The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

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The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

Developer(s)	Flagship
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Hidemaro Fujibayashi (director)
Release date(s)	February 27, 2001 May 14, 2001 October 5, 2001
Genre(s)	Action Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: E (Everyone) ELSPA: 3+ OFLC: G8+
Platform(s)	Game Boy Color
Media	8 megabit Game Boy Color cartridge

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, released in Japan as Zelda no Densetsu: Fushigi no Ki no Mi Jikū no Shō (ゼルダの伝説ふしぎの木の実時空の章, Zeruda no Densetsu Fushigi no Ki no Mi Jikū no Shō^?, lit. "The Legend of Zelda: Nut of the Mysterious Tree: Chapter of Time and Space"), is a video game developed by Nintendo in conjunction with Capcom and published by Nintendo on February 27, 2001 in Japan, May 14, 2001 in North America, and October 5, 2001 in Europe. The game was released for use on the Nintendo Game Boy Color, but special features, such as additional items, are available when played on a Nintendo Game Boy Advance.^[1] It interacts with The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, a game concurrently released for the Game Boy Color, via a Game Link Cable^[2] and a password system.^[3]

1 Plot
- 1.1 Characters
2 Gameplay
3 Development
4 Reception
5 Manga
6 Notes and references
7 External links

[edit] Plot

Veran, Link, Nayru, Vasu, and Ralph in Oracle of Ages.

According to the instruction manual, the Triforce called out to Link from within its Temple. Link approached it, and was sucked into a vortex that tossed him out into a dark forest where upon landing, the young hero heard screaming. Running blindly through the bushes, Link entered a clearing and found a lady on the ground screaming and being circled by animals. When the monsters saw Link approach them, they scattered off in all directions.

Link soon realized that the woman lying on the ground was Princess Zelda's nurse, Impa. Impa said that there was a singer in the forest and that she had to go look for her. The nurse asked Link if he could help her. He agreed and the two went off in search for the songstress.

Continuing through the forest, they finally found who they were looking for. A young lady with blue hair sat on a tree stump surrounded by forest creatures that were listening to her beautiful song. The girl's name was Nayru and then Impa broke the solo with an evil laugh.

A shadow had emerged from Impa and was cackling as it swirled through the trees. The silhouette revealed itself as Veran, Sorceress of Shadows. The shadow began soaring around before flying into Nayru's body and disappearing in a flash of light.

Nayru was the Oracle of Ages to a land called Labrynna and now that she was taken by Veran, the time flow between the past and present became disrupted. Link goes all over Labrynna to locations similar to Hyrule such as Death Mountain(also seen in Oracle of Seasons). After finding the eight essences of time, Link finds that the Black Tower in the present is complete due to events in the past. Link climbs the tower to find Queen Ambi under Veran's control and slays her. Veran then reveals herself as a shapeshifter and transforms into a wasp, beetle, and spider. After Veran's defeat, the flow of time was saved and a monument of Link was made in the present.

[edit] Characters

Main article: Characters in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Seasons

Link, as always, is the hero of the game.
Impa is Princess Zelda's messenger who is possessed by Veran at the beginning of the game. In Impa's body, she is able to get close enough to Nayru to possess her as well.
Nayru, Oracle of Ages is responsible for keeping the flow of time in Labrynna running smoothly. The main part of the quest involves rescuing her from Veran.
Ralph is a childhood friend and guardian of Nayru. He assists Link in his quest.
Queen Ambi was the queen of Labrynna many years ago. Veran goes to her time in Nayru's body and corrupts her, encouraging her to build a huge tower to the sky.
The Maku Tree of Labrynna is a large magical tree similar to the Great Deku Tree. She aids Link in his quest by locating lost Essences of Time and the Harp of Ages.
Veran, Sorceress of Shadows is the main villain. She takes over Nayru's body and uses her to disrupt the flow of time in Labrynna.

[edit] Gameplay

Link at the beginning of his journey through the land of Labrynna.

Oracle of Ages concentrates more on puzzles, while Oracle of Seasons focuses more on action.^[4] Though each is a complete self-contained game, they have the ability to link with one another, using passwords^[3] or a Game Link Cable.^[2]

Upon completing Oracle of Ages, players receive a password that can be used to play an alternative version of Oracle of Seasons.^[3] In this version, some characters mention passwords that can be given to characters in Oracle of Ages in exchange for an item or upgrade. Then, by taking a new password back into Oracle of Seasons, the item or upgrade can be transferred.^[3] Rings can be traded by this password system or randomly created by connecting two games with a Game Link Cable.^[2]

The alternate game has many extras. Some items move around and must be found in different places. The Oracle of Ages character Queen Ambi appears in the game, and after searching for her long-lost sea-faring lover, finds him in Subrosia. Also, once Onox is defeated, the witch Twinrova appears. Veran and Onox were ploys to light the Flames of Sorrow and Destruction. Upon kidnapping Princess Zelda, the third Flame of Despair lights, and Twinrova attempts to offer Zelda as a tribute, along with the energy of the three Flames, to revive Ganon.^[5] Link must then enter Twinrova's lair and defeat both Twinrova and Ganon.^[5] Upon completing the alternative game, another password is shown that gives the player the Victory Ring, which commemorates their defeat of Ganon.^[6]

[edit] Development

Yoshiki Okamoto, a game director for Capcom, worked with a team to develop a Zelda title, but couldn't agree on the direction development should take. Okamoto wanted to remake the original The Legend of Zelda for the Game Boy Color, using it as a test and moving on to a "more ambitious game" if successful. Other members of the team wanted to create an original Zelda title immediately.^[7] Dismayed at the rate at which the team had been spending money for a year without results, Okamoto had Capcom director Yoshifumi Yamashita join the team. He also asked Shigeru Miyamoto, the game designer at Nintendo who created the series, for help.^[7] Nintendo and Capcom began collaborating concurrently on six Game Boy Color Zelda titles: two based on previous games and four original works.^[8]

Okamoto wanted to release games in quick succession, spacing sequels only four or five months apart. Because Nintendo does not work in this fashion and Miyamoto was involved with other projects, the team asked Flagship, a design studio headed by Okamoto and funded by Nintendo, Sega, and Capcom,^[9] to begin developing scenarios for the games.^[10] This is in sharp contrast to Miyamoto's usual strategy of creating a game's story and characters only after the basic gameplay has been created. The team ran into trouble, as Flagship had to constantly rework the scenario and maps to match the gameplay as it changed.^[7] The Game Boy Color's screen presented additional problems when attempting to rework existing Zelda titles. Since the screen is narrower than that of a television, players were unable view an entire room without scrolling; this made it easy for the player to overlook stairways or clues on walls.^[7]

Despite these problems, the team's experience porting the original The Legend of Zelda to the Game Boy Color emboldened them to work on a sequel; it was decided to create a set of three games that could be played in any order.^[10] This trilogy was referred to as the "Triforce Series",^[11] named after a fictional holy relic known as the Triforce^[12] that plays a major role in many Zelda titles. The Triforce is composed of three parts: the Triforces of Power, Wisdom, and Courage; each game in the trilogy was associated with one of the Triforces.^[12]

The first game of the three was demonstrated at Nintendo's SpaceWorld trade show in 1999 under the working title The Legend of Zelda: The Acorn of the Mystery Tree -- Tale of Power.^[13] This action-oriented game concerned Ganon's theft of Princess Zelda and the "Rod of the Seasons", which threw the seasons of Hyrule into chaos^[13] — a clear precursor to the story of Oracle of Seasons. In the playable demonstration, Link solved puzzles by using the Rod of the Seasons to manipulate the environment and change the current season. Tale of Wisdom, which focused on color-based puzzles, and Tale of Courage, which used times of day to solve puzzles in a mechanic similar to the use of seasons, were not shown.^[11] The Japanese title of the series was later changed to The Legend of Zelda: The Mysterious Acorn: Chapter of Power, Chapter of Wisdom, and Chapter of Courage.^[12] In the US, the games became The Legend of Zelda: Mystical Seed of Power, Mystical Seed of Wisdom, and Mystical Seed of Courage.^[14]

The games interacted with each other: players could begin with any of the three titles and have the actions of the first game affect the story of the other two.^[15] The developers considered using a cell phone adapter to transfer data, but later decided on a password system.^[11] The limitations of this system and the difficulty of coordinating three games proved too complicated, so the team scaled back to two titles at Miyamoto's suggestion.^[7]^[16] Condensing the games into a single cartridge was never considered, as the prospect of multiple endings and the added replay value afforded by the ability to play the titles in either order was very attractive.^[7] Oracle of Seasons (Chapter of Earth in Japan) was adapted from Mystical Seed of Power, Oracle of Ages (Chapter of Time and Space in Japan) was adapted from Mystical Seed of Wisdom, and Mystical Seed of Courage was canceled.^[11] Staggered releases were abandoned in favor of releasing the two games simultaneously. This made it easier for the team to test the interaction between the games and keep the style consistent.^[7]

These sweeping design changes pushed the release dates closer to the upcoming release of the Game Boy Advance (GBA), the next system in the Game Boy line that is backward compatible with Game Boy Color games. The team considered adding special functionality to the game triggered only when played on a GBA, but was afraid that the additional development time required for the addition would cause the games to be released after the GBA.^[7] When the release date of the GBA got postponed, the team was able to incorporate GBA functionality and still release the games approximately a month before the GBA was released.^[7]

[edit] Reception

Gamespot gave Oracle of Ages and Seasons each a 9.2,^[17] and IGN gave it a perfect rating of 10.^[18]

[edit] Manga

A manga novelization of the game was made by the mangaka Akira Himekawa as a sequel to the Oracle of Seasons manga. It introduced plotlines and story elements that weren't included in the original game. New characters included Raven (Link's ancestor who traveled to Labrynna and worked as Queen Ambi's chief guard), the bumbling Ralph (a young man who assists Link on his quest), and Link's grandparents. It also included the link-up segment of the game, with Ganon making an appearance. Unlike the game, Zelda does not kiss Link at the end of the story.

[edit] Notes and references

^ Pelland, pp. 120-121.
^ ^a ^b ^c Pelland, p.120.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Pelland, p.124.
^ Shoemaker, Brad (2001-06-04). The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons review. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.
^ ^a ^b Pelland, p. 128.
^ Pelland, p. 121.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons Interview. Nintendo (2001). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ Six Times Zelda. IGN (1999-07-28). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ Flagship (JP). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ ^a ^b Miyamoto Speaks on Zelda GBC. IGN (1999-08-23). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d The Legend of Zelda: The Third Oracle profile. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ ^a ^b ^c Okamoto on Zelda. IGN (1999-11-16). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ ^a ^b Hands-on Zelda. IGN (1999-08-27). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ Official US Names for Tri-Force series. IGN (2000-05-13). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ Zelda Every Six Weeks. IGN (2000-01-13). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ Zelda's Tri-Force Down To Two. IGN (2000-07-24). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ Shoemaker, Brad (2001-06-04). The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages review. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.
^ Carle, Chris (2001-05-14). Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages review. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.

Pelland, Scott (ed.) (2001). The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages Player's Guide. Redmond, Washington: Nintendo of America, Inc. ISBN 1-930206-10-0.