Imformation:
- Review Date: July 16, 2021
- Release Date: November 23, 1998
- Platform: Nintendo 64
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Nintendo
- Genre: Adventure
Anecdotes: My brother comes by one day with some strategy guides. One of them was for the legendary game, Ocarina of Time. I didn’t pay much attention at that point, but then he forgot to take the guide home with him. I scanned the guide and decided that the game sounds very interesting. I forget how, but I did have access to both the game disc and the system. I started playing, using the guide. In hindsight, I should have played without the guide, but such is life.
Description: Ganondorf is terrorizing Hyrule again and it’s up to Link to fix it all.
Positives:
- The soundtrack to this game is amazing. My favorite tune in the game is the Forest Temple. Honorable mentions go to the Shadow Temple, Potion Shop, Lost Woods, Hyrule Market, and the Goron village. There is so much variety and it’s rare to hear a tune reused in a completely different location.
- While I mentioned the Forest Temple, I must say it’s easily my favorite dungeon of the game. Besides the music, the Temple has the classic Wall Masters, a rotating chamber puzzle, the Poe Sisters, the Hookshot, Phantom Ganon, and Saria as its sage. The Phantom Ganon fight is a fun time that I haven’t seen repeated anywhere. Link is placed on a platform in the center. He is surrounded by paintings. In most of them, nothing in happening. In three of them, though, show Ganon riding in on a horse. In two of those, Ganon makes a U turn, but in the third, he leaps out and can be shot with an arrow. This also taught me quickly how to control the camera.
- Once Link reaches a Temple, the game gives Link a song that will return him to the entrance at any time. This is especially nice in Gerudo Valley; that blind sand puzzle is 100% annoying. With these songs, the puzzles only have to be done once and do not have to be repeated. That is good game design.
- The callback to Zelda II is nice. Rauru, Saria, Nabooru, and Darunia are all sages. Ruto is also a sage, but she’s also an annoying princess that has to be carried around. Mido isn’t a sage; he just gets in the way. I don’t recall any Kasuto anywhere in the game, though.
Negatives:
- The great music of the game goes away and a new theme takes over whenever an enemy is nearby. I would have rather heard a chime or beeping.
- Escorting Ruto around in Jabu Jabu’s Belly is just a pain. The girl just annoys me. Link has to carry her all over the dungeon. She doesn’t move on her own. She’s needed to solve some puzzles. Worst of all, she’s absolutely in love with Link after that. This trope is totally overused. Ruto was a perfectly annoying pain in the butt. I’m so tired of seeing female characters fawn over the male heroes.
- Ruto is also loosely related to this game’s other disaster: the Water Temple. This took me days to get through when I first played the game. I kept going around in circles. I kept turning the boots on and off. I struggled a lot with Dark Link. Then there’s the search for keys and that music that gets old fast. I really hated just about everything in the dungeon. Apparently, I am not the only one that thought this, which is rare because my opinion rarely matches the consensus. The dungeon was so bad that the developer actually sent out a public apology for it.
- “Hey, LISTEN!”
Screenshots:
My Progress: Beat the game once, got to Death Mountain this time
Final Opinion: This is an excellent game, so why does it not get an A? Select a two word phrase: Water Temple, Kaepora Gaebora, Hey Listen, or Princess Ruto.
Grade: B