The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | |
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North American box art
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Developer(s) | Nintendo EAD |
Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
Director(s) |
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Producer(s) | Shigeru Miyamoto |
Programmer(s) | Kenzo Hayakawa |
Artist(s) |
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Writer(s) |
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Composer(s) | Koji Kondo |
Series | The Legend of Zelda |
Platform(s) | |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Aggregate scores | |
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Aggregator | Score |
GameRankings | 98% |
Metacritic | 99/100 |
Review scores | |
Publication | Score |
AllGame | |
Edge | 10/10 |
EGM | 10/10 |
Famitsu | 40/40 |
GamePro | |
Game Revolution | A |
GameSpot | 10/10 |
GameTrailers | N64: 10/10 |
IGN | 10/10 |
Nintendo Power | 9.5/10 |
RPGamer | 5/5 |
Awards | |
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Publication | Award |
CESA Award,Edge,EGM,Games, GameSpot,Interactive Achievement Award,Japan Media Arts Festival, MMCA,VSDA Award | Game of the Year |
CVG,Edge,Entertainment Weekly,GameTrailers,Guinness, IGN,Metacritic,Next Generation,Nintendo Power | Greatest Game of All Time |
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was first released in Japan and North America in November 1998, and in Europe and Australia the following month. Originally developed for the 64DD peripheral, the game was instead released on a 256-megabit (32-megabyte) cartridge, the largest-capacity cartridge Nintendo produced at that time. Ocarina of Time is the fifth game in the Legend of Zelda series, and the first with 3D graphics. It was followed by a direct sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask in 2000, and its planned 64DD expansion title Ura Zelda became the GameCube's Master Quest.
In Ocarina of Time, the player controls the playable character Link in the land of Hyrule. Link sets out on a quest to stop Ganondorf, king of the Gerudo tribe, from obtaining the Triforce, a sacred relic that grants the wishes of its holder. He travels through time and navigates various dungeons to awaken the sages, who have the power to seal Ganondorf away forever. Music plays an important role: To progress, the player must learn to play several songs on an ocarina. The game was responsible for increased interest in and sales of the instrument.
Ocarina of Time's gameplay introduced features such as a target-lock system and context-sensitive buttons that have since become common in 3D adventure games. In Japan, more than 820,000 copies were sold in 1998, making it the tenth best-selling game of that year. During its lifetime, 1.14 million copies of Ocarina of Time were sold in Japan, and over 7.6 million copies were sold worldwide. The game won the Grand Prize in the Interactive Art division at the Japan Media Arts Festival, and won six honors at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. As of 2017[update], it is the highest-rated game on review-aggregating site Metacritic, with a score of 99/100; in 2008 and 2010, Guinness World Records listed Ocarina of Time as the highest-rated game ever reviewed. It is considered by many critics and gamers to be the greatest video game of all time.