The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Hyrule changed when Zelda stepped into three dimensions.

Nintendo released Ocarina of Time in 1998 as the series’ first 3D game. The challenge was making an entire adventure feel natural in three dimensions.

Players crossed Hyrule on foot or horseback, then entered dungeons built around 3D space. New items changed how Link interacted with the world. Music was a gameplay mechanic, with learned ocarina songs opening paths and triggering changes around Hyrule. In combat, Z-targeting kept Link and an opponent framed together, so circling or defending no longer meant wrestling the camera.

Ocarina assembled these ideas into a remarkably readable model for third-person adventure. Its target-based combat spread widely, and the broader structure offered a reference point for later 3D action games.

Its lasting influence came from solving so many of early 3D gaming’s problems in ways that soon began to feel natural elsewhere.