I’m shocked by how little has changed about Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake – Reader’s Feature

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time looks great (Nintendo)

The Switch 2 has proven to be far more powerful than one reader expected, as he’s much more impressed by Zelda: Ocarina Of Time than he expected.

Nintendo was the only one with the brass to release a big game in November and it looks like they’ve been rewarded for it in terms of reviews and sales for Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. And no wonder either. I’ve just beaten it and it way exceeded my expectations.

Obviously, the original is a classic, the classic of the era, but it’s nearly 30 years old now and no video game stays on top for that long. I’m not going to pretend to you that even the remake is the best game ever made now but… it kind of felt like that while playing it.

They didn’t change anything major about it and it was still the most fun I’ve had with a video game this year. That’s pretty amazing given how quickly games age and while the quality of the graphics is amazing for the underpowered Switch 2, what’s most incredible is how the design underneath hasn’t really changed at all.

If this was Sony or Microsoft and they didn’t immediately start showing off their new console’s graphics, with graphic demos and big name launch games that valued graphics above all, you’d know they were hiding something and that the console was no good. But Nintendo are too weird for that logic to work.

They had no tech demo and none of their games have had particularly spectacular graphics (although I do think Mario Kart World is underrated). There’s been some good third party ports, but I can’t say I’ve played most of them, as the games themselves I’ve already got on my PlayStation 5. I imagine that’s the same for a lot of people, especially as the games are full price on Switch 2.

So when you see how amazing Ocarina Of Time looks it is literally shocking. GTA 6 is clearly going to have the best graphics ever, but that’s running on the much more powerful PlayStation 5 and has a purely realistic modern world. Ocarina Of Time is probably my most favourite fantasy world I’ve been in, and I can’t get over how good it looks.

It’s not just the quality of the graphics, which seem like they shouldn’t be possible on the Switch 2, but the design as well. This is easily the most cinematic game I’ve ever seen from Nintendo. The N64 ending is famous for being really good like that but the whole of the remake is impressive.

The whole bit in the beginning, with Link’s dream, and Navi and the Great Deku Tree, is done so well and yet it’s still basically the same as the N64 version. That’s incredible to me. The graveyard scenes are some of the best too, especially with the rain and the lighting bolts. Nowadays it looks almost photorealistic, but the design and camera angles is still virtually the same as the original.

There was a lot of talk before it came out, as to whether Nintendo would make Hyrule Field bigger, as it’s very small by modern standards – especially Breath Of The Wold. But they didn’t and it still looks incredible. It’s beautiful and it’s still fun to explore and ride Epona around on.

They changed Castle Town, because fixed camera angles would look weird, but other than that basically nothing has changed. People talk about Nintendo magic, but this is it for me: a game that is both old-fashioned and brand new at the same time, with dated level design that somehow looks better than any other game on the Switch 2 and most others on any other format.

I mean, compare Ocarina Of Time with Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. No knock to the game but it looks like something on the GameCube compared to Zelda.

Hats off to Nintendo, because I really couldn’t imagine the whole thing being done better. I’m now curious to see what future game will look like. Star Fox was also pretty impressive and the Pokémon Winds and Waves trailer looks promising, so this could be a whole new era for the Switch 2 and its graphics.

Whether it is or not though Ocarina Of Time has knocked it out of the park and will be at the very least the second best looking game of the year.

By reader Xane

Will all Switch 2 games look like this from now on? (Nintendo)

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