Zelda-Nation: Ocarina of Time's Importance to Me

Today, Ocarina of Time 3D was released for the 3DS some 12 and a half years after the original (Ocarina of Time was released Nov. 23rd here in North America) and hopefully is introducing those who never played to the classic while giving those of us who played, and loved it, another excuse to play through it. I know I'll look for any excuse to play Ocarina of Time.

I think Ocarina of Time's importance to gaming is one that is but shouldn't be excused. Nowadays a lot of people comment on the aged graphics (well I'd sure hope so) and some of the clunkier aspects of the game but forget at the time Ocarina of Time was one of the better looking and playing games of the time. Not only did Ocarina of Time bring the Zelda feeling to a 3D game exceptionally well it also provided the industry with a seemingly obvious way to avoid camera problems prevalent (and still an issue today) back then, Z-targeting. This made it much more possible to properly battle enemies in a 3D space and also made for more cinematic battles. But these things should be obvious to anyone and even if Ocarina of Time isn't your favorite Zelda (actually it battles A Link to the Past for that place for me), I'd say denying OoT's role in influencing game design shouldn't be downplayed.

But this isn't about Ocarina of Time's impact to gaming but its impact on me. The lead up to Ocarina of Time's creation in the mid-90s marked the period in time when I went from being a casual-ish gamer to a more hardcore gamer to the gamer I am today. Mind you most of what I saw back in the lead up with pictures in Nintendo Power or EGM but screenshots take up space and these videos pretty much show what I saw anyways.



This is the earliest known footage of what would eventually become Ocarina of Time. While obviously more a demo for the Nintendo 64's graphics than anything resembling the final product, this demo sparked my, and other's, imagination in 1995 about a 3D Zelda title. At the time I had little real experience with 3D games so this was really exciting. Seeing a familiar character as Link in a 3D environment fighting a generic knight was something else. As an aside, before I knew about the N64, I remember writing a letter to Nintendo Power asking about a possible 3D Zelda on the Virtual Boy and if I remember right I got something alluding to a future 3D Zelda but since I was dumb at the time I thought for sure Zelda would show up on the Virtual Boy. Consider that a bullet dodged. Anyways, while that footage wasn't a lot to go to the future of Zelda 64 it did make the wait for more concrete stuff to show up even more painful.



Now this was more like it. The game was truly starting to form into what would become Ocarina of Time. While obviously a bit early things like the triforce, stalfos and Link were all incredibly enticing and familiar. This was right about the time the N64 came out and after salivating over how amazing Mario 64 was, the two years between then and 1998 seemed to just that much longer.



This trailer showed more environments. What I remember most about these '97 videos and screenshots was that the environment was much more open. With hindsight it is obviously because of Ocarina of Time's time as a 64DD game. I'd imagine that when Ocarina of Time was converted to cartridge a lot of stuff changed so while these shots look familiar they are still were short of what the final product would be.

Now from that time on (and because I can't find more videos) I basically spent the next two years playing whatever came up on the N64 (Star Fox 64 and Goldeneye in particular) and devouring any and all information that came forward about Ocarina of Time. And then this commercial popped up:



Now by that time my anticipation had reached a near boiling point and seeing the completed game's commercials pretty much put me over the edge. Of course I had been pretty much telling my parents that this game, above all else, was what I wanted for Christmas. So I'd have to wait a month after the game's release to finally get my hands on the game.

And what a Christmas it was. Knowing that the game was under our tree, just sitting there was murder. When I finally got to unwrap it, the first thing I wanted to do was go to my room, stick it in my N64 and play until I was blue in the face. When I finally got my chance to play, I was hooked. From Navi's initial flight to find Link and to Link first stepping foot on the overworld I was 3+ years of anticipation was rewarded with a game that I would come to play and beat at least 30 times including a time where I beat it 3 times in a month (N64 version, GCN disc version, MQ version). Yeah I'm obsessed.

Nowadays it is a lot easier to follow anticipated games, what with the internet being pretty much a part of everyone's life now. In the '90s it was harder and I basically had to absorb all information I could as my internet access was limited at the time and magazines were my number one source. But that was a great 3 year period for me and changed how I look at gaming in general. With all the information available to us today, it is easy for us to be cynical as finding info on upcoming games is pretty much always available to us.

Zelda-Nation: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Q & A

Mases of ZeldaDungeon.net interviews a person from Zelda Informer who got a chance to play the demo of Skyward Sword. Some interesting hands-on info.



Also as we are only 4 days from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D's release, I thought I'd change how I'd do these posts. Instead of finishing with the release of OoT3D I'm going to do these periodically throughout the year as to celebrate Zelda's 25th Anniversary.

Zelda-Nation: Zelda: OoT 3D E3 Trailer

I'm sure we've all seen it already but man I love this trailer.



Brings me back to 1998 and how much I loved that commercial.

I can assure you I willst not suck.

Zelda-Nation: Zelda Parody starring Taco Man

Okay I admit it, I'm a tad obsessed with Taco Man and his wacky antics but this was brilliant. Plus it gave me an excuse for to do another Zelda-nation post. So score. It also doubles as a Captain N: The Game Master parody.

Zelda-Nation: Thursday Trailer Edition

June 19th people!

Sorry for the cop-out.

Also as bonus the 44 minute long preview video Nintendo released prior to OoT's release in Japan.

Zelda-Nation: Fun With Timelines

One of the more interesting aspects of Legend of Zelda fandom is the debate on the timeline, if any, that the franchise follows. Go to any Zelda fan site and you are sure to find numerous theories pertaining to the order and nature of the timelines. Typically they fall into two major groups, linearists and splitists which means you believe that the timeline follows a straight order or that you believe that the timeline splits, usually focused around the ending of Ocarina of Time. I'm not sure if I need to explain this but the ending of Ocarina of Time involves Zelda sending Link back to the past to live his life and Ganondorf will never come to be while also leaving a future where Ganondorf was sealed in the Sacred Realm and such.

Here lets let the Angry Video Game Nerd explain:



Now to be entirely honest I don't spend a lot of time on timeline of the franchise. While it is certainly interesting to a point, to me the whole debate seems rather fruitless because I am not entirely convinced that Nintendo has put that much effort into. I mean I could be wrong and I'm certainly not telling fans to stop debating it but people really put their emotions into it. I've seen flame-wars over the topic and it is kinda startling.

But for the sake of argument, I'll presume that there is a timeline that the franchise follows and see what I come up with. Probably won't be anything new or original and I'm not doing any real research on the matter outside of what I know of the franchise and my own observations. If there is anything I need to be corrected on, please say so and I'll make a note of it.

What we know for sure is that there have been several Links, several Zeldas and only one Ganon/dorf. Also we know that Hyrule's landscape has changed dramatically but there are commonalities of towns and landmarks. There are only a few obviously direct sequels (in which the same Link stars) in the franchise as well, those would be:

LoZ/AoL, OoT/MM, Seasons, TWW/PH

Though if LoZ/AoL are indeed directly linked (no pun honest) doesn't it seem weird that there are two different Zeldas unless the Zelda in AoL is different than the one in LoZ but I dunno.

Of course this leaves 6 other LoZ games that feature an unique Link or at least not obviously connected Link. One game I'm kind of curious about is Link's Awakening. While not explicitly stated, to my memory anyways, I've always thought that the Link in that game was the same Link as the one in A Link to the Past but I also vaguely remember reading something in some video game magazine (I'm thinking Nintendo Power) that somehow the events of Link's Awakening takes place directly in the middle of Adventures of Link when Link takes the raft ride from the West to East continent but that seems unlikely to me.

But really the crux of the whole issue is OoT and how you interpret the ending. The Wind Waker takes place after the Ganondorf is sealed time but if Ganondorf was never to exist when Link is sent back to his childhood could Twilight Princess really have happened? Most people put Twilight Princess coming after that but now that I really think about it how could it? Sure Ganondorf is essentially presented as being a god in Twilight Princess so it is possible that he could enter any reality he chooses. With that being a possibility I suppose if I had to say the majority of the Zelda games take place in the Twilight Princess branch of the timeline.

But to be honest, as interesting as this is, I'm starting to feel like I'm rambling. My true feelings is that outside of the directly connected titles most Zelda games can be taken as their own stories with meta-styled references thrown in for the fans of the franchise. If there is a truly deeper connection, fantastic, but until proven otherwise I'm not going to think too deeply about it.

Zelda-Nation: Post The First

In all my years of gaming one franchise has captured my heart like no other, The Legend of Zelda. While I wasn't an immediate fan of the franchise back in '87 (the originals release day) since the early '90s I've been a big fan of the franchise. It is the franchise that penetrated the overall dominance of platformers in my early days and turned me from just an average gamer into a "hardcore" (as much as I hate that term) gamer.

So I figured since it is the franchises official 25th anniversary (in Japan) and release of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D set for June 19th and with Skyward Sword due hopefully this fall I thought I'd do a series of posts until at least the release of OoT 3D celebrating my love of this franchise. Though if my fellow editors want to chime in on this very topic, more the merrier.

Now for a warm up: My Favorite Zelda Commercials!



Where can I find an NES with black buttons?



The Granny is freaky as hell. Also a Wizrobe. Damned Wizrobes.



Man I love this commercial.



Couldn't find an embeddable version of the long one.



What was with NoA and having rap songs for Zelda games?