This column originally ran on October 22, 2009.

Many folks, including a number of media publications, have called The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time the GOAT — greatest of all-time (and so did At the Buzzer). When it first came out in 1998, it redefined the series and got almost universal praise from fans and critics alike. Checkpoint takes a look back at the N64 best-seller, and puts OoT in its place in the Zelda pantheon.

Dawn of a New Era

Lee: Of the new games that were coming out for the N64, I anticipated Ocarina of Time the most. I was a big fan of the Legend of Zelda series before the transition to 3D, and I wanted to see how they would do it.

Chris: Link to the Past was my first exposure to the Zelda series, even though I eventually went back and played the earlier ones. So with just the one game under my belt, this seemed like a big switch at the time.

Lee: And Link to the Past was such a great game, it seemed like it would be a hard act to follow. Link’s Awakening was a good game, but it never topped its predecessor. Ocarina of Time presented that possibility for many people.

Shaun: I remember poring over my Nintendo Power magazines for every piece of information I could get. It may be my most hyped game ever, and the fact that it was still able to blow my expectations out of the water amazes me.

Chris: My friend had those same magazines. Hell, that was back when it was going to come out two years earlier for the Nintendo Dolphin. Nothing against the N64, but I’m kinda sad there isn’t actually a console called the Dolphin.

Lee: I think the way they rendered the environments was adequate. Nothing like what we’ve got now, but it was a step up at the time. You can compare it to Mario 64 and see the improvements.

Chris: I think the successful integration of that system was what made this one of the best games ever. Zelda already perfected the top-down 2D gaming area, so keeping their gameplay solid into a third dimension was a huge key.

Shaun: I agree with Lee; the level design was top notch. Even though this was the land that we have seen before in Link to the Past, every location, town and dungeon felt so unique.

Chris: All things considered, the graphics hold up pretty damn well for it being a decade later. They’re certainly not great, but they haven’t aged as much as I might have thought. That title screen, with Link riding through Hyrule Field, still looks as good as ever.

Shaun: Well, the game definitely delivered. The third person perspective was very well implemented. I don’t really remember ever fighting with the camera. It controlled just like I thought it should, something that Nintendo is always good at.

Chris: Yeah, they picked just about the perfect perspective. Far enough back that you could see around you, but close enough that you really felt like you were into the action.

Shaun: And the way it zoomed in and out when wielding weapons like the boomerang and bow felt very natural as well.

Chris: Really, the only time that became a problem was with Z-targeting. Occasionally you’d get stuck on an enemy when you wanted to turn and retreat or something. Like when Ganon was ruining you.

Shaun: While the Z-targeting did have it faults, it was such a revolutionary mechanic at the time, and it had so much depth. I loved how his movements could chance depending on whether he was targeting or not.

Lee: And the targeting system was a great way to aim in 3D. In 2D, all you had to do was point in one of four directions. Z-targeting made Zelda possible to play without the need to constantly practice shooting.

Chris: That also set up backflips, which was an important part of the game for me. Heading down into the well? The hell with the ladder, backflip! Escaping Twinrova’s attacks? You know what you must do!

Shaun: Yeah, and it also allowed for the leaping downward sword slash, which, when comboed with the backflip, was devastating for Stalfos across the globe. Not to mention picking off six enemies with your arrows in about three seconds made Link even more of a pimp.

Chris: Speaking of arrows, was this the best game in the series for items? There were some cool additions down the road, but everything here was simple and effective. More importantly, pretty much everything had uses outside of the dungeon you found it in, which was a huge problem in Twilight Princess.

Shaun: I say yes…well, maybe. Majora’s Mask had a great selection, but it would be nothing if not for the staples that were successfully added into Ocarina of Time.

Lee: Hell no. Link to the Past had the best item set. I mean, in Ocarina of Time you had to deal with losing the ability to lose items. Like after seven years you forgot how to wield a slingshot.

Shaun: Yeah, but the slingshot sucked. What’s a slingshot going to do against Ganon? Maybe, if you’re lucky, you shoot his eye out or something. I’ll take the Light Arrows, thank you.

Lee: Damn it, Shaun, he forgot how to use magic beans when he grew up.

Chris: That’s just as well. He single-handedly ruined the magic bean market. Those damn things cost like 12 million rupees by the time the bean salesman was done screwing you over.

Shaun: He just grew out of those things, that’s all. He’s a grown man now, Lee. He had to leave behind his childish ways.

Chris: Yeah, it was the only way he could ever end up with Zeld–ooo, awkward.

Lee: Farming is not childish. If it was, there wouldn’t have been a farm in the middle of the world in the future. This brings me back to one of my problems with games: shopkeepers. Do we have an item that can help you save the world? Pay for it. I don’t care about any impending apocalypse.

Chris: By far, the item that got the biggest boost in the jump to 3D was the hookshot. Rooftop jumping in Kakariko Village was a lot of fun. On the minus side, your shield could be fried, which had to make Link’s life even more miserable.

Lee: I liked that you could lose a wooden shield to fire. It made sense to put that in there. What didn’t make sense was putting in bats that were on fire. Alive and on fire? It just doesn’t make sense. But I guess Hyrule is a magical, screwed-up place.

Shaun: You make a great point about fire. The first time I used fire to burn the webbing in the Deku Tree, my jaw dropped. It seemed so simple, but puzzles in my games never seemed to make that much sense before.

A Hero’s Quest

Shaun: Okay Chris, you brought up the story…kind of…and I have to say, while it suffers from the problems of all  Zelda games, it has by far the best plot of any Zelda.

Lee: I wasn’t too happy about having to collect magical stones just because some girl told me to. I have my own life to live, and I recently acquired my own sword. The world was my oyster, but I had to spend life in a volcano.

Chris: You stole that sword from people who never aged. They could have used that sword eternally to defend themselves from Mido, but you ruined that.

Shaun: I loved that though, because it sort of breaks the gaming fourth wall. Not to get too philosophical, but the fact that Link is following the Princesses’ orders without question is what gets everyone into trouble in the first place. It was a great touch.

Chris: The story pretty much expanded on what we had in Link to the Past, but it was unique in its own way. And now we’ve seen that story like six more times since then, so I guess it was important.

Shaun: I guess the overall story follows the same structure, but the details were so good. Personally, I was rooting for Link and Malon. She was great. The twist with Ganondorf using Link and the Princess, and the guilt of the Princess that follows? Awesome. Zelda sending Link back at the end so he essentially disappears from the timeline? More awesomer. Hinting at Ganondorf’s backstory? Awesomest.

Chris: I’ll admit, that whole sequence in the Temple of Time gave me chills the first time. The door opening with that epic music, the Master Sword serenely in the background…and then you realize Ganondorf was playing you all along. Nice touch.

Shaun: And even though you knew it was coming almost immediately, Zelda being the badass Sheik was pretty sweet as well. She was by far the most involved and useful Princess Zelda ever — although Wind Waker Zelda/Tetra is close behind.

Chris: I’ll be honest: I was like 12 at the time, but I didn’t figure out who Sheik was until just a little bit before the big reveal.

Lee: I had my suspicions.

Chris: Looking back, I’m still not entirely sure about Sheik. I’m not sure anyone is. Does her magic turn her completely into a guy? Just somewhat? Is it just a costume? I really don’t know, and I’m not sure I want to.

Lee: I do.

Shaun: Yeah, I’m thinking just an elaborate costume…and not a sex change. That’s a little creepy.

Chris: The Sheikah work in mysterious ways. Maybe she had to be really committed to fool Ganondorf. I mean, it worked for seven years.

Lee: People do weird things with magic, Shaun.

Shaun: Well, Ganondorf was born in a clan…of 100 percent women. Yeah, weird stuff does seem to happen a lot.

Lee: I was not a fan of the transition between being a kid and being an adult. You walk in, pick up the sword and what happens? You wake up seven years later with an old man staring you down. Apparently he stripped of your old clothes, gave you new clothes, and pierced your ears. By the way, here is a medallion and find the others.

Shaun: That was epic though! He was the hero, and yet his body was not yet ready. And magic changed his clothes and pierced his ears. Everyone knows that. Just magic. Not an old man.

Chris: Rauru seemed a little too happy to see you wake up. It’s almost like he was guilty about what happened for those seven years while you were unconscious from Ganondorf’s GHB.

Shaun: He had to unlock the sages, another one of the great aspects of the game. Instead of random fairies, these were all people Link already knew. Saving Saria was especially excellent.

Chris: That was kinda sad. She seemed both resolved and resigned to her fate as a sage.

Shaun: Exactly. Being trapped in a child’s body only emphasized that.

Chris: Let’s face it, though: The game had a lot of situations that set you up to feel like an epic hero. Personally, I always loved the Gerudo hideout where you get tossed in jail like a bitch and have to sneak around.

Shaun: Oh man, that was great. Less so if you got killed by that one bitch a hundred times, but still great. So many moments that changed up the pacing.

Lee: The Gerudo hideout was great, but the real gem was Gerudo Valley. What do you do? Listen to the music.

Chris: What happens if it’s nighttime? You play the damn Sun Song and you start it from the top!

Shaun: Yeah, some of the best moments in the series. Although No. 1 belongs to TP, when Link walks into that Moblin city and that Western music starts playing, and he kills everything.

Chris: That was pretty epic. An old-fashioned Western shootout. Clink Eastwood.

Shaun: Let’s not forget Epona, either. That was a big deal at the time, and it was a great feature of the game. I’m tired of it now, but at the time it was so refreshing. Stealing the horse from the evil Luigi impersonator was great, too. Gave Link brownie points with Malon.

Lee: You know damn well that Link will never get his release.

Shaun: Well, being sent back in time is pretty much the ultimate cold shower.

Chris: Looking back, getting Epona really helped you gain a respect for how big the world of Hyrule was at the time. That field was pretty gigantic, but riding around on Epona made the world better. Getting the warp songs kinda decreased that a bit, but the effect was still there.

Lee: Nobody really explains why playing a song warps you around, but magic is a tricky thing.

Shaun: Music was such a big part of the game, and they didn’t take it lightly. OoT had one of the best soundtracks ever, although the absence of the iconic Zelda tune was disappointing. I loved that damn Ocarina.

Chris: For me, that was one of the best moments of Majora’s Mask — walking out of Clock Town and hearing that classic theme back again. It felt like one of the few things Ocarina was missing. But there’s a lot to like with the soundtrack. Iconic themes like Kakariko Village get a rehash, atmospheric stuff like the Forest Temple served as great background music, and of course the ocarina songs.

Lee: Every time you got a new warp song it was epic. You get to jam out with Sheizelda.

Shaun: On a separate note, the ReDead’s were freaking scary. Just saying. When you awake, and the town is run over with these zombies? How crazy was that?

Chris: Man, I hated those things. Again, the Sun Song was a vital tool there. It was either freeze them like a nancy or get my brains chewed on for five hours. I chose the former.

Lee: You just can’t get close to them without getting some good loving to the back of your head.

Shaun: Yeah, another reason I loved the Light Arrows.

Lee: That’s why there was some pretty heavy retribution when you were in the future market with the Biggoron’s Sword and a pocket full of magic.

Chris: And a Keaton mask. You couldn’t kill ReDeads without a Keaton mask. Murdering things as Pikachu was very important.

Lee: Ooh, that is good.

Shaun: Ha ha, Pikachu.

Lee: You know what was not epic? Collecting the damn gold skulltulas.

Shaun: Yeah, but they had a tragic story. I dug it. They gave some good rewards, too.

Chris: There is one important gameplay element we have to add to the list of not-at-all epic: Kaepora Gaebora. Look, I know he was there to help out new gamers, but the early parts of the game are reallllllllllly annoying because of him.

Lee: Meh, he was helpful once or twice when you could latch on and ride him, but beyond that he was more useful as owl steaks.

Chris: Why did he change the order of Yes and No every damn time so I accidentally made him repeat his whole spiel?

Shaun: Ha, he amused me because his head was silly. But yeah, he sucked. What was his deal, anyway? Why was he there? And why could he talk?

Lee: Magic, Shaun. Lots of magic.

Shaun: Oh, right. I forgot.

Dungeon Crawler

Chris: Other than the mysterious Light Temple, which never actually existed, this Zelda was chock full of pretty good dungeons. They had a solid balance of fighting and puzzles.

Shaun: The best puzzles, actually. They had the most variety and the most unique designs. Every temple was different than the last, and all were fresh because it was the first time in 3D.

Lee: Except the Water Temple. Less fight, more suck. Which was a shame, because you got to fight your long-time rival, Dark Link.

Shaun: Oh man, I do like that temple looking back. Frustrating, yes, but rewarding. And yeah, Dark Link was crazy. What a good fight.

Chris: That is the only part of the Water Temple that’s enjoyable. At all.

Lee: That and getting the satisfaction of a longer hookshot.

Chris: It’s always about longer and satisfaction with you, isn’t it?

Lee: I need it longer. The satisfaction doesn’t always come with length, though.

Shaun: Of course. And it’s about sequels with him, too. Oh no, I broke the innuendo.

Chris: I wasn’t a huge fan of Lord Jabu Jabu’s belly for two reason: 1) You get the boomerang, which is awesome, but you use it for about five minutes before turning into an adult, and 2) King Zora takes like 30 freaking minutes to get out of the way.

Lee: Forty minutes. I counted. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe.

Shaun: Oh yeah, that one sucked. Good boss though. But I didn’t think it was logical that the thing had doors in its stomach. Yeah, lots of magic, I know.

Chris: I hope my stomach doesn’t look like that. That was a good boss fight, though. Really, that’s the start of an epic 30-minute stretch of the game.

Lee: Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe.

Chris: The Forest Temple screwed me up as a kid. I missed the key in the first room somehow (probably because I was dumb), and spent about two hours there trying to find it. I enjoyed just about everything about the Spirit Temple, including Twinrova. And the Ironknuckle fights you got there were pretty cool.

Shaun: Twinrova. The big drum guy. Morpha. The big fire dragon. Shadow Ganon. So good.

Chris: Ah yes, Bongo Bongo. He’s kinda out of nowhere, but that’s still a good fight.

Lee: Yeah. Bongo Bongo seemed like he belonged in a night club.

Shaun: Not to mention it was the best Ganon fight in the series, except maybe for the Wind Waker one. That was crazy. Although the crown for best Ganondorf fight belongs to Wind Waker, which also happens to win the award for best Ganondorf. He was like Hannibal Lector, without the lust for human flesh. Hell, maybe he had that, too. We don’t really know.

Chris: Can’t argue with you there. I’ve done the final fight in that game like 10 times because it’s so fun. Hell, I usually go out of my way not to time the A button right and just try to land regular attacks while he blocks.

Shaun: Oh man, that’s what you have to do. The other way just makes it too easy.

Chris: To be honest, the first time you roll behind him and he blocks with his sword over his head is pretty freaking sweet. I was like OH MAN.

Shaun: Yeah. That’s the best. Two samurai swords? It’s was a complete reinvention. Anyway, the one in OoT was pretty great, too. I liked sending his magic back, especially when he sends the four dark spheres, and you spin and hit them all back.

Chris: And even though it wasn’t a huge deal graphically, seeing him getting torn to shreds as you did more damage was pretty sweet.

Lee: My favorite part of the Ganondorf fight was using the longshot on him to get closer. You didn’t jump over, you hooked metal into his skin and pulled yourself across.

Chris: Actually, they set up the pacing for that whole last part well — the back-and-forth clash inside the stained-glassish area, with orb tennis, a race down the castle with debris falling and Zelda being useless, and then the final showdown where the Master Sword gets slapped away and Zelda is shrieking when you got hit (which really added some urgency to it).

Shaun: Yeah, it was a multiple stage fight, but each stage quickly followed the one before it, so you had to know what you were doing and act quick. It rewarded getting comfortable with the controls.

Chris: Ganon’s Castle was also solid for level design. It combined elements of the earlier temples into some new puzzles, and also featured the second most useless item in the game — the Golden Gauntlets. Those are of course second to the Silver Gauntlets, which you have for about 10 minutes before they get replaced. At least the golden ones let you toss 40-foot boulders into space or something.

Lee: “You gain the power of an entire army.” Really, so I can punch through walls right? My damage increases? Nope, you just get shiny hands.

Shaun: They were useless, but I don’t mind them not getting a ton of use when they are so powerful. I just appreciate getting to use them at all.

Lee: Other useless items included the Ice Arrows. They weren’t necessary for the game, at all.

Chris: Although the Gerudo trial to get them was pretty sweet.

Chris: Speaking of Ganon’s Castle, do we have any idea why he’s just playing the organ at the top while you climb all the way up? Shouldn’t he be extracting the Wisdom part from Zelda or something? I mean, it’s badass, but not exactly practical.

Shaun: He’s just biding his time. He can’t do anything without Link there. And…I mean, if I were Link, I would have been intimidated.

Lee: It was like he was unafraid of Link. Big mistake there.

Chris: Apparently one of the Triforce of Courage’s powers (assuming it has any, which is a big assumption) is that he can’t put Link in the same pink crystal he put Zelda in. So that’s a plus.

Shaun: Ha, yeah, I wondered about that too. Let’s assume that is its power.

Lee: Yeah, I would have taken the power to transform any day of the week.

Shaun: It seems like Link gets the short end of the stick as far as Triforce powers, but such is the path of the hero.

Best of All-Time?

Shaun: OoT really set the standard for every game to follow it. Majora’s Mask reinvented the formula established with great success–same with Wind Waker–and TP had Midna, one of the best Zelda characters, and possibly the most defined. All of this would not have been possible without the standards set by OoT.

Lee: This Legend of Zelda was a fantastic stepping stone for the future, and really set the bar for adventure/puzzles that came after it.

Chris: That much I agree with. Some folks call this the best game in the series, and some even go as far as to call it the greatest game of all-time, but I’m not one of them.

Shaun: Well, OoT is not only my favorite game in the pantheon of quality Zelda titles, but also what I consider to be the best game ever created. Ever.

Lee: Certainly not the greatest, but in the top five Zelda games.

Shaun: Ha, top five. More like top one.

Lee: I’m sorry. I spent too much time on Link to the Past to ever pull it out of first.

Chris: My top three Zelda games go Link to the Past, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, so that puts OoT at least fourth. Then again, those are all awfully good games.

Shaun: The sequels have been more polished, but the importance of OoT is what catapults it to my top spot.

Lee: Link to the Past was to Zelda games what George Washington was to presidents. Irreplaceable.

Shaun: Well, that’s fair. Nostalgia is important, and OoT was pretty much my first, beside Link’s Awakening. And while I love Link’s Awakening, the two don’t quite compare.

Chris: At the very least, it was a hugely important game in both revolutionizing the series and furthering the switch to 3D. Super Mario 64 was the first, but OoT might have been the most solid at the time.

Lee: Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe. Whe.

Checkpoint is a series of discussions run by Chris, Shaun and Tech Guy back in their college newspaper days. For more entries in the series, click here.