You’d think people would eventually get tired of being upset about everything, but this is the gaming community we’re talking about, and I suppose that’s just the way of things these days. In any case, one of the latest controversies surrounds none other than the highly anticipated, long-awaited Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2, after Nintendo graciously gave us an extensive look at some gameplay during the recent Zelda 40th anniversary Direct. While there are plenty of debates going on here, primarily about faithfulness when it comes to remakes and whether Nintendo should have modernized Ocarina of Time more than it seemingly did, one of the hottest controversies is about young Link’s face, of all things.
Personally, I don’t see the problem. I was completely happy with the way the remake looked when Nintendo first showed it, and nothing I’ve seen since has changed my mind. Young Link looks fine to me, and I’m thoroughly pleased with the visual direction Nintendo has taken with the remake so far. Other players clearly don’t feel the same way, though, as some fans on Reddit have described his new appearance as creepy or doll-like, while GamesRadar even highlighted complaints about his round cheeks and large eyes. What I find far more interesting than any of that is why his appearance has become such a sticking point in the first place, because I think the disagreement over his face is really part of a much larger problem Nintendo was always going to run into when it finally remade Ocarina of Time.
Young Link’s Face Isn’t Really the Problem
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Image by GameRant; Source: Nintendo -
Image by Nintendo -
I’ve played through Ocarina of Time more times than I can count, but I’ve never really stopped to think about how much of that game my imagination was filling in for me. The N64 classic looked incredible in 1998, and I still think its art direction holds up remarkably well today, but the Nintendo 64 could only show so much. Young Link’s face was incredibly simple compared to what Nintendo can create now. It didn’t need to be anything more than that, either, because the game gave me enough to understand who I was looking at, and my imagination filled in whatever was missing.
Put the consoles in the correct order.
I never thought of Link that way when I was younger. I wasn’t staring at him and mentally accounting for everything the hardware couldn’t render. He just looked like Link to me. The version I remember today probably isn’t exactly the same version that was standing there on the screen in 1998, though, because I’ve had almost 30 years for that image to change. The artwork for the original game undoubtedly became part of how I saw him, and Ocarina of Time 3D gave me a much more detailed interpretation years later. By this point, the young Link in my head is probably made up of several different versions of the character without me even realizing it.
Nintendo doesn’t have the luxury of leaving those details alone anymore. A remake on Switch 2 can show us exactly how Link’s face is shaped in a way the Nintendo 64 never could. Nintendo has to decide how those old proportions translate when there is enough detail for people to study his face up close. Once that happens, the character inevitably becomes more specific than he was before. Players who spent decades imagining those missing details for themselves are now being shown Nintendo’s answer instead.
I’ve played through Ocarina of Time more times than I can count, but I’ve never really stopped to think about how much of that game my imagination was filling in for me.
From everything we’ve seen so far, Nintendo seems to be leaning heavily into the original game’s visual identity rather than simply taking Ocarina of Time 3D and making it prettier. Some fans on another Reddit post have compared the remake’s young Link directly with his N64 model and pointed out just how closely parts of the new design resemble the original, even down to the shape of his mouth. I actually like that approach, especially because the original game had such a distinct look that I wouldn’t want to see polished away in the name of making everything more conventionally attractive. Ocarina of Time was always a little strange to look at in places. Its characters had exaggerated proportions because they needed to read clearly on the Nintendo 64, and those same proportions are naturally going to stand out more once the models become this detailed.
Young Link’s Face Is Only Part of Ocarina of Time’s Divisive New Look
Young Link may have become the easiest target, but the conversation surrounding the remake’s visuals goes well beyond his face. Nintendo knew going into this that deciding how Ocarina of Time should look in 2026 wasn’t going to be as simple as rebuilding the original game with better graphics. Eiji Aonuma even said during the anniversary Direct that the team had “many discussions” about the visual style before settling on something that would make Link’s world feel both remade and nostalgic. He also made it clear that Nintendo wasn’t simply aiming for realistic graphics, which I think explains a lot about what we’re looking at now.
The results are obviously dividing people. Some players think Nintendo nailed exactly what a modern Ocarina of Time should look like, while others have compared the remake to the kind of Unreal Engine fan projects that have been floating around online for years. The disagreement over young Link has become part of that larger conversation, especially because some fans think the new character models look uncanny even while praising the environments. I happen to be on the other side of that argument. Nothing about what Nintendo showed bothered me, and I thought the remake looked fantastic from the moment I saw it.
For me, what I would actually call this “overreaction” is really just about how differently people remember Ocarina of Time. The original game left plenty of room for those memories to develop over nearly 30 years, especially once later versions of Link entered the picture. Nintendo is now showing us its own modern interpretation of what those original designs were supposed to be, and it was probably inevitable that some players would look at it and see something different from the Ocarina of Time they had been picturing all this time. I just happen to really like the version Nintendo has shown us.
- 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
