In the late 90s, if you were a kid with a Nintendo 64, your entire universe revolved around one specific, shifting target. That target was the release date ocarina of time. It wasn't just a game; it was this mythical beast that felt like it might never actually show up. Honestly, the story of how and when this game finally hit shelves is almost as chaotic as a run through the Water Temple without the Iron Boots.
The "official" world began on November 21, 1998. That was the day Japan finally got its hands on what would become the highest-rated game in history. But if you were sitting in North America, you had to sweat out another 48 hours until November 23, 1998.
Europe? They got the short end of the stick. PAL regions didn't see Link's 3D debut until December 11, 1998.
The Delays That Nearly Killed the Hype
People look back at 1998 as this perfect year for gaming, but the lead-up to the release date ocarina of time was a mess of "coming soon" posters and broken promises. Originally, Nintendo wanted this thing out in 1997. Imagine that. We almost had a world where Ocarina of Time launched just a year after Super Mario 64.
Shigeru Miyamoto and his team at Nintendo EAD were basically building the plane while flying it. They were inventing things we take for granted now, like Z-targeting and context-sensitive buttons.
One of the wildest rumors back then—and it actually has some truth to it—is that Nintendo delayed the game because they saw the art direction in Rare’s Banjo-Kazooie and panicked. They didn't want to be outdone by a British bear and bird.
So they pushed it back. Then they pushed it back again to accommodate the failing 64DD peripheral, which was supposed to be a disk-drive add-on for the N64. Eventually, they realized the 64DD was a sinking ship and crammed the whole game onto a massive 32MB cartridge. By today’s standards, that's a small JPEG. Back then? It was a technical miracle.
📖 Related: Why the Among the Sleep Mom is Still Gaming's Most Uncomfortable Horror Twist
Why Everyone Was Obsessed in November '98
When the release date ocarina of time finally arrived, the industry didn't just move; it shifted on its axis.
In the United States, the game had more than three times the pre-orders of any other title in history. Think about that for a second. In 1998, pre-ordering wasn't just a click on a website. You had to go to a physical FuncoLand or Babbage's, put down cash, and get a physical "Gold Cartridge" pre-order card.
The commercial impact was stupidly large:
- It sold over 1 million units in the first two weeks in North America.
- By the end of 1998, it had generated roughly $150 million in revenue.
- It actually out-earned the biggest Hollywood movie of that holiday season, Disney’s A Bug’s Life.
It’s kinda funny to think that a kid in green tights was out-earning Pixar. But that was the reality. If you weren't playing Zelda that Christmas, you weren't really gaming.
The Second Life: June 19, 2011
Most fans focus on the 90s, but the release date ocarina of time has a second, equally important chapter. On June 19, 2011, Nintendo released Ocarina of Time 3D for the Nintendo 3DS.
This wasn't just a port. Developed by Grezzo, it fixed basically every annoying thing about the original.
The Water Temple? They added colored lines on the walls to help you find the water level switches.
The Iron Boots? They weren't a menu-cluttering gear item anymore; they were a sub-item you could toggle with a touch on the screen.
👉 See also: Appropriate for All Gamers NYT: The Real Story Behind the Most Famous Crossword Clue
It also bumped the frame rate from a cinematic (read: choppy) 20 FPS to a much smoother 30 FPS. If you try to go back to the N64 original today, that 20 FPS hit is real. It’s rough.
The Staggered Global Rollout
The way games launched back then was so different from the global digital drops we see now. There was no "midnight EST" release on an eShop. You were at the mercy of shipping containers and regional localization teams.
| Region | Original N64 Release | 3DS Remake Release |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | November 21, 1998 | June 16, 2011 |
| North America | November 23, 1998 | June 19, 2011 |
| Europe | December 11, 1998 | June 17, 2011 |
| Australia | December 18, 1998 | June 30, 2011 |
Australia really had it the worst. Imagine waiting nearly a full month after the rest of the world, dodging spoilers in an era where "spoilers" were mostly just kids lying on the playground about finding the Triforce under a rock.
What Most People Forget About the Launch
There’s a common misconception that the game was "perfect" at launch. In reality, Nintendo was still tweaking the code days before the release date ocarina of time.
If you have one of the very first gold cartridges (Version 1.0), you actually have a different game than someone who bought it a few months later. The original 1.0 version had:
- Red Blood: Ganondorf coughed up bright red blood at the end. In later versions (1.1 and 1.2), this was changed to green.
- The Fire Temple Music: The original music featured Islamic chanting. Nintendo later removed this to avoid controversy, replacing it with synthesized chants that didn't have the same religious context.
- The Crescent Symbol: The Gerudo shield originally featured a crescent moon and star, which was later changed to a generic stylized bird/cross symbol for similar reasons.
Why the Timing Mattered
If Ocarina had launched in 1997, it might have been a different game. The extra year of polish allowed the team to implement the "Master Quest" dungeons (originally known as Ura Zelda in Japan). While these didn't make it into the base N64 cartridge in the West, the work done during that delay eventually gave us the GameCube bonus disc and the 3DS Master Quest mode.
✨ Don't miss: Stuck on the Connections hint June 13? Here is how to solve it without losing your mind
It also meant Ocarina launched right as the N64 was starting to lose ground to the Sony PlayStation. Nintendo needed a "killer app" to prove that cartridges and 3D adventure still had a place. They got it.
How to Play It Today
If you’re looking to revisit the release date ocarina of time vibes in 2026, you've basically got three real choices.
You can go the "purist" route and hunt down an N64 and a CRT television. It’s expensive, and the controller is a nightmare for your thumbs, but the input lag is zero.
The most common way now is the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. It’s an emulation of the N64 version. Early on, the emulation was kinda trash—the fog effects in the Forest Temple were broken, and the input lag was noticeable. Nintendo has patched most of that out now, though it still feels slightly "off" compared to the original hardware.
Then there’s the Ship of Harkinian. If you have a PC, this is the way to go. It’s a fan-made PC port (not an emulator) that lets you play the game in 4K, at 60 FPS (or higher), with a free-moving camera. It’s basically how your brain remembers the game looking back in 1998.
Practical Steps for Your Replay:
- Check your version: If you’re playing on Switch, make sure your controllers are updated to minimize lag.
- Try the 3DS version: If you have a 2DS or 3DS lying around, it is still the most "definitive" official version of the game.
- Skip the strategy guide: Half the magic of the original release was the feeling of being lost in Hyrule Field. Let yourself get lost again.
The release date ocarina of time wasn't just a day on a calendar; it was the moment 3D gaming actually grew up. Whether you were there in '98 or you're just discovering why everyone talks about a 25-year-old game like it’s the Second Coming, the history of its launch is a testament to what happens when a developer refuses to settle for "good enough."