Zelda Producer Nervous About Fan Recepción to Ocarina of Time Remake

Eiji Aonuma, the longtime producer of The Legend of Zelda franchise at Nintendo, is preparing to launch the highly anticipated remake of 1996’s seminal The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time next week. And after so many years and so many Zelda games, you’d think it was routine for him. But it turns out he’s nervous this time.

“I’m all nervous about releasing the remake of ‘Ocarina’ because I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, I can’t stop thinking about it,” he told AFP at a press event in Paris. The stakes are certainly a bit different this time around, as Aonuma and his team undertook the daunting task of remaking what many regard to be one of the greatest games of all time, as opposed to every other Zelda game they’ve made (well, almost) that is an original work.

As AFP notes, the original Ocarina of Time was the first project Aonuma worked on with legendary Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Now, he and his team are remaking it, and after we got to play it, we found it to be a bit more different than you might think if you’re a veteran of the original. We also had someone who never played the original try it out if you’re curious as to his impressions. Aonuma also talked about how some members of his team had never played the original – and he thinks that’s a good thing.

If IGN metrics are anything to go by, Aonuma-san has nothing to be nervous about next week. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is IGN’s second-highest-performing preview of the year so far (after, you guessed it, our preview of GTA 6). However, on our YouTube channel, it is #1 by a mile with over 1.8 million views.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake will be released on November 5. Stay tuned for IGN’s review coverage, and in case you need to jog your memory or you’re a first-time player, our game help guide is here for you.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host of Next-Gen Console Watch. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.