The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is old. It came out before the turn of the century in 1998. Most games from the 1990s don’t hold up that well, but Ocarina has stood the test of time. So many herald it as the best video game of all time. That’s high praise considering games like Breath of the Wild, God of War, The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption 2, and more have all come out for a bigger audience since then.
The 1998 entry into The Legend of Zelda franchise took a huge swing. Before it, there weren’t any 3D Zelda games. They’d been mostly top-down 2D games and were far from open-world. OOT changed that and revolutionized gaming, which deserves some credit. However, not all games that revolutionized the industry still hold up more than two decades later.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is Incredible After All This Time
There’s something to be said about the original, and in the case of a lot of future Zelda games, Ocarina is the original. It’s the blueprint for the traditional 3D formula, and even Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom took elements from it. The original of anything often gets credit simply for being first, but Ocarina of Time was more than just first: it was outstanding.
The order in which gamers play The Legend of Zelda titles does have an impact on how they are viewed. The first one anyone plays, which in my case was Breath of the Wild, gets praise for being the introductory game. Anything that comes later is compared. OOT compares favorably to everything even almost 26 years later, a massively impressive feat.
Ocarina of Time is a Perfect Game
While I don’t rate Ocarina of Time as the best game of all time, nor even the best The Legend of Zelda title, it is still perfect. There is nothing that should be changed about it, save perhaps the clunky graphics that developers couldn’t avoid in 1998. The gameplay is phenomenal and the story stands up as one of the best in any Zelda game.
There’s a timeless nature to it. The stakes feel very real, whereas in games like Tears of the Kingdom, you can meander around Hyrule creating robots that fire lasers out of their eyes forever. There are side quests to do, but everything remains tight and focused. The time-traveling mechanic works flawlessly and provides an incredible narrative beat.
OOT Doesn’t Need Another Remake
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I had the pleasure of playing the game on the N64 Nintendo Switch Online format. That means, for all intents and purposes, it is the original. It was not the 3DS remake. Many are clamoring for a remake for the Nintendo Switch, one that will fully modernize the game and bring it to a brand new audience. However, that isn’t totally necessary.
Would the game benefit from it? Absolutely. There’s no scenario where a game isn’t better off with today’s graphics and processing. But since there’s already been a substantial remake and the original is available through the Switch, it’s unnecessary. Let the classic remain a classic from an age gone by instead of something forced into the current era.
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