Yes, even Eiji Aonuma knows that the original water temple in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, frankly, kind of sucked.
In an Ask the Developer interview today, original Ocarina of Time director and now producer and franchise head Eiji Aonuma was asked about the game’s dungeons, which he was “deeply involved with” in the first game’s development. But when asked about changes to dungeons in general, Aonuma immediately brought up one in particular: the water temple.
The water temple is both an absolutely fantastic dungeon and also one of the most infuriating in the series, at least in its original incarnation. Its main mechanic involves raising and lowering the level of water throughout the dungeon in order to proceed to new areas, with both high and low water being required for certain doorways and paths to be useful. That on its own can be disorienting and confusing, which is part of what makes it so effective. But what was annoying was the need to constantly don and doff the Iron Boots to sink and float in the water. In the original game, Link couldn’t swim, so the only way to get down into the water was to equip the Iron Boots and sink, and then de-equip them to float. But doing this involved opening the game’s menu, navigating to the page they were on, and toggling them from there. Every. Single. Time. Combining this with one required treasure chest in particular hidden under a moving platform that most people struggled to find on their first attempt, and the water temple cemented itself in many people’s childhood memories as a nightmare.
Nintendo has since made the water temple far more reasonable in its 3DS remake, allowing players to set the boots to a single button to put on and remove, and adjusting a cutscene to make the treasure chest’s location more apparent. And from trailers, we’ve known that a similar treatment was going to be applied here. But it’s fascinating to hear Aonuma finally address these memorable problems:
I had some overdue homework: I wanted to do something about the Water Temple I created 28 years ago. (Laughs) Since it became well known for its difficulty in the original game, I had the team make some adjustments in this version. When I designed the Water Temple all those years ago, I wanted to create an experience where simply being underwater was fun. It was a time when there were very few 3D games that even let players go underwater. I enjoy freediving, and what I find fascinating about being underwater is how different everything feels. The sounds change, and it feels like you’re in a completely different space. I wanted to create a place where players could experience those sensations. However, with the dungeon’s complex structure and a lot of item toggling involved, you often had to open the menu screen repeatedly, making it hard to keep track of where you were and which way you were facing. We addressed those issues in this version.
Remake director HokWai Ng added some specifics: item toggling is much easier in the remake, and the team also “changed some of the walls that made it easy to lose your sense of direction to lattice-style structures, making it possible to see the rooms beyond them and get a better sense of the overall space.”
What they don’t discuss in the remake but I’m nonetheless fascinated to see play out is the swimming mechanic. Link couldn’t properly swim underwater in the original game, but in this one, he can. The iron boots serve to ground him on the floor in the dungeon and, I presume, allow him to interact with underwater puzzles in a way he can’t when he’s free swimming. But the new swimming still allows for a level of movement precision that wasn’t possible before, and I’m curious if that changes the puzzles or the dungeon’s approach any.
Only two more days before I find out. Ocarina of Time is out November 5. The rest of the Ask the Developer interview can be found right here.
