Ocarina of Time, the 1998 game
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the Nintendo 64 game from November 1998. Japan’s date is 21 November, North America’s is 23 November, and Europe’s is 11 December. Nintendo EAD developed it. This page is about that game, not the 2026 Switch 2 release.
Last checked:
What the original still is
The 1998 game is the timeline’s hinge. Finish it one way and later stories fall on the child branch or the adult branch. Fall, and the downfall branch is the chart’s reading. I keep that structure on the timeline page and I do not retell every dungeon here.
Metacritic’s figure for the Nintendo 64 game is 99. The encyclopedia sales line I will cite is 7.6 million. Those are not the 3DS numbers (94, and 6.44 million) and they are not the 2026 score of 96 from 87 reviews. Mixing them would make a fake “lifetime” that no table actually published.
Master Quest is not in the 1998 cart. It arrived on GameCube in 2002 as a mirrored, redesigned set of dungeons, and the 2011 3DS version included it. Whether the 2026 game includes it is a one-source report, handled on the remake page.
How to play the 1998 game today
The living official copy of the Nintendo 64 original is the Expansion Pack’s Nintendo 64 app on Switch. The base membership does not include it. The 3DS version is a card, because that shop closed on 27 March 2023. The Switch 2 game is a separate product with a free camera, a jump button, some spoken scenes, and Zelda Notes.
Z-targeting, the pause-menu items, and towns where the clock stops are the 1998 rules. I am not going to describe the 2026 control changes as if they were patches to this cart. If you want that comparison, it is a table on the remake page.
FAQ
Is Ocarina of Time the first 3D Zelda?
It is the first mainline 3D Zelda in this archive. Earlier games are top-down or side-view.
Do I need it before Majora’s Mask?
Majora’s Mask follows this hero. Both the shelf order and the child branch put this game first.
Where is the 99 from?
Metacritic’s page for the Nintendo 64 release. The 2026 release has its own 96.
Related
Sources
| Claim | Status | Cross-check |
|---|---|---|
| Historical dates, platforms and background | 1 source: Wikipedia | Read the linked game or series entry; multiple Wikipedia pages count as one publisher. |
| Mainline release sequence and original consoles | 2 sources | Nintendo game history compared with Wikipedia. Remakes and spin-offs use the linked individual entries. |
- Nintendo, official Zelda game history — checked 2026-11-10
- Wikipedia, Ocarina of Time — checked 2026-11-10
- Wikipedia media list — checked 2026-11-10
- Nintendo Switch Online — checked 2026-11-10
Page updated 2026-11-10. Site check date 2026-11-10.