Nintendo is now treating The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the clearest starting point for the series. Bill Trinen, Nintendo of America’s vice president, called the 1998 game the “perfect place” to begin.
His case is pretty straightforward. Ocarina of Time introduces Link, Princess Zelda, Ganondorf, and a lot of the mythology that went on to shape the series. It also puts one of Zelda’s central ideas right up front: wisdom and courage beating brute force. For someone coming in fresh, that gives you a cleaner read on what Zelda is about than the newer games, which are larger, busier, and much more ambitious on the mechanical side.
That case gets even easier to make if the reported Nintendo Switch 2 remake shows up with the upgrades people have been talking about, including modern camera controls, a manual jump button, updated visuals, orchestral music, and full voice acting. Still, a couple of things haven’t been spelled out yet. We still don’t know how localization will be handled outside English-speaking markets, and it’s also unclear what kind of accessibility support players with disabilities will actually get.
For newcomers, there’s a strong reason to pick it up. Ocarina of Time helped set the template for 3D action-adventure games, especially with Z-targeting. Nintendo says it sold about 7.6 million copies on Nintendo 64, then another 6.44 million on Nintendo 3DS as of December 2022. Those numbers help explain why Nintendo keeps going back to it as the series moves past 190 million copies sold, again by Nintendo’s count. Even so, not everyone agrees it’s the easiest door into Zelda. Some players still point to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as the smoother modern entry, especially with the live-action Zelda movie set for April 30, 2027 and the 2027 Zelda concert tour also on the horizon.
Right now, you can play Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 or through its Nintendo 3DS remake. The reported Nintendo Switch 2 version still hasn’t been fully detailed.
Author: Emmanuel Bosque
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"es-ES": "Emmanuel Bosque cubre videojuegos en Softonic: lanzamientos, actualizaciones que convierten un juego en otro sin decirlo y los movimientos de una industria que casi nunca avisa. Escribe pensando en quien va a jugar, no en quien va a discutir: qué se puede jugar hoy, en qué plataforma y si de verdad merece la descarga. Forma parte del equipo editorial de Softonic y trabaja a diario con herramientas de IA en la producción de contenido.",
"fr-FR": "Emmanuel Bosque couvre les jeux vidéo chez Softonic : sorties, mises à jour qui transforment discrètement un jeu en un autre, et une industrie qui prévient rarement à l'avance. Il écrit pour celui qui va jouer, pas pour celui qui va débattre : ce qui est jouable aujourd'hui, sur quelle plateforme, et si le téléchargement en vaut la peine. Il fait partie de l'équipe éditoriale de Softonic et travaille au quotidien avec des outils d'IA dans la production de contenu.",
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