Game Anatomy: Z-Targeting

Image copyright Nintendo

There’s a lot to be said about the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and that could probably fill a multi-article project, but there’s one thing that it did that completely made the game as playable as it is, and that’s Z-Targeting.  See, today, 18 years after Ocarina of Time had been released, a lot of the mechanics for Z-Targeting are taken entirely for granted, and kind of seem like a “no-shit” solution, but back in the early days of 3D, it almost seemed like an insurmountable problem.  There were targeting systems in place, but a lot of them didn’t seem to take into account the camera and the ones that did didn’t really make it work within the entire spectrum of  gameplay, so it really wasn’t an intuitive solution it seems to be in retrospect.

So, Ocarina of Time shows up and it gives us Z-Targeting, and lock-on mechanics are basically fixed forever.  I mean, kind of.  I’m not too sure of the history if anyone else was working on something similar, or of anyone else got anything up and running around the same time, and while Ocarina of Time’s isn’t perfect (and really, it’s seen iterative improvements in every 3D Zelda title up through Skyward Sword), it was definitely the best in the world at the time, so everyone decided to build on it.  It’s literally among one of the most revolutionary and important mechanics in gaming, but that’s not why we’re here.

What also made Z-Targeting work was that it basically made the game what it was.  Zelda has attempted to utilize something of a Z-Axis since the first Zelda title, and they’ve done so in their 2D Zeldas to mixed success, Link Between Worlds probably being the best example.  Nintendo built all of Ocarina of Time around the Z-Targeting mechanic.  It looks like the entire game, from the ground up, is designed to work around Z-Targeting.  It does this in a few ways, most of the involving combat, but some of it involves exploration as well.

First, all of combat is built around Z-Targeting.  It’s why almost every fight is one-on-one or two-on-one.  Yes, I know there are exceptions, but since the mechanic is entirely about locking onto a single enemy and focusing on them, and concepts like splash damage and cleaves were still being worked out, it makes sense.  Imagine trying to fight off six or seven Stalfos at once.  In a post-Wind Waker world, we can do that, but this is a game where all the dodges are manual and based on player eyesight, so the game’s combat has to be pared down.  This doesn’t mean that the game isn’t without it’s epic confrontations, however.  Sure, there are a lot of enemies that are hurry up and wait kind of bad guys, but that’s not really a bad thing in this kind of game.  It doesn’t have the tension of, say, Dark Souls, but the idea behind this is to make the fights more like an intense sword duel.  It works, sometimes, and does a good job of making the combat feel less like a chore and more like something that’s fun.

Where it really comes together, though, is in exploration.  See, one of the issues with 3D environments is that it’s hard to see, and camera controls, especially in the late 90s, were still an evolving concept.  The Dual Shock controller just came out, and wouldn’t see the light of day while Ocarina of Time was in development, so Nintendo had to come up with something to make it possible for Link to find what was needed.  Not everything that should be Z-Targeted is (nor is it still), but a lot of things are, and using Navi was a genius move of making sure the player could find what they needed, whether it was a person to talk to, or a solution to the puzzle.

See, Z-Targeting does two things: lock on to the enemy, and snap the camera to an optimal (most of the time) angle in order to allow the player to see what Link is seeing.  First, this does a great job of stealth immersion, especially since it’s Navi, an in game character, telling you the player and Link the character, what to do or how to do it.  More importantly, though, what it does is allow the camera to work without getting in the player’s way.  Even now, the ability to “snap-back” the camera behind the PC is an entirely understated boon, and is often overlooked in just how important that is.  The camera can easily get in the way, and the environment can often obscure what needs to be seen.  Allowing the camera itself to lock onto what’s important, or at least instantly get back to a default view extremely important and does a great job of conveying good information to the player, allowing them to make good decisions.

Now, Z-Targeting isn’t, and still isn’t, perfect.  However, without it, it would be extremely easy to get lost, maneuver around enemies, or solve puzzles.  It makes the game what it is, and without it, I think Ocarina of Time may have been a much poorer game, and I think 3D would have had a much more difficult transition to what it is today.