Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake for Switch 2 keeps the original's spirit and improves play
Nintendo releases a remake of its 1998 video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Switch 2 on November 5. The Verge's reviewer calls it the ideal way to play the game today.
Japanese company Nintendo releases a remake of the adventure game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for its Switch 2 console on November 5. The original launched on the Nintendo 64 in 1998 and is one of the most influential and revered entries in the Zelda series. Andrew Webster, a reviewer at the technology outlet The Verge, concludes that the remake preserves the core of the original while making it more accessible to modern audiences.
Why it matters
In recent years the Zelda series has moved toward open-ended play. Breath of the Wild, which came about two decades after the series' shift to 3D, revitalized the franchise with an open world, and Tears of the Kingdom and Echoes of Wisdom continued that approach. Ocarina of Time represents the more traditional formula: a large world linking a handful of intricate, puzzle-filled dungeons.
Story and gameplay
The story is unchanged. In this third-person action-adventure, players control Link, a young forest dweller, who sets out to save the fantasy realm of Hyrule from the villain Ganondorf. A magical instrument, the ocarina, plays a central role, since the songs learned with it can change the weather, warp the player across the landscape and affect the flow of time.
Changes in the remake
The most obvious difference is the visuals: the blocky N64-era graphics have been replaced by a look that blurs fantasy art and realism. The environments appear lifelike, while the characters are styled after puppets and stage shows. The reviewer notes that some areas are frustratingly dark.
The reviewer considers the gameplay changes more important: free camera control with the right stick, jumping at any time, quick item equipping with the D-pad, and a quest-tracking tool called "threads of time". He says the infamous Water Temple, tedious in the original, gave him no trouble in the remake. Other additions include expanded dialogue and the ability to hum songs into the Switch 2's microphone.
The original remains available through a Switch Online subscription, and the 2011 3DS version is also a good port. Even so, the reviewer argues the remake is the ideal way to play, especially for fans who came to Zelda through Breath of the Wild.
