The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Once again, it is time for you to rescue Princess Zelda and the kingdom of Hyrule by challenging the evil king Ganondorf and defeating his sinister forces throughout the realm. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released on Nintendo 64 in November 1998 and falls at the top of nearly all video game “best of” lists for the decade. The action-adventure game was the fifth game in the Zelda series, as well as the first iteration to feature advanced 3D graphics. All of the early expectations surrounding the game's release ultimately lived up to the hype as Zelda became the best-selling video game of 1998. To date, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has sold over 7 million copies and maintains a 99/100 score from the ratings aggregator site Metacritic.com

For the first time, Zelda players were able to explore a three-dimensional Hyrule complete with dungeons, castles, and fishing ponds. Game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka created a challenging and hypnotic environment with groundbreaking new features like lock-on Z targeting and context-sensitive actions in which one button on the controller could generate multiple actions depending on the intention of the player.

Early on, the game was praised for its creative storytelling and rich cast of complex and fully formed secondary characters. The soundtrack to the game also played a key role, as players needed to learn how to play different songs on Zelda’s ocarina – a type of vessel flute. Listening to the groundbreaking Koji Kondo score and songs like the Gerudo Valley theme and the Hyrule Field Main Theme will instantly bring you back to sitting on the floor in front of your parent’s television as you seek to restore order to the kingdom of Hyrule.

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