Overview:

A remastering of one of the best games of all time, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – 2026 takes everything that made that game amazing and updates it to modern times.  The main core of the original Ocarina of Time has been retained with the same story being told as well as the core Zelda mechanics.  This means you’ll be going through the traditional dungeons and collecting items to help you progress all the while a cohesive story is being told.  Some new things have been added to the mechanics to make traversing and playing the game feel more elegant.  You are now able to jump at any time as well as having complete camera control with the right analog stick.  Camera control is a very welcomed addition as fighting with the camera was a frustrating endeavor coming back to the game.   I don’t really feel the same with jumping but this muscle memory talking.  There were plenty of times I would just walk or roll off the edge thinking Link would jump automatically only just to fall to my death.

Visuals:

When the original Ocarina came out, it was seen as a visual masterpiece with how well it translated the Zelda 2D style into the 3D realm.  Now the same can be said with how the remake has taken the chunky look of early 3D games and converted it beautifully. All the textures and models seem to have been updated for this release in that I can assume no existing artwork was used.  With that said, everything is a faithful recreation of the game from decades ago.  Everything looks the way it’s supposed to look.  I will say I’m not too fond of some of the character models as they just look off, but that’s a personal feeling. 

Some of the textures seem overdone with baby Link’s tunic being seemingly made from woven leaves.  Again, this is just the way I feel about them and doesn’t detract that it still looks astounding.  When all the elements are jiving this is probably the best-looking Zelda game to date and that’s a high bar already with what we have had over the decades.  When you’re trapped in a dark dungeon, Navi is providing a little illumination, and then suddenly, you walk into a cavernous room with glowing green sludge on the ground and ReDead’s everywhere, the game is like nothing else. 

I played with HUD off which completely changed the experience for me.  It didn’t feel like a game anymore and just looked like I was watching a gorgeous CGI movie. 

Audio:

I felt like I was 14 playing the remake.  Every tone, sting, sound effect, and score just hits the same way the original game did.  Music that has transcended the medium and the decades hits just as impactful and probably even then some.  Voice acting has been added to some of the scenes in the remaster, and I could honestly do without it.  Again, this is my personal preference, but I feel the acting is not to my liking.  It just sounds too forced or, for lack of a better word, too “influencer-y.”  It was taking me out of the game with how anachronistic it was.  Eventually, I changed it to Japanese voice acting and it immediately brought me back into the world.  The Japanese voice actors could have been terrible, but I wouldn’t notice and I felt that not totally understanding what they were saying it elevated the game above the original even more since it felt more cinematic than any Zelda has ever felt.

Completion:

I FINISHED THIS GAME!  In two days!  And that made me sad.  Not because the experience wasn’t amazing or because there isn’t much to do.  What made me sad was that it was such a faithful remaster of the original game that every nook and cranny I poured over in the original was recreated faithfully.  I was able to mainline the entire game without any second guessing because I knew all the shortcuts and secrets from decades of replaying my favorite game from the Nintendo 64.  The original game shaped a huge portion of my life and my gaming career that it still goes on decades later.  Because of this, I was extremely hard on the remaster’s initial announcement.  I didn’t like how the game looked nor was I happy that it was just going to be a remake, like Star Fox, and not a complete retelling or remake like Final Fantasy VII Remake and its subsequent parts. 

I have a lot of emotions and nostalgia for the game.  After playing through it and finishing it, I have to say that this remaster is now the gold standard for any game that wants to call itself a remaster.  All of the original game’s mechanics, visuals, audio, and the feel and scope of the game are so expertly done and lovingly crafted that nothing else can be said other than this is a perfect recreation of an already perfect game.  It really is perfect.