1UP: Four Ways Mega Man Legends Beat Ocarina of Time

In a recent article by 1UP, the idea that perhaps some of Ocarina of Time’s “innovations” were not particularly original, and Mega Man Legends actually did a few things first. Actually, it added four major gameplay elements nearly a year before Ocarina of Time’s release.

Though Nintendo might have done it better, we shouldn’t ignore the PlayStation game that’s often overshadowed by it’s Nintendo 64 superior. For example, though you may have heard or told yourself that Nintendo’s genius came when Ocarina of Time pioneered z-targeting, but in fact, the Zelda title just improved on an already existing concept, that Mega Man Legends did first. Hit the jump for the other three reasons!

Firstly, I’m not one to think that simply because you did something first, you deserve more merit than whomever did it better. And certainly this is not what the 1UP article was implying, but let’s remember this is only recognizing that Nintendo didn’t invent everything.

The four topics the 1UP article covers are z-targeting, facial animations and voice acted cut scenes, 3D dungeons, and an interconnected world. These are elements of gameplay that both games share, though perhaps Mega Man Legends did better in certain ways. Both games drew inspiration from A Link to the Past, so it’s natural to see similarities between the titles.

At this time, I encourage you to read the 1UP article for yourself before I go on.

Overall, I think it’s a great article that points out some aspects of gaming history we may not all be familiar with. Not everyone could have both a PlayStation and a Nintendo 64 after all, so I expect that many people grew up only having access to one or the other game.

My only gripes are that Mega Man Legends probably had better character development simply because that was not the primary focus of Ocarina of Time, and where that suffered, as the article points out, Nintendo made up with superior gameplay. Also, Navi isn’t really that annoying, not enough to say that it makes Ocarina of Time an inferior game.

I’m also curious to know whether Nintendo really observed Capcom’s new “z-targeting” idea. One year is a pretty short time in game development, and it’s possible that the ideas were thought of separately. A coincidence, perhaps.

But again, I urge you to read the original article before forming your own thoughts.

What did you think? Have you played both or have a different opinion? Tell us in the comments below!

Source: 1UP