Sometimes I wonder just what kind of impact Ocarina of Time had on ocarina sales globally? Surely there was some kind of renaissance! Regardless, I think that, as an instrument, the ocarina is now inextricably linked to video games. And all this cover of the Journey soundtrack does is reinforce that fact!
The plastic ocarina that Nintendo’s sending around with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is quite the coveted piece of swag. Until we got ours, only French journalists and Australian customers were on the chosen list of recipients. Does the thing actually work? Joel Johnson put it to the test.
When the St. Louis Ocarina Store opened back in 2005, they quickly became aware of the large overlap found between fans of the quirky musical instrument and fans of Nintendo’s Zelda series. Realising that they owe a great deal of their sales to Nintendo’s classic N64 title, they’ve issued a press release celebrating the 10th anniversary of the game’s release. “We have had an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response from Zelda fans and video game enthusiasts,” said Dr. Dennis Yeh, the school’s director. “Our Zelda items quickly became bestsellers – and we are happy to be celebrating the game’s tenth anniversary in our store this month.”
