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Did The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time need another remake? Ocarina is an immortal classic, but it's firmly rooted in a specific time and stage in video game history. How will the new Ocarina of Time balance respect for the original design with modernization? Well, I'm happy to report: Ocarina of Time is still a masterpiece. And, more importantly, this remake seems to mostly find the right balance between homage and updating to feel modern without losing its original charm. Nintendo recently let me play a demo of the game, which consisted of three parts. Beginning with young Link in the Kokiri Forest and adventures inside the Deku Tree, young Link leaving the forest and exploring the plains of Hyrule and the city near
Hyrule Castle, and adult Link from the beginning of the Forest Temple. The most striking change immediately was the game's presentation. Link's new look was controversial after initial screenings, but playing it myself, I quickly appreciated this bold choice of visual style. Link and the other Kokiri children have an angular, "crafty " look that resembles dolls, and this gives a modern feel to their original quirky designs. Even more impressive is the detailing of their clothing, which looked great in the trailers and
even better in motion as you explore the world. Each stitch displays an incredible level of detail and care, as if it were truly made from plant fibers. This really helps to highlight that this village is inextricably linked to the forest, which itself is recreated in lavish detail with vines, tree roots, leaves, mushrooms and much more. The Kokiri truly feel like a part of this ecosystem, and it adds a new, meaningful twist to Link's iconic green cap. There are other impressive graphic touches throughout the game. But more on that later. But from the start, I was thrilled with the new look. Another innovation in the presentation is the addition of voiceover, which is mostly well done.
During the demo session, I heard the voices of the Great Tree of Deku, Na'vi, Saria, and Kaepora Gaebora-the horned owl overseeing your adventure. The Great Tree of Deku sounds stoic and ancient, and in many ways reminded me of the Ents from The Lord of the Rings. Saria's tearful farewell to Link as he leaves the forest was touching and heartfelt. Gaebora, in a few short phrases of dialogue, sounded wise and a little sly. The only one who surprised me was Navi, whose voice sounded more like a young woman's than I expected.
Gay. Hey. Listen. The performance itself is not bad, and maybe I'll get used to it in the full version of the game, but the original lo-fi, yet distinctly high-pitched "hey, listen" of Na'vi Gay. Listen. made me imagine her younger and more childlike. Another somewhat controversial change is the addition of a jump button. The original Ocarina of Time did not have a separate jump function, as the developers tried to make the most of the controller's capabilities in the then-new 3D paradigm. Instead, Link would simply automatically jump when he approached the edge, and all of the movement challenges were designed with this in mind. At the same time, this meant that choosing the right angle was extremely important, as the wrong direction
could result in Link flying off a cliff. I was really curious to see how the game would work with the jump button, as it's a pretty significant change. I'll be honest: the jump button is good, even great. This change alone goes a long way in making the game feel modern and control the way you expect. You can judge distances yourself and overcome platforming challenges more easily, such as during the early quests to find the sword and shield in Kokiri before heading to the Great Deku Tree. When I was in dungeons, this became even more useful, as I had a natural urge to jump onto a surface that I could climb, like the vines in the Deku Tree, and the game allowed me to do so, saving me the
half-second it would take to walk up to the vines and start climbing from below. In short, it's just intuitive and works exactly as you'd expect. The trek to the Deku Tree was, as always, an introductory dungeon. Adventuring is easier than ever thanks to a modernized inventory system similar to that found in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. You can quickly select an equipped item by scrolling through the toolbar, and recently used items appear to be sorted on the left for easy access. The trigger also serves for quick aiming, which after a short period of adaptation feels pleasantly refreshing. This part of the demo ended with Link jumping into a spider web to descend deeper, so I didn't see the boss. Next, I headed
to the Hyrule Fields, where I met the Great Horned Owl. Like the Kokiri character models, she looked like a carved figurine with altered features to modernize the design. The eyebrows, if owls have eyebrows, were especially elongated to give the design more character. It was here that I first noticed that the Na'vi's wings sparkled with iridescent colors in the sun, which was a lovely detail. The Hyrule Plains have barely changed-it's a space of mostly empty land that's smaller than you probably remember . When Ocarina of Time first came out in 1998, the ability to freely roam Hyrule Field as a hub connecting dungeons and cities seemed huge, but by modern standards it's tiny. And that has n't really changed in this version. This is understandable
on a certain level, because you would hardly want to constantly traverse a huge open world. However, it also feels rather empty compared to the maps of the last two Zelda games, which retain a sense of wilderness while remaining event-packed. The landscape has been given a bit more hills and depressions to look more natural, but this is one area where the design feels intentionally old-fashioned. I dropped by the Lon -Lon Ranch to take a quick look at the horses and talk to Ingo the worker. But at this stage of the game, there wasn't much to do there. Like Hyrule Field, the ranch feels rather sparse and empty, but Ingo's redesign was a nice update for one of the city of Gairul Castle is the complete opposite of Gairul Field.
The city seems full of activity and movement wherever you look, and the decoration of the buildings and walkways adds vibrant colors and textures. It was another opportunity to see modern updates to these bizarre, puppet-like character designs, which by this point I had grown to like so much that they all looked like a single harmonious ensemble. Some of the routines were a bit static, like the two friends laughing endlessly, but for me it had an old-fashioned charm from that period in gaming history. Finally, I explored the Forest Dungeon-the first major dungeon with an adult Link. Again, the textures of Link's clothing stood out as they were significantly changed from his childhood outfit, adding details like a belt and gloves. The model
looks great, especially from the back, when you can really see all the details of his clothing, the scabbard of the Master Sword, and the Hyrule Shield. In fact, visually the Forest Dungeon was the most impressive part of the entire demo, largely due to an element I wasn't expecting. Real-time lighting effects have a significant impact on how a dungeon looks and feels From Poe's colored lights to how Na'vi's own glow changes the shadows in dark corridors as you walk through them. It looks just fantastic and helps create the mood and atmosphere of the dungeon, making it damp and neglected. Higher definition also means that elements that depend on the visibility of textures, like the texture of oil brushstrokes in Poe's paintings, do
become more visible. The fight for adult Link was more challenging than anything in the Great Deck Tree, so it was a great place to experience the fluidity of Link's sword strikes and dodges. It felt almost unchanged to me, although perhaps the game was adjusted a bit to make it feel like remember it, rather than how actually was. Z- targeting made it easy to keep track of enemies, and it was intuitive to make Link move gracefully around the room when battling enemies like Stalfos or Wolfos. Adding a ranged attack to the trigger also made battles faster and smoother: both when little Link circled around the Stalfos to hit the vulnerable back, and when adult Link used arrows as part of his arsenal.
Since adult Link had access to the Ocarina, I tried out the humming function to play a melody. This didn't work perfectly, as the game recognized the wrong song when I tried to sing it from memory. But the problem was probably just that I was in a demo area with background noise from other players. A Nintendo representative explained in advance that we can try this feature, but we should remember that it is intended for use in the comfort of the living room. To the extent that the game recognized the musical cue at all, it was quite impressive and seamless. Like many gamers, I fell under the spell of Ocarina of Time when it first came out in 1998. I still respect its place in gaming history, but it hasn't stood the test of time very well. And coming back
to it today, playing it is no longer as fun as it should be. This Ocarina of Time remake looks to fix that. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a classic for a reason. With smart modern improvements, this version should allow the game to shine brightly again.
