Summary
- Ocarina of Time fans are surprised at its small map size, despite it feeling expansive due to good game design.
- Current Zelda games have huge maps, like Breath of the Wild, with content that spans over a hundred hours.
- It remains to be seen if the next main Zelda title will continue the trend of big worlds.
Some old-school fans have recently commented on the map of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, expressing surprise due to how small it was, despite the world feeling huge at the time of the game’s launch. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is widely considered one of the best Zelda games ever released, and it can be weird to look at its official map after playing some of the more recent entries in the series, like Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998, and later ported to other Nintendo platforms such as the Wii and Switch. Widely recognized as one of the best games released in the 90s, Ocarina of Time was often considered memorable due to its incredible gameplay and exploration.
Mainline Zelda Games that Deserve Hyrule Warriors Spin-Offs
With Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment expanding Zelda's story, other Zelda games could receive a similar lore boost through further spin-offs.
A gamer called Link_sega5486 recently pointed out how Ocarina of Time has a tiny map, prompting a discussion in the community about how big its world felt when players first explored it. In the map shared by the player, it’s possible to see that Ocarina of Time mostly has a big area consisting of Hyrule Field, which is surrounded by mostly linear paths towards other regions. As pointed out by some commenters, the dungeons of Ocarina of Time do not appear on this map and would likely make it larger. However, the feeling that the world felt huge in the 90s was mostly due to good game design, as each place was packed with content to explore instead of being big just for the sake of it.
Zelda Players Are Surprised With How Big Ocarina of Time Feels Despite its Small Map Size
The surprise of how compact Ocarina of Time is gets bigger when considering that current Zelda games have huge maps, competing against other popular open-world titles in size. For example, the world in Tears of Kingdom is around 46 square miles, and it’s packed with content that can be explored for over a hundred hours.
It’s unknown if the next mainline Legend of Zelda title will continue the trend of increasingly big worlds in the popular Nintendo franchise, though. The upcoming Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a spin-off that will not have such a huge focus on exploration, and gamers may have to wait a few years before they can finally play the next main Zelda title. As usual, however, it’s expected that the game will be packed with amazing content.
- Released
- November 21, 1998
- ESRB
- E10+ for Everyone 10+: Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Engine
- Zelda 64 Engine
