This... this the one. I know it's almost too cliche to say it at this point, but Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the most gratifying gaming experience of my life and remains, in my opinion, the greatest video game ever made. Yeah, yeah I know this is what all the 90s kids say. But I would have said the same thing the first time I beat the game even though the N64 was, by then, obsolete hardware, replaced by the likes of X-Box, GameCube, and PS2. I've subsequently made a point to play through most of the games considered the 'Great Classics' including the other Zelda Games, most of them masterpieces in their own right. I played the OG Zelda on NES and (the one also championed as the GOAT by some) A Link to the Past on SNES. And I loved those games, too. Link to the Past hasn't aged a day in 32 years (my same age). But still, I remain convinced that Ocarina of Time just hits a little harder, despite the fact that N64 animation hasn't held up as well as SNES graphics.
I don't even replay Ocarina of Time all that often.
Not because I don't want to. I regularly want to give it a reply. I just like to wait a good five or ten years between playthroughs so as to enjoy a bit of the mystery and the rewards of figuring out the puzzles again.
But even if I live another century (unlikely), I'll NEVER forget the last two hours or so of the game with:
The twist of Shiek's transformation, Ganondorf's capture of Princess Zelda, the feeling of urgency as you battle through the Dark Tower, finally coming face-to-face with Ganondorf, defeating him at long last after being virtually no threat to him the entire game, escaping the crumbling tower and fighting through the last of the toughest minions with Zelda's aid... then at last, when you've finally escaped with the Princess and all seems well and GANONDORF FRIGGIN RISES FROM THE ASHES OF HIS DESTROYED TOWER AND CHANNELS THE LAST OF HIS DARK SORCERY INTO THE MOST EPIC AND TERRIFYING TRANSFORMATION YOU'LL EVER SEE IN YOUR LIFE, and you have to somehow pull yourself together for one climactic battle against Ganon, the very embodiment of all that is powerful and evil to the core, and somehow rising to that challenge even without the Master Sword, as Navi gives the last of her strength to stand by you and Princess Zelda uses what magic she has and channels everything she can muster just to hold off Ganon's immense power long enough for you to deliver the final blow... and then sitting in open-jawed astonishment as Zelda's Lullaby resounds and the Princess thanks you for saving Hyrule before embracing the heartbreaking but decision to send you back to your original timeline, even though she knows that doing so means not only the end of their deep friendship, but may also deprive her Kingdom of its needed hero should Ganondorf ever return from his spirit prison, then watching the credits roll until finally returning as child Link, only for Navi, your ever-present and talkative companion, to flutter off wordlessly, obviously deeply damaged by her efforts against Ganon, then the poignant last frame in which Link again meets Princess Zelda, he in full awareness of everything that happened and intimately connected to Zelda by the sort of bonds that can only be built by many years of mutual struggle, but her face betraying the heartbreaking truth that she remains severed from the deep connection the two built and, though you, the Hero of Time, may finally live the childhood of which you were once robbed, you'll never, ever regain the substance of your life's struggles, all of which is now lost in another life, in another time...
I really just can't tell you how powerful that experience was for the first time at age 11.
There were gaming masterpieces before 1998 and we've been through many decades of increasingly improving graphics and storytelling refinements ever since.
But, looking back on everything I experienced upon release and everything I sought out and played from before my time, frankly, nothing touches that old N64 classic. Again, I know I'm far from the first or only person to say so, and there are famous YouTube critique videos picking it apart, etc. etc. But, in terms of gaming excellence, Ocarina of Time remains in an elite class of its own.