The biggest release yet for Nintendo’s 3DS console, can The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D enchant gamers as it did back in 1998?
As the most advanced handheld console ever released, capable of breathtaking glasses-free 3D and Wii-level graphics, it comes as a surprise to find that the biggest title for the three-month-old Nintendo 3DS is actually 13 years old.
Of course, that’s less of a surprise when you understand which game we’re talking about – a fully redrawn re-release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, since the 1998 original is considered by many to be the greatest game of all time.
As the first of two fully-3D Nintendo 64 re-releases (the other being September’s Star Fox 64 3D), Ocarina has a tough task ahead of it, as it has to help sell an underperforming €279.99 handheld and also convince jaded Nintendo gamers to purchase a game they’ve already played up to three times (on the N64, as a bonus disc for Gamecube release The Wind Waker and as a Wii Virtual Console download).
Against all the odds, however, developers Grezzo have achieved created the first essential 3DS game, for one good reason: great gameplay never dies.
Oh, how we miss those late-1990s video game lens flares…
A landmark release that was delayed on countless occasions upon its original release, the original Ocarina of Time introduced several gameplay staples that are today taken for granted – lock-on targeting of enemies, an automatic action button and even utilising the controller as a musical instrument.
It’s actually telling that 13 years on, Ocarina feels fresher than the retrograde mess that was Duke Nukem Forever, released a week earlier after 15 years of development.
For newcomers (lucky, lucky newcomers), Ocarina is considered the definitive Zelda adventure as it tells a conventional story in increasingly captivating ways. As expected, the Kingdom of Hyrule is in peril once more, series nemesis Ganondorf has plans to take over the world and Link meets Princess for the first time… again. Along the way the game takes in such rapturous delights as Lake Hylia (especially stunning in 3D), ocarina-based time travel and a midway point twist that left 1998 gamers’ jaws on the floor.
Unlike successive Zelda titles, which have relied on a singular twist (sailing – Wind Waker, a central dungeon – Phantom Hourglass, wolf gameplay – Twilight Princess, train exploration – Spirit Tracks), Ocarina is the purest Zelda adventure yet, by virtue of the fact that series creator Shigeru Miyamoto got it all so perfectly right in 1998.
3D or not 3D?
For many, however, the real test is whether or not Ocarina 3D offers enough additions or sheer enjoyment to warrant a full-price purchase, or for even buying a 3DS itself. For us, one of the most noteworthy alterations that the 3DS version brings is the usage of the console’s lower-screen, which enables real-time inventory selection – a fact that makes the notoriously infuriating Water Temple a breeze.
Though it can be called a new gameplay feature – having popped up in the Gamecube bonus disc – the Master Quest also makes a welcome return, offering mirrored landscapes and much tougher dungeons upon completion of the main game. A Boss Rush mode can also be unlocked, offering the chance to replay each story mode boss in succession and further increasing the game’s already hefty longevity.
In case that all sounds pretty demanding, you’ll be pleased to hear that Nintendo, in a move similar to recent Super Mario Wii titles, have included video hints if you’re supremely stuck. Sadly, true to its predecessor, there is no fast-travel option, meaning that until you get your hands on your valiant steed Epona, you’ll be traversing Hyrule Field perhaps a little more than you’d like.
The biggest addition, however, is no surprise – especially considering it’s in the game’s title. Here at JOE we’ve played at least 80% of the current Nintendo 3DS library, in addition to a few titles on the horizon, yet we can say with conviction that the 3D effect for Ocarina has to be seen to be believed.
Whether you’re peering into the sparkling depths of Lake Hylia, or spotting butterflies flutter across the periphery of the screen in Kokiri Forest, the inwards 3D depth of the console helps make the player feel as though they are inside a living, breathing world.
With pin-sharp visuals redrawn from scratch (the interiors of every building being the most transformative), this is a not a haphazard George Lucas-style cash-grab, as the team at Grezzo have lovingly made Ocarina feel new and unexplored once more, while providing the biggest justification for the console’s sometimes-maligned 3D effect.
As much as non-3DS-owning Nintendo fans will hate us for admitting it, this feat alone means that Ocarina of Time 3D is the definitive version of what is bound to be one of their favourite games. 
As this review was being put together, UK sales figures emerged this week that showed that in its first weekend, Ocarina had outsold the lifetime figures of the previous best-selling 3DS title, Pilotwings Resort. That news is no surprise to us, as this is the release that will ensure that the console never goes dust-ridden any longer.
Surprisingly fresh in a handheld setting and boasting arguably the finest high points of the entire Zelda franchise in one package, Ocarina of Time 3D is not just the best game of the summer, it is the system seller that the Nintendo 3DS has been crying out for.
Format: Nintendo 3DS; Developer: Grezzo; Publisher: Nintendo
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