In a parallel universe, Hyrule is inhabited by the Mushroom Kingdom's various creatures. There are 9 Grand Stars that are being held by all the kings of different species. This keeps the balance of nature in Hyrule, but one unfortunate day, Bowser gets a hold of the Black Grand Star. With its power, he started attacking parts of the outside regions, and the leadership has gotten worried that he is going to take over all of Hyrule if no one could oppose him. Peach came up with a plan to send Mario on a search through all of Hyrule and into the future in order to prepare him to be able to face off with Bowser. She sends out a Toad with a message for Mario, and here our story begins...
— Intro scroll
Super Mario 64: Ocarina of Time is a Super Mario 64 ROM hack crossover with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It takes the world of Ocarina and rebuilds it with Mario 64 gameplay. Unlike most hacks, it is not separated into courses, but has the one big world of Hyrule, with power stars scattered throughout; Mario will also gather several abilities, both old and new (mostly new).
The hack takes place in an alternate universe where Hyrule is populated by the Mario cast. Hyrule is the center of a large empire of kingdoms inhabited by many tribes. In Hyrule, these different tribes live in harmony; Toads, Goombas, Koopas, Bob-ombs, Penguins, and other creatures all coexist peacefully, ruled by their benevolent leaders, Princess Peach and her allies, each of whom has one of the 9 Grand Stars that keeps this balance.
But all is not well — the evil King Bowser, ruler of the Koopas, has decided he is unsatisfied with this peace and desires to be the sole ruler of all. To that end, he has seized the Black Grand Star and allied with various monsters of his own to invade Hyrule, intending to take the other Grand Stars. Princess Peach gives a scroll to a Toad and sends him to find Mario in the Toad Forest, asking him for help. And so, Mario sets out to collect the stars and defeat Bowser and his army.
Can be downloaded here
. See also The Legend of Banjo-Kazooie: The Jiggies of Time, which does the same with Banjo-Kazooie.
This hack contains examples of:
- The Alliance: Hyrule has made one with the various other tribes, like the Goombas, Bob-ombs, and Penguins.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: As in Ocarina, Castle Hyrule is turned into an Ominous Floating Castle, while Castle Town is overrun by Bowser's troops. Desert City, which in the past is full of friendly NPC monsters and ruled by the Goomba Prince's parents, now has Bowser's Battle Bob-ombs patrolling the area, while the now-grown up Goomba King is thrown in jail.
- Alternate Universe Fic: The intro explicitly states that the game takes place in a parallel universe where the Mario cast inhabits Hyrule.
- Antepiece: In the Shadow Temple, three of the stars are hidden inside Whomps; to get them, you must guide the Bullet Bills to the Whomps, destroying them. In the red coin room, since there are a lot of Bullet Bills, you are likely to discover you can do this accidentally. The boss of the area, King Whomp, must be beaten in this way.
- Armor Is Useless: The Armored Amp covers its weak point atop its head with a shell as armor. Despite this, Mario can still hurt it by ground-pounding the armor.
- Big Bad: Bowser plays the role of Ganondorf in the original game as the one behind the invasion of Hyrule. He seeks the 9 Grand Stars to conquer all of Hyrule, and Mario must stop him.
- Bragging Rights Reward: Getting 170 stars and going to the house in Kakariko to turn back the Boo back into a Rabbit nets Mario the permanent Wing Cap ability, which can allow Mario to reach stars in super high places and bypass most obstacles. But since there are 171 stars in the game, by the time you get this, you are likely to have already gotten all the stars that the ability would have been useful in getting. You can use it against the Final Boss by flying up to the cannons to hit him.
- Egopolis: In the future world where Bowser takes over Hyrule, he renames it Bowserule.
- The Empire: Bowser and his forces, made up of members of various species, form one when they take over Hyrule. He names it Bowserule.
- Flight Is the Final Power: The permanent Wing Cap powerup, unlike in the original game where it was available from early on, is here the last powerup to be obtained after getting 170 stars, and an Infinity +1 Sword.
- Forced Transformation: In Kakariko Village, the Skulltula House is replaced by a Rabbit-turned-Boo who can only turn back into Rabbit form with the power of 170 stars.
- Fusion Fic: The hack replaces the Zelda characters with Mario ones. Mario plays Link, Peach is Zelda, Bowser is Ganondorf, and the various other characters are Mario NPCs.
- Ghost Town: Kakariko Village, Bob-omb City, and the Penguin Domain in the future become completely void of the inhabitants that resided there in the past. Toad Forest becomes a literal variant; in place of the Toads who once lived there, Boos are haunting the place.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Despite Mario being specifically invited to Hyrule Castle by Princess Peach, the Bob-omb guards will assume he is not invited and kick him out anyway if they spot him. Even after speaking with Peach, who presumably has authority over them, they still do this. Given a Hand Wave by Peach who says they are on high alert due to Bowser invading the region. From a gameplay standpoint, both they and the Bob-omb guards in the future Desert City have No Peripheral Vision, so it is easy to avoid getting spotted if you stand enough to the side or on top of a box.
- Guide Dang It!: One particular star in the Water Temple, already the most frustrating level in the game, requires you to kill Unagi the eel, yet not only is there no indication that you can do so, but to do it, you have to touch a small, barely-noticeable spear (which could easily be mistaken for a clipped-in box) that is already halfway through Unagi to drive it further into the eel.
- Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: The levels and dungeons are a true test of skill, combining the puzzle-solving of Zelda with Mario 64 platforming, and some of the stars are very difficult. The bosses and mini-bosses, however, are mostly easy in comparison, as they are all a King Mook, often with little change to their attack pattern from their normal enemy versions. The main exception is the Final Boss Bowser himself, who is a genuine challenge.
- Infinity +1 Sword: The permanent Wing Cap ability can allow Mario to bypass many of the obstacles and platforming challenges, but can only be gained after getting 170 stars... by which point you likely won't need it anymore.
- King Mook: Almost all of the bosses and mini-bosses are this. They range from ones like Big Scuttlebug, Armored Amp, King Whomp, and Big Koopa Troopa, who attack just like the normal enemies with little variation, to the Big Boos (who do act somewhat differently), and King Bob-omb (who is completely different from his Mario 64 version). The two exceptions are the Big Blarg and Big Manta, which are original bosses (though the Manta is based on a non-enemy NPC from Mario 64).
- Lighter and Softer: Than both Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64: Last Impact. The former, despite being a family-friendly game, dealt with dark topics, had onscreen deaths, contained a horrifying Bad Future where innocents were slaughtered en masse, and had Ganondorf be a vile villain for perpetrating all this. The latter dealt with the coming destruction of the world, and also had some dark themes. In this hack, Bowser, while a genuine threat, does not seem to be nearly as ruthless as Ganondorf, there are no real onscreen deaths, and the consequences of Bowser's reign are vague and implied; although several towns became Ghost Towns, it is ambiguous as to what happened to the inhabitants, if Bowser killed them or if they simply left.
- Monster Town:
- Castle Town is inhabited by various friendly versions of the Mario 64 enemies which can be interacted with as NPCs. Justified as, in the backstory, it was built as a monument to co-existence between the various creatures of Hyrule.
- Desert City in the past is the same thing; though ruled by Goombas, it has Koopas and a Pokey there as well. All of them are friendly NPCs (except Klepto, who steals a Koopa shell, but even he is more mischievous than malevolent). In the future, however, the city has been taken over by Bowser and his army, so it is being patrolled by enemy Bob-ombs.
- No Peripheral Vision: The Bob-omb guards will not spot Mario if he is sufficiently to their side or standing on a box around their height. Apparently, they never think to look up or sideways.
- Overlord Jr.: Bowser has four children who he sends after Mario in the battle against him.
- Portal Picture: As in Ocarina, the paintings in Big Black Boo's room are this, and the boss travels inside them. In a reference to Mario 64, Mario also has to jump inside them, leading to a small room, to beat Big Black Boo.
- Post-Final Level: The back has Bowser's Castle as the final area, but after defeating Bowser in the future, Mario must then travel to the past, where a Warp Pipe opens near Peach's Castle that leads to a massive lava pit for the actual final battle against Bowser.
- Plot Coupon: The nine Grand Stars scattered around Hyrule which keep the world in harmony. Bowser has already seized the Black Grand Star and must be beaten to retrieve it. In addition, six of the Grand Stars are only accessible in the future due to the seals for each of the temples only breaking then, and the star in the Temple of Time that allows Mario to Time Travel is hidden behind a door requiring the first three Grand Stars to open.
- Stealth-Based Mission: Two similar ones. Sneaking into Hyrule Castle to see Peach, and later sneaking into the future Desert City castle, require Mario to get past the patrolling Bob-omb guards, either through the Vanish Cap ability or jumping.
- Take Your Time: Near the very end of the game, in the past world, Bowser's hideout is found, with a warp pipe outside Hyrule Castle leading to it, and Bowser is getting ready to launch a final invasion of Hyrule, leading to the Bad Future if he wins. Despite this, Mario can take his time collecting the power stars and wait before confronting Bowser.
