Nintendo announced at the very end of its June 2026 Direct that we’ll be seeing a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time before the end of the year, available for the Nintendo Switch 2.
Though the trailer was scarce on info, with only a shot of a tapestry and Link asleep in the Kokiri Forest at the start of the game, plenty of fans have voiced their opinions on the remake so far. But when you’re remaking such a classic, beloved video game, there are a handful of iconic features people will want to know remain unchanged.
This list contains spoilers for the story of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
10
Navi’s Voice Lines
“Hey! Listen!”
I know Nintendo has given us significantly worse sidekicks in its time (looking at you, Fi from Skyward Sword…), but Navi is iconic for only having a handful of voice lines. “Hey!” “Listen!” and “Hello!” are the Triforce of fairy input in Ocarina of Time, and though the voice acting in Zelda games has come a long way, I hope they keep it that way.
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Even if they give her additional navigational lines or flavor text in her speech bubbles, it’d be a little jarring to hear her start speaking in full sentences after all this time. There are few more iconic audio cues than her asking for our attention mid-game, after all.
9
Equipping Boots As Items
Heck, Add The Tunics While You’re At It
One of my favorite additions out of all of them made to Ocarina of Time in the Nintendo 3DS remake back in 2011 was the ability to put on boots from the hot menu item that used the three yellow C-Buttons on the original N64 controllers. It did end up consuming an item slot, but I and probably most other players found it to be worth the trade-off.
In the original games, though, you had to go into your menu, over to the clothing screen, scroll down to the boots, and select them, which took a lot of time when you were someplace you needed to swap fairly often, like in the Water Temple when floating and sinking with the Iron Boots was a core mechanic. I’m begging them not to backtrack on that small but meaningful quality of life change.
And speaking of…
8
Arrows In The Water Temple
Leave Those On The Floor Or So Help Me
Anyone who’s ever played a video game can likely tell you the infamous legend of the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, long dreaded for its multi-level design, potential chance to soft-lock yourself, and the ever-present need to raise and lower the water level via one of the three switches in the dungeon, with one on each floor.
The 3DS remake made finding them a bit easier, thankfully, by painting arrows on the floor as you get nearer to the water level-changing switch. You’ll still spend plenty of time wandering aimlessly in one of the most contentious dungeons in any adventure game in history, but at least you’ll know where the switches are!
7
Gyroscopic Aiming On Ranged Weapons
Arrows And Hookshots And Bombs, Oh My!
When Skyward Sword launched with the Wii, the hype we all had to actually swing the Master Sword ourselves for the first time was really exciting, before we saw how terrible the motion controls could be when we needed specific directional slashes. It’s been rectified in the Switch version, thankfully, so they know how to do it and do it well after all this time.
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After motion controls also being a feature in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom alike, I can’t imagine they’d do an Ocarina of Time remake without it. Taking aim with our Bow (or the Slingshot before it), hucking a bomb gleefully with a JoyCon, actively extending our arms and hitting one of the shoulder buttons to fire the Hookshot, and more would be such a fun touch.
6
The Great Fairy Fountains
The Internet Wants Its Baddies
The number of people I saw online asking “for a friend” when we’ll finally get to see what the sultry Great Fairies look like in a Switch 2 version of Ocarina of Time will look like simply cannot be counted.
The original models were barely covered by a series of vines and left little to the imagination, and fans can’t imagine an Ocarina of Time remake any other way. The fountain is flowing, Nintendo; let the thirsty drink.
5
A Lack Of Weapon Degradation
Biggoron’s Sword Cannot Falter Like The Giant’s Knife
I was there when we all blew up the entrance to Medigoron’s shop as Kid Link before rushing back as an adult to collect the legendary knife he spoke of making, and once you finally save up the 200 Rupees for it, its might and reach make it all too tempting to use on easier enemies, which is unfortunate, because the Giant’s Knife is meant to break. How will you appreciate Biggoron’s Sword the same if it doesn’t?
Weapon degradation is a hot-button issue for some gamers, and while I personally think it has its uses, I’m not sure how they’d make it work in a linear Zelda game where you obtain one of each item from set locations to use throughout the game. Other than the Giant’s Knife, the weapons aren’t meant to break in Ocarina of Time – so I’m hoping they still won’t.
4
The King Zora Cutscene
“Mw-eep… Mw-eep… Mw-eep…”
As the tiny but mighty Kid Link, you’re on your way to Zora’s Domain to go through the dungeon inside of Lord Jabu Jabu, but the oversized King Zora blocking your path requires proof of your mission before he moves. Obtain it, and you’re in for quite a few minutes of sitting there watching him scoot out of the way, making his iconic noise with each shuffle.
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The scene has become kind of iconic now, and I almost don’t want newcomers to the game to be able to skip something so goofy – it’s one of the many reasons the game has so much flavor
He’s significantly less irksome as Adult Link, much quicker about things once you free him from his ice prison and speak with him about advancing into the Water Temple. And yeah, I hope he does still offer to kiss me if I’ve already got the Zora Tunic.
3
Time Traveling At The Temple Of Light
The Only Game Where I Don’t Want Additional Fast Travel
After obtaining the three stones as a kid and getting back to Castle Town to put them into the pedestal at the Temple of Time, you can return at any time to pull or replace the Master Sword again to switch between Child Link and Adult Link at will. You can do it anytime you want, but you can only do it at the pedestal itself.
I don’t hate fast travel, especially not in Zelda games when it’s done with absolute tunes for warp songs, but I’m hoping there’s no way to fast travel through seven years of time without manually taking or returning the Master Sword. Time takes time, after all.
2
Sheik’s Reveal
It’s Too Iconic To Switch Now
Largely revered as one of the coolest reveals in gaming history, Sheik being Princess Zelda the whole time is easily one of the more mind-blowing moments in the game. Anyone who’s played Ocarina of Time already loves showing it to new players, and they’re always just as stunned as we were without fail.
Who knows yet how the game will look visually, but the original reveal will look cool in it no matter what and still carry that same shocking heft. The only thing I hope they change is making it look even cooler, if anything!
1
The Official Zelda Timeline
Ocarina Of Time Is Far Too Pivotal To It All
I’ll be the first to say that the official timeline for The Legend of Zelda series is a haphazard cluster, giving the vibe that Nintendo slung it together after a few decades of unrelated games to try and make it all make sense (and I would know – I researched it at length to write this article explaining it).
Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom seem to fall outside of it all, it’s so messy and unwelcoming to new stories by now, but Ocarina of Time stands arguably at the center of it all, with three branching timelines from it based on the outcome of the final fight against Ganon. Separate stories happen if you believe Link dies in battle, or whether he stays an adult or returns to his childhood if he survives, with a handful of games spinning off from each.
It’s probably too late to try and retcon the importance of Ocarina of Time in the Zelda timeline, even if said timeline is held together with bubblegum and duct tape, it seems. Unless they want to explore the “Link dies” possibilities more from here, I can’t wait to watch a higher-definition version of the adorably heartwarming final cutscene after we save the world and Link returns to his original time.
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