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The Missing Link

N64 Legend of Zelda Rom Hack Review

By Gray Beard NerdPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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A Recording of My Initial Impressions and Play-through

Several weeks ago, I encountered an article praising a modded version of Ocarina of Time and logged it away as a curiosity in my mind. But like a lot of things that get logged in the back of my mind it continued to pester me until my curiosity got the better of me and I looked into what it would take to play this game for myself. I will not bore you with details as they can easily be found on the game’s website. What I will say is that with little effort I soon found myself pleasantly playing a new/old title in the storied Nintendo franchise. So, can the game live up to the giants that are Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of time? Is it even fair to ask it to do so? Let’s find out.

The story picks up shortly after the end of Ocarina of Time, the game depicts Link returning to Kokiri forest on a quest to find Navi, who has been missing since the end of the previous adventure. But something's not right in the forest, the fairies have been disappearing and the forest looks like it is on the brink of collapse. Saria also seems to be missing and Link sets off to continue his quest to find Navi and also rescue the forest. The scope of the story has lessened, but that is understandable, this is a Hyrule saved from Gannon but the forest is still reeling from the demise of the Deku tree. Not to spoil too much but by the end of this short game Link will be exactly where he is at the beginning of Majora’s Mask so this story could be seen as a missing link (I see what they did there) between the two main stories. In truth, narrative is rarely the main focus in Zelda, but here we have all we need for the hero to be called to action.

So how is the presentation? I guess it is all about perspective. For a game published in 2020 there are certainly better-looking games. Also, while I love the N64 I hope that we can all agree that the visuals of those games have not aged as well as we might have hoped. All that said, again as an N64 game, it really does not get much better than this. But in a way that should be expected. Making a hacked game like this means that all the pieces are simply borrowed from the donor game. It is modified and repackaged but at its heart it is still just OOT. I personally am very nostalgic for this kind of look, but I concede it is not for everyone.

In the end the challenge of the developer was to make the game unique while using most of the same assets. In my opinion the game makes enough changes to its presentation that it does not feel too much like OOT or MM. This is a handy feat and provides something that many rom hacks lack, coherent identity. Let me explain, most of these games feel the same as the game they were built from just modified in some way to make them more challenging. Other games like this feel and look so totally different that they lose their connection with their source material. This game instead finds a balance, it feels like both its big brothers but not so much that it feels like a lesser clone. It is smaller in scope and scale but that is practically expected.

As I played this game, I was very impressed with the soundtrack, in fact only one song felt out of place to me in the game but not so jarring that I felt like it was a mistake to include it. Of course, some music from OOT is applied in places where it makes sense and I do appreciate the cohesion that naturally points to other games in the franchise as well. However, there are some sound glitches that occasionally pop up here and there particularly when a new track is queuing up entering an area. Also, there's something odd about Epona's song during one of the cutscenes. It just sounds different than it should, in the end though that is being kind of nit-picky.

The game controls like a bridge between OOT and MM and playing it on a GameCube controller feels about as natural as you can get. Link moves at a consistent speed unless you roll, but that is true of both OOT and MM. One of the key things about making Zelda feel like Zelda is designing puzzles that utilize the items that you have chosen to include in your game. So, let's talk about some items and how they are used. There are two bottles in the game but no fairies, but there are two milk options. Lonlon milk acquired through playing Epona's song to Cows, and the deku nut milk, purchased from deku scrubs with a warning of side effects. It took me some time to connect the milk with its side effect, which was temporary paralysis, I actually thought the game was soft locking on me when I was using it. I don’t have a problem with the inclusion of the side effect, but I think the game should have been more specific about what would happen to inform the player that the game is not broken. The bunny hood is a fun item and feels included for speed runners. But the inclusion of extra height in a jump is a nice way to give the item utility to replace missing items like the hookshot.

The ocarina had to be included really as it is a plot important item, that said I was hoping for some more utility from it during my playthrough. The bomchu’s were an interesting choice but I think that being a ranged attack the developers were trying to use it to replace regular bombs and arrows. The bomchu’s are best utilized in the game to hit switches but are more frustrating to use than say a bow or a slingshot. They can also be frustrating when you just want to blow up a wall that you know if you had them, you would just use a regular bomb. The most versatile and well thought out item utilized is the sword. It feels satisfying to use and is incorporated into puzzle solving in unique ways, at least for 3D Zelda. So, the items are for the most part well utilized though a bit limited. I would have preferred more items, but I understand the developer’s decision, trying to focus the game on certain types of puzzles and keep the game tight and focused.

The dungeons and environments have a varied and original feel to them feeling unique. I particularly liked the desert temple area with its sprawling open feel and unique color pallet. There were a few puzzles that I scratched my head to solve but they never felt too obtuse or frustrating. The game does have some glitches, for instance when I tried to purchase and collect one of the heart pieces from a deku scrub the game crashed on me. This combined with a few graphical stutters and some audio issues the game feels like it was not quite finished. I am not coming down on the developer mind you as they were likely eager to release it and a single person cannot beta test everything. Also, it may come down to the packaging tool used to add the rom files to the OOT game rom. The game succeeds at most of what it attempts and stands as another testament as to what people with passion can accomplish. By this time Nintendo has taken action to remove the game but it's out there on the internet now so I am sure you can find it if you want to give it a go. Personally, I really enjoyed it and look forward to more experiences like it in the future.

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About the Creator

Gray Beard Nerd

A nerd who is into cars, video games, movies, book and more. I love to write and hope to share what I have written with others. Please enjoy!!

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