Metacritic Games

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)

Considered by many to be the greatest single-player video game ever created in any genre, Ocarina of Time features young Link who lives in a magical forest populated by elf children. Link must defeat strange monsters lurking in the area and stop a growing evil spreading in the complex land.

Nintendo
Adventure
Players: 1
E (Everyone)
Developer: Nintendo
Released October 31, 1998

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

99 / 100

Critic Reviews

100 GameSpot
A game that can't be called anything other than flawless...This is the masterpiece that people will still be talking about ten years down the road.
100 Weekly Famitsu
10 / 10 / 10 / 10 - platinum [first ever perfect score]
100 GameShark
This is, without a doubt, one of the all-time greatest games made. 50 years from now people will still be playing and enjoying this game... thoroughly.
100 IGN
Call us crazy, but when the final version of Zelda 64 arrived in the IGN64 offices, we stopped working, locked ourselves into a room with a big-screen TV and a surround system and played 17 hours straight. After only a few hours of sleep, we were back for more and we couldn't stop until we finished the game. Then, we started over again to find all the secrets.
100 All Game Guide
The amount of secrets and little things will astound you if you take the time to fully appreciate the vast world that lies before you. No matter how skeptical you are, do yourself a favor and try this title for five minutes. That's about how long it will take to get you completely drawn into this incredible adventure.
100 Electronic Gaming Monthly
An epic adventure that is among the best N64 games. [Jan 2004, p.189]
100 Games Domain
A truly remarkable achievement. Nintendo have created a beautiful game world and breathed life into it with puzzles, secrets, enemies, and loveable characters that will completely engross gamers around the globe. Stunning attention to detail is present throughout the game and is constantly evident in the visuals, audio and gameplay.
100 Game Revolution
The N64 is a 3D workhorse, and Zelda proves it with great textures, lighting, tons of little environmental effects, and smooooth framerates with no slowdown. Faces, the toughest graphical challenge on 3D characters, are fantastic in Zelda. Characters blink, look around and change expressions with surprising grace.
100 Nintendojo
[Review Score = 110] What’s significant about this convergence of audio, graphics and gameplay is that you are COMPLETELY IMMERSED in Zelda’s world. Why? Because everything is meticulously thought out. Each character and event plays a role in a storyline that sprawls like a J.R. Tolkien masterpiece...It's certainly the game of the decade.
100 Adrenaline Vault
Ocarina of Time is the complete package appealing to one and all, and is the definitive accomplishment in game design.
100 Gaming Maxx
Nothing but pure 100% fun, challenging, and lengthy.
100 GamePro
This is Zelda supreme. It's fun. One hitch, however, is that the skill level gets progressively harder - so hard that casual gamers might give up rather quickly.
100 Cincinnati Enquirer
This Zelda adventure will undoubtedly withstand the test of time and take its place as one of the best games to ever grace a home system.
100 Game Critics
High praise goes to them for also managing to fit joy, creativity and discovery into the game and doing so without the use of Full-Motion Video (FMV) and the CD soundtrack his critics said was needed. This game is simply the most complete experience of any game ever made making Ocarina Of Time the game I've always dreamed of playing.
100 Nintendophiles
My favorite game of all Time. It is the perfect example of a perfect and polished game. Every aspect of the game is virtually flawless.
100 Electric Playground
Perfect. Epic. Unstoppable. Unbeatable. Irresistible. Sensational...The best videogame I have ever played. It is the crowning jewel of the industry. It is Nintendo's finest achievement.
100 Hot Games
A slightly flawed masterpiece, but a masterpiece nonetheless.
100 Nintendorks
The biggest, most heartpounding and awe-inspiring quest of all. Oh yes, Zelda 64 does indeed own your soul.
98 TotalGames.net
When it comes to what people will now demand of a top videogame, Nintendo has moved the goalposts off the pitch, into a lorry, down the road, into the airport, onto a plane and halfway round the world to a different continent entirely.
95 Gaming Age
Featuring unparalleled 3D environments, a deep and involved quest, brilliant and intuitive play controls, and a well-developed cinematic quality that enhances rather than overwhelms the whole game experience, Miyamoto's latest soon-to-be-classic title deserves to be played by each and every person who might deign to consider themselves a fan of great games.
94 My Gamer
The player will be drawn into the Zelda fantasy world from the moment the opening sequence bursts onto the screen, and the game won’t let go—not even after finishing the quest.
90 Happy Puppy
Realism is one of the major reasons this title is so amazing. After playing for a while it feels as though you have actually been to Hyrule.

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