Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's gorgeous remake retains the original's soul
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remake → retain → soul
Improved controls, modern visuals do justice to the seminal 1998 adventure game
If you loved the original The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, chances are you don't remember the moments that were clunky, hard to control and kind of ugly, because the good stuff outstripped the bad by a longshot.
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stuff → improve → longshot
Now, Nintendo has remade and rebuilt the 1998 classic from the ground up, for the Switch 2 console.
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Nintendo → remake → console
In doing so, they've managed to recreate the good memories from this iconic game, but with modern improvements to the visuals, responsive controls and much more.
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they → do → visuals
In other words, they've avoided making this stroll down memory lane a cringe-inducing slog.
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stroll → avoid → lane
The end result will feel like a comforting hug to many gamers, but its world will welcome anyone who hasn't visited before.
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who → feel → anyone
It looks way better
What hasn't changed is the classic story of the balance between good and evil.
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changed → look → good
Ocarina of Time tells the interweaving tale of Zelda, a princess burdened with dark, prophetic dreams; Ganondorf, the manipulative power-hungry thief; and Link, a boy with a mark of destiny who must grow up quick — figuratively and literally, thanks to time travel — to meet the challenge.
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who → tell → challenge
As Link, you still navigate the Kingdom of Hyrule: a beautiful, wide world full of puzzles, weapons and enemies.
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you → navigate → puzzles
The blocky, polygonal graphics of the original version meant some of this epic storytelling had to be done in our imagination.
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some → mean → imagination
But on the Switch 2, the rays of the sun shine, the dust flows, the water glistens and the characters — even the weird ones — have gestures, emotions and faces with more discernable features.
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characters → shine → features
Link stands in front of the Great Deku Tree.
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Link → stand → Tree
Fireflies, light and mist swirl about, showing off the graphical sea change from the original to the remake.
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Fireflies → swirl → remake
From the stained-glass texture of your fairy companion Navi to the latex skin of the fish-like Zora people, Ocarina feels like it's giving you reasons to pay attention to details in this era of second-screen distractions.
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it → stain → distractions
The tools and weapons essential to your journey are colourful and responsive, from deflecting monster projectiles with your shield to the hissing of a lit bomb that you'd better throw soon.
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you → deflect → that
Unlike the original, which would automatically throw Link over pits and edges, jumping now has a button, giving the player more control over combat and traversal.
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jumping → throw → combat
It sounds the same (that's a good thing)
Speaking of those tools, they are a driving force in one of the best parts to any Zelda adventure: the sound design.
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they → sound → adventure
The shlink of a sword, the hyaah of our otherwise silent protagonist, the clunk-thunk of iron boots and the creak of opening a treasure chest are all still here.
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shlink → open → chest
Nintendo has done little to improve the sound effects other than making them sound less tinny.
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them → do → effects
Yes, that includes the symphony of squelching as you navigate the insides of Jabu-Jabu, a giant fish-like creature.
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you → include → Jabu
The titular ocarina is still a satisfying woodwind to play, but now you can hum the tunes in case you forget (or don't want to bother remembering) the exact note combinations.
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you → play → combinations
Songs are key to game progression, and if you don't want to sing aloud, simple button presses will also work.
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presses → want → progression
The castanets and guitar got me vibing through the deserts of Gerudo Valley, and I loved how the tempo slowed down as night fell over the canyon.
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night → get → canyon
New voice acting and a slightly reworked script helps boost moments so you're not just mashing buttons to hurry along boxes of text on the screen.
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you → rework → screen
Thankfully, the melodrama of that acting and writing never overstay their welcome.
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melodrama → overstay → welcome
Ganondorf is wonderful in brief menacing monologues, but the forest dwelling would-be-tough-guy Mido steals the show.
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Ganondorf → dwell → show
It feels bigger, but is actually faster
Ocarina benefits from quick pacing elsewhere, too.
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Ocarina → feel → pacing
While it takes up more than 20 gigabytes of storage — more than 2023's Tears of the Kingdom — this adventure isn't heavily beset with tasks and side quests.
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adventure → take → tasks
Early on, you might think the tall, vast, gorgeous world before you feels endless.
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world → think → you
But you'll quickly realize that few treasures are hidden in the walls, and slashing at shrubs won't uncover much more than a couple of rupees.
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slashing → realize → rupees
Link gets ready to ride his horse Epona.
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Link → get → horse
Though your horse helps the speed of traversing the map, it's a tiny world compared to modern Zelda games.
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it → help → games
The last two Zelda games on the Switch — Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom — took the franchise into an exhaustive open world, a feature of modern games that try to keep you in these environments for dozens of hours.
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that → take → hours
Ocarina of Time, however, is focused on good level design and clever mechanics to get through them.
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Ocarina → focus → them
In the later temples, for example, it's all about switching between your tools to figure out a path through a unique set of rooms.
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it → switch → rooms
That means this game doesn't take as long to beat — and this may be the one downside to staying true to its roots.
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this → mean → roots
What used to be semi-challenging puzzles in the original now feel a little dated and are over before you know it.
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you → use → it
The same goes for the epic set-piece boss battles that you can finish in a few hits, making you wonder what all that dungeon-crawling was for.
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crawling → go → what
(Thankfully, another modern improvement is the ability to replay boss fights for bragging rights.)
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improvement → replay → rights
But like some good, old memories, it's not worth interrogating.
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it → interrogate → memories
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
