http://web.archive.org/web/20000819145847/http://www.zelda64.com/hr_main_pr.htm Press Releases Nintendo’s 64-Bit Zelda Changes Meaning of Video Games 325,000+ Pre-Orders Make it the "Most Anticipated Video Game in History" Redmond, Wash., November 16, 1998 "What I set out to create is an entirely new emotional experience for video game players." With these words, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, head of the world’s most celebrated team of video game designers, set out to revolutionize interactive entertainment with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The game, to be released in the U.S. November 23rd exclusively for the Nintendo 64 home video game system, is the first ever to combine the complex, immersive story line and character development of a traditional role-playing game (RPG) with the full 3-D action and exploration of a first-person-perspective adventure game. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has already set an historical industry milestone, more than 325,000 American consumers, well over a quarter of a million, have placed deposits toward purchase of the game to ensure they get their copy as soon as it hits stores. The 256-megabit epic adventure/RPG for one player has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $69.95. "While video games have always provided an interactive experience, they have never been truly immersive, until now," says Mr. Miyamoto, General Manager of Entertainment Analysis and Development at Nintendo Company Limited, of Kyoto, Japan. "New technology creates new opportunities. We can still feel the danger and excitement of a main character while he battles an enemy. But with more life-like animations and complete 3-D worlds, for the first time we can also begin to feel the hero’s fear, his frustration, his confusion and his elation as he journeys through a 360-degree world in service of his princess." "Every Zelda game ever released has significantly advanced the entertainment and technological performance of the system on which it played," says Peter Main, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president, sales and marketing. "And this fifth Zelda title, and the series’ first for the Nintendo 64, continues that legacy. This is a video game masterpiece of the first order." The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time combines the most intricate graphic art and engrossing game play ever produced in an interactive entertainment title. In addition to its mesmerizing visual effects and nearly an hour of gorgeous, real-time, 3-D animation scenes, the game gives players an unprecedented variety of game play activities. Besides enabling players to travel back-and-forth through time, the game includes elements of nearly every video game genre: puzzle, adventure, action, first-person shooter, sports and role-playing. The game introduces Link’s fairy guardian, Navi, who will travel along with him, dispensing hints on where to go and how to solve different puzzles. To help players battle enemies in a 3-D world, the game features a unique 3-D battle system utilizing the "Z-trigger" located underneath the controller to lock-on to enemies, thereby keeping them always in front of Link. Using 256-megabits of memory, which is unprecedented, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time features the largest world of any Nintendo game. The game includes new Nintendo 64 graphic rendering and motion capture technologies to create ultra-realistic skin textures and character movements, demonstrated beautifully when Link mounts and gallops away on his horse. Additionally, the special effects and lighting effects are some of the most brilliant ever seen in a video game. The story, level design, music, character interaction, graphics and game play activities are combined so flawlessly that every video game enthusiast magazine is recommending its readers purchase this game. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is receiving the highest review scores of any video game in history, equaling or surpassing those of Miyamoto’s initial 1996 Nintendo 64 game, Super Mario 64. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is also Rumble Pak-compatible. For the first time, the Rumble Pak will be both a proactive device, vibrating to clue players to an impending action, as well as a reactive device, vibrating as a result of an action. However, Rumble Pak capability is not required for completion of the game. To coincide with the launch of the game, Nintendo Power Magazine will release an official The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Player’s Guide, as well as create a dedicated site on Nintendo Power Source, Nintendo’s official web site. Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than 1 billion video games worldwide, and has created such industry icons as Mario, Yoshi, Zelda, and Donkey Kong. Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its best-selling home video game systems, including the 64-bit Nintendo 64, the hand-held Game Boy, and the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in North America, where more than 40 percent of American households own a Nintendo game system. For more information about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or any other Nintendo product, visit Nintendo’s web site on the Internet, www.nintendo.com. Nintendo Promises More Zelda on the Way Retail Shortages of Video Game Should Be Rectified Soon Redmond, Wash. (November, 27, 1998) Even though demand for the video game of the century has exceeded supply in many parts of the country, Nintendo of America today announced hundreds of thousands of additional copies of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will be on their way to retail stores beginning Monday. Across America, more than half a million people placed advance cash deposits to guarantee delivery of the Nintendo 64 game cartridge at its official launch last Monday (Nov. 23). That figure more than triples the previous record for pre-sell for any video game in history. “Whatever shortages do exist should be of very short duration,” says Peter Main, executive vice president of sales and marketing, Nintendo of America. “We're moving product into stores just as fast as we can produce it. And we remain on track to ship two and a half million copies of Zelda to stores by Christmas Eve, and the game remains on track to become the fastest-seller in U.S. history.” “The idea that one game can sell over two million copies in less than two months makes it a phenomenon not just in the video game business, but in consumer products in general,” says Sean McGowan, executive vice president and director of research at Gerard, Klauer Mattison in New York. “To think that this amount of business can be done in one item in a relatively small piece of real estate space in stores means it'll probably be the best performing item at the toy stores.” "Zelda's gonna own Christmas no doubt,” adds Simon Cox, Executive Editor of Next Generation magazine. “You're gonna start playing it, and Christmas Day is gonna pass you by and New Year's is probably gonna pass you by as well. (It's) brilliant value it's magical, and Christmas should be magical. It's a magical game. That's why we've said it's the game of the century.” Adds Peer Schneider, editor of IGN64.com, “it's the most impressive video game I've ever played.” The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a novel blending of stunning 3D action with the engrossing story line of a traditional role-play game. Several independent game reviewers have compared the epic experience of playing Zelda to reading a great novel because of the degree of character development and depth of plot. Consumers began seeing excerpts of game footage in more than 11,000 movie theatres across the country beginning November 1st. The game, exclusively for the Nintendo 64 home game systems, carries a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $69.95. Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the leader in the worldwide $15 billion retail video game industry. Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its best-selling home video game systems, including the hand-held Game Boy, the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the 64-bit Nintendo 64. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Washington, serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere, where more than 40 percent of American households own a Nintendo game system. For more information on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or any Nintendo product, visit Nintendo's web site on the Internet, www.nintendo.com. Next Generation magazine, December 1998 Nintendo's 'Zelda' Video Game Outdraws Top Hollywood Holiday Releases; $150 Million 'Box Office' In Six Weeks (Redmond, Wash. Jan. 7, 1999) Nintendo's "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" established an historic benchmark for the video game and entertainment industry as the tally shows it generated more retail revenues during the last six weeks of 1998 than any Hollywood feature film released over the same key holiday time period. Based on data from Nintendo and entertainment industry sources(1), Nintendo's Zelda title for the Nintendo 64 video game console generated approximate retail revenues of $150 million based on the nearly 2.5 million units sold at an average retail price of $60. The top grossing movie for the same time period was the Disney/Pixar production of "A Bug's Life", with approximately $114 million in box office receipts. Counting all releases from the week of Nov. 20 through the end of the year, revenues are ranked as follows: Title Weeks Total Revenues Legend of Zelda (Nintendo) 6 $150 Million A Bug's Life 6 $114 Million Enemy of the State 7 $92 Million The Rugrats Movie 7 $85 Million "When you consider that roughly 15 years ago the home video game industry didn't even exist in America, the fact that a video game in the most important retail period of 1998 could outdraw any Hollywood release is nothing short of amazing," says Peter Main, Nintendo of America executive vice president, sales and marketing. "Coupled with the phenomenal growth of online activity, we're seeing a decided shift among consumers toward interactive entertainment. Users now can manage and control the story process and outcome, rather than the simply observe the passive delivery of the same uniform message to a mass audience." The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time also became the fastest selling game of all time and the number one selling video game of all of 1998, even though it was available for only the last 39 days of the year. Furthermore, Zelda remains on track to sell through more than 6 million games worldwide before the end of Nintendo's fiscal year on March 31. And separately, the Zelda how-to Player's Guide, published by Nintendo Power magazine, has already sold in excess of one million units as a distinct retail item. This current Zelda game is the first designed to play on the Nintendo 64 system, following previous versions released for the original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (1987), and the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1992). Critics have labeled the latest installment 'the video game of the century'(2) and "the Gone With The Wind of video games"(3). Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than one billion video games worldwide, and has created such industry icons as Mario, Yoshi, Zelda, and Donkey Kong. Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its best-selling home video game systems, including the 64-bit Nintendo 64, the hand-held Game Boy, and the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in North America, where more than 40 percent of American households own a Nintendo game system. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's web site, http://web.archive.org/web/20001003033733/http://www.nintendo.com/ (1) Exhibitor Relations Company (2) Next Generation magazine, 12/98 (3) Chip and Jonathan Carter, Tribune Media Services