The line stretched out the door and to the mall's exit. One after another, gamers slowly trickled into the store to take their place in line it was the first time in my life I'd seen so many people gather for, well, anything. Before long another anxious purchaser arrived asking about their copy and sat behind me in line. Little did we know that we had started something. My brother sat with me in an act of solidarity. Offended by the cashier's inability to deal with an over-excited teenager, I did what any over-excited teenager would do: I sat on the floor and proclaimed the line started behind me. "We'll have it out when we have it," he said this time, dropping any former pretense of cordiality in the process. On our third return, the cashier had had enough. He told us to come back in 20 minutes, so we did. "We don't have it," the cashier replied, clearly expressing the kind of exhaustion I wouldn't come to understand until I worked on his side of the counter, years later. When I arrived I excitedly placed my pre-paid receipt on the counter and asked for my copy of Zelda. When I arrived at the mall, I walked as fast I could without actually running to Software Etc, my community's de facto game store of choice. In a matter of moments I'd have the gold cart I felt I'd been waiting an eternity for, or so I thought. I hopped in his car and we were on our way. After my first class of the day, I escaped my collegiate life to find my brother waiting outside. As my professor droned on about whatever I was supposed to be learning that day. I woke up, got ready and headed off to school. After nearly three years of waiting, the end was in sight.Īfter years of waiting, the fated day had arrived. Finally, I knew when I would get my hands on the game. I watched the trailer which ended with the date: 23rd November 1998. When I found this out, I hopped on my bike and made a trip to the theatre and bought a ticket. Nintendo had released a new trailer for the game which was running in movie theatres. New pieces of Zelda information came in all manner of medium and I was keen to devour it whether it was in a magazine, in short, grainy video clips online or delivered on VHS tapes, I would watch them over and over, obsessively, much to my parents' dismay.īy 1998, the Zelda hype machine was in full effect. ![]() I watched Link evolve from the brown-haired, beady-eyed guy shown in that original tech demo, to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Hero of Time we've all come to know and love. Nintendo would release screenshots in a seemingly scattershot fashion, meaning I was glued to the sites and message boards of the day to check in. The internet was still in its infancy, and I'd spend every moment I could on it hunting for new information about the game that would become Ocarina of Time. In late 1996, after I'd finished Super Mario 64, I was back to waiting impatiently for Zelda. Super Mario 64 had changed how I looked at Mario titles, but Ocarina of Time would eventually change how I thought about games as a whole. It defined my love of the series, though even as I played my way through Mario's Mushroom Kingdom adventure, I continued to dream of taking up my sword and saving Hyrule from the clutches of Ganon. When I received it, there was, of course, no new Zelda for me to play, but there was something nearly as good in Super Mario 64. I gathered up my year's savings from doing whatever odd jobs I could and ordered one as soon as possible. The following June the Nintendo 64 released in Japan. I decided at that moment that I had to have a Nintendo 64 and that I had to have it on day one, as I was convinced that surely Zelda would release alongside the ground-breaking console. It was a scant 10-second video, but it was all my 13-year-old-self cared for. The 1995 show served as the Nintendo 64's coming out party: Nintendo showed off the hardware and over a dozen games, but for me, there was only one thing shown that mattered: the Zelda 64 tech demo. That year, Nintendo held what was then an annual event all their own, known as Shoshinkai, or Spaceworld. The story of Ocarina of Time begins years before its release, in late 1995. I was, and I want to tell you all about it. To truly understand its cultural impact, you had to be there. It's still an incredible game by 2018's exacting standards of quality and presentation, but in 1998, it was legendary. It's also still the highest rated game of all time according to Metacritic. Despite its age, Ocarina's influence can be found in games big and small to this day. It's older than this site in fact, it's older than most gaming sites. ![]() ![]() The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time turns 20 years old today.
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