The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

A Link to the Past may have created the groundwork for the Zelda franchise, but Ocarina of Time refined it to perfection. It had a vast open 3D environment to explore, a third-person perspective, and a targeting mechanism for the first time in a Zelda game. Ocarina of Time served as the model for a 3D Zelda experience until Breath of the Wild arrived. It's astonishing how much Nintendo got right in their first excursion into 3D (plus the fantastic 3DS version fixed a few flaws).

The entry that separated the Zelda chronology, as revealed in the Hyrule Historia, is also known as Ocarina of Time. They now have two realities in which Link fought Ganon: the Child Era, in which Link returns to his native time, and the Adult Era, in which the Hero of Time vanishes. This might have remained at the top if it hadn't been for a recent Zelda entry completely shaking up the formula and clearing away the cobwebs that had collected on the Ocarina of Time template.

Platform: Nintendo 64 (N64)

Release Date: 1998

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