A Trip Down Memory's Game - The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina of Time

For my first article i could think of no better game worthy to write about than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. After going back and playing through the sprawling lands of Hyrule I can truly say that the game holds up as well today as it did back during its release in 1998.

The has many achieved much since its release for the Nintendo 64 back in 1998, winning the grand prize at Interactive Art Division, and six honors at the Interactive Achievement Awards. Even to this day the carries so much clout that if you were to mutter the words 'I just played Ocarina of Time', any gamers who have conquered its dungeons in the immediate vicinity will take note of this and in some form communicate 'Aw, that game was awesome'. But above all else an achievement that in my opinion stands out the most is the fact that since the Nintendo 64 Ocarina of time has been re-released for each home console in one way or another, and has most recently been released on the Nintendo 3DS, having had longer wait times to play than any other game at the Nintendo World 2011 Event.

All of this makes a great game but what makes this a game worth coming BACK to after so long is the simplicity of it all. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of those rare examples of a game that is easy enough to FINISH but difficult to COMPLETE. What does that mean? Here is an example, you can beat the game without Fire arrows, and various other things such as spells and upgrades, but you can't complete the game until you go through the experiences of finding everything otherwise you're just going to the end of the journey without taking a moment to remember the trip there. Personally on my first playthrough when I was a kid I didn't bother going to the Fairy Fountains to get the Spells Din's fire and Farore's Wind, and now that I went back and played it over and I got them it has added to my experience as a gamer. So much so in fact that I slowly realized that if i were to introduce a child to video gaming, I'd sincerely want Ocarina of Time to be their first dive in.

Now, this is all good from a newcomer's point of view, but some of you may be asking 'yeah, but is there anything it can give me the second time that it didn't give me the first time?' and to be honest before i got back into Ocarina of Time I asked the same question and didn't have an answer but i came across one, The Split-Timeline Theory. For those of you who aren't familiar with this, I'll summarize it here but the 'Zeldapedia' (Google it) does a more fantastic job of explaining it than I can

So, the Split-Timeline Theory basically states that during the big boss battle at the end with Ganondorf of Ocarina of Time , there is a timeline where Link (or whatever you decide to call him) dies at the hands of the big baddie (Which results in the games: A Link to the Past, The Oracle of Seasons, The Oracle of Ages, Link's Awakening, The original Legend of Zelda, and Adventure of Link), and of course one timeline where he saves the land and makes everything right. However there is also a split in the good ending where after Link goes back to his childhood he decides to visit Zelda and warn of the Ganondorf's plot and results in Ganondorf's execution (Which results in the games: Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Four Swords + Hyrule Adventure), and where after Link goes back to his childhood he warns Zelda and they manage to expose Ganondorf but are unable to execute him they decide its best to seal him and Link goes on to live his life, after which point Ganondorf breaks free and with no hero to save them, the gods of Hyrule flood everything (Resulting in the games:Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks)

With such a grand setup such as this, you have to admit its tempting to see for yourself if it holds up. It did for me so why not give it a try?