Category: Ocarina of Time
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The Real Reason Nintendo Remade Ocarina of Time
Link walks into the Temple of Time with all three Spiritual Stones and the Ocarina of Time, plays the Song of Time, and the Door of Time grinds open. We’ve all seen what comes next a thousand times. He walks up to the pedestal, grips the Master Sword with both hands, and pulls. In the…
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Why We Love Ocarina of Time
In a few days, Ocarina of Time arrives on Nintendo Switch 2, and millions will play it for the first time. They’ll find everything people already say about it: the dungeons, the music, the moment Link pulls the Master Sword and wakes up seven years later. It’s a masterpiece, and it has earned that label.…
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The Future of Zelda after the Ocarina of Time Remake
In December 2023, a few months after Tears of the Kingdom was released, Eiji Aonuma sat down with IGN and was asked about a group of fans who had never made peace with the new direction: the people who grew up with Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, who missed the Water Temple and missed…
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Ganondorf Always Wins the Same Way
A castle courtyard. Flowers, statues, Link meets Zelda for the first time. She asks if he wants to look through the window, and he does. On the other side of the window, a huge Gerudo man in black armour kneels before the King of Hyrule and swears his loyalty. Then he lifts his head, and…
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Zelda Fans Finally Got What They Asked For
Kokiri Forest. Morning light spills through the canopy; trees and fairies everywhere you look; and the Great Deku Tree is rebuilt from the ground up. This is Ocarina of Time on Switch 2, shown off properly for the first time in Nintendo’s 40th Anniversary Direct on September 8th, and the environments look like somewhere you…
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Ocarina of Time Switch 2: How Far Could the Story Change?
Link is lying in bed. That’s how it starts, in the trailer, in the original game, in every version of this story we’ve had for almost thirty years. But then, on Switch 2 the Triforce appears on the back of Link’s hand. That’s new. That’s not how it happened in 1998. In the original Ocarina…
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Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct Reaction
Look at that. That’s Ocarina of Time, running on Switch 2 — and it might be the best that game has ever looked. This week, Nintendo aired a full Zelda Direct for the franchise’s 40th anniversary, and gave us our first proper look at the Ocarina of Time remake — including a release date. November…
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The Zelda Story Where Ganondorf Was Always Going To Win
Link pulls the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time. The room floods with green light. And through that light walks a man who has no business being there. Ganondorf enters the Sacred Realm. He touches the Triforce. And in that single moment, everything Hyrule spent three eras trying to prevent finally happens. Most people…
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Why Ocarina of Time’s Dungeons Were Never Beaten
Ocarina of Time is over twenty-five years old, and its dungeons still hold up better than almost anything the series has made since. Not “hold up for their time.” Hold up, full stop. Today I’m going to examine that theory in detail. Ocarina of Time’s dungeons work because of a specific, deliberate design decision Nintendo…
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Ocarina of Time’s Darkness: What Nintendo Can’t Afford to Remove
Nintendo is about to remake one of the most beloved games ever made. And somewhere in a Nintendo boardroom, someone will suggest making it a little less scary. I think that decision, if it happens, would be a mistake. The darkness in Ocarina of Time is very important. It works because of everything warm the…