Updated

Updated · Kotaku · Aug 1

Did You Know Gaming Challenges Ocarina of Time's 99 Metacritic Score, Says It Should Be 98

Updated

Updated · Kotaku · Aug 1

Did You Know Gaming Challenges Ocarina of Time's 99 Metacritic Score, Says It Should Be 98

Q: If Zelda loses its crown, which video game secretly holds the true title of highest-rated ever?

If Did You Know Gaming’s recalculation is right, there is no single secret successor. *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* would fall from 99 to 98, creating a four-way tie for the top score range it would share with *Soulcalibur*, *Grand Theft Auto IV*, and *Super Mario Galaxy 2*. Among those, *Soulcalibur* is the standout in DYKG’s review because the channel says it checked that game using the same archival method and found its Metacritic score would remain intact. In other words, if *Ocarina of Time* loses its lone crown, *Soulcalibur* looks like the cleanest claimant to a “true” top spot under the same scrutiny, but it still would not be sole No. 1 based on the available data. The key point is that DYKG is challenging Metacritic’s historical aggregation, not declaring a different game definitively best. Its argument is that missing old magazine reviews and counting some non-numeric retrospective praise likely inflated *Ocarina*’s metascore. Under that view, the old No. 1 would no longer stand alone, and the title of highest-rated game would effectively become shared rather than transferred to one undisputed winner.

3 articles · Updated · Kotaku · Aug 1

DYKG says Metacritic’s 99 for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is miscalculated and should round to 98 from 97.6 under the site’s own rules.
Its review found Metacritic omitted approved-era sources such as Game Informer and Nintendo Power while including less clear inputs, including articles that called the game “perfect” without numeric scores.
A drop to 98 would remove Ocarina of Time from sole possession of Metacritic’s top spot and leave it tied with Grand Theft Auto IV, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Soulcalibur.
The dispute matters because Ocarina of Time’s 1998 release predates Metacritic, forcing the site to reconstruct 22 contemporary reviews from magazines, TV and early web outlets.