The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time is personally one of my favourite-ever games, and even 20 years after the title first came out on the Nintendo 64, it’s still recognised by millions in the gaming community.
It’s next to impossible to find a ‘Greatest Games Of All Time’ list that fails to mention the Nintendo classic, and honestly, it’s easy to see why.
But now it’s pretty much as official as it can get – The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time has taken the top spot on the Ranker 100 Best Video Games list, as voted for by players.
It beats the second place game, Skyrim, by a country mile, and just in time for the OOT’s 20th anniversary.
But why is OOT so damn great?
The game-changing action-adventure game redefined just what a video game could be, where it could take you, and how it could make you feel.
Those now-blocky 3D graphics were awe-inspiring back in 1998, and riding Epona through Hyrule Field has to be one of the most beloved memories of anyone who owned an N64 in the 1990s.
Link’s time-travelling adventure seemed – and still seems – really damn big for its time. From the humble beginnings of Kokiri Forest to the loft heights of Death Mountain and secret caves of Zora’s Domain, you could truly spend hours just exploring – something basically unheard of in video games of the time.
And Easter eggs? Well, OOT has no shortage of those. A quick search on YouTube will bring up thousands upon thousands of old and new discoveries, ranging from the tear-jerking to the downright weird. You can see just a handful of them in the video below.
Notably, the simple happy tunes and songs most gamers were used to were completely scrapped, replaced with soaring and iconic music that still get hearts pounding. I’ve been to two Legend of Zelda orchestral performances myself, and Ocarina of Time‘s songs were the focus of each event.
Though later games in the Zelda series were often met with mixed reception, Ocarina Of Time paved the way not only for Majora’s Mask, but also for hundreds of other non-Zelda games that took inspiration from its dungeons, stories, gameplay mechanics and over-all style.
If you haven’t played it, do yourself a favour and do it now. You won’t regret it.