![]() ![]() ![]() The time-travel mechanic in Ocarina, though informed by titles of Zelda past, was the defining moment for the N64 game, adding a layer of perspective to the experience that electrifies the imagination and gives voice to the unspeakable cruelty–and beauty–of nature’s always-ticking clock.įans of the game will remember their first experience removing the Master Sword from its consecrated altar, and traveling through time into early adulthood. The reason it has persisted throughout the decades, played and replayed again and again, is because it singularly captures the inevitability of time. To me, the secret to Ocarina’s magic is time itself. The writing, too, brought video games into the modern day, with a cast of idiosyncratic townspeople and central characters who felt, perhaps for the first time in the history of the medium, like living, breathing, sentient creatures with feelings and thoughts and plans all their own. Many folks would point to the design breakthroughs made in Ocarina, one of the first titles to push the console to its graphical limits, realizing the full potential of what could be created on that 64-bit canvas. Ever since the Boy Without A Fairy first set foot in the gaping mouth of the Great Deku Tree, players have been enraptured by this adventure, a lyrical piece of soul-searching that somehow feels equal parts Walt Whitman and Labyrinth.īut what is it about Ocarina that still intoxicates players after all these years? Is it the gameplay, with its then-groundbreaking Z-targeting system, honing players into vicious, focused battles in an open world that feels as expansive as it is detailed? Or perhaps the unforgettable Koji Kondo score, an uplifting, and, at times, impossibly somber, soundtrack that still stands to this day as a benchmark for gaming music? ![]() While modern consoles can compute at hundreds of times the speed and complexity of what that chunky cartridge system could muster, in the two decades that have passed since Ocarina, very few titles have come close to the masterfully-woven craftsmanship, storytelling, and gameplay of what is perhaps gaming’s greatest work of art. Released on the now-primitive Nintendo 64, the game feels just as mysterious, tormented, joyous, and spirited as it did when it first debuted. Megaman Is Back and More Difficult Than Ever.'Pokémon: Let's Go!' Is '90s Gaming Bliss.Remember 'Shadows of the Empire'? We Do. ![]()
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