VGRC

Has it been ten years already? On November 21, 1998, (23rd for us Americans) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world, reviving the treasured series for the first time since the 16-bit era and bringing one of gaming's favorite heroes to the third dimension. And while everybody back then knew Ocarina of Time would be good, did anybody expect it to become one of the greatest classics in the history of video games?

Who else remembers the pre-order craze for the coveted "golden cartridge" and the "Ye Snooze, Ye Lose" ad campaign? I was just as excited for the title as anybody else, having prepped myself weeks before with a thorough play-through of the SNES outing, A Link to the Past. Needless to say, everybody's expectations were pretty high back then, but I don't think anybody was really prepared for how it would shatter them, to the extent of how a brick would take out a car windshield. In fact, the general response at the time was best summarized in Electronic Gaming Monthly's 1999 edition of its annual Video Game Buyer's Guide:

"Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is our early pick for the best Nintendo 64 game not only of this year, but of all-time, and we're pretty sure you'll agree. Just make sure you've got some time slotted away to play the game, because it's going to suck you in for quite a while. And if you're like us, you'll love every minute of it."

So, how come ten years later, after five major Nintendo systems, nine subsequent major Zelda titles, and a countless number of imitators, Ocarina is still one of the kings of the adventure genre? What does it have that still makes it fun to play in the day and age where games like Halo, Fallout and Fable are ruling the sales charts. What charms critics so much that nobody has been able to permanently dethrone Link and his friends from the status of highest-rated game of all time? Ocarina of Time, in terms of fan response, has become a lesson in one factor commonly overlooked in game design: Lasting value. (Or aging, or staying power, or whatever else you people might prefer.) It's a testament to how a game, properly designed, will remain the talk of the town for ages, even after your company has shifted target demographics to grandmothers and toddlers.

While I don't want this article to turn into an essay of "it is the best game ever," I do at least want to point out, for today's game developers, some of the things that have contributed to why this game is still so popular 10 years later, so perhaps maybe, just maybe, we can get a game in the following 10 years to finally overthrow Ocarina from the charts for good.

The Storytelling: Sometimes, developers get this one right. Halo pulled it off, as did Metroid Prime and Digital Devil Saga. Still, it's something that is primarily ignored in terms of priorities within game design. While it wasn't exactly original (kid is thrown into a kingdom in turmoil and becomes a hero, we've seen it played out millions of times) it had enough plot twists to keep the players on their toes, while being delivered in such a way it kept you immersed in the kingdom of Hyrule. Whether it be the appearances of the mysterious Sheik, the HUGE amount of backstory, or the plethora of NPC's to interact with, (a point that Ocarina's, successor, Majora's Mask, would eventually perfect) Ocarina was designed to suck you into its world; one that's still just as great to experience as it was 10 years ago.

The Art Style: This one is usually overlooked, but I think it's a major factor in why it's one of the very few Nintendo 64 games that is bearable to look at in the generation of high-definition and 1080p. Most N64 games were a fuzzy mess! But from the start, Ocarina had a clear and defined art style, which translated not only to objects and places in game looking exactly like what they were supposed to, but everything looking exactly like it belonged there.

The Music: 10 years later, Ocarina of Time is still being heralded for its soundtrack. This is something that gets me with modern game design, as most developers either 1) slap shit over the finished product or 2) outsource to composers who slap shit over the finished product. Luckily for Nintendo, they had none other than Koji Kondo at the helm of Ocarina's sound front, who composed a stellar soundtrack that not only sounded good, but with each track sort of amplifying the vibes a given area was supposed to give out. Again folks, it's called immersion.

Variety: One thing that Ocarina did very well is create a game that was not only fun to play, but fun to play the whole way through. While most people attribute this to good gameplay (which is also true) it's more of the way how the game kept providing new challenges the whole way through that kept things fresh. A perfect example of a game that had good gameplay, but was ruined by poor variety would be a title I recently tackled called Just Cause. Good gameplay, but the "same 'ol, same 'ol" the entire way wore thin real fast. Ocarina, on the other hand, was constantly giving you new pieces of equipment and changing the environment around, requiring you to think on your feet. There were a few basic puzzles that were reused a few too many times over, I'll admit, but the fact of the matter is, things were constantly being changed up, and the fact that the core gameplay was adaptable to so many situations is precisely why it was so good, and also why 10 years and countless replays later it is still fun to play.

I took a pause in the middle of the Shadow Temple to write this, so if you will now excuse me, I have a game to finish... again.