Can the Zelda remake capture the magic of the original?
Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was finally released on Thursday, after years of rumours that Nintendo would remake the game – considered one of the best ever made.
IGN called it “the biggest game of the decade” in their review when it launched in 1998 on the N64, and it set the standard for 3D games.
A lot of the things we take for granted in modern games – such as riding a horse, fighting with a sword and shield, or locking on to enemies with the tap of a button – were pioneered or perfected in Ocarina of Time.
It received an almost perfect score from critics and, decades on, remains the highest-rated game in history on Metacritic, which aggregates reviews.
So how do you remake what many consider a masterpiece?
Those like me who grew up playing the original will feel right at home here.
Nintendo has decided against reinventing the wheel, instead producing something which plays very similarly to the N64 classic.
As I’ve said before, video game remakes are a bit different to film or TV – gaming fans often clamour for a new take on their favourites, hoping developers harness evolution in tech to make them fresh.
And games have come a long way in the almost 30 years since the original Ocarina of Time came out.
“When you compare the games in the past and the games in modern times, so to speak, the norms of what people expect from a game have evolved naturally,” Nintendo producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi told me.
“In the past, games where the users may have needed more imagination to fill the blanks or the gaps are now clearly expressed through the graphics that they see on the screen.”
Nintendo
But fancy graphics have come at a price – a pivot away from realism into something a bit more cartoonish. Some might even be disappointed by this, given the N64 game had quite horrifying elements in places.
One was the Skulltula House, a room where people had been morphed into human-spider hybrids.
“Back when we created the original Ocarina of Time, the means to convey or express ideas was limited compared with what we have now,” series producer Eiji Aonuma – who worked on the original game – said.
“With regard to even the so-called scary elements, we strove to add a touch of the comical.”
But he told the BBC that enhanced graphics and lighting capabilities unintentionally exaggerated the already-spooky Skulltula House and its potential to strike fear into players.
“When we carried out the test play, the testers were telling us, ‘Oh, this is too scary’,” he said. “So of course, in the end product, we’ve made the necessary adjustments so that we can retain the same balance that we had achieved in the original.”
‘Serious thought has gone into every decision’
I spoke to a few YouTubers about the upcoming game to get their thoughts – and the response was overwhelmingly positive.
Mike Channell, co-editor of the YouTube channel Outside Xbox, said he believed the remake had been made “very meticulously” in the hopes of living up to fan expectations.
“Having played the game, it’s clear that serious thought has gone into every decision, to the point where I’m not convinced this remake has taken any less time and effort than an all-new Zelda game,” he said.
“Ocarina of Time is obviously one of the great video game experiences in the history of the medium, but I have no doubt this new version will be the best way to experience this story.
“It’s fleshed out as a world, sumptuously detailed, and the controls match 21st-Century expectations.”
Nintendo
Ed King, known as Zeltik to his 893,000 followers on YouTube, said “the level of detail and charm” in the Ocarina of Time remake stood out.
“The Forest Temple has always been my favourite Zelda dungeon: a mysterious, haunted mansion in the deep woods, a lost work of man slowly being reclaimed by nature,” he said. “The remake really leans into the surreal, uncanny nature of the original dungeon.”
And fellow YouTuber StrawHatMidas said it was the “perfect” way to “bring this classic back”.
“Not only does the game pay homage to the Nintendo 64 original, but it also expands on the things that made it so memorable,” he said. “Everything from the world and atmosphere to the controls and soundtrack feels like a love letter to the classic Zelda formula.”
Has Nintendo played it too safe?
Nintendo has made some big changes, not least to the Water Temple – a dungeon about two thirds into the game.
Aonuma said, having worked on the original, this was what he personally wanted to change most due to its reputation for being “very, very difficult”.
He said there was now “a greater facility in tackling” the dungeon, as players can now easily change a critical in-game item known as heavy boots and have “the ability to leverage the camera orientation”.
I grew up playing Zelda on the N64, which pioneered the joystick – but nowadays two sticks is the standard, with one to move and one to control the camera.
As far as I’m concerned, being able to freely move the camera this time round was a significant improvement.
Nintendo
At times, the trip down memory lane was captivating. I knew where to go and what to do, thanks to a kind of muscle memory. However, on occasion that took away from the experience – with some tasks achieved too easily and some puzzles too quickly because I recalled their solutions.
Some people will love how similar it is, but I have to wonder if Nintendo has played things a bit too safe.
I don’t think the developers see it that way.
“Even if the game may look different, we’ve maintained the essence that the original developers wanted to and hopefully conveyed through the original Ocarina of Time,” Fujibayashi said.
Don’t get me wrong – the game has lots of changes and surprises, and I won’t spoil them, but I wish there had been more.
Then again, perhaps the best games leave you wanting more.
Or as Mike put it: “I loved the original as much as the next person, but I don’t think I’ll be going back to it.”
Fans will no doubt wonder whether this is it, or if there will be more Zelda on the horizon. With the franchise’s first movie coming next year, there’s certainly more to come in the short term.
And in the long term, I wondered if with 30 more years of technological advancements, Nintendo might consider remaking the game once again.
“I will be long retired,” Aonuma said, with a laugh.
