Famitsu Gives Zelda a Perfect Score

TOKYO - 10, 10, 10, 10. 40 out of 40. That's the score Famitsu's reviewers gave Nintendo's latest, Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. This is the highest score the magazine has ever given to a game and the very first time this has happened since Famitsu started its current review system.

Famitsu - the weekly bible among video game fans in Japan - was first established back in June 1986. After several months, Famitsu started its now-famous review system - four reviewers, zero-to-ten ranking system - in the magazine's tenth issue. The very first game reviewed was Akumajou Dracula/Castlevania for the Famicom Disk System. They gave it 8, 8, 9, 9. Since then, literally thousands of games have been reviewed - some of them were good while others were not (just like any review system).

But up until today, no game had ever earned a perfect 40 points. Seven years ago, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Super Famicom (called the Super Nintendo in the US) earned a 9, 10, 10, 10. And that was the record.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the game Famitsu judged the best video game of all time, will be released on November 21 in Japan. That's just eight days from now, and it's just seven years from when the Super Famicom version of Zelda was first released.