The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has long occupied the highest position on Metacritic’s all-time video game rankings. Now, a detailed investigation by Did You Know Gaming argues that the famous 99 score does not follow Metacritic’s own standards consistently.
That does not mean the 1998 Nintendo classic has suddenly lost its critical standing. Instead, the dispute concerns which reviews were collected, how older coverage was handled and whether some non-numerical praise should have been included in the calculation.
How Metacritic’s Ocarina score was assembled
Metacritic launched in 2001, bringing together scores from approved newspapers, magazines, websites and recognised critics before converting them into a result out of 100. This differs from Rotten Tomatoes, which generally counts whether reviews are positive or negative rather than averaging their numerical scores.
Ocarina of Time was released before the aggregation site existed and arrived during a period when much game criticism was still found in print. Metacritic nevertheless assembled 22 contemporary reviews for Link’s first three-dimensional adventure through Hyrule.
That collection included coverage from the early version of IGN, the Canadian television programme Electric Playground and Famitsu magazine. Famitsu awarded the game a perfect score, a distinction that remains exceptionally uncommon for the publication.
Two problems identified in the review list
While preparing a new video, the research team compared the reviews used for Ocarina of Time with Metacritic’s stated approach to approved publications. It identified two main concerns.
Missing publications and older reviews
Metacritic included perfect scores from Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro, but did not include reviews from Game Informer or Nintendo Power. The latter, Nintendo’s official in-house magazine, awarded the game 95.
The investigation also found comparable inconsistencies involving early online coverage. This may look like selective sourcing, although another explanation is that the relevant back issues were difficult to locate when the database was created or were never added during its subsequent history.
Reviews without a numerical mark
The second issue involves articles that describe the game as “perfect” without assigning a number. The research also questioned the inclusion of highly enthusiastic retrospective pieces published well after the game’s launch, particularly where the writing was celebratory rather than a conventional critical review.
In other words, the argument is not that later critics should reassess the game using modern expectations. It is that the original aggregate may not have applied the same evidence rules to every title.
A one-point change reshapes the leaderboard
Using its revised review set and the site’s usual rounding method, the investigation calculated a result of 97.6, which would round to 98 rather than 99. That single-point reduction would move Ocarina of Time from first place into a tie for second with Grand Theft Auto IV, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Soulcalibur.
The researchers applied the same scrutiny to Soulcalibur, another game released before Metacritic began operating. Although it presented some similar complications, its final score remained unchanged.
The analysis is covered in the latest DYKG video, which examines the historical review data rather than disputing the game’s lasting reputation.
What the record really tells us
Metacritic remains a useful snapshot of aggregated critical opinion, but an average cannot fully represent the reasons a game connects with players. Its rankings can also be shaped by missing publications, inconsistent archival material and the different ways older reviews were written.
For arcade enthusiasts, the lesson is familiar: ratings can help narrow down a choice, but personal taste and the experience of playing still matter more. Whether you are comparing a full-size arcade machine, a space-saving bartop cabinet or planning a custom build with DIY arcade kits, a leaderboard is only a starting point.
The game’s 99 may no longer be secure under this review of Metacritic’s methodology, but Ocarina of Time remains one of the most acclaimed games ever released. Its place in its Guinness records may face the same accounting question, yet the broader historical impact of Nintendo’s 1998 adventure is not determined by one percentage point.
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