Nintendo designers discuss elegance in Ocarina of Time remake

Nintendo’s designers strove for “elegance” when remaking The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Switch 2, according to an interview with producers Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi published by The Verge.

Development team and philosophy

The remake was led by Aonuma, a director on the original game and now the franchise’s steward at Nintendo, and Fujibayashi, best known for directing Breath of the Wild and its sequel. The team also included younger developers, some of whom had never played the original.

“What really impressed me was the fact that they really embraced the theme of what not to change from the original,” Fujibayashi said. He added that “I feel confident that they weren’t necessarily pursuing something new for the sake of novelty when it might be unneeded and clutter the experience. They’re looking for elegance. Only what is needed, only what was important in the original, and how to carry that forward as their focus.”

Gameplay changes

The original Ocarina of Time debuted on the Nintendo 64 in 1998. The remake gives players complete camera control and the ability to jump anywhere. Aonuma said the team had to adjust the world to compensate for that freedom.

“When you’re developing a game like this with the free jump, we have to adjust the world to compensate for that freedom of the player,” Aonuma said. “I wasn’t quite sure about doing this in this title, but as soon as I felt it I thought, ‘Okay, this is a really good way to give players another way to approach a goal in the game.’ It adds just a little bit more freedom compared to the original Ocarina of Time.”

The overhauled graphics aim to “bring out details of the world that people weren’t able to see in the original Ocarina of Time,” Aonuma said, adding this was “something that we wanted to do in the original, but we didn’t have the technical compatibility at the time in terms of hardware output.”

Navi and the Water Temple

Navi remains ever-present in the remake, but her chatter has been toned down. Aonuma said the team used in-game text to chronicle the player’s adventures so people could remind themselves what they had done on the quest.

The Water Temple, widely regarded as the most challenging dungeon in the original game, has been modernized. Players can now better see and navigate the underwater dungeon. “I think when people make comparisons from their memory now to the original version of the Water Temple they’re going to feel quite a difference,” Aonuma said.

Why it matters

The remake retains much of the original N64 experience while updating it with modern graphics and gameplay. Aonuma said keeping Ocarina’s more traditional style of Zelda gameplay alive is important as the franchise celebrates its anniversary this year, and that having different approaches is part of the reason the franchise has had staying power.

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Sources

• theverge.com: Nintendo’s designers strove for ‘elegance’ when remaking Ocarina of Time | The Verge
• theguardian.com: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has revived the midnight game launch – but was it worth the wait? | Games | The Guardian

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.