Ocarina of Time is Still the Greatest Game of All Time

Morgan Lewis, Managing Editor for Gamer Professionals, writes:

"Despite all the technological advances in the almost-18 years since Ocarina of Time’s debut on the Nintendo 64, it still dwarfs its competition . It was revolutionary in so many different ways and despite the fact that it is almost 20 years old, it still holds up incredibly well. It is not only one of the best games ever, it is the greatest game ever made, even among Zelda games, which is no small feat. Zelda isn’t just one of the premiere Nintendo franchises in the west; it is one of the premiere franchises in the west. There are a multitude of different reasons that set Ocarina of Time apart from both Zelda games and current-generation games alike, but none more than the perfect balance that the game maintains between gameplay and story."

[guywazeldatatt]

I play the ending of this game and I still get tears in my eyes. It's as close to perfection as any game has gotten.

[Rayven]

I'm not sure why would anyone bother to argue this. The best game of all time is as subjective a topic can get.

The early pc gamers would argue that the best of all time is Doom, perhaps Baldur's Gate.

As a ps4 gamer I already hold Last of Us as one of the greatest of all time.

As a person born in the 90's, I would say Civ 5, Fallout 2 (not 3), and Skyrim topping my best of all time.

And I'm pretty sure everyone here have completely different opinions than me. It's that divisive.

[CorndogBurglar]

Couldn't be more right :)

I was born in the '82. I've played every console from the Atari and PC up until now.

My favorites of all time are actually Star Wars: Tie Fighter, Marvel Vs Capcom 2, and, ironically enough, Ocarina of Time.

As far as games that I've had the most memorable fun with, nothing tops those for me.

[sorenx]

i though the last of use was not enough gameplay to justify its a full game thats me though it felt like a movie

[jcnba28]

Agreed.

[Whymii]

Having played all Zeldas to completion, even the Game and Watch, my favourite is Links Awakening followed by Link to the Past and Wind Waker. But are they the best games of all time? No. Just great games.

[PhucSeeker]

The world ain't never gonna agree on one best game/movie/song/... because we are not clones and every person has their own likes and dislikes.

[Whymii]

That's why I said 'my favourite' rather than the best. Universal assertions are immature and ignorant as we can only speak for ourselves.

[Fin_The_Human]

Played it yesterday on my Galaxy phone and love this game to death.

[bnaked]

I think it's too dated to be the best game ever. Maybe it WAS the best game ever, but the greatest games are timeless, just as the greatest movie masterpieces.
Thing is, that young people who play it for the first time today, wouldn't enjoy it much, not as we did when Ocarina of Time came out. Same goes for Half Life 2 and other so called "best games ever". Hey, HL2 is one of my favorite games.

The greatest interactive experience is probably Journey, because people can play it 50 years from now and they will feel the same way about it as today, because Journey is timeless art, to me it's the first true interactive Masterpiece, its for everyone of any age and it's incredibly deep, you can interpret it like other art masterpieces. Its an experience that has the power to change someones Life.

But this is just my opinion, I don't want to offend anyone. :-)

[jholden3249]

That's a fair assessment I think. I personally LOVE Ocarina, but, I wouldn't say it's best game of all time.

For me, that honor would go to one of the following

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
Final Fantasy X
Metroid Prime
Xenoblade Chronicles

Even games I absolutely LOVE, like Zelda Link Between Worlds/Twilight Princess, The Last of Us, Rise of the Tomb Raider or Ori & the Blind Forest don't make the cut.

My fave older games though, would be

Mega Man 2 or 3
Super Mario World
Final Fantasy 7
Donkey Kong Country 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 2/3

Shame Super Mario 64 doesn't get a mention- it's a GREAT game, just so many others that top it. Same for Mario Galaxy.

[Nathan_Hale53]

I first played this game about 6 months ago on my 3DS, although to be fair the game is vastly updated, I love the game to death. This is also my little cousin's favorite game. I believe it aged fantastically. Dungeon design is some of the best out of the LoZ series and the gameplay is fun and graphics are great on the 3DS version. Great story for what it is as well. It isn't my favorite game, but Majora's Mask is in my top 10 for sure and this one probably in my top 20.

[3-4-5]

* One of my favorite games ever.

For the type of game it is, it is definitely up there as being one of the best.

Not every game does everything so to me there is no best ever for anything....just what you like the most.

Love this game though.

[XisThatKid]

Hmm great game no doubt, I don't enjoy these games like everyone else and deff not for the sake of its name sake GOAT I'ma keep looking.

[TheSuperiorGamer]

It's a good game but a lot of this is nostalgia

[nottfadeaway]

Mm or alttp, Zelda-wise

[NorthernFrost]

Not my favorite Zelda, but certainly a very important game! Looking forward to reading this

[guywazeldatatt]

It may not be everyone's favorite and it wasn't even my first zelda game, but, the balance between gameplay and story is perfect. They did truly create a masterpiece.

[NorthernFrost]

I agree, basically a prime example of a flawless game.

[nitus10]

My first Zelda was Zelda 1 on the NES which IMHO was excellent value for money since it was basically two games in one. Once you finished and were asked if you wanted to restart, if you answered "yes" then you got the same overland but except for dungeon one all other dungeons had moved and the enemies were allot harder.

Next came Zelda 2 for the NES and this was actually different in that you had an overland but when battle commenced you moved into side scrolling perspective (remember this was an 8bit console) rather than the sort of top down perspective of Zelda1 and many other Zelda's after that.

The final boss in Zelda 2 was interesting and I was surprised to get him in my first attempt although it did take a while and that rotten controller made my hands ache so much that I actually when out an brought a set of sleeves for it.

Personally I do like the Zelda series but as for saying that "Ocarina of Time" and I have played and completed it, was the greatest game of all time I beg to differ.

[Fin_The_Human]

Makes you wonder what Nintendo game developers can do with more power.

Not saying that to make a great game you need a powerful console but it does help the developers as they don't have to sacrifice anything in order to make the game that they visioned.

[frostypants]

Agreed. "A Link to the Past" is my favorite. And it's one of the prettiest sprite-generated games ever made to this day.

I found "Ocarina" kind of dull and it hasn't aged well visually. It doesn't have the charm of its predecessors.

[Nathan_Hale53]

Personally, my favorite is Majora's Mask. Loved this game though. Most people seem to forget how important this game was/is.

[GamerProfessionals]

I'm gonna have to disagree. It depends on which generation you primed at playing Zelda. When I really was into the series it was Link to the Past or Twilight Princess. As groundbreaking as Ocarina was it never had the same impact as ALttP or TP for me. I'm sure people are gonna have varying opinions but I personally think calling it best of all time is stretching it.

[guywazeldatatt]

See I started with the original back in like '90 or so, and I was in the OoT internet scene which hit just as OoT was coming out (the internet). Weird how these things work out :P

[Spyroo]

Oh shut up Zelda fanboy

[2pacalypsenow]

If you're a zelda fan

[guywazeldatatt]

Not necessarily. I play games on all consoles, I just happen to think this is still the greatest game of all time.

[2pacalypsenow]

I respect your opinion

[spektical]

thats your opinion.

I personally think ratchet deadlocked is the best game ever because of the thousand of hours I poured into online.

[scark92]

That is due to nostalgia, but in regards to mechanics, story etc, it has been surpassed, it was important but someone new to gaming in this generation will not be able to play it easy.

[Back-to-Back]

Shocker. A fanboy with Link in his name thinks an overrated game is the best game of alltime. More at 6.

[Nathan_Hale53]

People wanna say it is hard to play nowadays need to pick it up on a 3DS.

[trywizardo]

NO.

[guywazeldatatt]

Why?

[trywizardo]

its good,but not the best ...
there is games way better than it IMO.

[guywazeldatatt]

which ones?

[DragonDDark]

Dark souls
Uncharted 2
The last of us
Super Mario galaxy 1 or 2
Mass Effect 2
Skyrim
Half life 2
Red dead redemption
Portal 2
Bloodborne
Halo
Lots of Final Fantasy games.
Chrono trigger

Lots of contenders.

[Kalebninja]

Skyrim and halo arent even on par with OOT lol

[DragonDDark]

Yeah... but lots of what I listed could beat it.

[81BX]

Those games are crap in comparison. You also have to take into consideration the year it was made. Imo no game todate is as important

[ColonelHugh]

@81BX

Bruh, none of those games are crap in comparison even if you look at the era of their origins. Especially so.
Without Chrono Trigger there wouldn't even be an Ocarina of Time, and it was just as perfect. It also revolutionized games forever after. So did RE2, FFVI and VII, Gran Turismo, Mega Man II, Street Fighter II, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Bros, Halo, and a great many more games of the SAME caliber of quality and influence. The only difference between them being that their objective quality (graphics, if not controls or story) decreases with time while influence increases. So the older the more influential.

If anyone here can honestly tell themselves that they know the single, best game of all time, then I'd say they have a bias of some kind, such as favored genre, company, creator, nostalgia, or some such. I would think pinpointing the best game of all time would be impossible objectively. Most of us probably fall victim to nostalgia more than any other bias. Few if any of us would admit that a game we've never played is truly as great as the praise heaped on it for years and years, though, and it's a cause of strife.

[nitus10]

@dragonddark

I would not classify Halo (FPS), Red dead Redemption (Action/Adventure) and Uncharted (Action/Adventure) as RPG's although I do agree with the others you mentioned.

Personally I liked The Secret of Manna and Seiken Densetsu 3 (DeJap version) over Chrono Trigger but it was still a good game.

I also like FF12 for it's open world environments but then I have liked all the FF games from 4 (except for 9. 11 & 14) to to shock horror FF13 although I did prefer FF13-2 over FF13.

[darren_poolies]

@dragonddark

Yeah Dark Souls is my #1 with Bloodborne a close second.

@81BK

That's a stupid argument, because in that case a better game can never be made.

[jcnba28]

YES.

[nowitzki2004]

Halo better than OCOT? How come?

[gamer_xaf]

-Halo single handed saved the original xbox from a Dreamcast fate.

-Made FPS games viable on console with usable controls that FPS games still use today.

-Made xbox live what it is today.

-made MLG and what it became today

-Inspired a company called Rooster Teeth to be founded by creating their first and one of the most successful internet shows Red vs Blue.

-has one of the most memorable music themes in history.

- halo literally made gaming mainstream way before call of duty. When gaming was still thought of as for children and nerds only.

... i could go on but I have to go do some stuff. You get the point anyway.

[Metallox]

@gamer_xaf Read again, he's not asking why Halo is more influential.

[CeDia93]

Ocarina of Time may have been the best game at the time, and for some time following, but it's been quite a while since then. It's still a great game, and it had a tremendous impact on the genre, but there's so much more out there.

[ZaWarudo]

Silly man, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the greatest game of all time.
OoT is my personal favorite Zelda game though.

[DragonDDark]

That too!

[nitus10]

I do agree that was IMHO was one of the best of the Castlevania series. That upside down castle was interesting.

[Hold_It]

Easily one of them. The music in that game was phenomenal.

[HighResHero]

I would rank SOTN higher. It offered a lot more to me but they are both great games.
I played OOT after FF7, so it seemed to lack depth/scale, etc., although it's unfair to compare the two.

[Germany7]

It's my favorite game of all time too.
Too many memories for me, it's really special.

[Geekman]

I'm gonna be murdered for saying this, but I really don't give a shit. People always hail this game as the best game of all time, and if it's not Ocarina of Time, it's A Link to the Past. But somehow I think in the, uh, decades since they came out, better games have been made. Not just better Zelda games. Better games.

[Concertoine]

Its the problem with calling anything the greatest of all time. Do we judge it on its quality for the time or today? Sonic Adventure has like a 90% on metacritic from 1999 and now it is a laughing stock. Do we judge it for its innovation/impact (for which OoT has a solid case) or do we pit it up against games of today with no leeway?

This is why there's no correct answer...

[gamerb6]

Because of time should elvis not be the king of rock and roll?

Should Michael Jackson not be the king of Pop,

Should Nas not be the king of Hip Hop,

should Michael Jordan not be the greatest basketball player,

should bill gates not be the richest man in the world.

Should Jesus not be the greatest man to evervwalk this earth because of time scale?

So much wrong with your kind of logic

[DragonKnight]

Uh... Your logic is the wrong one actually. I mean...

Your first two examples show objectively successful artists who eclipsed all others when at their peak. They were called Kings of *insert genre here* because of just how successful they were, not because of opinion.

Since when was Nas the King of Hip Hop? Type that into google and you'll get a picture of Eminem and tons of articles with no definitive answer to who is the King of Hip Hop.

Michael Jordan is the same as your first two examples. We're talking about objective success when it comes to him, not subjective opinion.

Bill Gates isn't the richest man in the world. He hasn't been for some time. In fact there are people who are richer than the publicized richest people in the world, their wealth is just not publicized for a number of reasons.

Your Jesus example makes no sense but if I were to apply what I've used already here, Jesus could be considered the greatest man for objective reasons as well. I mean, who could you think is better than a man who walks on water, feeds the poor endlessly, turns water into wine, raises the dead, and resurrects? Is there anyone better than that?

The time measure applies to subjective things for a good reason. OoT has aged poorly and everything this author could say that it has done to perfection has been surpassed by now countless other games.

That's the logic of the time scale.

[sorenx]

nope cus elvis sucks sounds like trash lol same with the Beatles for me anyways lol and time does change stuff it was the best for its time then better games cam eout not all but a lot uncharted no is not a better game it slike crash bandicut with guns lol 2 hour game

[gamerb6]

@dragonKnight Since when did Google decide who the king of Hip Hop was lol.
The streets decide and the streets say Nas get over it.

You should check "Google" as you'd find bill gates is back at number 1.

Somethings are timeless classics oot is one of those timeless classics. Dont be salty hater, you sound like a sony fanboy

[CorndogBurglar]

I agree with you. But its this exact reason that I make my judgement based on how much fun I had with a game. Not necessarily quality, or graphics, or whatever else most people judge games on.

I mean, Star Wars: Tie Fighter is probably my absolute favorite game. I LOVED it back in the day. It was an actual combat flight sim that could never be replicated on a console simply because it had over so many different comands that a keyboard is required to play it.

I just loved the missions, the sense of actually being a pilot for the Empire, the voice coming over your intercom during missions. The unpredictable things that would happen during missions, like thinking you were about to win only to have a dozen X-Wings and Z-95 Headhunters show up out of no where to fight you.

The one mission where you are sent out in a baseline TIE Fighter to clear a minefield with two wingmen in much stronger TIE Advanced ships that turn on you halfway through.

The feeling of attacking a huge Rebel Frigate that you don't even have to do for the mission but it was so cool that you couldn't resist.....

I just love that game so much. It totally doesn't hold up to the test of time visually, but no other game, then or since, has been that much fun for me.

In my opinion, this is how one should judge games. By how much fun you had with them.

[oakshin]

Yea the first time i tryed playing this game i quit to play soul rever lol

[WeAreLegion]

It's a good game, but it's nowhere near the top for me. A Link to the Past is better.

[frostypants]

This guy knows what's up.

[blest]

Damn I gotta play this game now. From these comments I feel like less of a gamer that I never experienced it.

[remixx116]

Dang bro your late, it's a great game but you gotta play it with the mentality of the year it was realised in, game'so got some age on it.

Enjoy it though.

[blest]

lol I have no problem going back to old games. I still play donkey 64 to this day.
The oldies are actually better than half the games out now.

[CorndogBurglar]

Yeah, despite what people say, its definitely one of the best Zelda games of all time. For me its one of my favorite games of all time.

If I were to play it now for the first time i wonder what I would think....

Either way, its a great story and has some great game mechanics never before seen in games for its time.

[sorenx]

twilight princess and skywerded sword and wind waker all ave better storys then oot