The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, often shortened to Ocarina of Time, is the fifth installment of The Legend of Zelda series, and it was released on the Nintendo 64 in late 1998. It is the first title of the series to feature 3D graphics. In 2000, the game received a direct sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Prior to its release, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was one of the most highly anticipated games of its time. Upon its release, the game won numerous awards, and many publications placed it on lists of the greatest video games of all time. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released on a 32-megabyte cartridge, which was the largest capacity Nintendo had produced at that time. It also introduced the target-lock system and context-sensitive buttons, which have subsequently appeared both in later The Legend of Zelda titles and similar games of its type, such as Star Fox Adventures.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time eventually received a few ports, and even had its own remake for the Nintendo 3DS in 2011, titled The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.

Story
The game is introduced by the Great Deku Tree, who tells that every Kokiri of the Kokiri Forest have their own fairy, except for Link. Link has a nightmare of a young girl fleeing on a horse from a man in black armor. The Great Deku Tree is nearing death, and he assigns Navi to be Link's guardian fairy, and also requests her to bring Link over. Navi wakes Link from his nightmare and directs him to meet the Great Deku Tree.

After equipping with a sword and a shield, Link and Navi go to meet The Great Deku Tree. The tree tells them that he was cursed by a "wicked man of the desert", who seeks to conquer the world, and that Link is the chosen one to stop him. The Great Deku Tree provides a test of courage to Link to enter inside him. After Link defeats the Queen Gohma within the Great Deku Tree, he rewards Link with the Kokiri's Emerald, the Spiritual Stone of the forest, and instructs him to visit Hyrule Castle to speak with the princess of Hyrule. Just after providing this instruction, the Great Deku Tree dies.

Link leaves Kokiri Forest and goes all the way through Castle Town and to the Hyrule Castle, where he sneaks past some soldiers to meet with Princess Zelda in the Castle Courtyard. She explains about her dream of Link and his guardian fairy, Navi, bearing the Kokiri's Emerald and slashing through the darkness. She points out the evil Ganondorf, whom she believes was represented by the darkness in her dream, and that he is seeking to steal the Triforce from the Sacred Realm. Zelda instructs Link to retrieve the other Spiritual Stones so that he can enter the Sacred Realm and claim the Triforce before Ganondorf.

Link sets off to both Death Mountain and Zora's Domain, where he successfully assists both the Gorons and the Zoras against Ganondorf's forces in their pursuit of the two other Spiritual Stones. Darunia, the leader of the Gorons, rewards link with the Goron's Ruby while Ruto, the princess of the Zoras, rewards Link with the Zora's Sapphire.

Link returns outside of Hyrule Castle, where he witnesses the same events as in his nightmare: Zelda and Impa are fleeing on horseback from Ganondorf, who attempts to steal the Ocarina of Time from them. Zelda quickly throws the Ocarina of Time into the moat for Link to obtain. When he obtains the ocarina, Link receives a telepathic message from Zelda, who teaches him the Song of Time and instructs him to play it at the altar of the Temple of Time. At the Temple of Time, Link opens the Door of Time by playing the Song of Time and using the three Spiritual Stones. There, he finds the Master Sword in the Pedestal of Time and draws it, unlocking the Sacred Realm. Link successfully wields the sword, although he remains trapped in the Sacred Realm. Ganondorf sneaks into the Sacred Realm, believing that Link had the means necessary for entering the Sacred Realm. Link helplessly watches Ganondorf entering the Sacred Realm and obtaining the Triforce.

Seven years later, Link is awakened in the Chamber of Sages by an old man named Rauru. He reveals that Link is the Hero of Time, who is the person that can pull the Master Sword from its pedestal. He also explains that Link's spirit was locked away in the Sacred Realm because he was too young to be the Hero of Time and defeat Ganondorf. Rauru also tells Link that Ganondorf used the stolen Triforce to transform Hyrule into a land filled with darkness and monsters. He then instructs Link to find the other missing Sages, who have the collective power to trap Ganondorf within the Sacred Realm. However, five of the Sages are unaware of their identity as one, so Rauru grants Link with the Light Medallion and instructs him to find the other missing Sages.

Link returns into the Temple of Time, where he is greeted by Sheik, a survivor of the Sheikah tribe. He further guides Link by instructing him to free five temples from Ganondorf's control and allow each temple's Sage to awaken. Link had befriended the five other Sages during his childhood: Saria, the Sage of the Forest Temple, Darunia, the Sage of the Fire Temple, Ruto, the sage of the Water Temple, Impa, the Sage of the Shadow Temple, and Nabooru, the Sage of the Spirit Temple. After awakening every Sage, Link returns to the Temple of Time, where Sheik tells another legend of the Triforce, explaining that it to be a fusion of three triangles that represent the three virtues governed by the Golden Godessess: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. If the person holding the Triforce has a balance of these virtues, then they can obtain the Triforce intact. However, if that person does not have a balance of those virtues, then the Triforce splits into three pieces, and the owner only keeps the piece of whichever virtue they most strongly believe in. The prophecy is a reference to Ganondorf's case, where his strongest belief was in power, and therefore he lost the other two parts of the Triforce. The legend further states that the person must strive to acquire the two missing parts, each one being safeguarded by a person with the crest of the goddesses on the back of their hands.

Ganondorf had managed to conquer the Sacred Realm, but felt that his acquisition of power was not enough. Ganondorf, wanting complete control over the world, started a search for the two missing pieces of the Triforce. Sheik reveals that Link holds the Triforce of Courage, just before taking off his own disguise, revealing himself as Princess Zelda. She reveals herself to be the seventh Sage and the safeguarder of the Triforce of Wisdom. However, by exposing herself to Link, Ganondorf finds out, and he traps her within a large crystal and retreats with her into his Castle.

Link rushes outside of Ganon's Castle (where Hyrule Castle had originally stood). With help from the six other Sages, Link manages to travel through the castle. Link eventually enters a room with Ganondorf and Zelda, where he engages in a battle against Ganondorf. After their first battle, Link frees Zelda from her crystal. Ganondorf destroys the Castle in an attempt to kill both Link and Zelda, who manage to quickly escape from it.

Ganondorf emerges from the castle's rubble, and with the Triforce of Power, he transforms into a beast named Ganon. Just before the second battle, Ganon knocks the Master Sword out of Link's hands, and encloses both of them within a forcefield, preventing Link from retrieving the Master Sword. However, with Zelda's help, Link manages to retrieve Master Sword, which he ultimately uses to destroy Ganon. With their restored powers, the seven Sages banish Ganondorf into the Dark Realm. Since Ganondorf still has the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf vows to get revenge on their descendants.

Zelda instructs Link to return the Master Sword in its pedestal, closing the path between the two timelines. She then plays the Song of Time and returns Link back into his childhood. Link still retains the knowledge of the entire incident, and revisits Princess Zelda in the Castle Courtyard, informing her of the whole incident to prevent it from happening again.

Gameplay
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is set within an expansive 3D environment where the player moves Link around. Like The Legend of Zelda, the game introduced a few mechanics that were reused in subsequent games of its type; in Ocarina of Time's case, it is context-sensitive actions and targeting. Much of the gameplay was later reused in the sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

With context-sensitive actions, this allows for numerous actions to be assigned to one button, which varies based on Link's location and action in the game. For example, if Link draws out his sword, the HUD display instructs the player to holster it by pressing A. Another example is if Link is standing at a door, causing the HUD's A button to read "Open", which directly instructs the player to press the button to open the door. Targeting causes the camera to directly focus on an object or enemy. During this mode, when the player presses a button, Link automatically performs the corresponding action (such as striking his sword) on the target without the player having to move the Control Stick.

Like previous The Legend of Zelda installments, Link's main weapon is a sword and shield. He can obtain more items and weapons within the dungeons or via the overworld. There are a number of side quests which are optional for Link but often involve a reward that assists him during his adventure, such as the Biggoron Sword or the ability to ride Epona.

Near the start, just before Link leaves Kokiri Forest, Saria provides him with Fairy Ocarina, later replaced with the titular Ocarina of Time. Throughout his adventure, Link learns different melodies that he can perform on his ocarina to solve music-based puzzles or warp to previously-visited locations.

Link is given an ocarina near the beginning of the game, which is later replaced by the Ocarina of Time. Throughout the game, Link learns twelve melodies that allow him to solve music-based puzzles and teleport to previously visited locations in the game. The player controls Link as an adult or a child in different parts of his adventure. From the Door of Time, when Link pulls the Master Sword, he travels seven years into the future and becomes an adult. Link has different abilities as both a child and an adult, both of which are key to solving puzzles. For example, Link can only use the Fairy Bow as an adult while only young Link can crawl through small passages.

Races
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the first game of the series with a variety of different races. There are a total of six races, most of whom reside in a unique environment:


 * The Hylians are similar to humans, except for their pointed, elf-like ears. Most of them like Castle Town, though some live in nearby Kakariko Village and others are scattered sporadically throughout Hyrule. They are ruled by a king, whose daughter is Princess Zelda.
 * The Kokiri are forest children who were created by the guardian spirit of Kokiri Forest, the Great Deku Tree. They never age and can never leave the forest. Link, the hero of the game, lives among them at the start of the game. His closest friend is a Kokiri named Saria. Link is not a true Kokiri but a Hylian, orphaned in the forest as a baby, and raised by the Great Deku Tree, who sensed Link to be a child of destiny. The Kokiri are led by Mido.
 * The Gorons are large, brown, rock-eating creatures that vary immensely in size and live in Goron City, halfway up Death Mountain, an active volcano. They are led by Darunia.
 * The Zoras are blue fish-like creatures, who live at the top of Zora's River, the kingdom's source of water. The river runs all the way through Hyrule to Lake Hylia at the very opposite end of the kingdom. The Zoras are ruled by King Zora who has a daughter, Princess Ruto. The guardian spirit of Zora's Domain is Lord Jabu-Jabu.
 * The Sheikah, sworn "shadow guardians" of the royal family, appear to be Hylian with red eyes. They possess various magical abilities and are known to operate from within the shadows. Impa, Zelda's childhood nanny and bodyguard, is said to be the last remaining Sheikah. She helped establish Kakariko Village, at the base of Death Mountain.
 * The Gerudo are an almost entirely female race of thieves who live in Gerudo Valley. Most of the Gerudo are women, and only one man is born within the race every century. According to tradition, that man is meant to be the king of the Gerudo race. Ganondorf is the most recent male of this race.

Ports
In 2002, the game was re-released on the Nintendo GameCube under the title The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Bonus Disc, which features the original game and the newly playable Master Quest mode.

In 2003, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was included on The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition as one of the four playable games. That same year, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released as a launch title for the iQue Player (a traditional Chinese translation was discovered to be under development in 2006 but was ultimately cancelled for unknown reasons. )

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was later released on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007. In 2015, the game was ported to the Wii U's Virtual Console.