42 Fun Facts About Ocarina of Time

Ocarina of Time launched in 1998 on which Nintendo console?

Ocarina of Time shipped on the N64 (Nintendo 64) in November 1998 in Japan and North America, with PAL regions following in December 1998.

Ocarina of Time was the first Zelda game to feature what?

Ocarina of Time was the first Zelda with 3D graphics: a polygonal world rendered in real time, replacing the 2D sprites of A Link to the Past.

Who produced Ocarina of Time?

Shigeru Miyamoto, co-creator of the Zelda series, produced Ocarina of Time, overseeing a team of directors that included Eiji Aonuma and Yoshiaki Koizumi.

Who composed the soundtrack?

Koji Kondo, Nintendo's longtime Zelda composer, wrote the Ocarina of Time score, including every ocarina melody such as Zelda's Lullaby.

How many directors led the development of Ocarina of Time?

Five directors are credited on Ocarina of Time: Eiji Aonuma, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Toru Osawa, Yoichi Yamada and Toshio Iwawaki.

The game's lock-on targeting system is named after which controller button?

'Z-targeting' and context-sensitive buttons became standard in 3D action games afterwards.

How many melodies does Link learn on the ocarina over the course of the game?

Link learns twelve ocarina songs: six everyday melodies such as Zelda's Lullaby and Epona's Song, plus six warp songs such as the Minuet of Forest.

Which area serves as the central hub of the game's world?

Hyrule Field is the hub connecting every region of the game, with Lon Lon Ranch, home of Epona and Lon Lon Milk, at its center.

Kakariko Village sits at the foot of which peak?

Death Mountain rises directly above Kakariko Village; the trail from the village climbs to Goron City, home of the rock-eating Gorons.

Which race, living in the western desert, consists mostly of women?

Ganondorf is their king, the rare male born to them.

Which temple features a fight against Dark Link?

The Water Temple, beneath Lake Hylia, pits Link against his shadow, Dark Link; its Iron Boots and shifting water levels became a byword for tedious design.

Where does Link live at the start of the game?

Link grows up in the Kokiri Forest among the childlike Kokiri, alongside his friend Saria, under the protection of the Great Deku Tree.

Who instructs the fairy Navi to become Link's guide?

The Great Deku Tree, guardian of the Kokiri, sends Navi to wake Link; cursed by Ganondorf, he gives Link the Kokiri's Emerald before he dies.

Malon, who Link befriends early on, is the daughter of which ranch owner?

Talon, the sleepy owner of Lon Lon Ranch, is Malon's father; his hand Ingo later seizes the ranch, and Malon's melody, Epona's Song, wins Epona's trust.

Zelda's caretaker Impa belongs to which people?

Impa is a Sheikah, the shadow folk who served Hyrule's royal family; their eye-and-tear symbol appears throughout Kakariko Village, which Impa opened to commoners.

Which tunic protects adult Link from the heat of Death Mountain Crater?

The red Goron Tunic shields Link from the crater's heat; Darunia's son hands it over in Goron City, and the Goron shop sells it for 200 Rupees.

How many Spiritual Stones must Link collect to enter the Sacred Realm?

Three Spiritual Stones open the Door of Time: the Kokiri's Emerald, the Goron's Ruby and the Zora's Sapphire, placed before the altar with the Song of Time.

Who gives Link the Ocarina of Time itself?

Saria gives him a humbler fairy ocarina earlier in the game.

How many years pass while Link sleeps in the Sacred Realm?

He awakens as an adult and is met by Rauru, the first of the Sages.

Sheik turns out to be whom in disguise?

The reveal also makes the disguised character the seventh Sage.

Which of these characters is one of the Sages Link awakens as an adult?

Darunia, the Goron chief, awakens as the Sage of Fire, joining Saria, Ruto, Impa and Nabooru, Ganondorf's former second-in-command.

The game's final boss is a boar-like beast known by what name?

The name harks back to the original 1986 game, where the villain was simply Ganon.

How does the game end for Link?

The split timeline this creates has fuelled fan arguments ever since.

Which boss does Link face inside the Great Deku Tree?

Queen Gohma, a giant one-eyed arachnid parasite, is the first boss, fought inside the Great Deku Tree; Link stuns her eye with the Fairy Slingshot and finishes her with the Kokiri Sword.

Ocarina of Time originally ran on the engine of which game?

Ocarina of Time began on the Super Mario 64 engine, though it was modified so heavily that Miyamoto considered the finished engines different.

From which perspective did Miyamoto initially intend the game to be played?

Miyamoto first planned a first-person view to show off the landscape, but it was dropped partly so players could see the young Link on screen.

Ocarina of Time shipped on an N64 cartridge of what size?

Ocarina of Time shipped on a 32 MB (256-megabit) cartridge, among the largest N64 cartridges of its day.

Later revisions of the game recoloured Ganondorf's blood from crimson to what?

Later N64 cartridge revisions changed Ganondorf's blood from red to green and fixed assorted glitches; the 2003 GameCube re-release was built from this revised version.

The music in which dungeon was altered to remove a sample of an Islamic prayer chant?

The Fire Temple's theme originally sampled an Islamic prayer chant; later revisions replaced it with a version without the vocal sample to avoid religious references.

Roughly how many copies of the original cartridge version were sold worldwide?

The N64 cartridge sold about 7.6 million copies worldwide, the fourth best-selling game on the console behind Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64 and GoldenEye 007.

What score does Ocarina of Time hold on the review aggregator Metacritic?

Ocarina of Time scored 99 on Metacritic, an average of critic reviews in which IGN and GameSpot both awarded it 10 out of 10.

Japanese magazine Famitsu gave the game what score?

Four reviewers each gave it 10, making Ocarina of Time the first game ever to earn Famitsu's perfect 40/40.

How many awards did the game win at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards?

Ocarina of Time took six awards at the 1999 ceremony, later renamed the D.I.C.E. Awards, including Game of the Year and Console Game of the Year.

The harder remixed version developed for the 64DD add-on was known in Japan as what?

Ura Zelda ('Another Zelda') was a remixed Ocarina of Time planned for the 64DD disk drive; the add-on's failure in Japan meant it never shipped there in that form.

The remixed 64DD version eventually reached the West in 2003 on GameCube under what subtitle?

Master Quest, the Western name for Ura Zelda, shipped on a 2003 GameCube bonus disc; it kept the plot but rearranged the dungeons' puzzles and raised the difficulty.

Nintendo re-released Ocarina of Time on GameCube via a bonus disc for people who pre-ordered which game?

Pre-ordering The Wind Waker in 2003 earned a GameCube bonus disc with Ocarina of Time and Master Quest; the same year brought the Collector's Edition compilation.

The 2011 3DS remake added which mode alongside gyroscope controls?

Ocarina of Time 3D added a Boss Challenge mode for refighting bosses, alongside gyroscope aiming and a mirrored, harder Master Quest.

How many Gold Skulltulas are hidden across Hyrule for Link to collect?

There are 100 Gold Skulltulas; each token Link collects helps lift the curse on the spider-cursed family in Kakariko's House of Skulltula, with the final reward a Huge Rupee.

Which sword, the game's strongest, is earned by completing the adult trading sequence?

The Biggoron Sword, forged by Biggoron on Death Mountain at the end of the trading sequence, deals twice the Master Sword's damage but is two-handed, so Link cannot raise a shield.

How many tracks are on the official Japanese soundtrack CD released by Pony Canyon in 1998?

Pony Canyon's 1998 Ocarina of Time Original Soundtrack packed 82 tracks onto a single disc, most of them short jingles and ocarina melodies alongside the dungeon and field themes.

Which item does nothing on the Wii Virtual Console because it relied on controller rumble?

The Stone of Agony rumbles the controller near hidden grottoes, so it was useless on the rumble-less Wii Virtual Console; the 2015 Wii U release restored the effect.

Which independent studio co-developed the 2011 3DS remake with Nintendo EAD?

Grezzo, the Tokyo studio founded by Mana creator Koichi Ishii, co-developed Ocarina of Time 3D, easing the Water Temple's navigation and adding hint videos for stuck players.