With The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake finally available on Switch 2, there’s a lot for longtime fans of the original N64 game to rediscover, especially considering how many changes Nintendo made to an adventure that many of us have already finished multiple times. From giving Link a fifth bottle to making the Water Temple considerably less frustrating with improvements to the Iron Boots, the remake has addressed several things that players have complained about since 1998. But apparently, Nintendo didn’t think every frustrating aspect of the original Ocarina of Time needed to be fixed. In fact, according to series producer Eiji Aonuma, some of those frustrations were deliberately preserved because they’re part of what made the original game so memorable.
In a recent interview with Game Informer, Aonuma was asked why Nintendo decided to keep one of the original Ocarina of Time‘s more disappointing rewards, which comes from collecting Gold Skulltula tokens. Rather than suggesting that the reward was actually better than players remembered, he acknowledged the disappointment and explained why the development team wanted to preserve it. I find that approach particularly interesting because, as much as I generally want a remake to improve on the original, I also think there’s a point where making everything more rewarding could change the experience players remember. And Ocarina of Time‘s Gold Skulltula quest might be one of the better examples of that.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake Kept a Disappointing Skulltula Reward on Purpose
If you’ve played the original Ocarina of Time, you’re probably familiar with the Gold Skulltula quest, which involves tracking down 100 golden spiders scattered throughout Hyrule and collecting the tokens they leave behind. Returning those tokens to the cursed family in Kakariko Village gradually frees its members, with players receiving a reward for reaching certain collection milestones. Some of those rewards are particularly valuable, including the Adult’s Wallet for collecting 10 tokens and the Giant’s Wallet for collecting 30. However, after putting in the effort to collect 40 Gold Skulltulas, players are rewarded with just 10 Bombchus in the original game, which I think is a little difficult to get excited about considering how much work went into finding them.
Put the consoles in the correct order.
As part of Game Informer’s interview, Kyle Hilliard specifically brought up that reward, explaining that he found it disappointing as a child and still felt the same way when playing the remake. Aonuma’s response was rather surprising, as he explained that the feeling of receiving the Bombchus and wondering, “Wait, that’s it?” was part of the original N64 experience, and one the team wanted to preserve. He went on to explain that the developers weren’t just interested in maintaining the more exciting moments players remembered, but also the occasional disappointment that came with them. Interestingly, the remake does increase the reward to 20 Bombchus, but that doesn’t necessarily make it much more satisfying for someone who was hoping to receive something permanent for collecting nearly half of the game’s Gold Skulltulas.
What’s particularly interesting about Nintendo’s decision is that the Ocarina of Time remake has been more than willing to change other aspects of the original game when the developers felt those changes were necessary. For example, the original’s Stone of Agony reward for collecting 20 Gold Skulltulas has been replaced by the Echo Gem, which helps players locate more Skulltulas using visual and audio cues. The remake also increases the capacity of Link’s wallets, making those rewards more useful than they were in the N64 version. So it’s not as though Nintendo was unwilling to improve the Gold Skulltula quest, which makes its decision to preserve the Bombchu reward even more interesting.
The feeling of receiving the Bombchus and wondering, “Wait, that’s it?” was part of the original N64 experience, and one the team wanted to preserve.
And while I certainly wouldn’t argue that every disappointing reward in an older game should remain disappointing in a remake, I can understand where Aonuma is coming from. Part of what made games like Ocarina of Time so memorable was that players didn’t necessarily know what they were going to receive for putting in the effort to uncover their secrets. Sometimes that meant discovering something incredibly useful, but other times it meant spending hours looking for collectibles only to receive a reward that didn’t seem particularly worthwhile. I don’t think that frustration necessarily made the original game better, but I also can’t deny that those moments became part of the experience players have continued talking about almost 30 years later.
Ocarina of Time Remake Raises an Interesting Question About What Should Change
What I appreciate about Aonuma’s explanation is that Nintendo seems to have approached the remake with an understanding that improving an older game doesn’t necessarily mean replacing everything players might consider outdated. After all, there’s a difference between making the Water Temple easier to navigate by eliminating unnecessary menu interruptions and changing a collectible reward simply because players might expect something more impressive today. One removes an inconvenience that gets in the way of enjoying the original game’s puzzles, while the other changes what players receive for completing an activity. Of course, I’d probably be just as disappointed to receive Bombchus after collecting 40 Gold Skulltulas today, but I also think there’s something amusing about knowing Nintendo fully expected that reaction and decided to keep the reward anyway.
Still, I hope Nintendo doesn’t take that philosophy too far with future remakes, because there are plenty of older game mechanics that deserve to be reconsidered rather than preserved simply for nostalgia’s sake. But in the case of Ocarina of Time, I think the Gold Skulltula rewards are an interesting reminder that not everything players remember fondly about a game was necessarily enjoyable in the moment. I’ve spent enough time with the original that I know how satisfying it can be to finally uncover a secret that’s been hiding in plain sight, even when the reward itself isn’t particularly spectacular. And while 20 Bombchus might not be what I’d choose as a prize for collecting 40 Gold Skulltulas, I can appreciate Nintendo wanting veteran players to experience that familiar disappointment all over again, even if it means letting us down just a little.
- Released
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November 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
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Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
