•The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake for Nintendo Switch 2 is “far from a 1:1 remake,” according to an IGN preview that describes the project as prioritizing added depth over scope. The report notes that expanded dialogue, revamped puzzles and a detailed new art style aim to make the beloved adventure feel fresh.
Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma described the game as a “faithful interpretation” of the Nintendo 64 original, a term the previewer said stuck with them after exploring Hyrule for more than an hour. Familiar rooms reportedly contain redesigned challenges that change how the world and player function, while old characters have new dialogue to add texture.
The preview covered three sections: two split across the first roughly 90 minutes of the adventure and a third, larger segment set in the first dungeon played as Adult Link at about one-third through the story. No details beyond what Nintendo showed during the event were revealed.
Not counting last-gen upgrades or spinoffs, this marks the series’ proper Switch 2 debut. The preview describes rays of light poking through trees, thriving moss and mushrooms on withered bark, handwoven flourishes on Link’s tunic, and gameplay running at a “crisp 60 fps.” A musical recreation of the forest’s original MIDI theme reportedly used just a handful of real musicians.
Dialogue changes were also highlighted. One Castle Town citizen reportedly gawks at Link’s outfit, saying: “Intricate stitching that implies the whole ensemble is handmade!” The forest shopkeeper reportedly apologizes for empty shelves, blaming Kokiri ringleader Mido for blocking the path to the Great Deku Tree.
The remake reportedly changes Ocarina’s level design. After crawling to a secret area containing the Kokiri Sword, the previewer found the challenge overhauled: where a treasure chest once sat in the back corner of a maze with a giant boulder, it now perches on a high platform in the room’s center with the boulder rolling around it.
The N64 version reportedly used this obstacle to teach players how to recenter the camera behind Link. The remake no longer carries that burden since the right stick provides complete camera control and jumping is available at the press of a button, making this the first room where players are required to jump to reach the treasure.
Once equipped with sword and shield, Link reportedly feels excellent to control. Movement was described as familiar to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, featuring a dash, a jump and snappy third-person gyro aiming with projectile weapons like the slingshot.
The previewer noted interest in Ocarina’s apparent fascination with “a more logically constructed world.” In one room of Inside the Great Deku Tree, a floating platform from the N64 game was reportedly replaced by a crumbling bridge now built into the environment.
In the Forest Temple, where Adult Link hunts down four ghosts, classic Zelda design reportedly welcomes different types of logic than Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom’s open-ended approach. While the temple’s overall layout was mostly unchanged, new cutscenes reportedly fleshed out the dungeon’s antagonists.
An arena where Link fights a Stalfos once had a giant hole in the middle that enemies could hover over but Link needed to avoid. The remake reportedly exchanges this for a shallow pool of acid: skeleton enemies can still walk through it while Link takes damage, and reinforcements now spawn from the acid rather than bringing a platform.
The Stalfos battles were described as the best look at combat so far, with sword slashes landing “with a crunchy THWAP” and enemy attacks clanging off Link’s shield before his final spin attack sends them exploding into piles of bones.
The preview references an Iwata Asks interview from ahead of Ocarina of Time 3D’s 2011 release, in which designers Toru Osawa, Yoshiaki Koizumi and Jin Ikeda reportedly sought inspiration at Toei Kyoto Studio Park while struggling to make swordplay work in 3D space. Watching a stage show where one samurai fended off multiple ninjas by locking eyes with one enemy at a time reportedly helped spark the game’s lock-on Z-targeting system.
The remake reportedly embraces this theatrical framing throughout: locking onto an enemy narrows scene lighting to emphasize the tether between Link and foe, opening chests places overhead spotlights on rewards, and Floormasters are now telegraphed by bright spotlights that change color before swooping down. Fog adds atmosphere, detailed costumes ground players in the era, and a small group of musicians reportedly perform as a pit orchestra.
Quest logs are written in past tense, telling “an old story,” while an early reveal trailer opened with a narrator reflecting on ancient events. The review frames Ocarina of Time as a play: Hyrule its stage, dungeons and villages its sets, enemies and townsfolk its actors, and Link its chosen hero.
The previewer noted that characters act like the kingdom is enormous while it is practically small; sprinting across Hyrule Field between two towns reportedly takes less than 90 seconds. Aonuma reportedly said the team chose to keep loading screens between areas, which fits the framing of Kokiri Forest, Hyrule Field and Castle Town as different sets being swapped out by a crew.
The report positions the remake as “an affectionate retelling of a legend” that is old, important and worth revisiting. It notes it remains too early to judge elements like Hyrule Field based on the few minutes played.
Logan Plant is IGN’s Senior Editor, Playlist and DB, and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. He describes The Legend of Zelda as his favorite video game franchise and awaits a new F-Zero announcement from Nintendo.
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