Zelda OoT in 1998 is my most magical gaming moment and it wont be topped

[SantaC]

You just had to be there, because at the time, large 3D adventure games was a pretty new thing, atleast for me. The only 3D games I had played before was first person shooters and Mario 64.

My Zelda hype at the time was off the charts because Links Awakening was the last Zelda game I had played and it was 4 years ago back in 1994. Internet was pretty new for me as well, and I had just discovered IGN. But at the time I got my Zelda 64 hype at Bowzas domain and zeldaheadquartes.(zhq.com)

Zhq back in 1998, ran by Niels Hooft. (@nielsthooft twitter)

Zelda went from this:

To this for me:

1998 was the best christmas ever. When I booted up the game and saw link riding in the background I said wow. That was my first wow moment, my second was when I left for hyrule field. Omg, at the time I thought it looked absolutely massive. This is real exploration in 3D, how did Nintendo do it?

There were many wow moments in the game, I remember how impressed I was with the size of the dungeons. Especially as adult Link. The game felt so complex, so rewarding, and had awesome atmosphere. It was also the first 3D game I played with a dynamic night and day cycle. But it just wasnt the grand scope of the game, there were many other things that impressed. Like the lens of truth, hookshot, stone of agony, mirror shield etc. All cool gadgets in 3D.

Imagine walking into lost woods and hearing the iconic tune again.


I kinda feel bad for new players playing Zelda OoT for the first time today, sure it is still a great game, but technology has advanced so much in 20 years that it wont impress a kid that is used to ps4/xbox/switch and 4K games on PC.

Now I just need a timemachine to go back to 1998 again.

 

[Deleted member 50454]

Yes. Christmas 1998 was one to remember.

 

[Deleted member 29939]

OOT's release in 98 was the top gaming moment of all time for me and wont be topped.

 

[LinkStrikesBack]

Twenty years from now you'll have people who were kids now making the same posts about breath of the wild. (And probably lots of current adults, to be fair)

Technology marches on, but nostalgia affects most everyone. Even though people playing OOT for the first time now won't see the game the same way it was back in 1998, they have their own first experiences that likely match what a lot of twenty/thirty something's feel about OOT

 

[Deleted member 8784]

When I was first playing through this, I was hopelessly stuck in the Forest Temple (I didn't know you could untwist the tunnel by hitting the closed eye switch), and I found the Wallmaster's terrifying.

So I used to replay the game over and over again up to the Forest Temple, and then start again. I wasn't a particularly bright child.

 

[Deleted member 35598]

I still think the best gaming moment of my life was to play Mario 64 fir the first time in the videogames store. It's impossible to replicate that moment and the feeling to play around outside the castle with N64 controller.

But playing Ocarina of Time day 1 was something incredible. I remember going around with mu brothers in dozens of places to find the game. But it was sold out everywhere. Then by accident we found a small videogame store and there was the last copy of the game. The level of excitement and the level of amazement while playing the game is second to none. Inly thing that came close is Ninja Gaiden on Xbox and Breath of the Wild.

 

[Anthony Hopkins]

Yeah it was a special time.
True Nintendo magic.

 

[thomasmahler]

I was 14 back then and my hype level was through the roof. But it didn't feel as magical to me as A Link to the Past did, which was my favorite game ever made at that point.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

Nintendo moving its big IP's to 3D was something else yeah

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

I received my N64 and OoT on Christmas of '98. What an amazing experience!

But I don't pity today's kids. They're going to see some insane stuff later in life that puts today's games to shame.

 

[The Emperor]

The transition for those who lived through the 2D to 3D era is probably unbeatable

My first system being the PS1 really prevented me from ever experiencing this. Although we had a SNES, I only remember it vaguely before we got a PS1. So 3D games was pretty much the norm

 

[MrBreada]

I'm younger than you guys so Breath of the Wild for me was definitely analogous to Ocarina of Time for you.

 

[score01]

Agree op.

Those feels when you left the forest for the first time or the cut scene when you jump over then fence with Epona.

Along with Mario 64 - I don't think we'll have another OMG moment like that again in gaming. Unless VR? Haven't tried that yet...

 

[Bony Manifesto]

Twenty years from now you'll have people who were kids now making the same posts about breath of the wild. (And probably lots of current adults, to be fair)

Click to shrink...

I don't think so, or at least not in the same way as Ocarina of Time. Breath of the Wild is great, but it's more of a refinement and 'Nintendo spin' on the types of open world games that have been popular for at least the last decade. Ocarina of Time was on the cutting edge of both design and technology like no other game has been before or since.

 

[FreddeGredde]

Twenty years from now you'll have people who were kids now making the same posts about breath of the wild. (And probably lots of current adults, to be fair)

Technology marches on, but nostalgia affects most everyone. Even though people playing OOT for the first time now won't see the game the same way it was back in 1998, they have their own first experiences that likely match what a lot of twenty/thirty something's feel about OOT

Click to shrink...

I still don't think Breath of the Wild was even nearly as big of a thing as Ocarina of Time was back in the day, and I say that even though BotW might be my new all-time favorite game.

There were already thousands of 3D open-world games before BotW. Ocarina of Time was on a new level entirely, a completely new experience.

 

[Molten_]

OoT is still an amazing experience today. Maybe not as mindblowing as it was at the time, but considering how the entire series devolved into trying to recreate its magic (up until breath of the wild) ... it's really a testament to how well designed it is.

I will die on this hill.

 

[LinkStrikesBack]

I don't think so, or at least not in the same way as Ocarina of Time. Breath of the Wild is great, but it's more of a refinement and 'Nintendo spin' on the types of open world games that have been popular for at least the last decade. Ocarina of Time was on the cutting edge of both design and technology like no other game has been before or since.

Click to shrink...

I still don't think Breath of the Wild was even nearly as big of a thing as Ocarina of Time was back in the day, and I say that even though BotW might be my new all-time favorite game.

There were already thousands of 3D open-world games before BotW. Ocarina of Time was on a new level entirely, a completely new experience.

Click to shrink...

It was completely new for you, yes. In the same way breath of the wild will be completely new for lots of kids (these posts coming immediately after someone said verbatim that breath of the wild is their OOT is peak Era).

There were already plenty of 3d action adventure games before ocarina too, it's really not that different to botw, with both making vast strides at the time compared to a lot of the competitors.

 

[KillstealWolf]

I got a double pack of Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time on gamecube back in 2003 and it was Ocarina of Time that called to be me more, the one I played more of and the one I beat first (Master Quest as well even).

 

[Deleted member 176]

my ocarina of time memory was being surprised when I found people liked it because I got to the Goron village and then quit to go back to banjo kazooie

 

[FrostyLemon]

I always thought this would be the case for me, but then I played through BOTW and had a similar feeling, which is much more impressive when you're 30 years old.

 

[Vern]

It came out like 3 or 4 days before my 14th bday and it's all I asked for, I was so hyped but also worried my parents wouldn't have time to get it or would screw up and get the wrong game somehow (they did this a few times cuz a game is a game right?)... anyway they got it and that bday was spent in front of the n64 all day and night in awe and wonderment. A magical game and also a wonderful memory for me. Shame the gMe doesn't hold up for me today, besides the still amazing dungeons design.

 

[Tiny Chihuahueño]

Never been hyped for a game more than I was for OOT.

The delays, the countless previews and promo clips in different magazines, the evolution of the different versions of the game during its development... and then, finally, it was right there in my hands, that black and gold box (PAL version). The game was absolutely magical and was everything I had hoped and more.

Teenager at the time, as we grow older those intense feelings can not be topped unfortunately. It's science, you know.

 

[bane833]

Didn´t play the game until the 3DS remake because i somehow sold my N64 back in mid 1998 (absolutely no idea why, had a lot of fun with Goldeneye, Diddy Kong Racing and WCW vs NWO). So it never was that special to me. My magic moments with the Zelda series were A Link to the Past and Breath of the Wild. Both absolute masterpieces.

 

[.exe]

The magic and mystery I experienced as I explored OoT is still unparalleled for me as well. But I think a lot of that is because I was a kid and my imagination was still not dead. Other games that I found almost as compelling and mysterious have been FEZ and Breath of the Wild (and The Witness, to some extent).

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

Was 14 in 98. That whole year was magical in general for me with games. Starsiege Tribes, Half-Life, Myth 2, Metal Gear Solid, Pokemon Red, Starcraft Brood War, RE2, Fallout 2, OoT, Thief, Grim Fandango, Tekken 3, Tenchu, Baldur's Gate.

Year before was no slouch either.
Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Dark Forces 2, Myth, Dungeon Keeper, Quake 2, FF7, Age of the Empires, 007 Golden Eye, Fallout, MDK, GTA, Kirby's Dreamland 3, Diddy Kong Racing, Colony Wars.

 

[Deleted member 51789]

1998 was a hell of a year - OoT, Half Life, Metal Gear Solid and Grim Fandango to mention just a few.

I kinda feel bad for new players playing Zelda OoT for the first time today, sure it is still a great game, but technology has advanced so much in 20 years that it wont impress a kid that is used to ps4/xbox/switch and 4K games on PC.

Now I just need a timemachine to go back to 1998 again.

Click to shrink...

I think it can still impress, but the person would need contextual knowledge of games that released at the same time.

Not quite analogous as it's , but I first played OoT when it was a pack-in with Wind Waker on the Gamecube and it still impressed me a fair bit then, even after playing and being used to so many top-tier PS1 and PS2 games that did similar things.

 

[Mik2121]

I was 12 back then and I still remember getting the game at night, going to my bed (my N64 was on a small shelf next to a 15" CRT, at the feet of my bed) and being blown away at the stuff showing on the TV.
It required a translation pamphlet for us kids in Spain, but I think I learned quite a lot thanks to that, and it never felt like a hindrance.

Given the amount of free time I had that I could spend with it, plus all the nostalgia, it also stands as my most magical moment in gaming. I don't think it will ever be topped unless something really insane ever gets released (I'm talking Ready Player One levels of "never happening suddenly" kind of thing).

 

[tommyv2]

It'll go down as one of my biggest disappointments. By that time, Mario 64 and Tomb Raider were both out, and I expected OoT to be a combination of both of those. Since Link's Awakening came before that, my expectations were absurd.

OoT has you start stuck in some village surrounded by people until you find a sword and then do A, B and C before any "Nintendo Magic" kicked in. Really bad first impression for a game about exploring mysterious 3D environments.

 

[Hieroph]

It was a great game and still is, it's great to have the definitive edition on 3DS. Still really impressive. They got the feel of Hyrule very right in OOT.

 

[sfortunato]

Pokémon GO was actually a game life changing experience for me after many games during my childhood.

 

[GuEiMiRrIRoW]

When I was first playing through this, I was hopelessly stuck in the Forest Temple (I didn't know you could untwist the tunnel by hitting the closed eye switch), and I found the Wallmaster's terrifying.

So I used to replay the game over and over again up to the Forest Temple, and then start again. I wasn't a particularly bright child.

Click to shrink...

When did you find about aiming for the closed eye? How did you feel when you finally discovered you could go on?

 

[GuEiMiRrIRoW]

1998 was the year for gaming... the magazines were insane at thet time.

 

[Bony Manifesto]

It was completely new for you, yes. In the same way breath of the wild will be completely new for lots of kids (these posts coming immediately after someone said verbatim that breath of the wild is their OOT is peak Era).

There were already plenty of 3d action adventure games before ocarina too, it's really not that different to botw, with both making vast strides at the time compared to a lot of the competitors.

Click to shrink...

Sorry, I didn't intend to insult you. I meant to say that it's more about how the industry is these days that I don't think we'll see people coalesce around a single game as people have done with Ocarina of Time (with the possible exception of Fortnite, but I suspect it'll be looked back upon in the same way as Pogs and Tamagotchis rather than a seminal work in the medium). Breath of the Wild will be fondly remembered, no doubt, but I think it'll be referenced in context alongside other open world games like Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, Far Cry and Assassin's Creed, rather than being on its own pedestal.

 

[GuEiMiRrIRoW]

About ocarina... it was pretty dear to me for a long... long time.

But by the time I replayed it on 3ds, I could finally see how it was not my top 1 game ever anymore.

Anyway, BotW made me feel the same thing after so many years. It's the perfect game to me.

We live in a time where the next big thing is really the BiG thing.

Indies made me passionate about games again. Cuphead, hollow knight and Hellblade make me feel like I'm in the 90s again, where I don't know what's coming but the hype is so high. The last 3 years are the best in gaming since 1997/1999.

 

[Opa-Opa]

I agree.

I'm not like many of you that play games multiple times (ohh, Final Fantasy VII is coming to switch, can't wait to play it for the 23rd time!!!), so I played it only once... but I don't think what I felt when playing Ocarina will be topped.

It's the classic story of a z-target meets a sign and everything suddenly changed.

 

[TyrantGuardian]

I had the opposite reaction. I used to hate everything 3D gaming represented and owning a Playstation I was already jaded when it came to 3D. The games all felt super sluggish, imprecise and were just straight up ugly compared to the pixel art I had already grown incredibly fond of as a kid. Hearing everyone praise OoT I obviously felt I had to check it out. My reaction was "that's it?". It was just as ugly as other 3D games, the framerate felt like a fever dream and the animations were super janky compared to something like SotN which I had already played extensively. Amusingly, I hold the exact same opinion today over 20 years later. Early 3D games are almost exclusively trash to me and I would much rather play a tight 2D pixel art game any day of the week. Minish Cap is my jam.

It wasn't before Devil May Cry (1) that I finally had to hand it to 3D games for catching up to and even surpassing 2D games in gameplay and style.

 

[Asbsand]

I played it in 1998 as a 5 year old, or rather I was playing with a friend after kindergarten and we watched his big brother play it on an N64 they won through a magazine. The stalfos were so scary I started to cry and his mom walked me home.

But that scare factor, danger and adventure was an allure that kept me thinking about it. This was my entrance into video games really. The first game I played myself that took me into the magic of the medium was Rayman 2, but when me and my friend were 12 we decided to play OoT during summer holiday and get past the point his brother had gotten to.

I remember a very warm day that summer, we were literally stuck in the water temple, and I had a massive headache at the same time. This was also the first time we'd find a walkthrough, on GameFAQs, to guide us through something. The whole thing was amazing in hindsight, minus the headache -- we would sit and discuss where to go, which rooms to enter and where we might've come from and the Shadow Link boss was the first time I had experienced any mechanical complexity regarding an enemy AI so it took a while to find the pattern that outsmarts him.

We eventually beat Water Temple, and the joy of summer was even stronger the rest of that day. After pushing on, we of course also beat the game eventually and I really felt like I had physically and mentally been through a real adventure. This was when I knew what video games could do, and in the midst of today's by-the-numbers "open world" landscapes Ocarina is still like a shining beacon to me. When I make video game related work, I'm not mindful of latest industry standards for game mechanics and map design, I'm thinking of what OoT gave me and I'm trying to tap into the sort of methods it used to achieve those emotions.

I believe games like Nier Automata, Arkham City and other big hits have a much better sense of what inspires genuine impression and emotion in players than a dopamine game like Assassin's Creed Odyssey does, as good as it may have been. Certainly more than games like Far Cry "Whatever" nowadays.

 

[Nickerous]

I was working at a movie theater then and we got a commercial to run about OoT. It was the "whilst thou suck" trailer. Always snuck in the theater to watch it. Still have an unused film of it now.

As for the game, I would start and stop playing it for years. I never made it past the shadow temple till around 2009. Didn't finish it till the 3ds rerelease. Amazing game and one of my favorites now. I bought Majoras Mask when it launched and never opened it, saying I wouldn't play it till I beat OoT. No need to open it now.

 

[SantaC]

I still don't think Breath of the Wild was even nearly as big of a thing as Ocarina of Time was back in the day, and I say that even though BotW might be my new all-time favorite game.

There were already thousands of 3D open-world games before BotW. Ocarina of Time was on a new level entirely, a completely new experience.

Click to shrink...

FreddeGredde från Gävle? :)

 

[mnemonicj]

I recall seeing ads of the game being marketed as "the greatest game of all time". I agree OP, it was a magical time.

 

[Tyaren]

Yes. Christmas 1998 was one to remember.

Click to shrink...

Same for me. :)
OoT single-handedly made me a gamer. Before I played a little Gameboy here and a few Mario games on different consoles there, but nothing that really ever engrossed me. OoT was the first game when I dove into a virtual world and I didn't want to ever return from my amazing adventure to real life. Since then I loved action adventures, rpgs and open world games and I crave for ever more.

 

[Kivvi]

I know open world games are a thing for like 10 years, but BotW was the first real game that interested me in this genre. I tried others but just couldn't because of the grey/black/green colour palette or it simply wasn't appealing to me. But this game? Oh boy, late 2017 was really something. Maybe not on the same level as your experience OP but close for sure.

 

[Deleted member 34132]

I agree. It's also for me the best moment I ever had and probably will ever have in a game.

Christmas 98 was a blast. I got OoT, Goldeneye 007 and The Lord Of The Rings. Best Christmas ever.

 

[andymcc]

Mario 64 was more more impressive/impactful to me. I got my Dreamcast around the time Zelda came out, which didn't help I guess.

 

[ianpm31]

98 was an amazing year between Zelda, MGS, and Golden Eye for gaming but Shenmue in January 2000 on the Dreamcast was my magical gaming moment. What an experience.

 

[Proc]

I wish I hung onto my gold cartridge. My parents chucked it on me. I remember asking my ebgames clerk for a release date every time I went to the mall as a little kid. The wait was worth it and it was one of the few single player games I actively played with friends.


As a side note, is it worth playing again on n64 + crt or should I give the updated version a whirl on my new 2ds XL?

 

[AfropunkNyc]

Played it when it first came out and it was a magical experience. Music and gameplay. The only game i actually completed 4, well 5 if i include the GameCube version.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

I agree completely. It is the only gaming memory/experience that I describe as magical.

 

[skeezx]

for some reason i never had that "hyrule field" religious moment with the game. i mean i loved it but after Mario 64 and Final Fantasy 7 i was kinda spent on that gen's wow factor

 

[BossAttack]

Nah, MGS1 was the bigger moment that year for me.