The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the fifth main installment of The Legend of Zelda series and the first to be released for the Nintendo 64. It was one of the most highly anticipated games of its age…

21 November 1998 ESRB E

Adventure Puzzle Action Fantasy Open world Sandbox

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is an adventure developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development, released 21 November 1998 on Wii U, Wii, 64DD and Nintendo 64. The main story takes about 31.1 hrs to finish.

Verified 21 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is an adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development and released in 1998. It was published by Gradiente. It is available on Wii U, Wii, 64DD and Nintendo 64. It runs on Super Mario 64 Engine. It carries an ESRB E age rating.

The premise, in the publisher's words

A young boy named Link was raised in the village of the elf-like Kokiri people. One day a fairy named Navi introduces him to the village's guardian, the Great Deku Tree. It appears that a mysterious man has cursed the tree, and Link is sent to the Hyrule Castle to find out more. Princess Zelda tells Link that Ganondorf, the leader of the Gerudo tribe, seeks to obtain the Triforce, a holy relic that grants immense power to the one who possesses it. Link must do everything in his power to obtain the Triforce before Ganondorf does, and save Hyrule.

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a third person perspective. Its themes are action, fantasy, open world and sandbox. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

Where it sits in the The Legend of Zelda series

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the 14th of 133 entries we hold in the The Legend of Zelda series. It arrived 2 years after BS Zelda no Densetsu: Inishie no Sekiban. The next entry was The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX in 1998.

See all 133 The Legend of Zelda games in release order →

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 31.1 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 45.8 hrs, roughly 1.5 times the length of the critical path.

What it launched against

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launched on 21 November 1998, within three weeks of Half-Life, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus and Thief: The Dark Project.

Released around the same time: Half-Life, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Thief: The Dark Project.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →