Memories of a Legend - Ocarina of Time in the 90s 

25 minutes for 25 years of Ocarina of Time Have a great weekend everyone!

You know its funny. This Thanksgiving my parents asked us which Christmas we remembered most fondly. I said "The day you brought home the N64 and OOT" and my mother laughed. I asked why she laughed and she said "That was the only Christmas gift you two got that year, I had to save all year to buy it." and I said "I know, and it's the reason to this day I'm a gamer, we were ecstatic about it then and to this day I'm grateful you did."

I'm 35 so my experience playing OoT was pretty similar in a lot of ways. As a girl, I didn't exactly play with a lot of friends and my brother was way more into golden eye and star wars so I played on my own most of the time. My friend did introduce me to OoT and I rented it before buying it. It was mindblowing in terms of graphics at the time and the story was so amazing. I was obsessed! It will always hold a special place in my heart for it because of how incredible it was for the time. I've never felt that level of wonder about a game since OoT.

Buddy. You went and did it again. It probably sounds strange, but I teared up several times through this video... I guess that's what they call nostalgia. That, and I'm getting more emotional in my old age. You've created an amazingly paced, honest retrospective of this wonderful, timeless game - and it will be the standard video I pull up when I can't think of the words to use to explain to others just what Ocarina of Time means to me (which is a conversation that happens more and more these days... 25 years? When did that happen??). I really enjoyed hearing both your personal experiences with Ocarina and what each part of the game meant to you, as it also encapsulated much of my own experience with the game while highlighting some of the different outlooks we did not share since we were at different ages when the game released... but through those memories, shared or not, we keep the magic alive. Very well made, very well done. A masterful, insightful, emotional retrospective. Please keep making these about your experiences.

One of my most anticipated things in life is introducing Ocarina of time to my children

I grew up just a little too late to experience the 90s, but hearing stories like this help me realize that there were actually a lot of similarities between my childhood and that of people growing up back then. I think games like OoT really help to bridge that gap too. I played it a bit later in life but it always had this mythic reputation when I was growing up. It was one of those games I knew a lot about despite having never played it just because of how much people gushed over it, and yet it still felt like there was always so much more to discover.

I was 7 years old when the game came out. I always watched my cousin and his friend play it and wanted my own copy so bad. Christmas 1999 I got my own N64 with a copy of Ocarina of Time. Still to this day feels like one of the best moments of my life, and would kickstart a lifetime love affair with the series.

Very similar experience with OoT. Especially the part where you were afraid to pause the game and leave it. I remember keeping my N64 running all night long on the pause screen while I got a couple of hours of sleep because I didn't want to reload my save file, even though it was probably a two minute long task to get me back to where I was. I feel so bad for my old N64 now, there's no telling how many nights it stayed on in a row.

I let out an audible "aww" when you showed the wooden Master Sword your grandfather made you! Edit: You know good blood/the hyrule journals! It's always funny when two of my favorite channels on the platform are friends. Your styles are very similar in retrospect!

I watched my oldest brother play it, and I went on to beat it many times in my Life. I'm 33 now, and it's still the greatest game of all time.

The Forest Temple was my first experience with the game. Saw it at a neighbor's house and was ecstatic to find it years later.

"Sound of crows and crickets at night"... I loved them as well. Both comforting and worrisome. They changed it for Majora's Mask, but they were also very effective.

I was 6 years old when OoT came out. I'll never forget seeing my tia play it and instantly falling in love with the game and the series. Since that day 25 years ago, Zelda has been my favorite gaming franchise.

Your grandfather made you a master sword OMFG THATS FRIGGIN ADORABLE

Very nostalgic 💜 I remeber when we drove to the store to buy the N64 + Mario bundle ( I sold some SNES games to afford it) and I was coming by the games and stared at Zelda for minutes. My father came up and saw me staring and he took the game and bought it for me :D Best day!!! Love you, Dad!!

I was just about the same age as you when I was introduced to OoT - end of 8th grade, with the summer before high school looming ahead, and I got stuck with a friend for 6 hours when our school bus broke down on the way home from a field trip. We weren't allowed to leave the bus, so we passed the time by way of her telling me the entire story of OoT in dramatic format, from start to finish. Once we made it home she invited me over that weekend and we played through the game together, exactly the way you described - passing the controller back and forth when things got difficult or scary. She became my best friend that summer and we played every Zelda game that released in the 2000's together. She's my sister-in-law now, and just a few weeks ago my brother sent me a photo of her playing Wind Waker with my 3-year-old nephew. My nephew went as Link for halloween trick-or-treating last year, too. And every year, my sister-in-law and I set aside an entire day to do nothing but eat snacks and play Zelda together. Ocarina was such a huge, important part of my childhood and your video brought all of that rushing back, so thank you.

Your first memories of Ocarina of Time are very similar to mine! My older sister told me about this cool game I should rent from our local video store. I rented it and the rest is history!

Here's a fun "did we just become best friends?" Story. A few years ago I got hired at a piano shop as a refinisher. The wood shop Mgr was my age (40 now) I heard him playing song of storms on a piano in the show room and joined in. It was like we both knew a lot about each other with that one moment. Of course we hit it off

The scream of the redead has been haunting me since 1998. I was 12 when it came out. I had played other Zelda games, but very infrequently. I didn't have a firm grasp of them. OoT was the first one I owned. It is still my second favorite video game, and it's of course drenched in nostalgia. When you mentioned the commercials it immediately brought me back. I was so excited. The only other thing I had seen was a bit of spoilers. I saw the moment you get the master sword when another friend who had the game before me was playing. I was hooked, and it never left go. I spent hours and hours in the fishing hole alone. The story and dungeons are still some of the best in the series. I can't imagine not having grown up with this game.

I really do miss those old evenings, sitting with friends, just playing singleplayergames with each other. But now, life has just gotten so busy, that I am happy just being alone sometimes

I absolutely love hearing childhood misconceptions about games. I always gave games way more credit than they were programmed for in my youth, and it's fun to hear others', like Link growing older over time.

Growing up in a difficult enviroment, not being happy at home and school, playing this are the best memories of my youth. even hearing the music makes my heart tender to this day. Masterpiece for its time.

For someone who didnt experience this game as a child i want to say that this video was really good at portraying younger emotions and really putting a perspective on how it is to play a game like this when young

My brother and I grew up playing A Link to the Past with my Grandfather. He got us into it. We were ecstatic when this came out and I was obsessed with it for months. It’s still the best gaming experience I’ve ever had. The memories of trying to find all the gold skulltullas without internet are cherished

growing up in the 90s my brother was a PC gamer and i was PS1/PS2 gamer, but our friend had N64 and one time he either came over to our house or we went to his, not sure, but the only game i remember him showing to us that day and us playing was Ocarina of Time. i fell in love instantly and that love never went away. it was also the only reason, alongside Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario 64, i was jealous of my friend owning N64 and i always wanted to have it. actually i'm not even sure if was being sold in my country then. eventually i did play everything i always wanted to and still do, but that far away memory of wanting something so out of reach will always stay with me, even if the game itself is in my life now.

This game is one of my first childhood memories, I played it every day at my baby sitters. It was a defining moment just to see the title screen; I never got tired of the game. I played it hundreds of times not even finishing, just exploring. The secrets of the world felt infinite. I imagine it was what a lot of people felt experiencing Skyrim for the first time.

As a 40 year old Zelda fan, your story is similar to mine. Sometime around late '98 or early '99, I visited a friend in a neighboring state who ultimately let me borrow one of his systems (either SNES or N64, I can't remember which). I remember playing lots of games from every system while staying with him and his family, including Cool boarders 3. I actually can't remember if he had ALTTP on his SNES, but he told me about it and that he loved Zelda. I ended up buying my own N64 with the Zelda cartridge from a kid named Kyle in 10th grade for $100. At one time I even owned the version 1.0 golden cartridge. I ultimately went back and played most of the older games and some of the re-releases on game boy, and have played every mainline title since. I also used the Nintendo Power line sometimes back then! Those are great memories, but I feel that years from now we will have the same fondness for the first time we played BotW and perhaps TotK as well. I have close to 2,000 hours between both games and I'm still going strong!

Loved this so much. Ocarina of time was magical back when we were kids

36 year old me will never forget the feeling of riding that horse around the fields aimlessly. It was really the first open world feeling I ever had.

The story from my childhood about OoT that always pops into my head about this game isn't even my own story. I only had one friend that liked Zelda games, so we were essentially each other's "the Zelda friend" lol. Anyway he had been playing through OoT for the first time, and one day he comes into band class at school, comes up to me, and is just like, "I am so mad. I have to talk to you." He then proceeded to explain how he'd been SO excited to beat the game the night before, that he'd defeated Ganondorf and run down those stairs with Zelda in tow, commenting on how he was so tense that her little yelps were getting on his last nerves. He gets outside, ready for his victory... and then Ganondorf reveals his true form. His boss fight wasn't over. He wound up dying to Ganon and being unable to finish that night, hence his agitated attitude that day. I'm sure he went home and beat it that night, but his "I can't BELIEVE I was SO CLOSE and there was ANOTHER FORM and I DIED and now I have to do it all AGAIN!" face and ranting have stuck with me all these years later. Sorry, Ben. XD As for me, well, let's just say that those Redeads left such an impression on me that to this day I struggle with them no matter the game they're in (the "Gibdos" in TotK included - gosh I hate those things lol).

the part when Kaebora Gaebora says “ you look bigger and stronger “ I remember as a kid I was looking at Link and was like he’s right! I do look bigger… That part really made me laugh. Great video!

Man's literally made a while video about a single tweet. I love it!

It has and will remain my favorite game ever made. You hit the nail on the head when you said "nostalgia=OoT"

This video really resonated with me. I very much understand what you mean. Ocarina of Time fundamentally changed my perception of the world, and me as a person, on levels I can't even begin to describe. Before it, I was just some kid that played games every now and then, and that had an overactive imagination. Afterwards, I was a gamer. And I live and breathe for creating worlds, and stories. I saw the EU commercial, and instantly fell in love. I had the N64, so this game shot up to the top of my wishlist for the holidays of 98. And by some miracle (my parents weren't doing good financially, so a game was a wild thing to buy, even if it was christmas), I got the game. I was 13. I was an outcast with few friends - a geeky little girl that everyone considered a freak - and with a somewhat troubled homelife. This game was pure magic, and in a lot of ways I have it to thank for me still being alive today. I could go on and tell long stories about things I pushed on to do, and how it changed me, thanks to this game, but then we'd be here forever. All I can say is that there is no game - no anything, really - that impacted me the way Ocarina of Time did. It changed me, and my life, forever - in all the best ways.

I was born in 2001, but I have 7 older brothers, and I can definitely say I had nearly the same experience. I loved this video. Thank you.

So much of what you shared parallels my own experiences playing this as a 7-8 year old. Truly life changing game

Awesome vid, man. This was my first Zelda game too, and it’s what made me fall in love with the franchise. I remember the day I got this game-it was just before my 7th birthday in 1999. My dad had recently split from my mom, and he was dropping me off back at my mom’s after his weekly weekend visit. My brother and sister got out of the car and ran in, but my dad told me to hang on a sec as he had something for me. He pulled out the cartridge from his glove box and said he bought me this. I was so excited holding the cartridge in my hand that I asked him to come in and play with me. We quickly loaded it up, and as soon as I heard that intro, I was hooked. I pressed start and was greeted by the save selection to see a very unusual name already loaded that said 'F**k.' Being too young to know, and my dad too cool not to flip out, I clicked through to start the game. I remember going down Link's treehouse and reading the sign outside out loud to my dad, 'Hey dad, look, it says "F**k's house,"' to which he said, 'Okay, we need to change that.' I will never forget that memory 😂

In my mid 30s. the biggest thing I love about gaming channels like GameGrumps and others is it's like playing games with my siblings and cousins when we were growing up. Sharing the gaming experience with people around you is what made it so fun and nostalgic. Your story about playing single player games with multiple people is exactly how we grew up. Thanks for bringing up the memories!

The bit about the master sword at the end is legit adorable. 💜

I will forever remember this game because my life at that time had been somewhat crazy. I had not long ago received my driver's license. Around the time Ocarina of Time released, I was 17. I had crashed my car into a ditch because I was a stupid teenage driver who took his eyes off the road. My friend was in the car with me. I had cracked my sternum, and my friend had his leg shattered. It was pretty bad, and we're both lucky to have survived. Especially him. In the weeks and months afterwards, I was in a fair bit of pain both physically and emotionally. Ocarina of Time was the only thing I had that gave me any sense of relief around that time. It distracted me for a few hours, and in that time I spent playing, I did not have to feel the full weight of the guilt over what had happened. It helped to take my mind off of how much it hurt to breathe. Ocarina of Time is a great game just on the merits, but to me it also acted as a sort of salve for my mind, body and spirit. I always look at it with a sort of warm, loving embrace because of this.

My dad introduced me to OoT in 8th Grade. I used to watch him play it in his room before bed. When he brought it downstairs I immediately picked it up. My life was changed forever. From there I explored the other games in the series like Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. I immediately fell in love with Twilight Princess and to this day it is the my favorite video game of all time. OoT will forever have a special place in my heart alongside Pokémon Gold.

Amazing and just what I needed right now. Love this style of content for you too, you can feel the joy which is what the world needs now more than ever

this is one of your best videos. we’re the same age and everything you covered in the intro hit home. RIP the 90s.

My memories of playing OOT were watching my older brother and mom play through it. They’d let me play on their save files because I loved running/riding through hyrule field and talking to NPCs. As I got older I’d actually play through the game many times in my own. Forever a beloved game

It’s really cool how I can relate to all this even though I’m only 17 and that’s through Breath of the Wild it was the game I played while transitioning from primary school to high school, it changed my life and made me a forever Zelda fan. I love how Zelda has retained that magic throughout the years

Mijn oudere broer speelde Ocarina of Time en ik, mijn zus en broertje keken altijd hoe hij het speelde. Mijn liefde voor Zelda begon toen! Wind Waker was de eerste Zelda die ik echt zelfstandig heb gespeeld toen ik ongeveer 9 was. Goede tijden!

Thank you for taking me down memory lane. We always sat around the TV on the floor with a bowl of snacks and played (my dad, my brother and me; my mom came in from time to time to check in on the progress). It was a magical time.

So cool to hear your experience! I was almost 8 years old when I got it as a christmas present, along with the N64 and a swedish walkthrough (which was highly needed since a lot of the english in the game was beyond me). I had seen mentions of aLLTP in a Nintendo Magazine before and had been intrigued (I think I had wished for it previously), but this ended up being my first interaction with Zelda. Celebrated X-mas at my grandmothers, so a lot of the start was similar to yours, playing together with siblings and my cousins. That first appearnce of the Stalchildren at night in Hyrule Field took me completely by surprise. Had some nightmares and for the duration of our stay at my grandma's, any time I had to move across Hyrule Field I gave the controller to my cousin, since he was 2 years older and could deal with them. When we went home I had to overcome that fear, only for the ReDeads, the Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple to make sure I could never feel quite at ease, hah! (Strangely, nowadays those creepier parts are my favorite things in OoT, I even went and did a cosplay of Dead Hand). I do think having to overcome those fears, as well as understanding more and more of the game on subsequent playthroughs as I grew older and got better at English, really synced well with OoT's whole vibe with the melancholy of growing up etc (the swedish walkthrough was really cool though for covering the basics of the story though, it was written to be a bit more book-ish, so instead of just being "go here, do this" it had a lot of phrases like " to continue, our hero needs to solve the puzzle in this room"). And at this point it's a game I happily return to every now and then. Even if I know where to go and what to do and it's never going to be the exact same as that first experience, I still love it wholeheartedly. Playing it again now is kind of like catching up wtih an old friend, which is a neat feeling imo.

I got Ocarina of Time for Christmas - I got my n64 late for my birthday 2003. Once hearing about Zelda sometime between then and December, I couldn’t wait so I too rented it for 4 days at the beginning of December. I got through all three dungeons, went back to Zelda, watched the cutscene revealing adult Link and then boom - time to return the game. I had to wait the entire month to get the game again after finding out you travelled through time.

I'm an '01 kid, so I didn't grow up with Ocarina of Time being a brand new game, but it was still my first Zelda game. Every christmas I would visit family in Miami and my uncle had an N64 with Ocarina of Time. I instantly feel in love with the game, although I was never able to get far during those visits(I don't think I ever got past meeting Zelda). I often would play the game with my cousin who lived in Miami as well, and would have to read out the lines for him as I was a year older, probably around 7 or 8 at the time. This went on for I want to say two or three years before I finally was able to get the game myself, not on the N64, but on the Wii through the virtual console feature I wasn't even aware of before my older brother told me. Before I knew it I was playing the game nonstop, and didn't take any breaks until I had gotten to the Shadow temple which was way, way too scary for me as a 9/10 year old. Of course in response I went and played majora's mask instead which somehow seemed less scary at the time up until the third dungeon which I couldn't figure out. Then I went back and beat Ocarina of time realizing the shadow temple wasn't nearly as terrifying as I had thought. I even used a speedrun strat to skip the invisible wall blocking the stairway in ganon's castle, because in my head that was easier than just doing the different segments first. I had a lot of back and forth between Majora's mask and ocarina of time, and even windwaker which I got my hand on shortly after the two, and although I can't remember if I beat windwaker or majora's first, I can say Ocarina was the first of the three I had successfully beat. Honestly all three of those games have a fond spot in my heart.

My biggest memory about oot is that in spite of having the box and the manual, it never registered with me that Link would grow up. I think I dragged out things after ginishing jabujabu, explored everything available, because I thought those three dungeons were all I was getting (I was no older than 12, I felt I'd already played this for ages, and I had played almost no games before). It was a (wonderful) shock when the timeskip happened and I realised I'd get to play even more of this game, and explore all those areas I thought were out of reach.

I'm turning 27 soon and OoT war also one of my first games. I played it as a child and since then a million times. Listening to the soundtracks alone makes me want to play this game again and again and again. I don't know why but there is especially something about the Forest Temple that makes me want replay it.

I had a similar experience of Ocarina of time as you! Right down to it being my first zelda game, playing with my cousins, really the whole thing! I think that's why Tears of the Kingdom really hit so hard this year. TotK feels like a love story to Ocarina of Time, finally telling us the story of the Downfall timeline, where the fallen hero is Rauru. Playing Ocarina you only get to see 2 timelines of the branch, and TotK is like getting to see that final timeline and then the whole thing makes sense. What a feeling!

I got an N64, with Goldeneye (and gold controller!) for my birthday my freshman year of high school. OoT came out right after my birthday the following year, which was the same time I broke my leg playing football. It was an early Christmas present. My recovery was spent playing a lot of solitary Ocarina. My older brother had just left for college, and my sister didn’t really care about Zelda. Most of the kids at my high school just played Goldeneye and Madden 64 (not gonna lie, I did too), but I always had a deep connection with Ocarina, and it got me through a tough, transitional part of my life. Even the music from 98 and 99 still remind me more of OoT than anything else. Truly a magical game, and a defining experience for so many of us.

I'm so glad you told this story the way you did. Brings back memories.

I played OOT when I was 6. And every time i think about it i just get 1 word in my mind "Emotion" This was the first game that really made me feel things thanks to it's atmosphere and music. It will always have a special place in my heart

I think that the biggest thing that OoT had that no other game (other than Majora's Mask) in which you see the world change and witness characters change with it. Years after I had completed every quest and unlocked every item, I would load the game up just to wander the landscapes and imagine being there. My favorite place to visit was the retaining wall on the west side of hill where Lon Lon Ranch is set. Despite its small size, it still feels alive in my memory. Edit: oh man, that sword your grandfather made for you is incredible! I'm super envious. I'm also glad to hear that I'm not the only one who went out adventuring in the woods with improvised sword and shield! Those were truly the days.

I grew up playing OoT and MM with my dad and they are the fondest childhood memories i have

Ocarina of Time wasn't the first Nintendo 64 game I had- I was one of those weirdoes who asked mom and dad for Shadows of the Empire for whatever reason, and the first Nintendo made game I actually played was Lylat Wars 64. But one thing about Nintendo 64 was that I was finally growing old enough that I could leave my ordained little brother role to read the manual and give my older brother tips as he played the games (sure, there WAS circulation of the controller but he always had first go), but while I can't remember now if Ocarina of Time or Banjo Kazooie was the first time I really truly PLAYED a 3D-world game and just felt what it was like to not maneuver a 2D-plane... I do feel like I remember Ocarina better. And it is as you said- Link grows up alongside us, and we go from children to adults (I say adult when I was 11-12 when I played it, Link became 16, and I am now in my later 30's...), and that gives the story a very different weight. Of course, experiencing it all linearly makes my experience very different from yours, no confusion or big rumours spreading in my area. I saw all you saw- Saria saying goodbye, the masks being sold off, King Zora taking an E T E R N I T Y moving aside... and yes. The ReDeads. I don't know where I read it or how I learned, but once I figured out the song of the sun froze ReDeads I did not engage with ANY of them. Those little bastards were ALWAYS paralyzed, and I made sure to go near them and carve them up as quick as I could. Whatever they were doing back then to infuse horror in their games, Nintendo most certainly succeeded better then than they do now. And I didn't even see the cutscene in Kakariko village where Bongo Bongo goes out of the well- my older brother played and accidentally triggered it while I was gone. That day did NOT bring about a happy session. Through the years, this game has come to mean a lot to me. While Link to the Past was the game I saw my older brother play and which made me a Zelda fan, this was the first game that I feel I really actually got to play myself. It was the first big 3D world that I really got to explore, for I didn't play Tomb Raider or Mario 64. It was Ocarina of Time that was my first real foray into 3D exploration, a game where I didn't just sit back and watch a more experienced gamer handle all the scary navigation in a world that seemed so vast and terrifying. No, this was MY time to explore. My time to see the world in all it's splendor. And it was also a game that I played and which my sister watched me play, just as I had watched my brother play other games when I was younger. It gave her a great interest in the Zelda universe, and gave us both a fandom to bond through- kickstarting a longrunning habit of me playing games and her experiencing them through my sessions. So in a sense we're still doing what you and your cousins did back then, and I think it really started here with Ocarina of Time. It's an adventure that's come to mean a lot to me in many different ways- and I think I'll always love it for that, no matter how stale the formula ges or whatever new games I may play in the future.

I was 19 when I first played OOT back in 2000. Bought the N64 specifically for this game, and I loved every bit of it ! But I want to share a memory in the making : my oldest daughter (she’s 7) is currently playing OOT on the 3DS, and it’s her first time playing a video game (almost) by herself. She grew up watching me play BOTW and listening to my theories about the lore, searching information with me in the Zelda books we have at home. The cool thing is now she loves making up theories about the story in OOT, and more often than not, she’s quite right! Anyway, watching your amazing videos made me discover the joy of overanalysing the Zelda lore, and now sharing OOT with my daughter has become even more special ! So thank you so very much for that ❤

I've been around long to have vague memories of both the NES and SNES and dabbled a bit on the SNES but the N64 was my true gaming starting point. I never played much of OoT but I loved watching my older brothers play. Those are some of my best memories and OoT was a pivotal game in introducing me to gaming. First game I ever beat was Star Fox 64. The 90s were a good time. You're only about a year older than me because I was 10 in 1998. Aside from OoT, my favorites games I liked watching my brothers play were Super Metroid and A Link To The Past. Good times. Good memories. I credit my brothers for me being a gamer today.

Ocarina of time was the first game I ever played, and to this day it has been one of the greatest memories I’ve ever had and that game is the ONLY one I wish I could forget absolutely everything about so I could experience it all over again and fall in love with it all over again, that game and the memories it created not just for me but for many others. It will always be the goat in my eyes. ✌🏻

My first experience with Ocarina of Time was back in 2001 when I saw one of my older brothers playing it and when they were done I wanted to play and after that that’s how I became a Zelda fan ever since!

I was born in 2000 so I don't have any of the classic 90s kids memories surrounding the n64 or oot but this was still my first ever console and zelda game growing up and I have a lot of fond memories playing this game with my dad. For me the sounds of this game is what really stick with me, from the very beginning to this very day. If someone asks me about the sound of Zelda oot is the first place my mind goes. Each place has its own distinct music and themes with amazing sound effects filling the spaces in between. Even now as an adult there is no soundd that will hit me quite as hard as the opening sequence of Ocarina of Time.

I didn't realize you were my age, I don't know why but I'm just really grateful for that fact now. You remember. You remember how mind blowing 3D N64 graphics were, what a leap it was - in the context of a person growing up in the 90's. Everyone's nostalgia is unique and special but god damn it was cool witnessing that generation when it was brand new

This game came out a year after I was born and I still love and play to this day ocarina is the best Zelda game in my opinion still brings me so much Happiness

This brings back so many memories.... I was only 6 years old when this game came out. My Mom was a gamer, and I remember her dashing into the Montréal Walmart one dark and rainy night while we waited in the car with Dad. After what felt like forever, she came running out of the store with the biggest grin in her face clutching what we later learned was the very last copy of Ocarina of Time that the store had. My brother and I (He was 4 at the time) watched her play the game, and we were in love. We both started our own files, and my brother really struggled for awhile due to him needing someone to actually read the dialogue to him. Mom eventually refused to continue to help him and he put a ton of effort into learning how to read as a direct result so he could play the game on his own. He would still pester me to do the parts that scared him for him. Like the Royal Families Tomb. Seriously, he would literally follow me around saying "Bats!" Until I gave in and killed the damn Keese for him. He was such a big chicken that when he finally made it to adulthood in the game he would REFUSE to leave the Temple of Time due to him being too terrified of the Redeads to leave. LOL As for me, I freaking LOVED this game!! I learned quite a bit between watching my Mom play, and reading the booklet that came with the game. I felt so grown up being able to play it and figuring out how to beat the Temples. It admittedly took me years to learn how to beat the game. I remember getting stuck in the Water Temple and having to backtrack and search through the Temple like a maniac right at the literal last small key door BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE THE LAST DAMN KEY!!! I had to consult the dungeon map floor by floor to figure out exactly which rooms I missed and how to reach them. I had a simmilar frustration with the Fire Temple where there was an entire room I didn't know how to get too. I eventually figured out that I could call Pierre to access a floating platform that would take me to said room. My hand eye corordination was also absolute SHIT back in those days so I struggled like hell to aim anything properly. I FINALLY beat the game for the first time ever at 13 years old by the sheer grace of having 4 bottles full of fairies after a long battle with Ganon were I used up all 4 of my fairies and beat him by the skin of my teeth. I'm 31 now, and Ocarina of Time is still the only Zelda game that I can beat 100% Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker are still my all time favourites.

This is a beautiful love letter. Thank you for making this.

I'll never forget getting this for Christmas, the beautiful gold cartridge, and playing it on the 13-inch color TV on top of my dresser as a laid on my stomach like, two feet from the screen on the top bunk of my bed. Kokiri Forest always takes me back to that bunk bed, that lovely dial-controlled TV, and that childlike wonder and comfort

Thanks for the trip through memory lane. Im 34 and your childhood story is 95% the same as mine. OOT was the first Zelda game i ever played and i hold it dear to my heart. I would love to hear about tour first experience with other zelda titles, especially Majoras mask. Keep up the good work, and take care.

The first time I faced Ganon way back in 1998, when I was a mere 14 year old, a droplet of cold sweat ran right down my spine the moment Ganon reared up. That moment will always stay with me.

Man, watching this vid brings back memories. While I was quite younger (now 27, played when I was ~6 years) when I first played it. I got the snes from my dad that was in the attic, skipped the n64 and got a gamecube later. And yes, there it was. With mario kart DD, an extra disc with zelda with WW demo, oot, mm and the classic games. I played sooo many hours on those games with my brother. Writing songs in a book so we didn't had to open a menu, beating the fire temple without the fire tunic because for some reason we managed to skip it by jumping down somewhere in the crater so we skipped it. And me being scared shitless by the floormasters in the forest temple. Very good memories

OoT is one of maybe 2 games I go back and play through again, and again, and again, and again, and again. At least once a year I do a full playthrough. OoT wasn't my introduction to the series, but it was definitely the catalyst for my love of the series.

i actually loved realizing they felt like real papercraft. Your experience was pretty damn close to mine. This game totally blew me away. I'd never known there could be this much engagement and story in a videogame, on account of not knowing about RPGs. In fact at the time, we all called zelda an RPG because we thought it meant fantasy game.

My mom played the game while i watched, mesmerized, at 6. I have such great memories of falling asleep watching her work through ganons Castle, because it was the only time i was allowed to stay up past my bedtime. Then, i would play the game in the morning and copy what my mom would do

An amazing video for an amazing game. Thanks for sharing the story of your first playthrough.

I was born in 98 and i first played it closer to my 9th birthday when my uncle was playing it in the living room. He got up to get something to eat so i took the controller for a bit. He noticed, laughed and said "you're gonna get scared" as he had just entered the royal family's tomb with the redeads. He was right, i was terrified but i loved it

For me, the game (and its graphics) aged quite well. There are some games that I just can't get back into anymore after having been spoiled so much from stuff improving over time (graphically and mechanically), but this game I always could.

I definitely remember playing ocarina of time when I was just a wee lad, I remember not being able to get past the death mountain gate guard and always asking my uncle to help me but he never bothered to help, I actually first played ocarina of time on the Zelda collection on the game cube

I love how personnal this video is. We can feel the love this first entry of the Legend of Zelda sparked in your heart. Very cool video thank you Don!

Ocarina of Time was also my introduction to the Legend of Zelda - except not upon release as I was only BORN in 1997 and the game came out in 98. My family and extended family were not the types to keep up with the current video game systems, so when I was about 8 my grandparents got an N64 second hand and that included a copy of Ocarina of Time. All of my early memories of Zelda involve all the cousins sitting around a couch as we rotated playing (though it was usually two of my cousins in particular who actually played it) and often times my Grandmother played it with us too. She was actually really good at finding secrets in the game. We were also made to play outside a lot and I have memories of my cousins and I pretending sticks were swords and our round sleds were shields, and running around the field in my cousin's yard near my aunt's horses. On my 10th birthday my grandparents got me a second hand N64 and a handful of games including Ocarina of Time. I cried. I was so happy. It didn't need to be the most recent system or game, it was THAT game.

I grew up playing games on an NES that my mother owned since before I was born. The SNES was already out, but we couldn't afford one back then. The one game I wasn't allowed to play on it was Zelda 2 (the original had been traded in years ago), mainly because my mom didn't want me to accidentally erase her savefile. Once I finally got to play it, I never made it past Death Mountain. But I'd still spend hours just wandering around exploring and fighting monsters. I'd also read my mom's old issues of the Mario and Zelda comics, so I was already familiar with the franchise. I got an N64 for Christmas when I was 8 and my mother bought OoT for herself a few months later. We were absolutely mesmerized by the game and I would either play it or watch her play it for the next few months. Once, when I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed I even asked mom to play it instead of putting on a movie or something. I think OoT and Pokemon was how I learned English, since my mom has a habit of muttering when she reads and I'd ask her what it means. What else is there to say? I also beat the Spirit Temple before the Shadow Temple. I think it was because I remembered the invisible ghost in the desert and made a dash for it right after getting the Lens of Truth. Or it might have been that I too was terrified of the ReDeads and didn't want to tackle the Shadow Temple until I absolutely had to. For some reason, I really liked the mask sidequest and would make it a point to talk to every character with every mask just to see their reactions to it. Might be why I was so hyped about Majora's Mask, since not only was it a sequel to my favorite game, but it also revolved around a minor gameplay element I was really fond of.

For a lot, if not most, Legend of Zelda fans, Ocarina of Time will always have a special place in our hearts.

In '98 when this game came out i was 3 yrs old. It wasnt until I was 10-ish when I discovered OoT. I remember sitting for hours in front of the screen learning the game and playing the hell out of it. Its one of the only games I played through multiple times, i think I have 3-400 hours in it but I never paid attention so Im not exactly sure. The only other game around that time with that amount of time played was RE4 on PS2. Seeing yall blow into that cart brought back so many memories, like the time i thought my N64 went to shit. Blowing the cart and trying multiple times, sometimes nothing happening and other times the black screen but nothing else. I was almost heartbroken until it started up again lol OoT is so important to me, as it is for many others. It was the first game I ever truly enjoyed, the first open world game that I fell in love with. Nowadays, I have a Wii U gathering dust under my PS5 and BotW, but I would give my kidney to get a N64 and both OoT and MM. Thats all I want, that and a TV to play it on or some sort of HDMI cord for it.

This was the first game beat. My dad worked at Sam's club at the time it came out and sometimes i would go to work with him. They had a big screen TV setup with an N64 and OOT so that was the first place i played the game. When i got it for home i dove headfirst into it. My parents were getting divorced at the time and it was one of the only stable parts of my life at that moment. It is probably the most special game to me for what it represents in my life.

Being born in 89 i can say that OoT was a big part of my childhood and a reason why I keep playing games today. My brother had bought the game on his birthday after we saw it on one of the shows talking about games back then. My siblings and I each had our own save file which my sister shared with my mom. I remember when one of us first beat Gohma and venturing into Hyrule field it felt like such a big world. I also got stuck at the Deku tree as I misremembered how to save and beating Gohma over and over again before finaly realizing what I'd done wrong with saving and then trying to catch up to where my siblings were in the game. We each had our own game time and we kinda made it a race to see who could make it to the next part first. I don't remember who won that race but we had a lot of fun together

I remember as a little kid going to one of my first orthodontist appointments and getting to rent wind waker on the way home from Hollywood video. I made it either up to or just through the forbidden woods before having to give it back, and just remembering hanging out on windfall Island, breaking pots and exploring dragon roost Island trying to figure out how to get the bombs to work with the bottle of water were some great memories of my first zelda game. It made me so nostalgic for wind waker and its art style and is probably why I like cartoony cel shaded graphics in games so much. Skyward sword looking the way it made me all the most excited for it. It's funny how renting games can make them stick out in your mind more than just owning them because it draws out the time it takes to finish them.

Man this took me back big time. I lived in a small town in south west Australia in the late 90s (I was 12 or 13 when OoT came out) so my experience of video games was limited to my school holiday trips to the city to stay at my grandma's house with my older cousin. We would have about 6 weeks holiday over the Christmas period, and when Ocarina came out our grandma bought it for the N64 she already had at her house (yes, she was amazing). We had been playing Mario 64 previously, which had already blown my little mind - when I say "we", I mostly watched my cousin play - so imagine how my brain exploded when I saw Ocarina for the first time. I think I may have seen A Link to the Past briefly at some point but Zelda as a series was still very new to me. I had just read the Lord of the Rings for the first time as well, so it's safe to say I was on the fantasy wagon for life at this point. I definitely have some similar memories, such as Jabu-Jabu's Belly being confusing as fuck for a 13-year-old with little gaming experience, the Royal Family's Tomb being terrifying, and especially the monumental shift in tone between the child and adult sections of the game. The Forest Temple in particular has always held a special place for me as a rite of passage of sorts - the creepy (but incredible) music, the crazy tough Stalfos fights, the fricking Wallmasters - man there was so much about this game that scared the shit out of me, but I was still compelled to keep playing (maybe with a little break here and there). The funny thing is that I never played beyond beating the Water Temple until relatively recently (say the past 10 years) - I never owned the game myself, and for whatever reason never had the opportunity to play long enough to actually beat the game. I think it wasn't until the Wii U Virtual Console that I actually found the time to go back and play through the game in full, and even so much later it was still an incredible experience to discover the Spirit Temple for the first time, and to get through the (even scarier) Shadow Temple. I can barely even remember the fight against Ganon - it was probably 3am at the end of an 8-hour session! All this is to say that Ocarina of Time is such a special game to me - it reminds me of the time that my cousin and I used to spend together playing games (we still get along well but don't see each other very often any more), it reminds me of school holidays spent in the big city (there wasn't much to do in my little town), and most of all, it reminds me of that once-in-a-lifetime magic you feel when you discover something that ends up staying with you for the rest of your life. As you said, the internet wasn't a factor when it came to getting information - it was magazines and TV, and word of mouth - and this made it feel so much more personal, like the experience was all yours (or yours and whoever you shared it with in the same room). Needless to say Zelda has remained a big part of my life ever since!! Thanks for another amazing video, and for the trip down memory lane - I didn't expect to feel so many feels! Keep up the awesome work 🙏🙏

Yep, 36 here and I started my OoT watching my older brother play a bit before trying it for myself. I was also so so creeped out by the re-deads, to the point where the furthest I ever got as a kid was through the water temple before seeing shadow temple was next and deciding NOPE. I'm glad I went back to it as an adult and got through the shadow and spirit temple for the first time.

As a kid i watched my dad play LoZ and Link to the Past. I dabbled with both but really have no memory of playing all the way through. I didn't play through either until many years after. OoT was really my first Zelda game that i really remember playing. My sister and i played through to the water temple and got stuck. So after purchasing the guide we restarted and were off again. We would just play and play if one of us got stuck or worked up the other would jump in. We solved it and defeated it together. After Majora's Mask came out she watched me play through that (she was not a fan but i loved it even more than OoT. I think the story just spoke to me at that time in my life). Even though i grew up watching and playing many different games, OoT is my first love. This game is always and will always be my favorite. (Legend of Kage is a very close contender 😂) thank you for this video, such a wave of nostalgia watching this.

I was 2 years old when it came out and sadly i do not have many memories of my early childhood playing it. But i was lucky enough to have an N64 console and the game at that age. I remember two scenes vividly. When you first wake up as a child in Kokiri Forest as Saria greets you, and around the end where Zelda gets wisped away by Ganondorf in the Crystal. But both LoZ: OoT and Starfox 64 are the two games that have left nothing but amazing memories for me and my father and i'm forever thankful to have them, even to this day. I remember having my tiny hands around the N64 controller and playing through it as best as i could. And, just like you, being scared out of my wits in the Royal Tomb and Bottom of the Well. Good times and not so great nightmares lol. To this day, OoT has left it's impression on me and it's one of my most beloved games and memories.

We were gifted an N64 and Ocarina of Time the christmas it came out in 1998. I was 4 years old, and I remember vividly watching my dad and my older brother play the game. At the time, 3D games were so new that it took us three weeks to get out of Kokiri Forrest! Watching this game unfold changed my life and started my fascination with storytelling. When Majora's Mask came out, our family didn't have enough money to buy it, so my brother and I kept renting it (spending much more than it was worth buying, I'm sure!) We liked the whole 3 day mechanic, but it made the game very complicated and we never figured out how to get out of Clock Town. We eventually stopped playing, and I swear it took me more than 10 years to finally learn that THIS GAME HAD DUNGEONS and that it was so much bigger than we could ever anticipate! I'll never forget that feeling. The awe of discovering the new highs of 3D gaming, the incomparable scale of these games at the time and looking in wonder at the amazing cinematics will always be some of my fondest memories.

This game was the start of my love for zelda as well. I remember my sisters and I all sat around and played this from probably 2000s to 2015. We still all play it on the switch and my parents still have the n64 and we play it when we all come to visit now. This game is what started all of us playing zelda, and I absolutely fell in love with Ruto! But now my sisters and I all share a text group where we talk about BOTW and TOTK, the memories that come from OoT is amazing and ill never ever forget them! And the blowing in the cartridge had me DYING 😂😂😂😂

This is my first zelda, and the culprit of my love of the series. My cousin got it for Christmas after release, together with the n64 and 007. She lived next to my house and I would run after school once my homework was done. We would usually play together but mostly I played and she watched. Sometimes I was done with my homework much earlier than her and I would go to her living room to play. One afternoon I went there and the console was nowhere to be seen and when I asked my aunt, she told me that my cousin had hidden it as she was mad that I got to play when she couldn't. I must have been 10 or 11 by then, and a huge feud started between us. I was so frustrated I couldn't play anymore. I stopped talking to her. A couple of weeks later my aunt called me to say I was allowed to play again but only if we were both free from our duties. And so peace was signed and the game was played to completion. And since I love this game. The original n64 broke looong time a go but I still have the cartridges at home. As I was so struck by it, I got to keep the games once the system was no longer in use.

I was 3 when this beautiful game released. My brothers played the heck out of it. I - being just a toddler - would sit and watch. Of all the many games they played this one stood out the most (Banjo Kazooie being not far behind). It scared me, but I loved it. Even if I didn’t understand all that was happening, I was invested. Sometimes they let me ride around on Epona or kill an easy enemy so I could ease my way into it. I’d learn enough to turn the game on and just let my favorite music play. As I got older I’d do the same with MM and WW. But then my brothers kind of jumped off the Zelda wagon and became PS and Xbox teens. I, however, would come back to this one a lot. Here we are 25 years later and I make videos about games…mostly, Zelda.💕💕💕

23:45 dude your grandpa was amazing

I wasn't alive when the game came out, but my dad saved his copy bc he wanted his future kids to play it. Ocarina of time has been the most important piece of media to me since I was 4. The game taught me how to read

I used to play the game around the age of 9 with my older sister (15 at the time) and I was also scared and that thing of sharing the controller is so real!!

I loved this video! Thanks for sharing. Also very nice to read the comments. Wish we could go back in time and relive it as a child.

23:45 I remember convincing a bunch of kids from elementary school to play pretend with me at a field behind the school during recess where shot imaginary bows and fought with improvised swords all inspired directly by Ocarina of Time. Love those times and that game.