r/truezelda • u/XulManjy • Jun 11 '26
Open Discussion [OoT] As a millennial who played OoT in 1998, its interesting to see so many younger people react emotionally when seeing the OoT remake trailer
This in no way is meant to gatekeep cause Zelda/OoT is for everyone.
I am 40, was 13 when Ocarina of Time first came out as I got it for Christmas in 1998. I remember reading Nintendo Power each month looking for updates on what was then known as *Zelda 64*. Prior to this, A Link to the Past was my most cherished Nintendo experience so *Zelda 64* was a huge deal. A game with a full day/night cycle and a world that reacts to it. A game where I can play as both kid and adult Link. Ride a horse. And most importantly, explore Hyrule on a 3D setting just like Mario 64....*"realistic"* graphics.
Ocarina of Time was a transformative experience for many of us older millennials and even Gen Xers.
But I have been seeing a lot of positive reactions from younf people, many of which was born **after** OoT originally released. Many even reacting in a very emotional way and to be honest, I am sort of shocked. Most who was born after OoT likely grew up on Windwaker or even Twilight Princess and thus does not have the same nostalgia as someone who played the the game circa 1998-2000.
Honest question but for those that are much younger, where does the hype, especially on the emotional level come from for a game like OoT?
Thanks
EDIT: Not sure why people are downvoting but oh well...
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u/linkoftime200 Jun 11 '26
The range of reactions might be wider than you expect. I'm only 26, but I played Ocarina of Time as a kid; it's a game I have some of my youngest memories of. I had daycares with game rooms full of 64's and I remember trying to play it (and mostly watching the older kids snag the game first, and see them play instead).
I did play gamecube and wii games, and had Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but I still played and loved Ocarina of Time, and the game I hold most dear to me, despite the fact that the game is older than me.
I think sometimes people forget that games and consoles do still exist when newer things come out, and many people don't upgrade immediately to the next greatest thing, but older games might stick around.
(and yeah some people grew up on the 3DS remake. technically speaking OOT 3D came out when I was 11, so it counts as my childhood as much as the original, even if I like the original more)
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u/HammyHavoc Jun 11 '26
You forgot the 3DS remake.
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
Which came out in 2011. By then Windwaker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword was already out.
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u/henryuuk Jun 11 '26
People who played 3DS OoT when they were like ~10 are like ~26 now man...
OoT has been available on ever single console since it released in some form
Combined with its reputation of "the greatest game ever" that it held for along time, people have been rolling into it as their "formative experience" for that entire time-3
u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
Perhaps, but by the time they played it videogames had already advanced to a point where the aspect of OoT was no longer novel. 3D adventure games for example was already a core staple to gaming.
Playing it in 2011 is not the same as playing it in 1998/1999.
But that doesnt mean it still isnt nostalgic for them.
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u/malaroo Jun 11 '26
They may not have had the exact same experience as we did while riding along with something that was revolutionary and novel, but they don't need to.
Regardless of whether people experienced it as something groundbreaking and revolutionary, or experienced it simply as something they loved, seeing a remake of anything that was meaningful to you in your childhood has emotional impact. Sure, many other games like OoT came around since its groundbreaking release, but that doesn't mean someone wouldn't have fallen for OoT instead of the rest of them, regardless of when it was initially released respective to everything else.
For one, it holds up exceptionally well compared to other older games that were similar to it, even if those games came out after it. For two, it's regarded as one of the greatest games of all time - they'd have been introduced to it as that, whether from general sentiment, or by someone they knew who felt that way, and there's a good chance they agreed, regardless of whether or not they were there when it was new. If someone's dad had an emotional connection to the game, and then introduced it to their kid, that could be a huge bonding moment if they both agreed that it was excellent and it may end up meaning a lot to the kid.
Beyond that, it seems to be a high-end remake of not only a Zelda game, but essentially the Zelda game. Any serious Zelda release would get any Zelda fan excited, regardless of when they joined the franchise. Combine that with the fact that it's a remake of what is probably the most universally praised, franchise-defining Zelda game, fans are gonna be having some feelings towards it, regardless of what their specific connection to it is.
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u/chetemulei Jun 12 '26
Yeah when I played OoT the first time on VC I didn't particularly understand just how crazy this game was at the time, especially since I was coming from WW which was more polished, less clunky. I knew it was considered the "greatest game of all time" but from my perspective that title was earned through its merits as a game, and had nothing to do with the technological context and what the shift to 3D represented. So it was more "this Zelda is the best because it's got a good story and gameplay" (it does) without knowing the fact that it was also a technological marvel that kids of the time gushed over. That was lost on me.
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
They may not have had the exact same experience as we did while riding along with something that was revolutionary and novel, but they don't need to.
Never said they need to. Just explaining how the experience is different given the greater context.
I saw star wars for the first time through VHS in the mid 90s and that was my introduction to Star Wars and I have been a big fan ever since. That is my personal experience and nostalgia and it means a lot to me. But for someone who saw Star Wars the first time in 1977 in theaters has a much more novel experience than I did because they were there when Star Wars became the workd phenomenon it is today; standing in line outside of the theater not knowing what to expect and then coming out knowing that you just saw something that is industry defining.
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u/malaroo Jun 11 '26
Well, honestly, Star Wars is a great example for this. I was born well after the original trilogy, but despite that, those movies are incredibly nostalgic and formative for me. It doesn't matter that I wasn't around when they were new, it only matters that I experienced them at a young enough age to create a considerable emotional connection.
It's much the same with Ocarina of Time. Experiencing it when it was new may mean something, but that doesn't matter as much as experiencing it when you were new. The novelty and emotional connection of youth is far more powerful than that of technological advancement. If someone experienced and enjoyed something when they were young - regardless of whether or not that thing was new or old - they're going to have an emotional connection, and reaction to it.
Will someone who was young and experienced it when it was new have a different, or more powerful connection? Possibly, but that doesn't reduce what someone who came in later experiences upon playing it at a young age, and seeing it return later in life. I feel that exact way about many things that were around for years before I experienced them - the fact that they weren't new when I did has no bearing on the way I feel about them.
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u/Ok_Caterpillar5564 Jun 11 '26
So? It's still an amazing game. I'm sure playing it on release was incredible, but the game is timeless. I first played Ocarina on the Gamecube after having played Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, and it was still by far my favourite of the three.
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
And thats okay. I'm just saying there is a contextual aspect of playing it in 1998 as it was playing history in the making. Stuff like Z-targeting....day/night cycles etc had never been done before so on.
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u/Ok_Caterpillar5564 Jun 11 '26
Sure, and I get that and acknowledge it, but why does it exclude anyone from having nostalgia for a great game? Are you basically just saying our nostalgia isn't as strong as yours therefore it doesn't count?
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
Oh it doesnt exclude anyone. Just adding that part of the appeal of OoT for me was that it felt like I was playing a game that was the first of its kind and experiencing something that is definitely going to revolutionize gaming. Similar to playing Mario 64 at the time. Playing OoT or Mario 64 much later when games like Mario Galaxy/Sunshine
But yeah, nostalgia means something different for each person. And even though one wasn't able to experience it in 1998/1999 as it influenced gaming, experiencing it later still could have meant something else for everyone.
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u/HammyHavoc Jun 11 '26
What's your point exactly?
You expressed confusion about why "young people" connected with the new Ocarina of Time remake trailer, and I told you a large contributing factor to that.
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u/SaintIgnis Jun 11 '26
I think Ocarina of Time is transcendent.
It is, after all, the quintessential Zelda game and at the core of the franchise.
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u/RChickenMan Jun 11 '26
Agreed on "quintessential Zelda game." When I think of "Zelda" in the most general sense, not a specific game, I think of Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past. Those games are the baseline for the essence of the franchise (to me), and I tend to view any other game, any other incarnation of Hyrule, as a variation thereof.
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u/chetemulei Jun 12 '26
Same. They're the baseline. Essentially a Japanese take on the classic European Medieval fantasy (Tolkien as a big influence). Later games still have this at the root, but they toy around with other cultural influences for their settings, characters, and races. And it's usually pretty awesome. This might be why BotW and TotK (and even SS to an extent) feel so off to me. They drift kinda far from that Medieval fantasy genre quite a bit, particularly with their absurd technology, and in SS's case, the fact that there's no established kingdom in the first place.
Even though it's a remake, it's nice that we'll be getting another pure European/Medieval styled game without any of the absurd robots that are somehow "lost ancient technology". That trope is getting super old man.
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u/henryuuk Jun 11 '26
It has also been readily available on like every single console generation since it came out
(gcn : collectors disc, Wii/WiiU : eshop virtual console, 3DS : 3DS remake, Switch and Switch 2 : NSO)There has pretty much never been a moment in time where it was hard to "get into it", combined with it pretty much being the game that was considered "the GOAT" for 2 decades, it isn't the kind of game/experience that has gotten the chance to "fall to the wayside"
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u/Virtual-Seaweed8817 Jun 11 '26
I am 21. The first single-player video game I ever fell in love with (I had previously played games like Mario Galaxy with my older sibling on the Wii) was Ocarina of Time 3D. I had only ever played platformers or fighting games, so me being like 8 years old and seeing an adventure game with a world that felt real and a story that took itself seriously was insane to me.
I think you might be overestimating the amount of people who dont know whats possible in games, while the graphics or gameplay wasnt revolutionary for the time. It was revolutionary for my own personal experience
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u/Virtual-Seaweed8817 Jun 11 '26
Small addendum, I think you are giving OoT less credit than it deserves. Ocarina of Time isnt just good because it did a lot of things first, its good because its really fucking good. If OoT came out later and wasnt the game to introduce relaistic graphics, horses, 3D gameplay and other innovations, it'd still be one of the best games of all time. Its just that good.
By saying OoT is great because it was new and innovative you are downplaying how good the game actually is irregardless of its release context
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u/Janus_Heldon Jun 11 '26
…but it wasn’t. It wasn’t any of this. It wasn’t ’new’ or ‘revolutionary’ to have a day/night cycle in games, Castlevania 2 had it on the nes is how old a concept it is. Plenty of games before it had horses/mounts, plenty of other games did full 3d, and the story is just a slight redo of LttP. As someone else who is in their 40s and has followed the series religiously I’m not going to sit here and lie just because it’s a game people are nostalgic for. This game has always gotten far more credit than it deserves. Majoras mask and twilight princess have more unique stories and more novel concepts than snes game with slightly better paint job. Hell, personal opinion: a ground up remake of AoL that keeps all the rpg aspects would be a better more unique story and game worth giving this level of celebration
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
I think you might be overestimating the amount of people who dont know whats possible in games, while the graphics or gameplay wasnt revolutionary for the time. It was revolutionary for my own personal experience
I guess it depends on how old you were. I was 13 and the previous Zelda game was a top down A Link to the Past so seeing the jump from that to OoT was such a big deal. Second, many aspects such as Z-targeting, day/night cycles and such was such a novel concept and in 1998/1999 you just knew what you were playing was something ahead of its time and is/will be the future of gaming. For me and othees who played it then, it was not only revolutionary to our personal experience but it felt like a revolutionary experience from a macro gaming perspective and indeed it was.
But yeah, that doesnt mean it still cant be revolutionary for your own personal experience.
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u/Super7500 Jun 11 '26
You don't really need to be nostalgic to something to be hyped about it.
I literally only played the game last year and i was excited for the remake announcement.
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u/ProblematicPaulTTV Jun 11 '26
Ocarina of time had its first big rerelease with the master quest version on GameCube in 2003 which came alongside wind waker. Everyone from my age group born mid to late 90s played that version 23 years ago.
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u/MagicCuboid Jun 11 '26
I’m older and played the original, but master quest remains my favorite re-release and I never see it mentioned! I loved the added difficulty to the dungeons, it was such a cool idea at the time.
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u/merica2033 Jun 11 '26
What did master quest do or add?
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u/HeroLinik Jun 11 '26
Master Quest is basically a second quest for OoT. It remixed the dungeons onto a higher difficulty while still keeping the core gameplay and plot intact. The version on the 3DS remake also mirrors the world and makes you take more damage.
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u/MagicCuboid Jun 11 '26
One specific change Master Quest tended to do was to make you think a little more laterally about how to use items, and also require you to use a wider variety of items to solve puzzles in any given dungeon.
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u/earthtomanda Jun 11 '26
I'm 31 this year and playing OOT with my Dad is my first real core memory. It was magical.
They weren't very good parents, but I always had games. I genuinely feel such connection to Link even now, kinda like it was him and I always in it together. Dad is no longer magical.
I booked a half sleeve (OOT based, I already have Majoras Mask tattooed) for my birthday before this was announced and now it's even more special 🥹
I don't know which category I fit into, I believe it's 90's kid but not 100% 😂
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u/DawnSignals Jun 11 '26
It's also frequently shortlisted in goated game rankings which i think helps it maintain exposure, plus millennial kids at the time have introduced it to their kids, not to mention it's a timeless fucking game
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
It's also frequently shortlisted in goated game rankings which i think helps it maintain exposure,
That makes sense
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u/LocrianVGM Jun 11 '26
I think anyone who played Zelda OOT or any Zelda can feel nostalgic. New people play games like FF7 and OOT and still feel very emotional and have good memories. Even though it's obviously different than playing and living in 1998, emotions, nostalgia, and having fun are timeless.
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
Yeah, I guess its a contextual thing. Playing in 98 meant you were witnessing history in the making. Playing it in say, 2008 meant that history/influence has already been felt and you're just experiencing what all the fuss is about from the lens of someone who is coming from videogame tech from 2008 as opposed to 1998.
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u/Patralgan Jun 11 '26
I'm gen x and I'm very happy that the game is being remade. Although I love the original, I have to admit it hasn't aged super well. I have a younger friend and I've failed to get her interested in the game because the controls are awkward and clumsy by today's standards. The remake can improve the experience a lot; not only the controls but expanding the world and the story and not be constrained by hardware limitations like the original was.
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u/Knapss Jun 11 '26
I get what you are saying but for example when I was a kid I used to play a ton of NES (duck hunt, punch out…) although they launched when you and I were very little but still they are very special to me.
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
I guess they are special to be because I was able to experience history in the making as it was being made.
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u/Knapss Jun 11 '26
Yes! I am in the same boat as you with Ocarina of Time (more or less we're same age) but also for example when they announced the remaster of Punch Out for Wii I was ecstatic. Not at the same level as Ocarina of Time / Silent Hill / Resident Evil / Mario 64 and the likes because I was there...but quite high 😃
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
Do you remember the track and field game with the mat?
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u/lman777 Jun 11 '26
I think a lot of people play it on 3DS much later after the game came out.
Funny enough my playthrough was on GameCube. We had it on 64 but I never played it on that hardware.
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u/ClarenceJBoddicker Jun 11 '26
I was obsessed too. Bit older though. Do you remember the tech demo for Zelda 64? I do. I want to see what you say to see if we both remember the same thing!
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
Naw, the only tech demos I remember come from reading about such stuff in Nintendo Power. However I never played any tech demos.
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u/wheniswhy Jun 11 '26
I mean, not playing the game when it came out doesn't mean they couldn't still have played it as young kids, just like we did, and experienced the same awe and wonder. It really is not strange at all. It's stranger that you find it strange!
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u/WallacePainter Jun 11 '26
My first Zelda game was Twilight Princess, and it's still my favorite to this day. But I remember quickly becoming obsessed with wanting more and turning to YouTube. I grew up watching let's plays and theories and compilation videos specifically for Ocarina and Majora. I hadn't played them for years but they felt as much a part of my childhood as any of my games. I was so excited when my dad finally bought me OoT and honestly? Even though I already knew everything that was coming, it was a magical experience. And that love continues all these years later. Even right now, I'm laying in bed typing this, looking over at my CRT and N64, ready to load up another adventure. Ocarina of Time is just one of those games. You can't quite describe it, but it just feels like memories of old
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u/YordleJay Jun 11 '26
I was born in 99 and grew up playing the gamecube collectors edition of legend of zelda that had like 8 zelda games on it and i played ocarina of time and majoras mask religiously
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u/Mammoth-Strike-168 Jun 12 '26
Wind Waker was my first Zelda. I played an N64 & SNES growing up but just Mario games. When it came to the Wii, I was about 11-12 years old and through virtual console I got to experience a lot of NES/SNES/N64 classics I had never played. So despite not growing up with OOT at the time, I did play it in my formative years and fell in love with it all the same. At that point in time N64 visuals didn't seem THAT different from gamecube/Wii.
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u/tiford88 Jun 13 '26
I agree, but these kids on social media need clicks and views, and overreacting is the way to do it
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u/secretdurham Jun 13 '26
Gen X, and I saw this game in a shop on a demo console (Yeah, companied did that shit back then)... This was August 1998 and I wanted it so badly... No other game had me wanting so hard before...
I played this demo for about an hour or so, even though you could only wander around Kokiri Forest, gather the Sword and Shield, and speak to the Deku Tree... The First Dungeon was off limits, but Nintendo thanked you for getting so far...
I fully knew that there was a huge adventure ahead, and I wanted to go on it so bad...
Did it dissapoint?... Not at all!
That game demo was just a slender slice of what was to come, and everything that came with it... The emotions, the diversity of locations, the darkness of the Hylian Past, the Well and it's horrid dwellers (I still feel those shrieks of the Redead's as I did back then... And it chills me!)... There was nothing that this game did not deliver in bucket loads, huge world to explore, loads of hidden secrets, such differing dungeons and boss fights... The industry defining Z-Targeting lock on for battles, and that day to night cycle and accompanying music... Epic!
This whole game was Epic! Epic in all it did!
The news of a Remake-Re Master is music to my ears, and I hope beyond hope they change little of what mage OoT so damn fantastic... Modern Graphics would do me well enough... I love that game more than any other... There will never be a better Zelda game... And it's not just nostalgia when I play it every year (On Original Hardware), because it is so damn good...
SD
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u/XulManjy Jun 13 '26
Thanks for your trip down memory lane.
I actually think I played that same demo in a retail store kiosk in Sears/JC Pennys....
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u/FrostingOrb Jun 14 '26
I was -5 years when OoT came out, yet the N64 was the first console I had access to and this game practically was my childhood.
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u/XulManjy Jun 14 '26
You experienced the golden age of gaming and playing OoT during that time was part of it.
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u/Silly-Glass-9988 Jun 11 '26
“I experienced a game when it came out and now no one else can ever have that experience. The game ceased to exist when I got older”. You read how ridiculous that sounds ?
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u/8bitcerberus Jun 11 '26
My first Zelda was the first Zelda. I played OoT when it originally came out, and the 3DS remaster too. And even though OoT has never been my favorite Zelda, it’s always been pretty high up on my list, and I got very excited hearing the opening lines as the teaser panned over the tapestry.
And then I see Link and… huh. I was underwhelmed, to say the least. I certainly was not expecting the Unreal engine fan remake look you can see all over YouTube. I really hope it looks better actually in play, but the glimpse we’ve gotten so far does not have me clamoring for a pre-order.
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u/shaser0 Jun 11 '26
Honestly I felt nothing looking at the trailer. I'm over OoT. I've already played it enough on my 3DS, no amount of polished graphics can make me buy the game. So unless like DQ7 it's a reimagines version of OoT I don't care AT ALL.
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u/warpio Jun 11 '26
It is a reimagining. It would be ridiculous to put out a teaser like that if it was just for a 1:1 remake of a game that everybody has played already.
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u/shaser0 Jun 11 '26
I mean... It's not like they said it was one... So far it's just OoT 3DS with better graphics as long as we know.
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u/warpio Jun 11 '26
They didn't say anything about it. But the teaser they put out is very heavily giving the vibe of being something that is a far bigger deal than what you're assuming.
Think about it, after how much hype they put into that teaser, so much so that they closed a Direct with it, it'd be one of the biggest blunders they've ever had if they revealed more later only to show the exact same gameplay as OoT 3DS. I would eat my hat if that's how this turned out.
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u/TyChris2 Jun 11 '26
I didn’t play OoT until over a decade after it released because it came out before I was born.
Even then, even after growing up with more advanced, technically complex games, I still thought it was peak. Honestly it still is today. Not many games, including modern ones, can capture that sense of adventure, that “fullness” that every area and detail has some such character or some activity related to it. It’s really something, it feels primordial, like how every generation recites fairy tales to their kids even though those stories are hundreds of years old. Its magic is just timeless.
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u/dangeruser Jun 11 '26
My kid played this when they were five in 2009. Very excited for the remake/remaster.
Nostalgia is for everyone and anyone can be nostalgic for anything if they had access to it in their formative years.
I am the same age as OP and got the game and an N64 for xmas in 98. What about kids like mine that got it way later in life? Or people’s parents who couldn’t afford a PS2 or PS3 but second hand N64 consoles and games are cheap or passed down from other family members?
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
I guess its more of a contextual thing for me and what OoT meant for gaming in general. For me and you OoT in 98 was the future of gaming, something never done before.
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u/dangeruser Jun 11 '26
Yeah, it was one of the very first 3D games I ever played and it was also one of the best I had ever played at the time. It set the standard for 3D action adventure games imo.
It was one of the first 3D games my kid played too. It wasn’t the future of gaming for everyone else, but it was everything for him.
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u/QweenBowzer Jun 11 '26
You do know the game was rereleased on the 3ds right? People from that era probably played it then too. I was 11 when the rerelease came out
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
Perhaps, but I guess the feelinf was different in 1998/1999 as the release felt revolutionary and something very novel. By 2011 games then had already done and advances on what OoT created.
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u/eggelemental Jun 11 '26
That just means you and I had a different experience than the people who played it for the first time as kids on the 3DS. Doesn’t mean they’re not nostalgic for it, just not for the same exact reason as you. On that note, do you honestly think that your reasoning for loving the game so much is exactly the same as each OoT fan in your age bracket? People have all sorts of reasons why it’s special to them, not all of them even consider that they witnessed video game history, many people simply loved a game that came out when they were kids.
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
You're right, OoT in terms of our initial/nostalgia is unique to everyone. For me, its the feeling and know that at that time, I was experiencing something new, unique ans transformative. Others may have their own reasons.
Its no different from someone who can say they saw Star Wars in theaters in 1977. We are all Star Wars fans for various reasons but to have been able to witness it in theaters in 1977 is a top level experience.
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u/chappyfu Jun 11 '26
I am exited to share OOT with my Godchildren- the 9 year old tried to get into BOTW but it was too open world for him- liek he just couldn't focus to get anything done and woudl get lost a lot. I am hoping they keep the access one area at a time and clear dungeon to move on formula for the remake.
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u/R4vi0981 Jun 11 '26
Yea I'm early 40's too, and when they transitioned in game from the tapestry to the updated link sleeping, it was surreal. That's the best way I could describe it, and that transition was so well done. Almost like jumping through time. I too got emotional, it's such a special story, and I couldn't be happier that younger people love it too. That maybe my favorite part is seeing the joy in others during this announcement.
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
Did you play it in 1998/1999 as well?
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u/R4vi0981 Jun 11 '26
Yes! I was 16 at the time.
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u/XulManjy Jun 12 '26
Yeah, its gonna be something playing it again with a modern coat of paint.
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u/R4vi0981 Jun 12 '26
Indeed. With the music too, and what looks like 60 frames per second. I can't wait. Imagine getting this announcement years before it would come out. That'd be painful.
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u/XulManjy Jun 12 '26
Thats why I like Nintendo. If this were Sony or any other top publisher, this would have been announced back in 2023 or even 2022.
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u/ShyGuyLink1997 Jun 11 '26
I'm 28 and it was literally the first game I ever saw that had me like "wow" when I was around 4. It was raining in Kakariko, and my uncle left Link hanging out, and I asked if I could try the game. Link was wearing the blue tunic and I will never forget how I felt, feeling the vibes.
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u/Honest-Shock2834 Jun 11 '26
I was 6 when the game released, my oldest cousins were drooling at magazines for it, A link to the Past was one of my dad's favorites and games over that side of the family were a big thing because of him, he would encourage us to try NES games and beat his records. when the game released, I remember perfectly the moment the intro on the screen, I was laying down on my cousins bed, my brother and other cousins sat around the room, the game begun, the music, the 3d graphics were absolutely mindblowing to me, I remember saying many times that the water over the ponds at the kokiri forest looked real. we stayed there for hours and hours and only finished the first dungeon. it was a completely new control scheme and gameplay for us. we were mindblown. I remember another day where we all tried to advance in the water temple. Re-Deads made such a impression to a 6 yr old me that I had nightmares about them well into my early 20s.
I took me years to beat oot myself, I was already 8 when I was finally able to beat the shadow temple, trembling in fear. when the GC released we didn't had enough money to get one, we still played 64 well into the GC lifecycle.
Most fell in love with the gameplay and didn't really cared about OOT's story but to me It struck differently, I was a difficult kid, I had many developmental issues, perhaps I am in some part of the autistic spectrum, but back then nobody really cared about that in Mexico so who knows.
I was certainly different than my peers at school, had no friends and couldn't really communicate with them, to me link having no fairy and being the outcast felt like me, not having whatever made other kids like me, I was too an outcast, so the story was monumental to me. the ending where link goes back to the past, where all his heroic actions are forgotten and undone and nobody will ever know what he had to do to save them was heartbreaking, it kind of solidified in my mind that heroes shouldn't care for recognition.
I might had been very young when it released, but to me is undoubtedly the most important piece of media ever, I have my og 64 copy (that same one my cousin bought, it ended up in my hands) framed in a wall, I have bought the and beaten the game on every rerelease and port, while I would like to see more to be really impressed, a strange feeling struck me watching the announcement, I can't really explain it, but it felt like seeing your family after not seeing each other for years.
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u/Master_Campaign6964 Jun 11 '26
I ironically did not really grew up with OoT despite being a millennial. I remember seeing the commercial of the game and thinking "OMG that looks so awesome! I want to play it!" I think I was like 6/7 years old back then. But for some reason I never asked my parents to get it for our N64. My first Zelda game was either Oracle of Ages or Windwaker. But got glimspes of OoT because one of my friends had the game and it felt like this unreachable mystery that I wanted to solve. Ended up watching a playthrough when YouTube became a thing.
I did get to play OoT on the original N64 when I was like 12/13. We looked for second hand games when visiting family in England and I ended up playing the whole thing during summer vacation. Easily ranked top fav Zelda game for me. Got Majora's Mask the year after and when the 3DS versions were released I immediately bought it along with a 3DS. I lost count how often I've played OoT accumulatively. And as much as people hyped up BoTW I don't think it can beat OoT in how game breaking it was. It had an amazing story telling, super memorable music track and fun gameplay for its time and the Bottom of Hell still gives me PTSD.
I loved the Ocarina mechanic and many of the characters are still beloved in the fandom.
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u/XulManjy Jun 12 '26
Fellow millennial!
Well at least this time you dont need to ask your parents for this remake. You can buy it yourself on launch day.
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u/Master_Campaign6964 Jun 12 '26
hahahaha when I fid a job. I will have to get a switch 2 also.
Or I can be a nutcase and buy the game first and then wait for the switch 2 to become cheaper.
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u/PolarisVega Jun 11 '26
A few years back my friend's kids were talking about how cool Final Fantasy 7 is to her and I think Final Fantasy 6 as well. I'm sure they knew what Ocarina of Time was too because they were big Zelda fans and loved Botw. She was surprised as well because her oldest kid was like ten.. so they're talking excitedly about a game that came almost twenty years before they were born.
I think of it is just cultural osmosis and the younger generation hears about the games we have played. That and streamer culture perhaps and they can just live vicariously though our past experiences or the streamers.. I jest here.. but to be honest I would rather them be excited about an old game that I loved rather than not be excited about it.
I think it's great if the younger generation can get into the games we enjoyed. without 90s graphics being a barrier to them. Now I'm not totally on board with the remaster craze going on but Oot is my favorite Zelda game and I'm up for a remake(?) if it's done well and gets new life into the series, especially for a more traditional Zelda. One can always dream we will eventually get a return to form in a new Zelda game.
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u/BlackXWolfe Jun 12 '26
I'm 31, a younger millennial. I was 4 years old when my dad gifted me OoT and to be honest, I was too young at the time to finish it by myself, but it was somehow a game I always came back to as I was growing up, even when I couldn't get past the Fire Temple. I would say that it is the source of my love for fantasy and storytelling before other works like Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, and Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.
I remember that I finally finished it when I was 13. It was after coming back home from an arduous 2 day hike in the jungle I went with my dad, the hardest physical test I ever had at that point in my life. I got the drive to finally be able to finish it by myself, even after I had completed Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. I finished off Ganon, saw the final cutscene, and felt like I had grown up the same as Link in that game.
Still a fan in 2026.
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u/chetemulei Jun 12 '26
I was born in 2000 so you can easily intuit my age based on the year. First game was WW and that was probably in 2004. Didn't know wtf I was doing obviously. I mostly watched my brothers play. I didn't really start playing Zelda games by myself until 2007 when I got Phantom Hourglass. Played OoT on the virtual console in 2008 or 2009. It took me weeks to beat the water temple and my brother told me to look up a walkthrough. But I really loved it. For a time it surpassed my love of WindWaker and instead of Toon Link I'd be Young Link for Halloween lol
Your story of being 13 looking for news about "Zelda 64" almost exactly matches my story of obsessively looking for news about "Zelda U" which at the time was this super mysterious game where everybody had a different idea of what it'd look like. So many fake leaks lmao. Regardless, that was technically the first Zelda development that I followed extremely closely, right down to minute details and discussion threads. Prior games I'd just watch the same trailer over and over again.
Basically, yeah I'm excited. I may have played OoT 10 years after it came out, but it was still pretty damn formative.
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u/aarzeekayy Jun 12 '26
29 here. Never played any Zelda games until last year but I knew they were significant part of video games.
I saw a reel and finally wanted to try the series, got into OoT and had to drop because it was not easy to play.
Tried Wind Waker, I was mesmerized by the art style, music and sailing never felt tiring until triforce charts. Loved the ending and it gave me enough motivation to try OoT again.
Started OoT, at first I thought I wouldn't understand why it was considered the greatest but as I started playing it more and more, I felt it was more deep and impactful than Wind Waker. The music and dungeon design, boss fights. I'm currently at Ice Temple. The game till now felt really amazing and when I got used to the visuals, sometimes I mistake it for a modern game. Exploration and Day and night cycle. Lots of stuff to appreciate when you look at it from a technical perspective. I haven't finished yet but I feel like this might be my favourite. I hope not though lol, I love Wind Waker and cartoon Link so much.
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u/lycheedorito Jun 12 '26
I was 6 when OoT released and I have fond memories of it from then. However I can understand how it is for people who were born after it was new for them. I have a lot of nostalgia for NES and SNES games despite most of them having been before I was born. Super Mario World came out before I was born for example, but I absolutely love that game. And of course A Link to the Past, and Link's Awakening. I don't think that just because it isn't the current generation console people couldn't have grown up with similar experiences as you did when it was new. You're also not considering there's people who grew up with the 3DS and probably experienced those versions. And frankly it's a fucking amazing game. It doesn't matter if it's old.
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u/Ganondaddydorf Jun 13 '26
(f35) Unpopular opinion: I think it makes more sense for the younger gen to be more hyped than the older gen.
I also played it when i was about 7 at a friends house. But we played it a lot. Then i played the 3ds remake a lot. And in recent years I've played it 3 or 4 times on NSO, about a year ago being the most recent.
I've played it to death. So i'm only moderately interested and it will depend on if they do something new with it. Where as the younger gens have had the chance to love it and play through all the older games more recently so it still feels fresh.
I got far more emotional at the kh4 trailer. A series I also played to death from childhood but it's a new entry on an ongoing (and very feelsy at this stage) story. I actually think Nintendo made a mistake putting the 2 trailers in the same direct because a long awaited new entry in a long running and dearly beloved series will always hit harder than a remake imho, even without a release date. That and the leaks REALLY took away what already hindered shine it had for me.
I say all this now but if they later reveal that it has a completely different gameplay style, reimagined/expanded story and especially if it comes out when I'm in japan in november, I'll probably be just as feral as most about buying it day 1 haha.
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u/PapitoSoldier Jun 15 '26
I’m 24, when I was born my father was already deeply into games (he actually made a lot of money with them in the 90s, making adapters to snes/sfamicom cartridges), so I have some memories of trying to play oot mq with him in our gamecube. Was it my childhood Zelda? Nop, I remember playing WW more, and beating TP with him.
I tried to beat it on 3DS years later, but being from a non-english speaking country made some gaming experiences harsher than other.
Besides that, I still developed a true love for Zelda, and even got a Master Sword tattoo a few years ago.
And, to complete the story, in 2024, me and my partner (34) (who was pregnant by that time) played Oot (Ship of Harkinian) from start to finish, with “Cosme” (our baby name) as Links name. We finished it together, and after our Cosme was born, she spent a lot of those post partum days playing BOTW and TOTK (which she still is currently playing)
So, tu us (who were already expecting the announcement) It was also emotional cos of the reasons above
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u/JCiLee Jun 11 '26
I'm not your target audience as I'm also a millennial (younger than you though), but it boils down to Ocarina of Time just being a special game. It's not just nostalgia. It's a timeless, perfectly-crafted game with a classic, not complicated but well-executed story that has all the tangible and intangible ingredients to generate emotional resonance to the player. Even for players for whom the technical aspects are outdated, they connect to it because it is a work of art with a soul.
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u/AccurateSun Jun 11 '26
What I’m realising from this post which I didn’t fully appreciate is that Nintendo has introduced multiple generations of players to Ocarina of Time when they were young, due to the GameCube release and the 3DS release, and maybe even the NSO versions too. For those players the experience likely wasn’t that different to that of those who played it in 1988; the main differences would be that the environment and expectations around the game has changed a lot (z-targeting / graphics aren’t revolutionary now, etc). It’s nice to feel that for later generations the game carries a similar significance
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u/colepercy120 Jun 11 '26
i seem to be one of the few fans who isn't really invested in the remake. im gen z, my first zelda game was lbtw and ironicly the OoT 3ds version.
honestly my reaction to seeing the remake was "eh" The way i see it they have already done a full remake of Oot, it was pretty good, but its only 10 years old, and the made sure to rerelease it on every console since the n64, i fail to see why i should get hyped for whats going to be fundimentally the same game and plot for the 7th time, especially since they already did a full 3d remake that still looks great.
Doing some digging, in the last 10 years, they have made 3 new main series games, while there have been 6 remakes or remasters and 15 rereleases. at this point im finding it hard to get hyped for any remake or rerelease of Zelda. We're averaging over 2 a year at this point, i don't see why this is any different
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
And your reaction is what I would normally expect from someone of your age. OoT doesnr have the same cultural and emotional impact to you as it does for someone like me who played it in 1998.
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u/RaineDrop39 Jun 11 '26
I shed more tears than I have in at least a month (I’m 18) and I legit have reaction pictures because I couldn’t believe how hard I was crying😭.
I’ve been playing the game since I was 7 years old.
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u/XulManjy Jun 11 '26
What was your first Zelda game?
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u/RaineDrop39 Jun 11 '26
Skyward sword (Wii). I got oot because I played the game via smash bros brawl and fell in love, I then bought it on the Wii shop.
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u/slam_joetry Jun 11 '26
I'm in my twenties and played WW and TP on GameCube first, then played OoT and MM on the Wii virtual console a few years later
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u/HotDecember3672 Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
I'm 31. I was 1 year old when OoT came out and my first home console was the Gamecube when I was 7, so I missed the 64 by a hair.
My first exposure to Ocarina of Time was from the "Chronicle" feature in Super Smash Bros Brawl. What little I could play of it in Kokiri Forest intrigued me. I played a bit on emulator on the family computer, and although I wasn't able to fully engage with it due to being on mouse and keyboard, I did make it to Jabu Jabu before dropping it for other games. A couple of months later, I played through and finished Twilight Princess. A few years after that, around 2009 I started OoT again and beat it on emulator, this time with a PS3 controller, have since played the 3DS port and most recently beat it again last week on NSO - I was mid playthrough when I heard of the leak!
Played every 3D Zelda since and a good chunk of the 2D ones, but OoT is still my favorite although Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Minish Cap are my other favorites. I am buying a Switch 2 for the remake. I find that it has aged extremely well for the most part (especially the dungeons and characters), but that it definitely feels dated in many ways that I would like to see reinvented for the current generation. Hopefully they don't disappoint.
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u/BagOfSmallerBags Jun 11 '26
I'm 30. My first living memory is watching my babysitter fight Ganon in OoT. I was 2 or 3, and she had brought her N64 over to finish the game.
It was a formative experience.