the excess baggage and remains a masterfully refined experience as a result.

Even now, playing the game again in 2011, I find myself marvelling at the ingenuity of the level design. Each dungeon offers an extended brainteaser, each one completely unique, with a new set of rules to keep in mind while trying to solve the puzzle, and new tools with which to get around any obstacles.

In that respect it’s typical Miyamoto. Let’s face it, the man isn’t short of a decent idea or two, but Ocarina of Time saw him outdo himself, even eclipsing his own achievements on Link to the Past. It speaks volumes when a game bordering on 15 years old outshines so many examples of modern level design.

So many videogame experiences are fun but forgettable. Once the end credits have rolled, you’ll put the controller down, walk away, and it’ll rarely come to mind again. But who could ever forget crossing Hyrule field in three dimensions for the first time? Meeting the Gorons? Battling Phantom Ganon as he leaps from portrait to portrait? Riding Epona (I still adore that country twang to the Lon Lon Ranch music)? Even the dreaded Water Temple wasn’t that bad, right? And, of course – the metaphor for the series – growing up into an adult.

I could write five times as much as I’d planned here and still fall short of giving Ocarina of Time the credit it deserves. I didn’t manage to complete the game again during this nostalgia trip, but the eight or so hours I played dispelled any fleeting doubts that it wouldn’t still stand up as a masterpiece the way those of us who played it back then remember. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time weathers the years like few others games before or since, which is testament to its quality. A game this good still stands up because it’s an example, and indeed a reminder, of what the medium is capable of. The best of the very best.

So we all eagerly await the 3DS version. It will never be as special as the 1998 original, simply because of the impact that it had, and the subsequent historical importance it now commands. There’s no way Nintendo will do Ocarina of Time a disservice, though, and from the drip-feed of screenshots, footage and brief hands-on time we’ve had so far, they’re recreating as much of the magic as is actually possible for the current generation.

But until its release, the N64 has managed to escape the dreaded console graveyard in my storage cupboard, and it has Ocarina of Time to thank for that.