"The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" preview: Does the remake of the N64 classic convince?

Domagoj Belancic

14-10-2026

Translation: machine translated

Nintendo is bringing back one of the best games of all time. I've played the 'Ocarina of Time' remake and will tell you whether the comeback of the green-clad hero is a success.

Following the excellent «Star Fox» remake, Nintendo is doubling down and delivering the next N64 title remake with «The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time». No easy task, as the nineties classic is considered a milestone in video game history.

At a Nintendo preview event, I have the opportunity to dive into the revamped fantasy world of Hyrule before its release. In a roughly three-hour gaming session, I play through various sections as both young and adult Link. I experience the beginning of the game in Kokiri Forest and solve puzzles in the Great Deku Tree. After that, I explore Hyrule Field and Hyrule Castle Town. And finally, I complete the entire Forest Temple and fight against Ganondorf.

What I liked

Overall, my first gameplay impression of «The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time» is convincing. Fans of the original get an elaborate and lovingly designed remake of one of the best games of all time. For newcomers, the remake is an excellent entry point into the classic «Zelda» gameplay without the open-world bells and whistles of «Breath of the Wild» and «Tears of the Kingdom».

These are the points that impressed me the most:

Everything is bigger

Logically: The remake looks worlds better than the original. The environments feel significantly more alive and are bursting with details, complex geometry, and atmospheric lighting. What excites me even more is how much bigger the game world feels. Nintendo has given the colorful fantasy world an extra dimension that makes it more believable and exciting.

Example Kokiri Forest: Due to hardware limitations, the village looks tiny in the original. If I stand in the right place, I can see it in its entirety. It feels like a video game level and not like a place where the «children of the forest» live. The remake enlarges Kokiri Forest, shifts some elements around, and confronts me with a winding layout. No matter where I am, I never see the entire village at once. I want to explore the place and get lost in it.

The Forest Temple has also undergone a rejuvenation based on the same principle. The rooms of the dungeon feel larger and some elements have been moved. Furthermore, with new design elements, the temple looks like an old manor or a religious site. A strong contrast to the generic-gray original.

The attention to detail is delightful

Nintendo has not only made everything bigger and more epic, but has also paid attention to numerous small visual details that keep putting a smile on my face while playing. My four favorite examples:

I love Link's green outfit. It's not just a piece of fabric, but looks as if the Kokiri had sewn it by hand themselves.

When I target an enemy with Link in the original (Z-targeting), black bars appear on the screen. In the remake, the effect is more subtle, but remains true to the spirit of the N64 classic. Instead of bars, there is a black vignette and a nice bokeh effect that blurs the background. It looks great, and this visual focus makes the battles feel even more intense.

«Hey, listen!» Oh, how I missed the little fairy Navi. The new version of the flying orb impresses with beautiful lighting effects. Unlike the original, Navi illuminates the environment, game characters, and enemies as she flies through the levels. This small detail makes the world feel much more alive and looks damn cool, especially in dark dungeons.

In addition to the impressive lighting, Nintendo didn't miss the chance to incorporate numerous other modern effects into the remake. Particularly successful are the wisps of fog on the ground that I find in dungeons, for example. If Link runs through the room, the fog reacts to his movements. His sword swings also swirl the fog particles around realistically. Beautiful.

Brilliant enemy design

The visual reinterpretation of the game characters – especially Link and Zelda – is debatable. I quite like the strange, doll-like faces. Other fans see them as spawn of hell.

However, the revised enemy designs are indisputably awesome. They build on the solid foundation of the N64 originals and supplement the original models with new details and ideas.

Link's new controls are convincing

Link controls excellently in the remake. The little hero is fast, agile, and precise. I rotate the camera freely with the right analog stick. A real relief compared to the fiddly original.

Now, Link can also sprint after a somersault. In the demo, I use the function frequently. It fits perfectly with the more spacious game environments.

Even more impressive from a «Zelda» perspective: Link can now jump at the push of a button. As a reminder: In the N64 classic, the hero still jumped automatically at edges. That caused some frustrating moments. I remember well how I kept falling down abysses or landing in hot lava. The manual jumping with the X button completely eliminates these problems.

I also like how punchy the battles feel. Compared to modern sword games, the combat system is very simple. But in return, Link's sword swings have more weight and are at the same time faster than in the original. It's fun to whack enemies on the head and watch them explode spectacularly – accompanied by particle and lighting effects. When aiming with the slingshot or bow and arrow, I can use motion controls, just like in the 3DS remaster. Great!

Sensible changes in level design

«The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time» is a faithful remake – but not a one-to-one reproduction of the classic. In the Forest Temple, I notice two changes in level design.

The two twisted corridors are colored differently in the remake. One has a red carpet, the other a blue one. The slanted rooms behind them are also kept in the corresponding carpet colors. In the original, both corridors are equipped with the same red carpet – and the rooms after the corridors both shine in depressive shades of gray.

The different color coding is a subtle design trick that makes orientation in the Forest Temple significantly easier and makes the associated puzzles more intuitive.

The second change is more radical. After I have received the Fairy Bow, I find (both in the original and in the remake) a room with an icy switch. To activate it with an arrow, I first have to melt the ice. To do this, I shoot an arrow through the fire of a torch.

In the original, Link jumps onto a rotating platform in the ice switch room. He has to wait until it is in a straight line between the torch and the ice so that he can shoot his arrow through the fire. In the remake, Link enters a simpler room without rotating platforms. I jump on a switch to activate the torch and then shoot the arrow through the fire quite easily.

At first glance, this change seems somewhat arbitrary. The longer I think about the new room, the more sensible I find it.

Were the rotating platforms in the original really necessary? No. At this point, the game actually wants to explain to me that I can shoot arrows through fire and thereby melt ice. Period. Everything else distracts from that. The new room focuses on exactly this mechanic: I come in, jump on the switch, the torch ignites. I know immediately what to do.

I am curious which adjustments await me in the other dungeons – especially in the infamous Water Temple. If you know, you know.

What disappointed me

My notebook was not just full of praise after the preview session. These points still worry me:

The excessive edge flickering is distracting

As much as I like the reinterpreted style and the detailed game world – I cannot really enjoy the graphic splendor of the remake. The culprit is the excessive edge flickering, which I observe especially with fine objects like hair or grass areas. Distant objects also suffer from the annoying flickering effect.

On screenshots, the effect is only visible to a limited extent – in motion, the image looks unstable, restless, and over-sharpened. Yet Nintendo would have a relatively simple solution up its sleeve to reduce these unsightly flickering effects: DLSS. Unfortunately, the Japanese company seems to be allergic to Nvidia's upscaler for some reason – so far, no game developed by Nintendo itself supports the technology. A real shame.

Why is everyone wet?

A comparatively small point of criticism, but: Why do all characters look like they just climbed out of the pool? Or do Link's face and his mane shine so much because he is sweating from running and fighting? Either way, the shiny figures look a bit strange.

A UI change is already annoying

Nintendo has completely overhauled the menus for the remake. Good thing. The constant switching of items slows down the flow of the game in the original, especially in the later dungeons.

Now I can equip all items from my inventory via quick selection. The horizontal selection menu is reminiscent of that of «Tears of the Kingdom». All items are lined up in a row and I can sort them according to certain criteria at the push of a button. That is definitely faster than in the original – but still not the optimal solution.

Although I only have a few items to choose from, the horizontal list is already annoying me. There must be a more efficient way – for example, with a radial menu.

Voiceovers are not consistently implemented

The cutscenes in the remake are voiced. In my demo, among others, Link's friend Saria and the Great Deku Tree talk to me. The English voice actors do their job well. Their voices fit perfectly with the playful fantasy world that Nintendo has created here.

The problem: The cutscenes are only partially voiced. For example, the Deku Tree speaks a few sentences before the game switches back to classic subtitles and silent characters. Why go to the effort of voicing and then not follow through? In a 100-hour RPG with thousands of lines of dialogue, I understand that not every side quest can be voiced. But with the sparse dialogue in «Ocarina of Time», the selective voiceovers leave an unfinished impression.

Do you have any more questions about the preview? Write them in the comments, I will try to answer everything.

«The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time» will be released on November 5th for the Switch 2. Nintendo invited me to the preview event in Frankfurt and covered the travel expenses.

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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