LogFAQs > #951317242

17. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)

So many people have said and will say so much more substantial and eloquent things about this game than I could possibly hope to, but Ill try my best.

While it was evident fairly quickly that the Mario series would easily make the jump from 2D to 3D fairly easily - there was only a year between Yoshis Island and Super Mario 64, two of the series best regarded games - I dont know that it was ever a given that The Legend of Zelda would be able to make the jump from 2D to 3D as gracefully. Add in substantial delays - Ocarina of Time was intended to be a launch game - and I have to imagine there was some trepidation.

Fortunately, any concerns there might have been were washed away in November of 98.

Nintendo had assembled a team, and that team produced a masterpiece. I didnt play it until the following year, but I remember being awe-stricken by it. It felt like a movie. I didnt fully understand all the reasons why at the time, but as I later took an interest in film and photography, I came to realize that there was a great element of cinematic influence present in the game. Its an action adventure game, sure, but its also at times a western, a horror movie, a romance, and above all, a bildungsroman. The way the game uses music helps signal these shifts, too. Think about how the Kondos score changes not based on character, but on location. The idea of having video games shift their music based on each level wasnt new, but there were abrupt cues in the game that related to those changes - loading screens, changing levels, going indoors or coming outdoors, etc. Because of the function of Hyrules overworld and its vast continuousness, music in Ocarina of Time is often used to signal that you have arrived. In that way, and in the way the camera frames the action - both when its under your control and when the game has control of it - Ocarina of Time owes as much to the lineage of the movies as it does to the lineage of video games. There is a bonafide sense of the game being an epic that comes from the visual and musical direction of the game. (Except the Hyrule Castle Market, which feels like a failed attempt at German Expressionism)

I dont think I would have grown to love movies or video games as much as I did if I hadnt played this game at the time that I did. Certainly a great many games on this list would not be here if not for Ocarina of Time. Its justifiably considered one of the greatest games of all time, and it remains a personal favorite, though it is not ranked as highly as it once might have been. The emotional attachment I have to it may have faded some over the years, but the impact it had on my taste in video games and movies certainly hasnt.

16. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch, 2018)


Super Smash Bros. has been a favorite series from jump street for me. Brawl and Wii U, while both very good games, felt a little underwhelming coming off of Melee, and came at a time in life where I didnt have many people to play with in person and Nintendos online was largely a fucking mess.

Ultimate, like the first two entries in the series, hit at a perfect juncture. I was in grad school. I had just adopted a puppy, which turned out to be much more stressful than I expected. I was working full time. My cars engine had exploded. I was in the midst of a prolonged breakup. It was a total nightmare of a time.

So I splurged on a Switch the weekend of Thanksgiving, knowing that Smash was out in a couple of weeks. And it was the right choice. With the exception of one particular night of playing with Board 8ers where a beer was spilled directly into my laptop, effectively cooking the entire SSD and almost nothing else, playing Smash Ultimate over the past 2+ years has been one of the routine joys of my life, especially amid this now yearlong pandemic. The people that I play with - many of whom are my friends in this very topic - are some of the most fun people to play with. No one is beholden to any particular characters or settings, everyone is happy to play by some silly character selection gimmick, and no one really gets truly pissy when they lose (though there is plenty of bullshitting and shit-talking and ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? moments). Its exactly what I love about Smash, and what I love about Board 8. Its like a peanut butter cup, but with two sets of ridiculous characters, one real, one fictional, coming together to make for a perfectly delightful experience.

15. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, 2018)


Breath of the Wild was hyped mightily before I got to playing it in early 2019. I bought it as soon as I got my Switch, but that giant wave of praise had me a little hesitant. Could it really be that good? was a question I kept asking myself.

It turns out the answer was a resounding yes.

Much like its beloved predecessors, Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, Breath of the Wild redefines the scale and scope of what a Zelda game can be. Hyrule is as enormous, diverse, and majestic as it has ever been. The temples are massive, living puzzles. The cast of characters who support (and sometimes stymy you) on your way are perhaps the most colorful and interesting cast ever assembled in a Nintendo game, which is saying something. The game just oozes personality and style in a way that hadnt been the case in a Zelda game in a decade and a half. Its a beautiful game. Its maybe the most smoothly controlled adventure game Ive ever played. It is by all measures as close to technically perfect as it can be. And its easily the most fun, explorative Zelda, due to the amount of things to discover, to find, to experience, and due to the fact that for the first time in many many years, its basically entirely non-linear, in the tradition of early Zeldas, which is something that endeared it to me even more. And there are DOGS. Not enough versions of Hyrule have dogs. Or giant horses.

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The Thighmaster