Tokyo, Japan – Gaming fans around the world excitedly welcomed the release on Thursday of Nintendo’s latest addition to its long-running Zelda series, Ocarina of Time.
The game, a remake of a classic 1990s edition, is being released as part of the 40th anniversary of the action-adventure saga.
It has already won widespread praise, with a score of 96 out of 100 on aggregator site Metacritic by the eve of its release, putting it among the best-reviewed titles of the year so far.
“I used to play (Zelda) a lot on the Nintendo 64 when I was little, so I’m really excited about this remake, especially the improved graphics,” 27-year-old fan Takumi Kawata told AFP in Tokyo, referring to the console first released in 1996.
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His brother, Kousuke Kawata (31), added that Zelda visuals are “absolutely stunning, especially the beautiful forests.”
The series centers on the adventures of green-clad warrior Link, who battles the evil demon Ganondorf across the ages trying to save Princess Zelda.
American tourist Marissa Olvera reminisced that she had spent “a whole summer” playing the original Ocarina of Time when she was a child.
“I just loved it. It was a bonding experience with my brothers,” she told AFP, adding that the trailer for the remake had “brought back a lot of those feelings.”
Created in 1986 by Nintendo legend and Mario inventor Shigeru Miyamoto, the Zelda series has enjoyed growing success.
Its last two main installments, Breath of the Wild (2017) and Tears of the Kingdom (2023), sold more than 55 million copies between them.
Eiji Aonuma, who produced the new Ocarina of Time, told AFP last month he was “all nervous” about the release.
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“I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, I can’t stop thinking about it,” he said.
The reviews so far have gone some way to allaying his fear, with IGN calling it an “exceptional remake of an incredible game and a rich adventure that stands on its own.”
In a five-star review for the Guardian newspaper, Keza MacDonald wrote: “Nintendo’s modern Zelda team have turned one of the best games of the 1990s into one of the best games of the 2020s, and made time-travellers out of us all.”
Market analysts will be watching to see how much the title can boost sales of the Switch 2, which became the world’s fastest-selling games console on its 2025 release.
Nintendo reported a drop in quarterly net profit on Thursday as those sales, but maintained its annual forecasts.
