Now that the dust has settled a bit, let’s talk about the Ocarina of Time remake coming our way later this year. 

First, let me just say this in the plainest of all possible terms; I’d like to offer up the largest, wettest, most enthusiastic four-letter words to people who leak things. When Ocarina of Time showed up during the Direct, I kinda didn’t care, because it’s all I had heard anyone talk about for months. Someone who has an in at Nintendo found out, and told the world. To heck with the people who are working hard on the game, who worked hard on the trailer, who curated the thing so they could reveal their new project to the world the way they wanted to. All the leaker accomplished was taking the air out of something exciting, and I absolutely hate people who do that. 

Okay, back to business. The notion of an Ocarina of Time remake scares me. There are certain games in the pantheon of video game history that are extremely dangerous to touch. Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, these are all-time absolute masterpieces that are extremely beloved by their fanbases, and any attempt to remake or reinterpret them could leave them open to extreme criticism. Not that Secret of Mana is on the same level, but it’s definitely a very beloved classic, and its most recent remake went horribly awry. On the other hand, Final Fantasy VII is absolutely one of those legendary untouchable classics and while it may have gotten off to a somewhat rocky start because of just how different it is from the original, Square-Enix has by most counts really worked some magic with their remake trilogy. 

So, when it comes to Nintendo doing a full on remake of Ocarina of Time, there’s reason to be both optimistic and nervous. 

The biggest question right now is, what exactly is the scope of this remake? Are we looking at a one to one remake where the visuals and storytelling have been completely overhauled but the actual game remains exactly the same? Or are we looking at something like Final Fantasy VII, where they effectively take the approach of “what if we were making this game for the first time today?” 

Personally, I’m hoping for the latter. One to one remakes have their place. The Star Fox 64 remake Nintendo is releasing shortly is one such case. They tightened up the gameplay, expanded the story, and made the visuals absolutely stunning, and since the bones of the original still hold up today, it works brilliantly as a new starting point to hopefully kick the Star Fox franchise back in gear. More to the point, the Link's Awakening remake also worked brilliantly. The gameplay itself was largely untouched, and given the strength of the original, it just came together beautifully. 

Ocarina of Time, though, is a horse of a different color. 3D games have come a very long way since 1998, both in terms of level design and control. Playing Ocarina of Time today is still a fantastic experience, but it does feel very small by comparison. It also controls fairly clunky coming off of the fantastically intuitive Breath of the Wild. 

No, I want to see a remake that truly reinvents Ocarina of Time. The original version has been consistently readily available for ages, including on the Switch 2. So with that in mind, there’s no better time to take a big swing at doing something new. Take some cues from Breath of the Wild’s open world formulary, but keep it mostly linear like the original. Make the world bigger and more vertical, but don’t add weapon degradation and stamina meters. Expand on the story, but don’t change the core tenants of what it is. The potential there is extraordinary. 

But we also have to address why we don’t know more about the scope of the game, the way it was announced. We know shockingly little about this game that they claim is coming out this year. I have to assume there’s enough of the game completed to be able to show more, and I think they did themselves a real disservice by holding so much back. In an already profoundly underwhelming Nintendo Direct, closing things out with an epic reveal instead of such a conservative one could have really changed the overwhelmingly negative word of mouth surrounding the presentation. 

But I digress. I have little doubt that we’ll learn more soon. The recently discovered game explanation that Nintendo subsequently removed points to this being the same approach they took to Star Fox, and while I would be more than happy to play that game, it’s not what Ocarina of Time deserves. Technology has come a long way, as has game design. Let’s be bold and bring the story of Ocarina of Time to life in a whole new way. 

What do you think?