Happy Birthday: Ocarina of Time Turns 17 Today in North America

Break out the cake, candles, and party hats, because we have a birthday today! 17 years ago, the Zelda franchise had only known the second dimension. With the Nintendo 64 bringing many game series into the third dimension, it was only fair that Zelda had a chance to shine. Zelda 64 was originally shown off in December of 1995 alongside Super Mario 64. and at its release in 1998 as Ocarina of Time, it was the largest game Nintendo had ever created. The game weighed in at a whole 32MB. You read that right, 32 megabytes, not gigabytes.

The Legend of Zelda‘s famous jump into 3D made it the highest selling Zelda game of its time at 7.60 million sales. It would hold the record for the best-selling Zelda game for quite a while until Twilight Princess‘ release gathered a whole 8.58 million sales. It’s re-release, Ocarina of Time 3D, is the highest-selling Zelda remake at 3.82 million sales, with the Game Boy Advance re-release of the SNES classic A Link to the Past trailing behind at 2.82 million. Will history repeat itself? Will the recently announced Twilight Princess HD smash Ocarina of Time 3D‘s record, as it’s predecessor did? Only time will tell.

Even those who are not fans of Ocarina of Time acknowledge it’s legacy and influence within the gaming industry. Many grew up with this title, and it has become a favorite of speedrunners over the years. Do you have any memories surrounding Ocarina of Time you would like to share? Please do so in the comment section below. Happy birthday, Ocarina of Time!