December 11, 1998. Nintendo releases Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the N64 in Europe, and a continent of gamers is changed forever. N-Europe staff members share their reflections - be sure to add yours below as well!

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - 10 Year Anniversary Retrospective

Iun Hockley:

That was my initial reaction when I saw the price sticker on the box at my local game shop. For a 15 year old with barely any money, fifty English was a whole lot more than any other game available at that time. For that price I could have had over a hundred Mars Bars, five hundred Chomps or one thousand of those cool little flying saucers with sherbert inside...

Well guess what? It is, was and always will be the best bloody game ever. Nothing else even comes close. Forget Halo, forget Doom, ignore Mario 64 and consign Pacman to the rubbish heap because Ocarina of Time really has it all..

No game before or since has been the culmination of almost every genre and style that has preceded it. This piece of software encompassed everything from the past and pointed the way to the future. Good story? Check. Massive longevity? Check. New and old gameplay blended harmoniously? Check.

It was just perfect, so clever as to constantly surprise you, so simple as to consistently cheer you. The graphics were cutting-edge at the time, and are still pretty good today. The musical aspect was inspired, by turns mournful and deep, by others uplifting and stirring.

The only downside is that this game will probably never be eclipsed. Twilight Princess had a damn good go at doing it and came up short, as did Wind Waker. The thought that we will never see a game better than this makes me sad for the future, but happy for the past - I feel privileged to have been one of those to have experienced this game for the first time upon its release.

Sam "S.C.G" Gittins:

December of 1998, I remember it well... I was still relatively new to the N64 scene at the time having only owned one for a mere year receiving one from my now dearly departed grandparents in the Christmas of 1997 when it retailed for the much more realistic price of �99.98 with Goldeneye, since then I had experience other games such as the breathtaking Banjo Kazooie (currently replaying) and the spectacular Super Mario 64.

But it wasn't until nearly a year on that the system truly came alive for me when in the month of December 1998 Ocarina of Time was finally upon us and in the window of Argos I spied an offer that seemed to good to be true as the game was retailing for around �29.99 in some pre-Christmas event, needless to say I knew what I wanted for Christmas that year and I got my parents to promptly purchase it for me.

As soon as I got home of course I had to "play-test" it before it went away for Christmas and so I switched it on and was greeted by what was simply one of the most amazing title screens I had ever seen, it was adult Link riding across the plains of Hyrule field in the dead of night accompanied by a simply sublime score that put a smile on my face and sent a shiver down my spine.

I hadn't even pressed start yet and I allready knew that I was in for a truly life-changing experience, it became clear to me then that this would be no mere game but something that would stay with me forever...

Exploring inside the Great Deku Tree as young Link, first setting foot onto Hyrule field, meeting Princess Zelda for the first time... so many great moments that would then become even greater as you progressed and Link grew along with you, facing even greater threats and even more wondrous sights right up until the very end it was a game that would surprise and delight, I could talk forever about such a wondrous game but I shan't.

All I'll say is this... if you have yet to experience this true masterpiece then for gods sake stop whatever it is you're doing and go and play it, yes right now! for only then can you truly understand why it is remembered so fondly, regarded so highly and respected by so many.

"EVILMURRAY":

When the December of 1998 came round and the long waited game was released on the 11th. I knew I was getting it for Christmas but that wasn't soon enough. Only after much constant harassing of Mummy did I finally get it. For the next weeks after, as soon as I got home from school - Zelda time. The transition to 3D was flawless, everything looked so magical! Which I daresay people would call dated now, which doesn't detract from its enjoyment. At first I was both annoyed and confused that you couldn't make Link jump normally ("Rolling?! What good would that do me?") But as I got drawn deep into the world it was forgotten and adapted to.

I remember the days when I was terrible at parts, sneaking into Hyrule Castle springs immediately to mind, and I'll never forget the self humiliation of not noticing I could get into Lake Hylia as a child using the ladder on the right. I only found it when on my way out... the shame. It all became trial and error in parts becoming accustomed to the new formats, Z-targeting, horseriding being a few.

One thing which has ground my gears a bit, which many know of here, was people exclaiming over its originality, which technically it doesn't. Many people haven't encountered A Link To The Past on the SNES in 1992. Three items to get the Master Sword, eight items to break the seal on Ganon's Tower, going back and forth between two worlds (or indeed times). This hasn't detracted from the gameplay which has taken on new ways to use items, from the painstaking way to get all those bombs to go off in Dodongo's Cavern, to actually giving you moving bombs in the form of the Bombchu, as was the case with every Zelda game, giving you something new to use every time.

Everyone mentions the music, which would be a crime not to. It is simply beautiful, although never really been that big a fan of Kakariko Village. I, like many was a fan of the Gerudo Valley theme.

Joao "Hellfire" Lopes:

1998 was a hell of an year for gaming. Half-Life, Resident Evil 2, Banjo Kazooie, Metal Gear Solid, Fallout 2, Grim Fandango, Pokémon Red and Blue,... The list continues. Yet, Ocarina of Time still managed to stand out among all these other fantastic games.

And after 10 years that went by in a flash, I still remember the excruciating wait, going to my dad's work scouring the internet to see every Ocarina of Time image over and over again, download little sound bites from the game and visit every crummy little flash site. I remember watching a game show in a cold morning due to a cold and being ecstatic when the game got a perfect score on a TV game show and I certainly didn't forget literally running home from the store to finally wield the Blade of Evil's Bane on my N64 covered with an Ocarina of Time sticker (it still is today).

When I got the Fairy Ocarina I already knew how to play lots of songs because of all the videos and images I've seen, so the first song I played was one only learned much later in the game: Bolero of Fire. I also remember little details like the first place where I heard those annoying beeps warning you of impending doom (it was in the Deku Tree after falling down the spider web, I back flipped against the Golden Skulltulla crawling on the wall) and where the chickens are hidden in Kakariko Village.

I was 11 years old when I first played Ocarina of Time and just as Link was a small child embarking on an adventure bigger than him, so was I. But all the details are still vivid and after playing the game over and over again during all these years the game still feels fresh and magical, every time taking me on a journey to the past, where the boy without a fairy abandons his childhood and turns into a hero of legend that saves the whole world.

And the whole world felt like a gargantuan, daunting place at the time, with enormous fields and deserts, looming mountains, frozen caverns, beautiful lakes, and villages overflowing with life and different races, everyone absorbed in its own life, oblivious to the forest boy that would save them all.

Even with all the other games featuring FMVs and voice acting, the beautifully written dialogues in both big and small characters made Hyrule more alive than any other game world out there. The amazing cutscenes were directed masterfully, immersing the player completely with camera work that could belong in a movie, while still attaining a balance without overextending the cutscenes' importance, never forcing the player to stand still watching a video for too long, something most games can't get right even today.

The sense of freedom, the epic scale of the game, the Ocarina gameplay together with unparalleled spine chilling soundtrack, the huge boss fights, the Z-Targeting (real Zelda players use the Hold option according to a Gossip Stone) and all the other things that revolutionized gaming forever make Ocarina of Time still hold up today not only as a fantastic game, but as a monumental achievement in entertainment and storytelling.

After 10 years filled with games and technological advances, the fact that most people still consider The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time the greatest game ever made speaks for itself.

Mark "Tapedeck" Lee:

I'd probably had my fill of Zelda 64 screenshots by 1998 and I'd just about grown tired of wiping my eyes in disbelief at Super Mario 64 by then. Yet amongst the chorus of Playstation fans surrounding me, I know that by the time December '98 came around Link would finally be housed in my beloved N64. And furthermore, I'd be the one singing the praises!

I can still remember my parents (or Santa's!) wild decision to place the game in my Christmas stocking. At 6am I rose like a Hero of Time and raked through my stocking expecting nothing but chocolate coins and other Christmas oddities. But no! The holy grail of gaming jutted out from that stocking and I couldn't believe my luck!

Now I know this sounds crazy (and a little selfish) but nothing else mattered that day. I'd waited seven years to be Link all over again! As I fired up my N64 (plastered in N64 Magazines OoT sticker!) I was in awe. The music. The misty morning atmosphere. The graphics. The relief that it was just physically "here" and it did actually exist. It broke every sensory barrier and seemed alive within the screen.

Ocarina of Time still looks amazing to me today. Through the eyes of a young teenager the world was bustling with activity. The world evoked endlessness and Hyrule was both detailed and large enough to spend hours in. Actually seeing Death mountain in the distance and traversing it was the stuff dreams were made of. This was Lewis Carol, this was Tolkien. This was 'being' the hero. And not only did Hyrule stretch out before my eyes, it went underground, under lakes, over ravines and into vast deserts.

If Super Mario 64 was the template, this was the finished article. Mechanics that not only worked but constantly surprised and, just when you thought that the title could teeter into the monochrome. A new palette of colour would present itself and the world would change once more. Ocarina of Time has never been bettered in my mind.

There have been titles which have certainly come close yet OoT, to me, represents a snapshot of a company so on form and so ahead of the crowd or, so Nintendo that ever since, I've been coining out everytime they weave another Zelda tale.

Ocarina of Time is not just the greatest videogame of all time, it's quite possibly one of the greatest stories, one of the most emotionally involving pieces of entertainment made by man and certainly one of the most memorable technical achievements I've ever experienced. To me Ocarina of Time is the pinnacle of the craft involved in videogame creation.

Ross "The Villan" Richards:

Christmas Day 1998 (blimey) was when I...well, actually it was my brother...who got OoT for Christmas (I got ISS '98). It was a rather magical day to say the least, as it was Christmas Day and all that. One of my first thoughts of this game was "The music is like Lylatwars' music!", which my then-high voice uttered the first time I ever saw the vast landscape that was Hyrule Field.

Unfortunately, back then, I couldn't get used to what was then an enormous game. I found running to and fro around Hyrule Field boring and tedious (perhaps the same thoughts of everybody's gripe about the Great Sea in Wind Waker). And I never did complete it, only watching from the sidelines as my brother reached all those significant points in the game: Seeing Adult Link for the very first time. When Sheik revealed who he/she actually was. When Ganon appeared. All those events.

A few years later, after reading about the hype that still lingered with the game, I decided to pick up the game and give it a full playthrough, doing everything except racing that sprinter chap and those masks trading sequence as Child Link. And in the end, I managed to complete the game, and it was just as good as it was hyped up to be. I enjoyed every freaking minute of playing it. (although the less said about the Water Temple the better. While I didn't find it too hard, the whole being-underwater thing got fiddly and annoying.)

To this day, not only is it the only Zelda game I have completed, the Kokiri Forest music still reminds me of Christmas.

Franklin "Mokong X-C" Hughes:

The whole of 1998 was pretty just waiting for Ocarina of Time, which was a new experience for me. It was about this year when I started learning how to save money and not waste it and really started getting gaming magazines. From the first time I saw an article and images of OOT I just knew I had to have it. And it became the very first time I knew about and wanted a game in advance of it's release.

Not yet connected to the internet at the time I was reliant on gaming mags for my information. Each month flicking through the pages of every magazine I could find to see if there was more info on the game.

No game before or since has been the culmination of almost every genre and style that has preceded it. This piece of software encompassed everything from the past and pointed the way to the future. Good story? Check. Massive longevity? Check. New and old gameplay blended harmoniously? Check.

When the release date was set I quickly ran to my parents requesting OOT as my Christmas gift for that year and tried to get them to understand this new concept (new to them) of "pre-ordering" the game. Of course they didn't listen and as November rolled along I found out that all stores where I lived already had all the pre-orders full, I couldn't believe it. I was so determined to make sure I had this on Christmas morning I began ringing game stores all over the country trying to get my name on a pre-order list. Found a GAME in Dublin that still have spaces open and luckily we were to visit my aunt there that weekend. I convinced my mother into taking me to the city centre so I could get into this store and get her to put down a deposit, when we got there it was full, heartache.

But good fortune smiled on me later that same week a few days after returning from Dublin an Xtra-vision store in Waterford secured extra stock and my Dad put down a deposit. When he picked up the game I insisted on seeing it before it was wrapped up and put under the tree... just to make sure he got the right game (and bask in its glorious light).

After all this build up and self created hype, one might think I was being built up for disappointed if it didn't live up to expectations. But that Christmas morning was my best Christmas ever. Ignoring all other gifts under the tree I went straight for OOT, switched on the TV and turned the game on. I sat in awe at the title screen for a minute or so before finally going in and starting the game. The beginning of an epic journey that has stayed with me ever since. The world, the characters, the story not only lived up to my expectations but surpassing it. I remember the first time I stepped out of the Kokiri Forest and into Hyrule field and just in awe and amazement at the size of the world before me. All the reviews and articles I read said it was big but I still couldn't believe just how big it was.

The controls were spot on and played like a dream, Z-targeting while confusing my young brain reading about it, was a revolution in combat design. The day-night system was a wonder to behold, I would just stop and stand still in the middle of the field just watching the sun/moon travel across the sky. And of course the graphics this game displayed were so amazing for their time, 5 years previous I had never imagined such visuals would be possible. Even after playing Mario 64 I still couldn't believe what my eyes were experiencing with this game.

I could go on and on, describing my experience with each individual section and area of the game. The emotions I experienced parts in the story and especially on completing the game. A mixture of absolute joy as I jumped around the room when I finally beat Ganon, and later a hint of sadness as I watched the rest of the ending and it dawned on me that it was over. I have since completed the game at least 15 times (the last time the Master Quest disc thing that came with Wind Waker), and still loved it each time.

A truely amazing game. 10 years on still my favourite game of all time (closely followed by Tales of Symphonia of course), and I can still remember strange things like the smell of the room when during my first play session (a mixture of perfumes my mother and sister got for Christmas), my mother yelling at me to stop playing and come to the dinner table. The taste of the Christmas choclates I kept near me for snacks as I played. When you can clearly recall these external things from outside the game because of the game you know it was and still is something special.