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Hi, my name is Kevin Brennan; although, you should already know that. What you do not know is my subject for a project called the “I-Search” project. I will be doing a report on the 3-D branch of the video game franchise called “The Legend of Zelda.” I will be giving you information like game play, overall reception, species in the game, and the main plot of the two first 3-D Zelda games. Ocarina of Time, the first 3-D Zelda game, was based off a slightly-modified Super Mario 64 engine and was released in November of 1998. According to Wikipedia, it sold over 5 million copies within six months of the original release. Also according to Wikipedia, every major magazine gave it a 10 out of 10.
The game features fully 3-D environments, NPCs (non-player-controlled characters) that offer advice and give objectives, a vibrant soundtrack composed by Koji Kondo, and a unique instrument called an Ocarina. As hinted by the title, the Ocarina plays a key roll in the game; it allows you to warp, change the time of day, summon items, and is often necessary to complete dungeons. The Ocarina can also, since you are free to play any note on it in any sequence, play many songs that resemble famous tunes, such as The Simpsons theme.
Including the 3 mini-dungeons, this game has 13 different levels which are scattered around the overworld. The overworld is a term used by fans to describe the world in which you search for the dungeons and various items. The overworld was Hyrule Field, and when you traveled it, you could find towns like Hyrule Castle and Kakariko Village.
((NOTE: this explanation goes along with you showing the first cutscene and exploring the game via the projector and an emulator.)) The game begins in a small village where the eternal children, Kokiri, live in peace. Each of them – but one – has their own fairies. That boy is named Link, and although he does not know it, he is not one of them. He has lately been having scary reoccurring dreams involving a castle, a young girl on a horse and a scary-looking man pursuing her. The dream ends with the man hitting Link with some kind of light-orb.
The Great Deku Tree, guardian of the forest, sends a fairy, whose name is Navi, to Link to summon him. After this opening cutscene, you cut to a third-person view of his room. Once walking outside, you can see the amount of detail that was put into the games detail – for a Nintendo64 game, this had extremely vibrant graphics. Mido, the self-claimed “boss of all Kokiri” blocks your way when you head to the path of the Deku Tree. Saying you need a sword and shield, he won’t let you pass. This is where the tutorial in the game begins. Once you get those items, you are free to visit the Deku Tree. After beating the first dungeon, the Deku Tree dies. Its last wish is that you go visit Princess Zelda at Hyrule Castle. If I told you any more, than this would be no fun. ((close emulator, turn projector off))
Now, I shall go into details on the gameplay. The game features many key items, such as the hookshot, sword, boomerang, slingshot, and of course various tunics that will allow you to survive in certain areas. Some items, however, can only be used as an adult *GASP* MAJOR SPOILER!!!! Forget I said that, NOW. Well, OK, I’ll show you some adult-form gameplay (open PJ64 again, run 2nd file which has spiritual stones but has not yet picked up master sword; show cutscene and then run around a bit)
As you can see, the abundant kingdom of Hyrule, thanks to the evil one known as Ganondorf from Link’s dreams, has fallen apart. Hyrule Market is in shambles, with Re-Deads roaming about everywhere. This part of the game features new dungeons, familiar faces if you’ve beaten the first part, and new exclusive items for Adult Link.
Throughout the game’s many re-releases, there have been many revisions. The first would be how on the box they misspelled “environments” as “enviroinments.” This was corrected very shortly. After 1999, there was a reversion of the game which is called version 1.1; this fixed several bugs and glitches in the game, and also in some versions changed Ganon’s blood color to green. I heard somewhere that in 1.2 there is no blood, however I have not beaten the game so I cannot say for sure. Another major change was that 1.2 changed the Fire Temple music to sound less like a Muslim prayer. Many fans consider the original theme better.
When you pre-ordered a game for the GCN called “Mario Kart: Double Dash” you would receive a copy of a re-mix of the game called Ura Zelda, here referred to as “Master Quest.” This game featured, much like the second quest in the original game, harder dungeons and major changes. In addition, one other change to the graphics was made: the Gerudo flag was changed, again due to Muslim protest, because it looked like their flag. It was replaced with the flag found in Majora’s Mask.
And speaking of Majora’s Mask, I think it’s time we move onto that. This game is a sequel to Ocarina of Time, and features a darker storyline which seemingly takes place right after. But, before we get into that, I have to start with the features and such. This game was released here in the US on October 24, 2000. Since they re-used the engine from OoT, they only needed a smaller team. According to the director Eiji Aonuma, they wanted to have a game that matched up to Ocarina’s sales and gameplay; and they only about a year. So, inspired by the situation, they had a “three-day” system in which time passes in the game. Of course, the time wasn’t set to our time, but rather a sped-up version of it. It still used our hour system, but the time flowed faster than ours. The ocarina plays an even bigger role in this game, allowing you to manipulate time – going back in time, fast forwarding, or even slowing it down.
Perhaps the oddest and yet most useful feature in this game would be the masks. There are two types of masks: transformation and happy. The transformation masks are earned by putting a soul to rest, or in the Deku mask’s case, learning the song of healing. The happy masks give you special abilities; some to help you command animals, some to make you faster, to render Gibdos (common enemies) useless, and one to even blow yourself up! The masks also have a hidden cause: they are required to get the Fierce Deity’s mask, which is the best weapon against the final boss.
Many weapons, such as the different varieties of arrows and the hookshot, have returned. Instead of the boomerang, the Zora transformation allows you to throw your fins as boomerangs, or use them as twin swords. Character models were re-used; some characters were very similar to the ones in Hyrule.
The opening cutscene starts with an explanation of the situation, in which Link is searching for a “lost companion” known as Navi the Fairy; she was his guide in Ocarina of Time. In this one, you play as Young Link; in the end of OoT Zelda sent Link back to his own time.
All of a sudden, you are attacked by a Skull Kid with a mysterious mask, followed by two fairy friends of his. He begins to raid your possessions, finding your Ocarina. When he notices you’re conscious, he runs off with your horse. You pursue him, only to fall down a large hole which leads you to a parallel universe called Termina. He claims he “took care” of your horse, as if he killed it. With that, before he leaves – just to taunt you – he turns you into a Deku Scrub. One of his fairy friends stays to taunt you, only to be left behind. Apologizing for everything, she will act as a Navi in this game – your guide; she has a lot more sarcasm than Navi at first, but she eventually warms up to you.
Now, I’ll go into detail on species and characters. Link, our main hero, is a Hylian, a long-eared being human in appearance. In Ocarina of Time, he wields the amazing power of the Master Sword. Since all he does is make sounds in most of the games, his personality is often debated. I have heard from someone I know who is a Zelda Otaku that he is supposed to be a brat, however I cannot say for sure. Due to the multiple art styles and origins that have been presented in all the games, a Multiple Link theory has been created by fans. To my knowledge, Nintendo has yet to confirm such a theory is true; however, they continue to have different art styles and origins in their games. For this game, his origin is that his mother escaped from a castle falling to an enemy and wandered into the Kokiri Forest. She pleaded to the Great Deku tree to keep her son there, and he agreed to do so – however, she died right after. She was too weak at that point to live on. And that is how Link grew up to believe he was a Kokiri.
My previous description of the Kokiri, eternal children, seems to be accurate. As said before, they live in the forest with the Great Deku Tree. They appear to not age, as shown by the 7-year gap. Main Kokiri would include Saria, who seems to be a love interest of Link; she plays a key role when you become an adult. Mido, who I mentioned before is the “boss of the Kokiri” is also important; he blocks your way to the forest temple. You have to prove to him that you know Saria.
Next are the Gerudos. They are a mostly-female group of thieves, lead by Nabooru. Every 100 years, a male child is born to their tribe; he is automatically declared leader. Ganondorf was leader of the Gerudos until he seized control of Hyrule Castle. Nabooru originally wanted nothing to do with Ganondorf’s evil plans, but was brainwashed by him and Twinrova during the 7-year gap when Link needs to enter the Spirit Temple again as an adult. Ganondorf, an often re-occurring protagonist, is a Gerudo. He is pure evil; when he attempted to take the triforce from the Sacred Realm, it splint into three; he had the triforce of power, and tha was enough for him to take over Hyrule. In Majora’s Mask, they are a band of pirates that steal Zora eggs.
Now there are the Zoras. Originally enemies in the series found in rivers, they turned into a much more intelligent and peaceful race in Ocarina of Time. The Zora’s Domain is at the end of the Zora River, hidden by a waterfall. Key Zoras include the king, a fat pretty much useless obstacle whose speeches and wiggling seem to take forever to finish. Another key Zora in Ocarina of Time would be the princess, who gives you the Spiritual Stone of Water. In Majora’s Mask, you are able to play as a Zora named Mikau, a member of the Indigo-Gos.
And last of major species that are featured in this game are the Gorons. The Gorons live in a city up on Death Mountain, and are lead by their leader Darunia. The Gorons diet consists of rocks, rocks, and guess what? More rocks! In Ocarina of Time, the Gorons “special crop” or bombs, play a key role once you get the Goron bracelet. In Majora’s Mask, they live on a mountain similar to Death Mountain, save for the fact that it is frozen. They are not very comfortable there. The soul you heal, Darmani, allows you to play as a Goron. This is very useful for when you need power or speed, as you can roll up into a ball.
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STILL TO BE DONE
I have many sources for this project. A lot of it comes from memory from going over the guide books so many times, but I found a lot of information at these sites:
http://zeldauniverse.net
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majora%27s_Mask
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocarina_of_time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4BEJ3xl6no probably the most important history and game development info came from here.