Introduction to The Ocarina Player

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. To gamers everywhere, this is music to one's ears. This Nintendo64 video game has won multiple awards, was a best-seller in 1999, and is often quoted as the best game ever. You got your 3D graphics, your puzzles, your action, adventure, side-quests...

And, of course, the Ocarina of Time.

In the game, the protagonist, Link, must travel back and forth through time by playing on this Ocarina. During gameplay, you don't just push a button to play the ocarina, but you must push multiple buttons, playing multiple notes--like playing a real instrument! Once you play a certain sequence correctly, different things can happen in the game (like Link going back in time, for example).

This is not the only ocarina Link uses. Before he discovers the Ocarina of Time, he uses the Fairy Ocarina, which was a gift given to him by his best friend Saria. It is used in exactly the same way the Ocarina of Time is used, and it sounds the same, but it doesn't have the time traveling capabilites. Once Link aquires the Ocarina of Time, he throws the Fairy Ocarina away (what a way to cherish a gift!) Their images are displayed below:

The Ocarina of Time

The Fairy Ocarina

So one day, you may be playing this legendary game, and you may be clueless on how to get past the Water Temple (a common situation for many gamers) so you decide to mess around with the Ocarina. You push the buttons--A, C-up, C-down, C-left and C-right--in random orders. You wonder if you could play Jingle Bells or Mary Had a Little Lamb on Link's Ocarina. You may accidently bump the joystick while you're doing so...

...did you just hear another note?

My friend, if this is you, you have come upon a revelation.

In order to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, you only need to use the A and C buttons while playing the Ocarina. But why is it when I press A and press the joystick up at the same time, I hear a different tone? How about pressing C-down along with the Z button? One does not need to know about these other notes in order to play the game properly. However, the game designers put them there, so we might as well play around with them!

This is exactly what I'm doing.

On this site you will find experiments I have done using Link's Ocarina, as well as step-by-step guides on how to play, say, Jingle Bells ("Zelda's Lullaby" gets boring after a while, doesn't it?) This site will explain which real musical notes the Ocarina buttons corresond to, and will encourage your own experimentation. If you feel you've come upon an "Eurika!" moment as an Ocarina Player, feel free to leave a comment describing your accomplishment.

(You may also leave a comment to ask any question, or just to say hi as well!)