Miyamoto: Ocarina of Time could have been an FPS

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the most important games ever made, according to some, and certainly helped to define a generation of gamers and cosplayers. The 3D free-roaming action-adventure was massively revolutionary at the time and one of only three real reasons to even own a Nintendo 64.

But it all could have been so different.

In a recent internal discussion at Nintendo between game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, Miyamoto revealed that the design for Ocarina of Time could have followed a very different path and ended up as an FPS instead.

Apparently prompted by a love of Rare's Nintendo 64 shooter GoldenEye, which is another of the three reasons to own a Nintendo 64, Miyamoto wanted to make OoT a first-person shooter too.

"I thought that the FPS system would be the best way of enabling players to take in the vast terrain of the Hyrule Field. Besides, by not having the player’s character on the screen, we can spend more time and machine power on creating enemies and the environments," said Miyamoto.

In fact, the main reason that the presentation of the game was changed was so that players could see that Link was growing and getting older as the game went on. That and Miyamoto wanted everyone to see how cool Link looked.

Can you imagine an FPS Ocarina of Time, or are you not that bothered? Maybe you can settle an age-old Bit-tech debate about which is the best game ever; Ocarina of Time or System Shock 2? Let us know in the forums.