The sole greatest Legend of Zelda
game in existence, and therefore the greatest video
game in existence as well.
Developed for the Nintendo 64 and released on
November 23, 1998, this was the first time we saw a 3D Zelda
game. It won the 1999
Game of the Year award. It has held the #
1 spot on GameRankings.com for over a decade.
Preorders of the game were received with a gold cartridge, whereas off-the-shelf versions were received with the standard gray carts seen on most N64 titles. The two styles of carts bear few differences in gameplay, only in the changing of Ganondorf's
blood from red to green, the removal of an Islamic chant from the
Fire Temple's background
music, as well as the fixing of a few reported glitches in gameplay.
Ocarina of Time spawned a single direct sequel, Majora's Mask in 2000, which takes place after Ocarina of Time's
child timeline. This would be the last time we would see a realistic style Zelda game until Twilight Princess in 2006.
Ocarina of Time has been subsequently re-released on the GameCube on a promotional disc for preordering WindWaker, as well as on a Collector's disc featuring The Legend of Zelda, Adventure of Link, and Majora's Mask that was bundled with new GameCubes. It has also been released on the
Wii's Virtual Console, retaining all but its rumble ability. These versions are based on the gray cart versions of the game.
Ocarina of Time has set a new standard for adventure games that has yet to be topped.
