It was developed by Nintendo, with series protagonist Link tasked with rescuing Princess Zelda and Hyrule from the villain, Ganondorf.
The game's cast had various points of inspiration, including works by J. R. R. Tolkien and the TV series Twin Peaks.
The staff was told to focus less on the plot and more on the characters, and emphasis was put on giving them interesting and realistic animations to make them more real.
Inspiration for the characters in Ocarina of Time came from a variety of sources, including J. R. R. Tolkien, whose Hobbit race served as the basis for the Deku Scrubs.
Character designer Satoru Takizawa noted that they intended to make them feel real, and thus gave them interesting and realistic animations.
In gameplay, Navi functions primarily as a guide that points out clues in the environment and helps the player learn the controls and advance in the game.
In Majora's Mask, Link's search for a "beloved and invaluable friend", who is implied to be Navi, leads him to enter Termina.
GamesRadar editor Mikel Reparaz ranked Navi as the most irritating female character, stating that she would have been bearable if she did not interrupt the gameplay as often.
[16] He also appears in Breath of the Wild, where Zelda tasked him with guarding the Master Sword in Korok Forest until Link is ready to claim it.
He cares for Link during his temporary imprisonment in the Sacred Realm and provides him with information about the Sages and the events of the past seven years.
She is encountered on a bridge leading out of Kokiri Forest, where she gives him the Fairy Ocarina, an instrument that the player uses to learn several songs.
Link first meets him in Goron City, but he refuses to speak to him until he hears Saria's Song, which changes his mood and causes him to start dancing.
After Link kills Morpha, the source of the curse, Ruto awakens as the Water Sage and reluctantly puts her marriage on hold to aid him.
She protested Ganondorf's cruelty toward innocents and traveled to the Spirit Temple to interfere with his plans, recruiting Young Link to recover the Silver Gauntlets for her.
[34] In Oracle of Seasons, she and her father breed Cuccos north of Horon Village near Eyeglass Lake in Holodrum.
Kotake[d] and Koume,[e] collectively referred to as the Twinrova Sisters[f] (/ˌtwɪnˈroʊvə/), are Gerudo witches and the surrogate mothers and servants of Ganon.
[37] Chris Freiburg, writing for Den of Geek, listed this battle as the best temple guardian boss fight in the game and considered it one of the best in the series.
[38] Kenneth Shepard of Kotaku thought that the Twinrova battle represents the fusion of the two sisters' contrasting magical abilities and personalities, but is also an allegory for their fraught relationship.
[citation needed] Dan Ryckert of Game Informer ranked Twinrova as the best boss battle in the series calling it a "thrilling fight" because, in the final phase, Link must absorb three blasts of the same element before being able to deflect an attack, which means that the player must anticipate Twinrova's moves to succeed.
[45] Bloody Disgusting praised the character's physical design, particularly his vibrant, heart-shaped mask, which "exudes a mystic appeal".
[46] Skull Kid's appearance in the 2016 short fan film Majora's Mask: Terrible Fate, voiced by Joe Zieja, received widespread attention among The Legend of Zelda fandom and critical acclaim.
[52] The phrase is the character's reaction to Link's transformation at the start of the game, but also hints at an uncertainty that this dark fate can be reversed.
[54] When discussing the elements that made GamesRadar+ writer Chris Hoffman love Ocarina of Time, he appreciated how it expanded the kinds of characters Link could encounter, namely the Gorons, Zora, Gerudo, and Sheikah.
They discussed how characters, ranking from major ones like Saria to minor ones like Guru-Guru, were more memorable than previous casts, and they particularly appreciated how much deeper Link was.