Ocarina Of Time Remake Exists, And It’s Glorious

Right now, the word is that Nintendo is reportedly going to deliver an official remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 later this year. While it hasn’t even been officially announced yet, it seems like a logical way to handle the milestone of the 40th anniversary of Zelda.

That said, a remake of The Ocarina of Time already exists, and it came out in 2011. Even if we don’t get a Switch 2 remake anytime soon, we have the next-best thing.

Ocarina Of Time 3DS Is An All-Timer

And It’s Portable As Well

Known by its full title, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, the game is a full remake of the 1998 Nintendo 64 classic by Grezzo and Nintendo. Released in 2011, a full decade and a change after the original, it was one of the few ways to play Ocarina of Time outside hard copies on the 64 and GameCube.

Ocarina of Time 3D revamped the visuals of the original to clean up some rough edges with far more care than the other emulated editions of the game. The framerate was boosted slightly as well, which made the game much cleaner to play. The best aspect of Ocarina of Time 3D is easily the quality of life updates, which include quick-equipping (cutting down on laborious menu time), and a few enhancements from Majora’s Mask.

Then there’s the boss challenge mode (where you can unlock a boss gauntlet), a completely optional hint system for newcomers, and slightly re-arranged locales and items to shake things up for hardcore N64 fans. The inclusion of the Master Quest in Ocarina of Time 3D sealed the deal in the sense that it was the most comprehensive version of the game to date.

Before 3DS prices skyrocket, we recommend picking one up and a physical copy of the game if you can swing it. Although it’s a remake, it closely preserves the core of the original N64 version. It doesn’t hurt that you can also pick up the fantastic Majora’s Mask 3DS remake, too, on the same platform. They pair well back-to-back, and Nintendo might never remake Majora’s Mask​​​​​​, period.

I Would Still Take A Port On Switch 2

Bring It On Over

The best part of remakes is often seeing how a new creative team handles a prior work. Capcom has handled this wonderfully with the Resident Evil remake series multiple times, showing the rest of the industry how it’s done.

Remakes also serve another purpose: game preservation. Although Ocarina of Time is available on the Switch family of systems, it’s tethered to the Switch Online component. I’m sure fans would prefer a physical copy of Ocarina on a modern system, and Nintendo probably won’t go the game-key-card route with this one.

Plus, releasing Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 with a premium edition could warrant the first new Switch 2 hardware design since launch, as Nintendo customarily provides hardware updates for its big IPs. Even a new set of Joy-Con 2 would be great for collectors and fans alike. Regardless of whether you’re an Ocarina of Time fan, everyone would win in that case.