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The Ocarina of Time remake is finally out, and it's full of both old-school secrets and brand new ones. And with my list, I guarantee you'll learn at least something new today. We will also try to avoid spoilers since the game has just been released. So, without further ado, let's get straight to the point. Gossip Stones are back, and you can interact with them in a variety of interesting ways. As in the original, you can inspect them as usual, hit them to find out the exact time, hit them with a projectile for a stronger shock or use an element for an even crazier reaction, smash them with the Megaton Hammer, play certain melodies on the Ocarina for full healing, learn secrets
with the Mask of Truth, and of course, blow them up for the most unpredictable interaction. As part of the remake's modernization, mounting Epona is now just as easy as in the Wild games: you don't have to press A to mount her-you can just hop on top of her, even while moving. In the original, the lake scientist had a pool with a pet shark. The cage remains in the remake, but it seems that Nintendo decided to remove the shark for unknown reasons. Okay, no, yes, she's still there. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, still in place. If Link follows the main paths through the Hyrule Plains, Staldites will not appear around him. This also applies to the Rabbit Hood: they will immediately attack as soon as you remove it.
Some enemies, particularly Tektites, can be flipped like pancakes over and over again with the Megaton Hammer. The Ocarina of Time remake now has a dedicated jump button. Funny, but technically this is not a new idea, but a return to an idea that remained unused during development in 1997. Iwata and Koizumi confirmed that they had a jump button when they were making Ocarina of Time, but they wanted to differentiate the game from the then-newly released Super Mario 64. Some of the mechanics in the 1997 Space World demo even support this claim and show the jump in action, which you can see in real time at the link in the description below. If you
regret cutting up a tablet you wanted to read, play Zelda's Lullaby and it will be restored as good as new. Link now raises his arms when running through tall grass. Adult Link does the same thing, but he doesn't need to cover his face due to the height difference. If you stand still or walk slowly with a Deku stick near a flock of butterflies, one of them will sit on its tip and turn into a fairy. If you visit the second floor of the Lon- Lon Ranch, you can see the magical drawings that Malone has pasted on the wall: Hyrule Castle, Epona, the ranch house, and a portrait of Talon, Malone, and Ingo together. The coat of arms on the gates of Hyrule Castle, like in
the original, randomly shows the time of day. Navi, however, is a little scared of this In the courtyard of Hyrule Castle, you can find two interesting secrets. The Mario Easter egg has unfortunately been completely removed from the right window, replaced with a tapestry of threads of time, which is now shown in its full form. And if you shoot at the left window, the angry guard will yell at you, and then throw a bomb at the child. Absolutely no overreaction. No, not at all It's funny that if you get closer to Zelda, the guard will hesitate to throw the bomb so as not to put the princess in danger. When playing the Ocarina using the controller buttons, the possibilities are much wider than
just playing individual notes. You can change the pitch by semitones up or down using the D-pad. Use the left stick to raise or lower the note by a whole tone. And to add a tremolo effect, hold the left stick left or right. One thing struck me as odd about the Hyrule map. This beautiful hand-drawn style displays an animated map of your journey, with additional images hidden in places. The most surprising thing was the Gerudo fortress, where Gerudo warriors and one Gerudo child are clearly visible In the original game, there were never any Gerudo children. It's not that they don't exist, but
we've never encountered them in the game. There are also several tricks associated with the Magic Beanstalk plots that migrated from the original. You can throw a beetle in there, and a Golden Skull will come out. And if you plant a Magic Bean inside and play Song of Storms, you will fully restore your health. Masks, just like in the original game, can trigger very interesting dialogues with NPCs. Given the large number of masks and inhabitants to interact with, this is quite a lot of content. Some reactions are quite strange, such as talking to Saria while you are wearing a mask of another race. It hints at something that some players might recognize.
Additionally, the Mask of Truth is back in the remake, but with a new interesting feature. In the original, the Mask of Truth could talk to the Gossip Stones, but in reality only scared everyone else, getting only their outward reactions. This time around, in the remake, Link can read their minds, and it leads to some truly crazy dialogue: like a bearded man wondering if beards are as dirty as a toilet, Darunia's dark secret about licking the Goron Rubin, or an innocent child chasing a chicken through the city center. Okay, forget it. An evil child who is going to eat this poor chicken. If you play Epona's Song in front of a cow, you will receive a bottle of Lon-Lon milk, but with the Mask of Truth you can also read the animal's thoughts.
An interesting secret of Mask of Truth that I discovered: the ability to read minds depends on how you approach the character. If you approach from the front, they will see Link's mask and react to what they see, but if you approach from behind, out of sight, you will find out what they are really thinking, without distractions. This often yields completely different reactions from NPCs and sometimes helps piece together various details of their backstory. One of the times where this really adds context to the original story is the Keaton masked guard in Kakariko Village. This guy, like in the original, wants Keaton's mask, which he says he needs for his son. However, after you give it back, you may find out that he thinks his mask is better than yours. But
if you approach him carefully from behind, he finally reveals his cards after 30 years of silence. Keaton's mask was for himself all along. He didn't even buy it for his son. Buying for my son was just an excuse. Honestly, given the child's obsession with this creepy mask, I don't think he would care. Also, if you have Keaton's mask and refuse to give it up, he will blackmail you and close the gate until you sell it to him. I used to think it was to guarantee a gift for my son, but now, with this new context, blackmailing a child for a toy mask for yourself is a complete rip-off. Sometimes even time is important in conversations.
Sure, you can talk to a couple in love in Castle Town, but whose story you hear depends on who is standing closest to you when the conversation begins. When a woman stands closer, you hear her version: she hopes that her lover will never hurt her, otherwise she will never forgive him. But having chosen the moment when he is closer, my friend, you need to dump this guy as soon as possible. I have a few more secrets, so stay tuned, because in the next episode we'll be talking about boss-related secrets. And, of course, find everything else about games here, on Game Spot.
