Press Releases

Nintendo’s 64-Bit Zelda Changes Meaning of Video Games

325,000+ Pre-Orders Make it the "Most Anticipated Video Game in History"

Redmond, Wash., November 16, 1998 "What I set out to create is an entirely new emotional experience for video game players."

With these words, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, head of the world’s most celebrated team of video game designers, set out to revolutionize interactive entertainment with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The game, to be released in the U.S. November 23rd exclusively for the Nintendo 64 home video game system, is the first ever to combine the complex, immersive story line and character development of a traditional role-playing game (RPG) with the full 3-D action and exploration of a first-person-perspective adventure game.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has already set an historical industry milestone, more than 325,000 American consumers, well over a quarter of a million, have placed deposits toward purchase of the game to ensure they get their copy as soon as it hits stores. The 256-megabit epic adventure/RPG for one player has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $69.95.

"While video games have always provided an interactive experience, they have never been truly immersive, until now," says Mr. Miyamoto, General Manager of Entertainment Analysis and Development at Nintendo Company Limited, of Kyoto, Japan. "New technology creates new opportunities. We can still feel the danger and excitement of a main character while he battles an enemy. But with more life-like animations and complete 3-D worlds, for the first time we can also begin to feel the hero’s fear, his frustration, his confusion and his elation as he journeys through a 360-degree world in service of his princess."

"Every Zelda game ever released has significantly advanced the entertainment and technological performance of the system on which it played," says Peter Main, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president, sales and marketing. "And this fifth Zelda title, and the series’ first for the Nintendo 64, continues that legacy. This is a video game masterpiece of the first order."

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time combines the most intricate graphic art and engrossing game play ever produced in an interactive entertainment title. In addition to its mesmerizing visual effects and nearly an hour of gorgeous, real-time, 3-D animation scenes, the game gives players an unprecedented variety of game play activities. Besides enabling players to travel back-and-forth through time, the game includes elements of nearly every video game genre: puzzle, adventure, action, first-person shooter, sports and role-playing.

The game introduces Link’s fairy guardian, Navi, who will travel along with him, dispensing hints on where to go and how to solve different puzzles. To help players battle enemies in a 3-D world, the game features a unique 3-D battle system utilizing the "Z-trigger" located underneath the controller to lock-on to enemies, thereby keeping them always in front of Link.

Using 256-megabits of memory, which is unprecedented, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time features the largest world of any Nintendo game. The game includes new Nintendo 64 graphic rendering and motion capture technologies to create ultra-realistic skin textures and character movements, demonstrated beautifully when Link mounts and gallops away on his horse. Additionally, the special effects and lighting effects are some of the most brilliant ever seen in a video game.

The story, level design, music, character interaction, graphics and game play activities are combined so flawlessly that every video game enthusiast magazine is recommending its readers purchase this game. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is receiving the highest review scores of any video game in history, equaling or surpassing those of Miyamoto’s initial 1996 Nintendo 64 game, Super Mario 64.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is also Rumble Pak-compatible. For the first time, the Rumble Pak will be both a proactive device, vibrating to clue players to an impending action, as well as a reactive device, vibrating as a result of an action. However, Rumble Pak capability is not required for completion of the game.

To coincide with the launch of the game, Nintendo Power Magazine will release an official The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Player’s Guide, as well as create a dedicated site on Nintendo Power Source, Nintendo’s official web site.

Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than 1 billion video games worldwide, and has created such industry icons as Mario, Yoshi, Zelda, and Donkey Kong. Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its best-selling home video game systems, including the 64-bit Nintendo 64, the hand-held Game Boy, and the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in North America, where more than 40 percent of American households own a Nintendo game system.

For more information about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or any other Nintendo product, visit Nintendo’s web site on the Internet, www.nintendo.com.