The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the first The Legend of Zelda game released for the Nintendo 64, is the fifth installment in The Legend of Zelda, and was one of the most highly anticipated games of its age. It is also listed by numerous websites and magazines among the greatest video games ever created. Released in the United States on November 23, 1998, it was the first game in The Legend of Zelda series that was visually displayed in 3D (previous games of the series had a front or top-down view).

It is generally considered to be a classic, most famously scoring the first ever perfect 40/40 in Famitsu Magazine - a feat which only twenty three games (including The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword) have ever achieved. In addition, G4 television declared it "the #1 game of all time" as well as Nintendo Power. Ocarina of Time is listed in Guinness World Records - Gamer's Edition 2008, as the highest ranked game of all time. In the 2010 Gamer's Edition, Ocarina of Time was updated as "the most critically acclaimed game of all time." It is also the highest scoring game of all time on Metacritic, at 99/100.