It took me 28 years

Yesterday I finished Zelda Ocarina Of Time on the Nintendo 64. If has been quite a journey. I started it when the game came out in 1998. I was a kid and knew nothing about Zelda other than that I read on a game magazine that the game was a masterpiece and I needed to play. Unfortunately for me, the game cartridge was in English only and I didn’t understand much of it. For a game like OOT, that was a problem. So where did I get stuck? The Deku Tree. Yes, the first dungeon ever. Back in the day, I was at peak arachnophobia and being a kid, that part of the game terrified me. I was just too scared, didn’t understand English, didn’t know or have anyone that could help me… So I parked the game.

I got back at it many years later when it came again with the disc of Zelda Wind Waker. I started the game and went until seeing adult Link, but eventually got stuck right after it and I was in a phase in which I was a massive nerd and had too many games to play that were more interesting to me… and eventually stopped again.

Attempt number 3 started 2 or 3 years ago, I don’t even remember. I started real good, then paused, then continued and then eventually paused it for a long time, first to play Baldur’s Gate 3 in multiplayer (best game of the 2020s for me) and later again when my daughter was born. I didn’t have time to sleep, imagine having time to play games! After things stabilized, I started again but got stuck at the ice cavern. Thanks to many guides and tutorials and videos, I got through that and the water Temple (what a mess that one) and finally managed to finish the game on 2026-03-31.

So what do I think of it? The story isn’t much and the gameplay didn’t age well, with the then revolutionary Z-targeting system feeling super janky by today’s standards. Unfortunately I can’t rewire my brain to forget about the progress of recent game. The atmosphere and musics still compensated enough that I really enjoyed the experience. I can’t even think of how they put so much style and musics and great things in such a small amount of ROM in an age that didn’t have anything of what we have today. The part that I liked the most, other than the amazing Kakariko village that will be forever in my heart, it’s the Spirit temple, with the need to jump through time, navigate the desert with the lense and one of the most incredible music in the Gerudo fortress. I am almost too sad it came way too late in the game.

So that’s it, I finished OOT. It took me 28 years, but I’m still very glad I played it.