It’s hard to imagine a game more formative for me as a player than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Anyone growing up in the N64 era likely remembers the sense of accomplishment from finally conquering the Water Temple or catching the elusive Hylian Loach. Likewise, the game’s iconic score and even menu sound effects are likely burned into your brain. This makes the prospect of the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake both exciting and a little nerve-racking.
Remaking a beloved classic like Ocarina of Time is a bit of a tightrope walk. It’s important that there are enough substantial changes to the game to justify its existence, but, at the same time, the game should ideally retain enough of the game’s original identity to still capture the initial appeal. As much as I enjoy the Final Fantasy 7 Remake games, it’s hard to deny that they feel significantly different than playing the original, and I’m not sure that I’d like to see such a big departure in Ocarina of Time.
Ideally, Ocarina of Time can make meaningful changes that improve the overall experience of the game, while still retaining the atmosphere and emotions of the original game. It would also be nice to get more substantial changes than were in the 3DS version, so this doesn’t feel like another Star Fox situation.
The Ocarina Of Time Remake Needs Better Camera Controls
3D games in the N64 era always struggled to find the best way to manage their camera controls, mainly because controllers only had one control stick. It wasn’t until a year after the N64’s release that Sony released the Dual Analog Controller, so Ocarina of Time and its contemporaries were stuck with finicky mechanics for changing camera angles, like Z-targeting.
As the Ocarina of Time remake was designed to be played with a Joy-Con 2, we will hopefully be getting fluid dual-stick camera controls to replace the original game’s clunkier camera controls. It would also be nice if we could get better camera controls for the first-person aiming mini-games, perhaps by leveraging the Joy-Con 2’s mouse controls for more precise movement.
Expanding Hyrule’s Environments Would Add A Sense Of Adventure
As a fan of older Zelda games, I wouldn’t want the Ocarina of Time remake to go full Breath of the Wild era and give us one massive interconnected map that is easily traversable. Although it may seem contradictory, the barriers in the world of Ocarina of Time add to the sense of adventure as you are forced to progress through to story to access certain areas. That said, it would be nice if we got expanded versions of the existing environments from the game.
Importantly, I wouldn’t want the existing environments to simply be stretched out, making things further apart. In a perfect world, the remake would add new environmental features to fill these gaps, making the world feel a bit more populated and less sparse. Adding more trees and geographical features to Hyrule Field would be a great start. It would also be nice to see some new areas or buildings in Kakariko Village or Hyrule Castle Town to make the kingdom feel larger. New areas would also add a new sense of adventure for players who have memorized the original map.
New Questlines Can Add Interest For Ocarina Of Time Veterans
As a young player, Ocarina of Time felt like an expansive adventure that would never end. In contrast, my most recent playthrough of the game took less than a week for a near 100% completion. While remaking the game with no new content would still be appealing to new players, especially those just getting into gaming, it would be a bit of a disappointment for those of us who have been playing the game for nearly 30 years if there were no new quests added.
The original Ocarina of Time has a lot of NPCs who are just set dressing. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does also create opportunities for new stories that can help enrich the world of Hyrule. Part of what made Majora’s Mask so interesting was all the small-scale human stories you could interact with. This made Termina feel like a real place full of real people, and raised the stakes of its potential destruction. Adding similar quests to Ocarina of Time would be a great way to expand the original game.
Link’s Different Tunics Should Be More Detailed
One of the few things we know for sure about the Ocarina of Time remake is that it will be making significant updates to the original game’s graphics. This doesn’t just mean nicer looking versions of what we already had, but also creates an opportunity to redesign elements of the game to add more details than were present in the original game. I think one graphical overhaul that would be great to see would be changes to Link’s alternate tunics.
In the original game, Link’s Goron Tunic and Zora Tunic are simply color-swapped versions of his original outfit. Although this works fine in the original game, it would feel a bit strange in a better-looking game if simply putting on blue clothes helped Link breathe underwater. I would love to see more detailed designs for these tunics, perhaps ones that give an indication as to how their magical properties work. The mask in Twilight Princess‘ Zora Tunic is a great example of using design changes to hint at how these tunics function.
The Original Ocarina Of Time Needs Quality of Life Improvements
As a nearly 30-year-old game, Ocarina of Time has a lot of mechanics that could be improved with some quality of life updates. The clearest example is the Iron Boots, which require you to open the menu every time you want to switch them on or off. Taking the Twilight Princess route of making the boots an equippable item that you can quickly take on and off while playing would be a huge improvement.
Another great quality of life update would be a quicker way to call Epona. I often find myself simply not using her in the original game, because pulling out my Ocarina, playing her song, and watching the animation of her arriving takes up so much time I might as well have just run to where I was going. Adding a quick call button like in Tears of the Kingdom would make using Epona much less of a hassle.
The UI In The Original Ocarina Of Time Is Dated
I initially wasn’t going to include this change, because I have a lot of nostalgia tied to the original Ocarina of Time UI, but it’s hard to say that it couldn’t be improved. One clear way to make the menus easier to navigate would be to have quick buttons to access different pages, like the map or inventory. This way, you aren’t forced to be constantly spinning through the menus to get where you want to go.
Additionally, it would be nice if the ocarina songs could be easily accessed while playing. A shortcut to the list of songs while you have your ocarina equipped would save instances where you check how to play a song, go to play it, mess up, and then have to go back to the menu and check again. These could be accomplished with small changes that preserve the original look and feel of the game’s menus, but make them more readily available to the player through the use of the Joy-Con 2’s expanded number of buttons compared to the N64 controller.
The Owl Should Be Easier To Skip
As much as I love the design of Kaepora Gaebora and his reversible face, the owl can be a bit annoying on subsequent playthroughs. I would never want him fully removed from the game, but it would be nice if there was an option to skip his dialogue. And not just skip it the way the original game allows you to, but skip it without the tricks.
See, in the original Ocarina of Time, Kaepora Gaebora will check for comprehension at the end of his long-winded speeches. However, how you should answer to move on is always changing. Sometimes, you have to say no, you don’t want him to repeat himself. Other times, you have to say yes, you understand. Screwing up one of these prompts will cause him to start repeating himself. Although this is a funny quirk of the original game, I’m not sure it’s worth the frustration of wasting my time.
Ocarina Of Time’s NPCs Should Get New Character Models
A lot of the character models in the original Ocarina of Time are either repeated or very similar looking. A good example are the builders you free from the Gerudo Fortress, who all look essentially the same. Although this isn’t the biggest deal functionally, it does serve to age the game now that players are used to a wider range of NPC models.
This is another area where I could see players’ nostalgia for the game chafing with what would be a meaningful update to it. While some players would probably like the original models preserved, I think it makes more sense to expand the roster of NPCs. That would help differentiate the remake more and justify what will likely be a high price tag for an almost 30-year-old game.
Tougher Boss Fights Would Improve Ocarina Of Time
Ocarina of Time has some very memorable boss fights, but none of them are particularly challenging. Once you’ve figured out the boss’ weak point — which is typically heavily sign-posted — the fight becomes a very simple and repetitive endeavor. While I can forgive the game’s first boss, Gohma, for being this easy, as it teaches you how to approach fights, it’s disappointing that bosses rarely evolve from that point.
I wouldn’t want any of the bosses to be completely swapped out, as it would be nice to keep things as close to the original as possible in that regard. However, as the visuals are being reworked anyway, it would be nice to see some subtle changes that may make a boss slightly more of a challenge. Maybe that’s a smaller weak point, or maybe they move a bit more quickly. Whatever the solution, it would just be nice to feel more anxiety when facing a boss.
Ocarina Free Play Would Be A Fun Addition
This may be more of a niche ask, but I think it would be fun to be able to play the ocarina freely without the stanza ending or triggering a specific song. I’m imagining something like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s pianos, where you can either play a specific song or simply jam out on your own.
This probably isn’t something for everyone, but I’m sure many players would enjoy creating their own original tunes and sharing their results with other Zelda fans. Overall, this is the type of change I’d love to see for Ocarina of Time, something that isn’t a big departure from the original, but simply enhances and adds to the experience.
- Released
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November 21, 1998
- ESRB
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E10+ for Everyone 10+: Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
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Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
- Engine
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Zelda 64 Engine