Like this:

Gotta love that one guy you responded to who picked up the Collector’s Edition of Skyward Sword pre-release date along with pricey game guide and proceeded to complete the game (around 40 hours for one playthrough) twice in one week, and apparently hated it! Sounds like someone’s lying to themselves (or just to you) there.

You’re just making things up now. Where’s the proof that most people who bought Ocarina of Time didn’t finish it? You want to know why Twilight Princess was so hotly anticipated? Because it was basically promised to be OoT with realistic graphics. That’s what everyone wanted, and that’s why everyone wanted Twilight Princess. Doesn’t that tell you that people really LOVED Ocarina? As if the sales numbers, countless awards and fan-voted rankings all in agreement weren’t enough. 

You really need to learn to deal with the fact that OoT is the fan-favorite, and that while the original Zelda is noted for its impact, nobody but nostalgic man-children actually care about it or its sequel anymore.

<3I bought Ocarina and didn’t finish it as did many other people. Miyamoto has said as much. Why did all the Zelda games become ridiculously easy afterward even though they were trying to mimic Ocarina? And why would I make this up?

Perhaps I didn’t communicate this effectively, but there is a golden age in young person’s life when certain video games get seared to their soul. It is like all those young kids whose very first RPG was Final Fantasy 7.

Almost all the fans of Ocarina of Time essentially grew up with the game. They played the game right at that ‘golden age’ in their life. Like Final Fantasy 7 fans, I’ve found the Ocarina of Time fans tended to have no experience with computer RPGs or other large scale games prior to playing Ocarina of Time. In addition, much of Ocarina’s appeal was its illusion of a vast open world, i.e. the sandbox environment. This appeal was snatched away by Grand Theft Auto 3 in the next generation. And at this very moment, gamers are looking to games like Skyrim to get this large world.

To criticize Ocarina of Time is to criticize one’s childhood. This is I am pushing forward because I recognize the so-called ‘fandom’ of Ocarina of Time is rooted almost entirely in that childhood wonder. As you get older, you will find generations younger than you speaking with as much reverence to another game which appeared at the ‘golden age’ of their youth.

The matter is similar to love. Everyone’s object of first love is perfect, divine, despite the known flaws. But first love is not the best love. This works with games as well… especially games that become confined within a certain age group.

While Ocarina of Time sold more copies, it did so on a child centered system selling to markets with larger population than before with no competition (name me any RPG or adventure game on the N64 that rivals Ocarina of Time. I can tell you dozens on the NES and SNES).

What is very interesting about Classic Zelda is its broader appeal. Forty year old men played Zelda, not just kids. This also occurred with Super Mario Brothers. The entire family would play these games. This did not occur with Ocarina of Time. Mom and Dad did not play Ocarina of Time with the children. My brother-in-law’s father played and finished Legend of Zelda at the age of 40 in 1987. Reggie Fils-Aime is fond of telling a story about how he played Link to the Past with his son. You never hear father and son playing Aonuma Zelda together. There is a funny story in the book “Game Over” about a young man who called the Nintendo hotline to ask advice about Legend of Zelda. He didn’t want game advice but life advice.  “My fiance tells me I must choose between Zelda and her. What do I do?” The Nintendo Counselor told him to turn off the game. I would have told him to keep playing and dump the broad. While Legend of Zelda has aged, I guarantee that it has aged better than his fiance.

Zelda will never be a mass market game with the Aonuma philosophy. Hell, not even Ocarina of Time was an Aonuma game. He was responsible mostly for the dungeon designs which everyone kept complaining about (e.g. water temple). Aonuma’s game Marvelous bombed. I’d like investors to ask why Aonuma has any control over the Zelda series at all. Apparently, it’s because Miyamoto placed him there. But Miyamoto’s watch over various Nintendo series like Mario deserve great scrutiny as well (e.g. stopping all 2d Marios from being made so he can keep forcing 3d Mario down the market’s throat).

Classic Zelda’s appeal bubbling up in a broad way keeps being compared to Skyrim. I think this is a poor comparison. A much better comparison would be to Minecraft. The same ‘let’s explore this cave here’ to ‘wow, this world never ends’ to ‘evil monsters! I shall attack you with my bow and arrow!’ seem to be found more in Minecraft. While many children play Minecraft, it has such a broad appeal that 40 year old men play it.

It is time to free Zelda from the chains of N64 nostalgia. If we want Zelda to become a series in ascension again (rather than sinking into the abyss), we must get over Ocarina of Time. After all, Ocarina of Time only stood tall because it heavily utilized the previous Zelda games in its design and content. Ocarina of Time did not emerge from a vacuum, something every Ocarina fan tends to forget.

So if you want another game like Ocarina of Time, you have to return to Classic Zelda.

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