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About

The main story takes about 8.5 hours, doing everything about 46 hours. It won 2 awards, including D.I.C.E. Award for Game of the Year and BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the fifth main installment of The Legend of Zelda series and the first to be released for the Nintendo 64. It was one of the most highly anticipated games of its age, and is listed among the greatest video games ever created by numerous websites and magazines. The gameplay of Ocarina of Time was revolutionary for its time, it has arguably made more of an impact on later games in the series than any of its predecessors even though they had the same cores of exploration, dungeons, puzzles and item usage. Among the gameplay mechanics, one of the most noteworthy is the time-traveling system. The game begins with the player controlling the child Link, but later on an adult Link becomes a playable character as well and each of them has certain unique abilities. Ocarina of Time also introduces the use of music to solve puzzles: as new songs are learned, they can be used to solve puzzles, gain access to new areas and warp to different locations. Dungeon exploration is somewhat more puzzle-oriented than in earlier games but they are not too complex.

Story

A young boy named Link was raised in the village of the elf-like Kokiri people. One day a fairy named Navi introduces him to the village's guardian, the Great Deku Tree. It appears that a mysterious man has cursed the tree, and Link is sent to the Hyrule Castle to find out more. Princess Zelda tells Link that Ganondorf, the leader of the Gerudo tribe, seeks to obtain the Triforce, a holy relic that grants immense power to the one who possesses it. Link must do everything in his power to obtain the Triforce before Ganondorf does, and save Hyrule.

What is happening now

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remains one of Nintendo's most enduring action-adventure titles, originally released for the Nintendo 64 and now available on Switch. A remake of the classic is in development, with an ESRB rating recently revealed via an eShop listing that differs from the original game's classification. Recent activity around the game reflects both anticipation for the remake and continued interest in the original. Gaming outlets have begun publishing guides recommending other Zelda titles as time-passes while waiting for the remake's release. Meanwhile, technical demonstrations have shown the game running on non-Nintendo platforms through emulation and AI upscaling methods, highlighting the title's portability across modern systems and its enduring technical legacy.

How long to beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

from 12 players
Main storyrushing through the story
8.5 h
Main + extrasstory plus side content
31 h
Completionisteverything the game has
46 h

More in the The Legend of Zelda series

All 16 games in order

From the people behind The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

shared cast and crew

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Cast and crew

3 credits

Crew

Awards

2 won, 0 more nominations

Media

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time screenshot

Releases

Platform
Date
November 5, 2026

Earliest full release on each platform; regional dates can differ.

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