1. Ocarina of Time
This choice will perhaps be seen by a lot as a bit cliché but for me this game is a prime example that a lot of clichés are clichés for good reason.
Ocarina of Time for me is not only an almost perfect game (another cliché inbound: the water temple is why almost is in there) in every way. It’s the game in the series I’ve played the most times over and never ever get sick of. The music to me is enough to take me right back to what feels like home. You may think this is in part just nostalgia-goggles but there are many things in life I have a deep nostalgic love for but never feel the need or desire to return to as much. The simple fact is I have a lot of fun any time I play this game. Being a child of the 90s, my first home console was an N64 so I can only wonder as to what the leap to 3D must have been like from the SNES. It must have been absolutely mind-blowing.
Even without the context of the times, all these years later, it remains a fantastic game.
Unlike Wind Waker, I’ve not included the remastered screenshot because I feel it isn't the definitive version of the game. I mean sure, the upscaling does make the game look a lot prettier and I certainly don’t get bent out of shape about the fact Link’s character model looks a little bit different. The one thing that makes me feel like the 3D remake isn’t as great as it could be is the 3D. There’s so much ghosting when you put the 3D on that it makes me wonder whether or not they should have even bothered.
I’m no expert on these things by any means but I think there must be parallels between making an old game 3D and making a film 3D in post-production rather than filmed in 3D from the off. Super Mario 3D Land, which presumably was built from the ground up with the intention of being 3D (it IS in the title after all) has absolutely flawless 3D. This one? Not so much. That said the ability to play it over and over anywhere I want has come in very handy for me.
What is there to say about this game that hasn’t already been said? Ocarina of Time for me was not only a great fun game to play but my first experience with the aspect of videogames I find most beautiful; that they can transport you into an entirely new world, a world exclusively inhabited by unbridled imagination. The boss fights were incredible, the story sweet, scary, hopeful, miserable. Almost every facet of real human life is reflected in this game while taking place in a fantastical other-wordly setting.
Sure, a lot of the dialogue is a little bit cheesy but the way they managed to make a world that was so big, so diverse and so compelling to visit with the technology they were working with was nothing short of incredible. The development team at Nintendo at this time were true pioneers and what they managed to create still inspires me to this day.
The time travel mechanic was for me the most incredible aspect of the game, you knew exactly what the stakes were because all you had to do was look around at the world as adult Link and see it. The end had already happened, the happy marketplace had turned into a zombie-filled wasteland and that asshole had taken over Lon-Lon ranch. The world felt darker in the future and safer in the past and you knew you had to summon the courage to make it safe again.
I’m not afraid to say the iconic ending of Zelda facing Link and saying what she does still makes me well up.
I don’t foresee there ever being a time where I can’t go back and enjoy this game again but seriously, fuck the water temple.
WHAT A HOT BEAT!/10
Do you disagree with our top five? Let us know what you think are the best Legend of Zelda games in the comments below!
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