The holidays are over, and I suppose it’s back to slaving over a gaggle of websites every waking moment for me. To demonstrate how I’ve accepted my grim fate, please accept this, the first GameSpite update of 2009. Continuing Issue 12 is a weirdly Nintendo-focused update. I say weirdly because there’s not even a hint of NES or Super NES about this update. Bizarre! What other freakish new phenomena does the new year hold for us?
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
You know, if I’d posted this in a more timely fashion, it would have made a pretty decent 10th anniversary commemoration of the first 3D Legend of Zelda outing. But alas! You’ll have to settle for it a few months late. Don’t worry, though; my tardiness doesn’t diminish the author’s gushing fanboyism for the game.
Wave Race: Blue Storm
And at the other extreme, we have a look back at the third Wave Race title that’s…also full of gushing fanboyism. Ah, but the thing about Blue Storm is that this is the only positive article that’s ever been written about the game, whereas everybody’s all “Oh Ocarina of Time is just so special.” Revel in the iconoclasm!
I love Ocarina, but I’m not sure I’d call it “very nearly the zenith of human creativity.” Especially when you described it as practically a remake of a previous game just two sentences before.
I think Ocarina is a fine game, but, as Lithros pointed out, “zenith of human creativity”? Really? This sounds a little like what might have happened if Ken Kutaragi worked for Nintendo.
I’m pretty sure the hyperbole was a joke, guys.
That’s the whole point of the joke, I think, Lithros.
I don’t like Ocarina of Time very much; I find it to be generally uninspired, and I think the move to 3-D sandpapered away most of what made Zelda fun and interesting. I might cavil at this article, then, but as it turns out, I don’t feel the need. Because while I don’t believe in guilt by association under ordinary circumstances, in this case I just can’t help myself: Killer Instinct? Seriously? If the gaming world has ever spawned a more embarrassing (though, thankfully, abortive) franchise, I am not aware of it.
It was obviously a joke as the phrase “very nearly the zenith of human creativity.” applies to one game, and one game only… God Hand! ;) Sorry.
You know, I’ve lived near Aspen for a little over ten years now, and I still have yet to find the same Aspen Lake featured in Blue Storm. Maybe it appears only during “partly rainy” conditions?
Anyway, great articles, as always!
No one has to to like Ocarina… even if it is the end of history of games. But KI Gold? It is a good fighting game, even if it is derivitave and lame. Its like a big mac. Disgusting, but you know you love it. I love it anyway. Ugly ass renders 4 evah
I really do love Ocarina, remake as it was of Link. I actually think Zelda is better in 3D. This is opposite of my opinion of most 2-d to 3-d transitions in gaming. I mean Metroid Prime is Awesoem right? Its pretty much a 3d remake of Super, I would say. That doesnt detract from it.
I can’t even remember the last time I ate at McDonald’s. Sure, I would probably enjoy it, but there are too many good reasons not to. Likewise, any potential enjoyment of Killer Instinct is obviated by the sheer, naked cynicism behind the game. Well, that and the fact that if I don’t like Mortal Kombat, I’m sure not gonna like a cheap MK knockoff.
Not that there’s anything wrong with guilty pleasures, of course. But they’re definitely guilty. Repent, sinners!
If you don’t like Ocarina, there’s no reason to not appreciate what it did for video games.
Me? I think it’s, objectively speaking, the best game of all time, right alongside Super Metroid. I absolutely loved it when it came out and replayed it around the time when the Wind Waker bonus disc surfaced. I think it has become fashionable of late to bring down Ocarina as a game, but to those that actually go back and play it, the dungeon design is undeniably great, the pacing is nearly perfect. The story is something I wish we’d see more in games: it’s epic in scale but unobtrusive (no cutscenes every ten minutes).
How many years has it been and no game has a higher aggregate score? I know that’s kind of a moot point, but there is an untouchable level of reverence reserved for Ocarina that make the detractors seem petty.
For me, my issues with Ocarina, which include questionable pacing, have existed before the turn of the millennium.
And I don’t remember it having any emphasis on high/low combat as Zelda II did.
“Objectively?” You can feel free to like it more than any other game ever, but come ON. The word you’re looking for is “subjectively.” Legions of people claimed FFVII was the best game EVAH when it first came out. What does that prove?
As far as I’m concerned, only about half the dungeons in toot are worth the time it took to design them, and the overworld is horrible. I will not claim that this is indisputable, but it’s not an invalid point of view either. Flawed as it was, I’d take Majora’s Mask over Ocarina of Time any day of the week.
Heh, I love being one of the few N64 submitters on VGMuseum (via video input port): My screenshots get used everywhere ;)
Much as I liked Ocarina of Time, I found Ogre Battle 64 and Paper Mario to be more enjoyable N64 games overall… and the Goemon games are no slouches either.
I am deeply curious about the objective standards you use when judging a given video game (even Super Metroid) to be the Best Game of All Time.
Most of us here probably think Ocarina of Time is a perfectly enjoyable game. I know I do. This doesn’t exclude us from having certain criticisms of it, or believing that is is not, in fact, the best experience video games as a medium have to offer.
My Article was super not objective, as you all well know. And Ocarina has a ton of issues, as teh 1st half illustrates, bt I would say its a more then sum of parts kinda issue. For me anyway. Isnt obejctive ness, subjective to teh person though… I just blew my own mind man! Remember when you dropped your keys and thought that the phone was ringing?
The 2 articles are an interesting thing. A good game that is generally highly overrated and another good game that is generally dismissed.
Both are well worth playing though.
I never had a 64, so I only got around to playing Ocarina on Virtual Console. This meant that the Z-targeting, contextual action buttons, etc. only hit me as things that plenty of other games did better. I couldn’t care less about the graphics, but I did feel I was fighting the controller more often than I was fighting the dungeons/monsters. I’m sure Ocarina deserved to be top of the charts in its day, but I don’t feel it’s aged well enough to deserve to remain there.
What SabreCat said. As someone who didn’t play Ocarina at the time, I find the controls, pacing and aesthetic to add up to a tremendous pain in the ass.
Sure, we all love to bash the N64, but when you look back it, it really did have some pretty neat titles beyond the universally-praised Golden Eye. OoT is an excellent game, and most of the criticisms I hear for it are technical limitations with the original hardware rather than software design flaws. Definitely a classic, but I wouldn’t hold OoT up as some sort of milestone in video game achievement.
I loved my N64. I guess I didn’t know any better, but hey at least I was happy.