The z-targeting system introduced by Ocarina of Time was incredibly innovative.

Ocarina of Time originally started out as the launch title for the infamous DD64, a disk drive attachment for the Nintendo 64 that was supposed to increase the amount of memory and overall content storage of the system. The DD64, however, never came to fruition, and Nintendo quietly pushed it aside after showing off a few screenshots and tech demos. Eventually it was decided to switch Zelda to a 256-megabit cartridge--the largest ever produced at that time. Finally, after almost two years of delays, Ocarina of Time hit stores in November of 1998, selling all of its record-setting 325,000-copy first run almost instantly, and eventually going on to sell more than 7 million copies worldwide.

Ocarina of Time introduced a cinematic element to the Zelda series.

The Legend of Zelda series has always been one of the high-water marks of Nintendo's history. Starting out with The Legend of Zelda for the NES, the games have all told the story of a young boy named Link, destined to set out on a peril-filled quest to rescue a princess named Zelda from the clutches of Gannon, a villain bent on shrouding the kingdom of Hyrule in darkness. Every title in the series has taken a slightly different perspective on the classic tale, and each one has been an amazing achievement in its own right. However, one title among all the Zelda games truly sticks out as the crowning glory of the franchise--The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

No one was shocked when Nintendo made the announcement in 1996 that the Zelda series would be coming to the company's then-new console system, the Nintendo 64. The company's other flagship character, Mario, had already made his debut at the system's launch with Mario 64, a 3D platform adventure game that in many ways redefined its genre. However, many people were skeptical about how Zelda would be handled on the new console. With the exception of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, every Zelda game had featured a top-down perspective and been entirely in 2D. Could a Zelda game in 3D work? Absolutely.

Ocarina of Time featured a third-person perspective, and it put you in the midst of a completely immersive world. The plot of the game was largely linear in its design, but the true beauty of Ocarina came from exploration and simply taking in the stunning design and attention to detail that could be found throughout the Hyrulian kingdom. In addition, Ocarina featured one of the most excellently balanced gameplay systems ever designed, achieving a perfect harmony between combat and puzzle solving. Both elements required you to truly use your intellect to progress--a feat uncommon in much of modern-day gaming.

Ocarina of Time was not only a magical Zelda game, but it's also an absolute masterpiece when compared with any game you could ever think of. So much so, in fact, that we here at GameSpot gave it the honor of being the first game to ever score a perfect 10 on our site. To call Ocarina of Time anything other than one of the greatest games of all time would be an absolute crime, and we won't be the ones to commit it. Few games deserve this title more than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and we're happy to award it.

To this day, Ocarina of Time is the finest game I've ever played across any platform or genre. When I first purchased the game, all I did day and night was play, think about, eat, breathe, and sleep Zelda. Weeks went by, and eventually it came to a point where I knew the end was fast approaching. So, instead of just heading off to the final dungeon, I purposely went back and tried to make sure I'd checked out every minigame and side quest available. I did everything I could to milk the experience, as I simply did not want it to end. Few games had ever had that sort of effect on me--and none have since.