Yup, the rumors were true. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is being fully remade for Nintendo Switch 2, and it’s out sometime this year.
We saw very, very little of what this game is going to entail today. The trailer consisted of a voiceover narrating the opening premise of the game: there’s a land called Hyrule, there’s a small forest on the edge of the kingdom, the Kokiri live there with their fairies, but one boy doesn’t have a fairy. Who could that be? It’s Link, of course! We then see the young Link sleeping away as the Triforce mark awakens on the back of his hand, and then the logo reveal. That’s it!
You might ask, what more do we need to know? It’s Ocarina of Time! But…I have questions! I want to see more of Link running around in this new art style which, at a glance, seems a bit closer to that of Twilight Princess than any other recent Zelda game. I want to see if they’re overhauling combat and updating the camera and targeting controls. I want to hear if Navi will still be the correct amount of irritating, and I really want to know if this is going to be an aggressively faithful rework of the original game, or if it’s going to take some liberties or even add new elements. Also, while I’m sitting here wishing for things, can they do Majora’s Mask next?
Fully remaking Ocarina of Time is a massively tall order. It’s widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time, meaning everyone is surely going to have strong opinions about what direction it should take. After Square Enix’s wildly successful (thus far) three-part remake of Final Fantasy 7, there’s a lot of pressure for Nintendo to get this right. And while it’s taken some swings at making its classic playable for a modern generation with ports and lightly updated remasters, the look of Link in that first image tells me that this will be a ground-up recreation.
Having just played Ocarina for the first time earlier this year, I’ll say it: the game needs this. It’s a fantastic piece of work, but it’s been outstripped over the years in many ways by the games that followed in its footsteps. I’m sure I’m not alone in being thirsty for more, but the good news is we probably won’t have to wait long. If it’s out by the end of this year, that probably means a holiday release, most likely pre-Black Friday, which means they’ll likely show some actual gameplay in the next few months once they’ve gotten past Star Fox. And if Nintendo wants to steer clear of all its other releases with this one, it’s possible Ocarina of Time be the only game brave enough to go up against GTA VI in November…
…Okay, I’m far down the road of wild speculation now. I just really want to see more Ocarina of Time.