Here's a bold opinion: is it just us, or is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time a pretty decent game. It is, ain't it? Obviously, it cannot hold a candle to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, but precious few titles measure favorably to Nintendo's twisted action-adventure masterpiece. Nevertheless, Ocarina of Time is alright ... Kidding! Leave us alone. There are worse games out there and, for the most part, the franchise's fifth entry has withstood the passage of time rather admirably. In less than six months, Ocarina of Time turns 20-years-old, although we doubt anyone will . At most, Nintendo might ask an intern to send out a tweet or a Facebook post: yeah, that sounds appropriate for one of g🍨aming's landmark relea🐭ses.
As the best selling game in the franchise, is simply a must-play title. Even though sales are important, they are not always a reliable marker for quality. If there were, the Call of Duty franchise would produce nothing but gold. So, were critics fond of Ocarina of Time? Yeah, you can say . Despite possessing the vocabulary of a newborn, Link warrants a place among gaming's Mount Rushmore and Ocarina of Time bought Nintendo a lifetime of good-will.
Approaching its 20th anniversary but still with stories to tell, here are 25 things only superfans knew they could do in Ocarina of Time!
23 ꦗ Ga♔non's Secret Weakness
Ocarina of Time is classified as an Action-RPG, but there is a heavy focus on solving puzzles and exploration. Regardless of the quality of the smaller enemies, they will always be nothing more than filler standing in the way of the boss. If the bigger fights suck, then the game is going to lose a lot of momentum. The story might be about saving Princess Zelda and Hyrule, but we keep on playing to see what Nintendo has in store for Link. Counting sub-bosses, Ocarina of Time consists of eleven massive opponents and each one of them can be taken down by employing a specific strategy. The first boss in the game, Queen Gohma, can be stunned by throwing Deku Nuts in her general direction. While this item is useful against smaller enemies, they are essentially powerless against the other bosses. With one exception...
Ganondorf-Ganon is Ocarina of Time's final test and, if fought Nintendo🍰's way, the chap can be tough to d🀅efeat. However, Link is trying to save the world and has no time to fight fair, so feel free to throw everything and the kitchen sink at Ganon!
Deku Nuts turn this fight into a cakewalk, as they damage the boss nearly as much as any other weapon.
Just fling those bad boys at Ganon's tail and watch the big bad go doꦆwn like a sack of potatoes!
22 💦 Glitching Into Gerudo's Fortress
Glitches either degrade a potentially decent game into a disappointing one or elevate a great title to new heights. If nothing else, Nintendo never fails to publish a polished experience. Obviously, this does not mean there is no flaws or bugs, but the develope🤪r's first-party titles are never going to be as hilariously buggy as some of their . Anyway, glitches get a bad rap because, nowadays, we tend to hear about every unintentional issue found in AAA titles. On the one hand, it is easier than ever to get these problems fixed; however, as long as they are not game-breaking, glitches can be a ton of fun!
Ocarina of Time is a technical marvel but cracks can be found in the walls. In the narrative, Gerudo's Fortress can only be accessed by adult Link, but a glitch allows players to explore the area while in the earlier chapters. The steps are outlined in this helpful and require a bit of trial-and-error to get it right. The post even suggests 🔯that this section might allude to some scrapped content, as there are a couple of items that are only availab༺le during Young Link's sections. See, glitches are just another way to experience a game!
21 Summoni⛎ng Supersized Enemi♑es
Okay, we are going to come clean and admit that this one went over our heads, so credit to 's DUCKOFINDEED for pointing out this feature. Ocarina of Time is littered with common enemies that are defeated regularly by Link. Honestly, these creatures should be on the verge of extinction, but they keep on finding a way to return for more. Besides Ocarina of Time, Stalchildren can also be fought in Majora's Mask and , although the latter altered their name to Stalkin. Pr﷽eferring to pick on vulnerable adventurers who are their own size, the skeletons target Child Link during the nighttime and always approach a battle in pairs. After defeating one half of the duo, if the player deters on besting the second Stalchild, a new member will spawn to take the place of its fallen comrade.
As Link is hardly going🗹 to succumb to the attacks of weaponless skeletons, St🐓alchildren put up quite a measly challenge.
After reducing their population by ten, Nintendo throws a curveball in the form of larger sized variants that reward players with three Rupees after they are defeated.
Learning a thing or two from Dragon Ball Z's Saiyans, Stalchildren are not the only enemies who get stronger after every loss, as🌼 Leevers and Guays experience a similar metamorphosis.
20 🔯 Catching Something Other Than Fish 🎃
Demanding 20 Rupees for each trip, fishing is a rich man's game in Ocarina of Time. Thankfully, Link 𝔉can easily earn back that cash by catching a Hyrule Loach, as the Pond's owner rewards the adventurer with 50 Rupees for each conquest. Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, Loach are tricky and require quite a bit of planning to reel them in. If ꩵthe fish are refusing to bite and you are unwilling to let those 20 Rupees go to waste, there are other ways to get your money's worth! Disclaimer: kids do not try this at home...
Hey, nobody said that Link can only aim for🐽ꦜ the pond! With the fishing rod in the adventurer's grasp...
Redirect the trajectory towards the fisherman's general area and flick the hook towards the dude's hat.
As long as Link's aim is true, the owner's cap can be fished off his head! At this point, the player has two options: return the hat or cast it into the pond. The former results in no repercussions, but the latter sees Link fined 50 Rupees by the disgruntled fisherman. While the cost might be rather high, nothing beats witnessing a childish prank co🌊mmitted by Hyrule's hero!
19 Inventory Management For Pros 𓄧
Ocarina of Time's inventory allows for enough room for Link to carry any items that might be necessary throughout his journey. While certain RPGs place an absurd amount of focus on inventory management and trading goods, The Legend of Zelda has always opted to keep this practice relatively stressfree. 's combat system meant that limiting the number of weapons that can be carried was a crucial part of the challenge, but that was not the case with Ocarina of Time. Once all the items are collected, there s𝄹hould still be two remaining on the list.
While this reduces the anxiety of carrying too much weight, Ocarina of Time's inventory ends up containing a ton of u🐭seless items that cause nothing but clutter. After scrawling through pointless receipts and items for a dozen times, you might be wishing to replace them with something useful.⛄ While a magical new weapon will not suddenly plummet from the sky...
There is a small glitch that allows items to be replaced with bottles.
Just before catching something, pause the game and꧙ swap the jar with any other item. If done correctly, the latter will be replaced by the filled bottle and Link will receive an additional free container.
18 Pro Players Ar꧂e Beast On The Ocarina
Music plays a huge role in Ocarina of Time. Even if Link's defining tools are a slingshot and Master Sword, the hero's journey would not be possible without magical devices that produce tunes required to solve puzzles. Young Link is handed the Fairy Ocarina by Saria before leaving Kokiri Forest, while the 🔯Ocarina of Time comes into the play during the future chapters. When equipped, both items produce music and are pivotal to traversing Hyrule Castle and the RPG's dungeons. Picking up a couple of different themes along the way, Link transforms into quite an accomplished musician by the end of his journey.
Mapped to the "A" and "C" buttons, Nintendo wen♏t as far as to require players to actively perform the notes to create a tune. This is not simply a case of picking a track from a list that regurgitates the same song ꧃for the hundredth time; no, Link needs to feel the song before accurately performing it.
The mechanism's depth goes further than that, as the Ocarina of Time's pitch can be altered by tilting the control stick in any direction.
With the right setup, the instrument can create any note between low B and high F. We might not be able to play the guitar, 🐓but the Ocarina is our sound of music!
17 𝔍 The Unname♎d Kokiri Actually Has A Name
Whether due to the unintentional unsettling nature of early 3D graphics or the girl's maniacal laugh, Fado comes across as quite an odd duck. Debuting as a minor character in Ocarina of Time, the Kokiri NPC is blessed with a unique design and an eye-catching performance, but she serves barely any purpose and goes through the entire plot without a name. After a short appearance during Link's youth, Fado reappears later to guide the protagonist during the quest before promptingly disappearing. Tak🐷ing into account her small role in the story, gifting Fado with a unique design and peculiar personality seems like a waste of resources.
Fans only learned her name due to a short blurb on a Nintendo website promoting Ocarina of Time.
From this point on, we will be diving into pure , so take everything with a grain of salt. Rumors suggest Nintendo's original plans envisioned a far more expansive Hyrule, including a couple of further dungeons like the Wind and Earth Temples. As N64's cartridges were restrictive, Ocarina of Time needed to be cut down accordingly. The plans might have been to present Fado as the Sage of Wind, b𓃲ut that role fell apart with the remov🌠al of the Wind Temple.
16 Ganondorf's Other Secret W♛eakness 🦂
Brandished with the moniker of The Great King of Evil, Ganondorf is a menacing opponent who challenges Link twice through a single playthrough. Acting as Gerudo's current ruler, Ganondorf is an untrustworthy fellow that practically screams "bad guy." The first boss fight takes place within the claustrophobic halls of Ganon's Castle, while the King reveals his true form in Ocarina of Time's final dung💧eon. Both encounters can be tricky when a player is going in blind, but experience turns them into walks in the park. We already mentioned one trick to defeating Ganon, so it is time to cut Ganondorf down to size.
Unlike the physical Ganon, Ganondorf is a magician at heart who bombards Link with a slew of projectiles. Discharged at quite a slow pace, players need to return the ball to Ganondorf to open him up for a hit. The sword is the most obvious tool for the job, although one does not need to limit themselves to just a single weapon. The antagonist's projectiles can be deflected using an empty bottle and even the Megaton Hammer. Admittedly, Ganondorf's loses some of his fear-factꦡor when a piece of glass proves more resilient than his magic🌱al attacks. Why was anyone scared of this guy?
15 ℱ Master Your Own Faith
Ocarina of Time was so amazing that Nintendo rereleased the title during the GameCube era. Given away as a limited-time bonus with preorders of The Wind Waker, this version contains two different modes: the original and Master Quest. While not offering a substantially changed experience, the latter ups the base game's difficulty and retweaks the dungeons to present returning gamers with a fresh experience. In theory, the Master Quest serves as an example of an NG+ done right.
Originally titled , the expansion wa🅷s planned to be released for the , but the idea was scrapped due to the magnetic disk drive peripheral failing to gain traction with J🤡apanese audiences.
Rebranded as Master Quest, fans got to finally experience the remapped dungeons on the GameCube.
The expansion proved popular enough to warrant inclusion on the Nintendo 3DS's Ocarina of Time 3D, although the mode must be unlocked by finishing the standard game. Gamers familiar exclusively with the Nintendo 64 edition should consider giving this harder expansion a try. At worst, Master Quest is just a slightly altered version of Ocarina of Time and Niꦺntendo's classic stands🌃 up well to multiple playthroughs.
14 🐽 Ger𒁏udo's Outfit Changes Depend On Yours
Link and Princess Zelda are rightfully perceived as icons, but they are far from the only interesting personas to plow their trade on the streets of Hyrule. In some ways, the lovable protagonist and competent damsel-in-distress are among the duller characters in The Legend of Zelda. Take, for example, the Gerudo race in Ocarina of Time; this is a civilization of mostly female warriors who are feared as thieves but, once Link gets to know them, seem surprisingly noble. If that was not interesting enough, every hundred years, a single male baby is born that is automatically elevated toꦑ the status of King, even if they came in the shape of Ganon. A flawed polit💖ical system...
Link infiltrates their fortress to resc꧑ue some carpenters but ends up embroiled in a rebellion against the Gerudo's current monarch. In order to allow the protagonist to explore without risking any unnecessary fights, Link receives a membe✅rship card from Nabooru.
Nabooru's wardrobe changes depending on the tunic Link has equipped.
Even if t꧂his is a minor detail that does not impact the gameplꦫay, it is still a cool addition that really did not need to be there.