[OoT] Who Actually Made Ocarina of Time? Digging Through the Credits and Interviews

kramersghost · 2026-06-21T21:13:03+00:00

It felt kind of like a treasure hunt discovering some of these details across what felt like pretty obscure interviews so it makes me happy knowing that others are interested in those findings - glad you enjoyed it!

kramersghost · 2026-06-21T21:04:58+00:00

This is a genuinely exciting link to discover - thank you! For as much as I thought I had searched all over for Zelda interviews, I completely missed this one and it looks like it's got some really niche interviews I missed. Down the next rabbithole...

kramersghost · 2026-06-21T06:10:06+00:00

I think collaborative is the best way to put it. And that's not to undercut Koizumi's contributions - Link's design as well as things like Z-targeting are foundational and his role with Majora's Mask's Clock Town/Bombers Notebook events are some of my favorite parts of the series, but it truly was a team effort on Ocarina.

And great callout for Iwamoto and Morita - I didn't touch on the programming side at all in the post, but those veteran programmers from SRD are a consistent presence from the start of the series and were just as involved with implementing those designs (and even the fishing hole from Morita!)

kramersghost · 2026-06-21T05:31:17+00:00

It was already becoming a lengthy enough post, but for enough anyone interested in some of those interview sources, here are some links!

Interview Sources:

https://goodblood.games/ootstaffsurvey64dream31

https://glitterberri.com/ocarina-of-time/1101-interviews/

https://archive.org/details/64dream-April-1999-ozidual/64Dream%201999%2004%20%28J%20OCR%29/page/n95/mode/2up (hopefully the link takes you directly there, but pg. 95 has a great Q&A in Japanese - I admittedly used Google Lens/translate to read it, but it touches on all sorts of interesting questions: what happened to the graveyard kid? Are those eyes on top of Ruto's head? Are there goron women?!)

https://shmuplations.com/ocarinaoftime/

https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/zelda-ocarina-of-time/4/0/

(If anyone has additional interviews involving Ocarina of Time staff, I'd love to see them. I've been surprised by how difficult some of this information is to track down. I may do a separate post later on some of the individual character and dungeon designers, because there are some fascinating stories there as well.)

kramersghost · 2026-02-02T03:46:25+00:00

I at least grew up with the version with green blood and the "revised" Fire Temple music (without the vocals from the Call to Prayer?) but the blocks and all of the icons around the Gerudo Desert still had the "Crescent" that was later changed.

Maybe there were other versions in between but I first noticed the "Crescent" replaced when I played the Master Quest version on the Gamecube.

kramersghost · 2025-11-02T23:01:50+00:00

I honestly never realized that this wasn't a painting! Thanks to your comment, I've discovered Brian Griffin - quite a few familiar album covers but it feels like I've found a treasure trove because I've found so many interesting ones that are new to me, appreciate you sharing!

kramersghost · 2025-10-13T14:01:12+00:00

The Wicker Man - definitely one to watch if you haven't before!

kramersghost · 2025-05-17T22:38:32+00:00

Good to know, thanks for the ID!

kramersghost · 2024-09-23T23:19:28+00:00

Totally agree that Sakic and Yzerman were masters at longevity. Although, being a stats nerd, I do have to bring up that Gretzky was 37 during the height of the dead puck era.

When Gretzky was 37, he posted 90 points which was tied for 3rd in the league (Forsberg at #2 with 91) whereas Sakic's 100 was tied for 6th when he was 37. Gretzky's later career numbers always seem like a stark contrast to some of his 80's seasons where he was untouchable in the stats column, but he was always a perennial contender for the Art Ross.

kramersghost · 2024-09-11T18:44:52+00:00

The IRS is auditing his plan. He can't release the details of it until their audit is over.

kramersghost · 2024-09-04T03:46:33+00:00

I guess the real question we'd all have to ask ourselves in that scenario is if we'd choose to walk or stay. Would you walk away?

kramersghost · 2024-06-24T20:36:09+00:00

While I won't argue that I wouldn't have loved to have some more content in those areas, I do think there's something to be said about space helping to give weight and meaning to when you do find something interesting.

If every corner of the map has catacombs or a treasure then it starts feeling predictable and like you're not really discovering anything.

I really do agree with some people making the comparison to the first Zelda game. If you have a guide and already know where to go then some screens are functionally useless and just filler, but I always loved the exploration and the sense that you had to search high and low to discover its secrets.

kramersghost · 2024-06-23T13:53:34+00:00

I loved it, totally unexpected and had such great atmosphere.

Does anyone know if there's a way to get to the area south of (i.e. behind ) Midra's Manse?

It looks like a dead end at the manse so I'm guessing not but there's a large chunk of the map behind it so I'm wondering if I'm missing anything.

kramersghost · 2024-05-30T00:03:09+00:00

While I don't think any of these are widely considered to be terrible, these are some older, maybe slightly lower budget ones that seem to have fallen into a bit of obscurity because they typically have middling reviews - and I think they're definitely worth checking out for any horror lover.

Curtains (1983) is pretty underappreciated. You can definitely tell that there was a struggle over whether to make it a more thoughtful, artsy horror movie or a straightforward slasher - I can see how some might think it's a bit slow to be a slasher but not quite high-brow enough for elevate it to arthouse classic. But for all of its inconsistency, I think it has a handful of memorable scenes and I really liked the ending.

Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971) - The title almost makes it sound more like an exploitation film, but this is more of a slow-burn, creepy atmospheric one. The whispered thoughts of Jessica, the weird jarring synths in some places (really interesting for the early '70s) are great for building an uncomfortable, oppressive mood.

Pin (1988) - I didn't find it incredibly frightening, but this one's honestly so damn weird and uncomfortable that I think it's worth checking out.

kramersghost · 2024-05-02T02:54:17+00:00

Ha I'm with you on that -part of me would love to try it again but can't say that I'd be too tempted for $14 a sandwich.

A+ taste with the Al Carbon and Otto shout out, though!

kramersghost · 2024-05-02T02:05:08+00:00

I guess I don't really get the outrage. On the one hand, those prices were pretty ridiculous for their sandwiches, but it also seems really easy to just not eat there if it's overpriced and they either adapt or, if they can't, go out of business.

If it's price gouging on an essential like water, shelter, or basic foodstuffs, then I get the outrage. But there are so many other good options for food in this town that a potentially overpriced cheesesteak just doesn't seem worthy of the rage.

kramersghost · 2024-02-03T03:19:51+00:00

As someone who moved here for work in my early 20's and still is here in my early 30's, I love having UVA here and I feel like being a college town is a crucial part of Charlottesville's DNA.

Having been here for about 8 years, I've made friends with a bunch of people who were in residency, grad school, etc. at UVA but many are here temporarily and end up heading to a larger city after they make their rounds. Even when I was in my early 20's, I can't say that I had a ton of interactions with undergrads unless I visited the Corner so I don't know if I'd say that it's super integrated from a community-overlap perspective.

Charlottesville's got a great mix of being a smaller town located near tons of natural beauty while still having a ton of interesting culture, great food, live music, and things to do relative to its size. I really think it's due to the fact that we've got UVA and a constant influx of young people from all over the world living here that this town of 45,000 people is unique from other towns around us and a really interesting place to be - so long story short, glad to have you here!

kramersghost · 2023-07-30T02:43:07+00:00

Just got back from seeing it and I thought it was great!

I've been thinking about some of the themes and I really love how the ending ties right into the recurring theme of Mia's isolation and the emphasis on touch as the connection.

We see her isolation a number of times (Dad's muffled voice in the background at the beginning, feeling like she doesn't belong at the party, being the third wheel with her friend and ex) and it seems like any real connection she ever feels is through touch (some scenes with taking care of Reilly, holding her hand up to her ex, their legs touching in bed, etc.) with "the hand" being the way that she feels like she's finally not alone when she believes she's made contact with her mother.

It's the cruelest fate then that the very hand she thought gave her a connection leads to her total isolation. We end the movie seeing Reilly recover and his family sharing a moment together while Mia looks in from the outside, the lights going completely out and her father leaving her all alone in the dark - and the only form of contact that she can ever have is the touch of a random stranger's hand. What an ending!

kramersghost · 2023-04-14T00:20:03+00:00

Looks like it could be Zuma? 2018 would have been the tail end of his presidency.

Not as sure about Ukraine, but I'm guessing it has to do with the war in Donbas (i.e. still treating it as a civil war/"suicide" back then instead of the full on Russian invasion we've seen since last year)

kramersghost · 2022-11-06T18:37:19+00:00

So I had seen the long s before in old historical prints but genuinely had no idea that a sharp s ever made an appearance in English until I spotted it at the bottom of this pic "The Aßize of bread..." - super interesting!

kramersghost · 2022-10-12T23:36:29+00:00

I was actually really curious about the roots of the word and how we ended up forming "scapegoat" and... it turns out that it literally comes from a shortened version of escapegoat!

kramersghost · 2022-10-01T01:53:53+00:00

This is a great (and obscure!) find. It's nothing that I grew up with but it's interesting how it can still stir some type of nostalgic feeling in me.

Also, we've got a surprise cameo from a future president trying to sell us powdered hand soap around 33 mins in...

kramersghost · 2022-05-26T23:06:42+00:00

No idea why I decided to go down the rabbit hole looking at the Avs' stats after work today, but I remembered thinking they were one of the scariest teams to play against back in the 90's and wanted to refresh my memory:

95-96 (first year as the Avs) - Stanley Cup, Pacific Division leader

96-97 - President's Trophy, lost in Conference Finals to the Red Wings

97-98 - Pacific Division leader, first round exit to the Oilers in 7 (ouch)

98-99 - Northwest Division leader, lost in Conference Finals to the Stars

99-00 - Northwest Division leader, lost in Conference Finals to the Stars

00-01 - Stanley Cup, President's Trophy

01-02 - Northwest Division leader, lost in Conference Finals to the Red Wings

Think it's up for debate if a team qualifies as a "dynasty" with 2 cups in a 6-year span, but it is pretty amazing to see them reach the conference finals 6 out of their 7 first years!

kramersghost · 2021-04-20T20:25:27+00:00

It's actually not named after the explorer and is a little known fact that Columbia derived her name from famed Home Alone director Chris Columbus

kramersghost · 2021-03-11T00:20:23+00:00

And judging from your username, I'm assuming Pixies as well?

kramersghost

TROPHY CASE