Retrospective Remembrance: The Ocarina of Time

10th Anniversary Special Extravaganza
By Power Shot

Link decides to reveal a surprising retro look for the decade celebration.

So I’ve been asked to do this now. I’ll be writing this in a completely different format from my usual reviews, partially because of the significance of the game I’m being asked to review, and partially because I only have two days to get this out. In case you couldn’t tell, November 21st is the tenth anniversary of the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Regarded as one of the finest games ever designed, it has sold 7.6 million copies of its original N64 release, and has spawned almost half a dozen re-releases. It was also the first game to ever receive a perfect score from Famitsu, which in itself is regarded as the most respected video game reviewing magazine available. Yes, even I liked this game as a child, and I still do as an adult, so it’s incredibly difficult for me to say anything negative about this game. So, instead of all of that, we’re going to take a look at this juggernaut of gaming and see exactly what made it tick back then, what makes us remember it now, and how it came to be classified as one of the greatest, if not the greatest games ever made.

Incidentally, this remembrance will contain more spoilers than a review of the new Saw film. But if you’re wary of spoilers of this game, then you clearly have no idea what I’m talking about, so give this review to someone who does.

Power Shot, a frequent article writer for Zelda Universe, brings us his take on the original Legend of Zelda for NES in a series of “retrospective articles,” made just for ZU’s revamp, where he takes the Zelda series in a modern context, then proceeds to rip it to shreds. What did AoL mean to Zelda history? How much has the series evolved since then? Is this old game truly worthy of the Legend of Zelda name? The answer lies within this Retrospective Review.

Power Shot, a frequent article writer for Zelda Universe, brings us his take on the original Legend of Zelda for NES in a series of “retrospective articles,” made just for ZU’s revamp, where he takes the Zelda series in a modern context, then proceeds to rip it to shreds. What did LoZ mean to Zelda history? How much has the series evolved since then? Is this old game truly worthy of the Legend of Zelda name? The answer lies within this Retrospective Review.

On the occasions when I can wrangle my brother away from playing Brawl I have found some time to myself to review this game. For those of you who have been living in the dank cave I refer to as the “Sony Fan Boy Fortress of Death” the Mario Kart series are racing games set in an alternate universe where blue shells are deadlier than lightning bolts. Despite its popularity over the years, the series’ most recent installment Mario Kart Wii picked a rather bad time to be released due to more interesting games like Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Grand Theft Auto IV being released in the same time constraints. I myself didn’t even know it was coming out until a month before its release. However, for this installment Nintendo has made the Mario Kart magic strike in a rather unique way, creating a game that deviates from the others in the series in the same manner that I deviate from behavior considered polite by my mother. Bearing all of this in mind, I’d like to take time out of my busy schedule to rant a little on the nuts and bolts of Mario Kart Wii to help indecisive folk who require professional assistance from published reviewers like me to decide if they like the game. Now that that’s over with, start your engines and prepare to be force-fed turtle shell!

Running a Zelda website is difficult – actually, running a fan site in general must be difficult, because writing a review of a game that isn’t [insert franchise here] seems impossible. I feel expected to like Zelda, when in reality I love tons of games, and dislike many Zelda games (game boy Zeldas, you know how I feel!). This is why I’m thrilled that my latest most favorite game bears such a striking similarity to the Zelda series that I could express my love for it in front of all of you ZU readers.

By Mr. Eponia

This game is the sequel to Legend of Zelda, but this game doesn’t follow or fit into the usual Zelda story as you’ll soon find out. The graphics for this game was of course in 2D but this did not stop Nintendo from trying to make it better then the Legend of Zelda. Nintendo tried quite a few things in the testing grounds before they set it free to roam around and be sold to the gamers of the world. Like Legend of Zelda these games are no longer available so ask your friend if he has it and if he doesn’t but you desperately need it you always have the refuge!!

In this game Ganon is nowhere to be seen as Link once again sent him back into the Realm and saved Hyrule and gathered back up all the eight pieces of the Wisdom part of the Triforce. A mysterious sorcerer is behind the evil that has once again struck Hyrule and the Princess. When the sorcerer started his rain of terror he placed a curse on Princess Zelda for her to sleep for eternity. Link needed to locate all of the shards of the magic crystal, which would eventually open the gates to the Great Palace where the sorcerer had escaped.

In this game there aren’t as many weapons as hoped which is a down side for the game and another one is that the world map of Hyrule absolutely throws out the adventure of it but a good thing is that there are many more locations to explore!

Most of the graphics are fantastic and are better then Legend of Zelda as the view is on the side though the world map looks worse. The sound effects are nothing special and are quite bland and they have not progressed from Legend of Zelda but that’s life but still this time the songs aren’t even catchy so you’ll be playing with the volume down and listening to your favorite songs on the radio, tape or CD.

This Zelda game I believe should have had more development on it and improved in all areas but that’s life but if you really want it go get it and you’ll find out why!

What would a review be without a second opinion? We have decided to go away from the normal and give you a few reviews on Twilight Princess. We’ll have a few people giving you their opinions on the game, so you can check out their opinions by clicking on their forum name on the right.

Here is a list of those who contributed to our multi-person review:

• Leminnes is a Super Moderator of our forums, as well as a newsposter and graphics guy for the main site.
• pipking is a senior member of our Behind the Rupees feature on the site, as well as an all-around great writer.
• GDwarf is a mod of our Serious Discussion forum on the forums. He is a very good at debating, as well as writing.

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