If A Link to the Past was a refinement of the first Zelda, then Ocarina of Time was refinement of LttP. It was also the game that transitioned the franchise into the realm of 3D polygons and the one game everyone seems to remember when "Zelda" is uttered. It's beautiful and worthy of being called a masterpiece, although this is also where story takes precedence over adventuring and so linearity begins to become more prominent.

The game controls very well. I don't know what game actually came up with the "Z-Targeting" technique, but this is the one that popularized, and for good reason. The camera is rarely ever an issue and Link moves and acts as you'd expect him to. There are some limitations: you can't move around while aiming, although if you use Z-Targeting, you can still strafe around. You can't control Epona while also using your bow, so you might often find yourself being galloped towards a wall, while the Poe you're hunting taunts you and your dumb beast (but then again, I can't imagine anyone controlling a horse and aiming an arrow at the same time).

The sound in this game is superb. Many creatures in the world make different sounds. NPCs make funny little grunts or moans. Weapons sound realistic enough. And the soundtrack! The title promises that a musical instrument would be important to the game, and it makes good on that promise. Not only are the music pieces great and moody, but there's even an item in-game that let's you play music. People have actually used it to play different songs, such as the Kakariko Theme. I wouldn't be surprised if someone played the Imperial March with it.

The graphics were, for its time, amazing. I remember as a kid, back in 1998, getting out of Kokiri Forest and having my eyes just pop out at how expansive Hyrule Field is. It was amazing. Nowadays, the graphics for this game are less impressive and the world actually feels very dead at times. There are barely any enemies in Hyrule Field and when there are, it's at only the beginning of the game. It felt like there could have been more here.

While LttP had an expansive story, this game made it more prominent. Minor plot twists abound although the story can still be summarized as "Save the princess, save the world." There is a much larger supporting cast than in LttP and they all receive a lot more characterization than in LttP.

I recommend this game to anyone that likes adventure games. It's very fun to play and nice to look at. Play it with sound turned up high and you'll have a treat for your ears as well.

REMINDER: Set to 8MB memory in Project 64 before playing with rom settings

**Use cutscene skip version if you want a faster playthrough

To install this rom hack, use a .bps rom patcher or use the online web patcher which can be found using Google using a 1.0 version of "Ocarina of Time"

Rom title reads as follows:

1. Harder Quest

- Link pulls out his sword instead of attacking instantly
- Link can do a manual jump with Z + A
- Link takes double damage
- Link moves slightly faster
- Recovery hearts restore a quarter of a heart
- Bosses have 3x health
- Mini bosses have 3x health
- Monsters have 1.5x health
- Ura Quest dungeons and title screen used from the Disk Drive
- Changed longshot to be more effective
- The Megaton Hammer has much better range
- Bombchu minigame items appear in fixed order
- Fishing and Dampe's digging game are easier
- Triple text speed with fixed grammar issues
- Removed low health beeping
- Removed all Navi sounds
- Removed all Owl cutscenes
- Removed the two day wait for Biggoron sword claim check
- Removes glitch to skip door of time
- Removes ability to skip medallions
- Sheik does not block you from becoming child after Forest Temple
- Adult Link can crawl through holes now
- New wallet sizes: 200 - 300 - 400
- New Deku nut capacity: 3 - 6 - 9
- New Deku stick capacity: 2 - 4 - 6
- New bomb capacity: 20 - 24 - 28
- New arrow capacity: 10 - 15 - 20
- New slingshot capacity: 10 - 15 - 20
- Uses Majora's Mask HUD
- Uncensored everything with red blood
- Restored nose rings to the cows
- Restored beta front-flip jump attack animation
- Restored beta intro cutscene to slow version
- Uses Chamber of Sages theme for file select screen
- Changed treasure chest styles in dungeons
- Changed Kokiri tunic to black
- Changed Hylian Shield to Red Shield
- Changed Golden Gauntlets to Black Gauntlets in color
- Changed Silver Gauntlets to Gold Gauntlets in color
- Changed Navi's outer color to a brighter blue shade
- Uses somewhat Twilight Princess-like Link models
- Ocarina of Time Redux mod features (https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5138/)

Optional fast version with these features:

Speeds up the following cutscenes:
Opening chests
King Zora
Door of Time
Draining the Well
Bosses
Rainbow Bridge
Epona Escape
Fairy Ocarina

The following cutscenes are skipped:
- Opening/intro cutscene
- Chamber of Sages and Medallion cutscenes
- Dungeon Outro sequences
- Regular and Warp songs
- Light Arrows
- Darunia Dance
- Draw bridge Zelda Escape cutscene
- Royal Tomb explosion in the graveyard
- Deku Seed Bag upgrade in Lost Woods
- Jabu-Jabu entrance cutscene
- Ganon's Tower collapsing

Database match: Legend of Zelda, The - Ocarina of Time (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Nintendo 64 (v. 20210220-053642)
File/ROM SHA-1: AD69C91157F6705E8AB06C79FE08AAD47BB57BA7
File/ROM CRC32: CD16C529

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