Nintendo brought back the greatest game of all time, fixed almost everything that felt old, and somehow didn’t mess it up.
Remaking Ocarina of Time is probably the scariest job in video games.
Change too much, and millions of fans who grew up in 1998 will riot. Change too little, and younger players will wonder why everyone made such a big deal out of a clunky retro game.
With the Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time, Nintendo played it smart.
They kept the original world, story, and dungeons almost identical to how you remember them, but added the modern controls and visual upgrades it desperately needed. It feels fresh, but it still feels like Zelda.
The New Look: Handcrafted, But A Little Weird In Spots
Instead of making Hyrule look like a photorealistic movie or going with the cartoon cel-shading of Breath of the Wild, Nintendo went with a style inspired by classic puppet shows and practical props.
Link’s clothes look like real felt fabric, swords look like scuffed metal, and characters look almost like detailed clay figures. The world itself looks great
Castle Town is finally a real place. In the original game, Castle Town was just a flat 2D picture your character ran around on.
Now, it is a fully 3D town packed with barking dogs, bustling street vendors, and alleys you can actually explore.
Running across Hyrule Field during a thunderstorm or watching the sunset hit Lake Hylia looks fantastic.
The spooky areas, like the Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple, are genuinely creepy now with dark shadows and flickering torches.
The art style doesn’t work 100% of the time. A few characters, like the Great Fairies and Nabooru, look a bit strange with super-heavy makeup and plastic-looking faces.
It takes a little getting used to, but the environments more than make up for it.
The Fixes We’ve Wanted for 28 Years
This is where the remake truly shines. The clunky parts of the Nintendo 64 version are gone.
No more rolling everywhere; Link finally has a dedicated run button. You don’t have to mash the roll button just to cross Hyrule Field faster.
There is also A real jump button, so you no longer have to run off edges and pray the automatic jump works.
Having a normal jump button makes platforming across moving platforms and climbing ledges feel way more responsive.
In the original game, you spent half your life pausing the game to put on Iron Boots or swap your bow.
Now, you hold the D-pad to flip through your items in real time, exactly like Tears of the Kingdom.
The Remake also has a better camera and gyro aiming. You have full 360-degree camera control on the right thumbstick, and you can fine-tune your bow and slingshot shots using motion controls.
Locking onto enemies (Z-targeting) is still here, though switching between targets in a big crowd can still feel slightly clumsy.
In the old game, the clock stopped whenever you walked into a town. Now, day turns to night everywhere in real time. If you hang out in town too late, the shops close up for the night.
Music, Voice Acting, and the Mic
The soundtrack is incredible. Masato Ohashi took Koji Kondo’s classic tunes and re-recorded them with a full live orchestra.
Hearing the acoustic guitars in Gerudo Valley or the eerie flute in the Lost Woods with modern audio quality is pure joy.
Cutscenes now have full voice acting for the first time. The actors do a solid job; Zelda sounds earnest, and Ganondorf sounds properly menacing.
The game also trims down the annoying stuff: the owl doesn’t trap you in endless dialogue loops anymore, and Navi won’t constantly yell “Hey! Listen!” in your ear every five seconds.
Playing the Ocarina is a treat, too. You can press buttons like usual, or you can actually use the Switch 2’s built-in mic to hum or whistle the notes yourself.
It sounds gimmicky on paper, but whistling Epona’s Song to call your horse never gets old.
Dungeons and the Famous Water Temple
The dungeons are just as clever and memorable as they were in 1998, but the rough edges have been sanded down.
The Water Temple is actually good now. The most hated dungeon in gaming history is finally fun.
Because you can put on and take off the Iron Boots instantly with the quick menu, and because the water-level switches are clearly color-coded, you never feel lost or annoyed.
A new menu called “Threads of Time” keeps track of your main goals and side quests. It gives you helpful reminders without cluttering your screen with giant waypoint arrows.
Once you beat the game, you can visit the “Hall of Defeated Foes” to check out enemy statues and replay any boss fight on harder difficulty settings.
Great Fairies no longer give away magic upgrades for free; they can charge up to 500 rupees.
Luckily, your wallets hold way more cash now, giving you a real reason to hunt down Golden Skulltulas and open treasure chests.
What Works and What Doesn’t
On the positive side, exploring Hyrule feels so much smoother now thanks to dedicated running and jumping buttons, which finally put an end to the endless forward-rolling of the original game.
The new quick-select item menu is an absolute game-changer that fixes the pacing headaches of constantly pausing your adventure, while the fully explorable 3D Castle Town and gorgeous new lighting bring the kingdom to life.
On top of that, the orchestral soundtrack sounds phenomenal from start to finish, and the new boss rush mode gives you plenty of fun reasons to keep playing long after the credits roll.
That said, a few rough edges keep it from being complete perfection. Some of the character models look a little weird and doll-like with the new art style, which can feel jarring during dramatic close-ups.
The opening cutscenes in Kokiri Forest also drag on and slow down the start of the journey, and trying to swap between targets during hectic fights can still feel finicky when you’re completely surrounded by enemies.
The Verdict: Should You Play It?
This remake doesn’t try to change the story or turn the game into an open-world sandbox like Breath of the Wild.
Instead, it keeps everything that made the original special while fixing almost every annoying control issue from the 90s.
If you grew up with the N64 version, it’ll feel like coming home to a much cleaner house. And if you’ve never played Ocarina of Time before, this is easily the best way to experience one of the best adventures ever made.
TechGamesNews Rating: 9.5/10
