Last Thursday, I bought the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake for Switch 2. Before I get into my impressions, just a little background: I love the original N64 game, and it was my favorite 3D Zelda until the Switch games came out (Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom). And I still consider it my favorite traditional 3D Zelda. The open-world games are great, but they don’t quite feel like a true Zelda game as I knew them growing up with the series.
I never played the 3DS version of Ocarina of Time, since I prefer home consoles over portables. I was waiting for an HD version, which I thought would come eventually…since Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword all got theirs. It just took a little longer for Ocarina of Time.
Over the years, I have occasionally have picked up the N64 game to replay certain areas (like the Great Deku Tree) or to revisit memorable locations like Zora’s Domain. But it’s been much longer (about 20 years!) since I’ve replayed through the entire game. So most of the game will not be fresh in my memory.
Starting The Game
As the game started up, I was immediately hit with a blast of nostalgia. That familiar title screen music came on, and I got the chills as I gleefully watched the title sequences for several minutes before I began my journey. 🙂
The game starts out in Kokiri Forest, with Navi joining Link for the first time. All the other villagers are surprised to see Link finally get his own fairy. By the way, this game is so pretty! 😍
A lot of old memories came back here in the forest. But I had to keep reminding myself that I have to press the X button to jump now! Even after all this time, my muscle memory assumes I can just walk across gaps to automatically jump. 😆
And of course, this guy is still a jerk:
Don’t Want No Scrub
I chatted with Saria, completed the training to earn my first sword, bought the shield, and headed inside the Great Deku Tree to play the first dungeon. I remembered this dungeon quite well, including all the puzzles. The only thing that really surprised me was that this Deku Scrub no longer says “Twenty-three is number one!”
I didn’t have much trouble defeating the boss and completing the dungeon. Shortly after that, it was time for me to leave the forest…but not before getting an ocarina from my BFF Saria. (BFF = Best Forest Friend)
Have Fun Storming the Castle!
My next task was to go to Hyrule Castle, so I first headed over to Hyrule Castle Town. I really like how you can freely roam around the 3D environment here, unlike in the N64 version. I also noticed that time passes normally here. I remember that time would freeze here in the N64 game, and you’d have to step back out into Hyrule Field to get time to pass.
But this guy didn’t have to roast me like this. 🥦 He looks a bit chopped himself. 😛
After chatting with all the garden variety villagers in town, I branched out and headed towards the castle. I met up with the ranch girl Malon there!
Malon told me about her ranch’s delicious milk, and she gave me an egg that will hatch into a rooster so that I can wake up her dad who got lost on his way to the castle. That’s not a sentence you’ll hear often in real life. 🥛🥚🐓🏰
Mamma Mia!
The next section was a stealth-based segment where I had to sneak past the guards in the courtyard. I’m not big on stealth challenges, but this one was easy enough. After a quick swim through the moat, I found Malon’s dad: Mario. I mean, Talon. I unleashed the rooster, and Talon awakened with a scream.
The Legend of… Her?
After he ran off, I continued on to the castle and met up with the legendary Zelda herself. Interestingly, she isn’t British in this game. At least her voice acting isn’t. 😛
She told me about her dreams, the goddesses, the Triforce, Ganondorf, the Temple of Time, the Door of Time, and the Sundial of Time. (Just kidding about that last one.) She then had her bouncer Impa escort me off of the property. 😆
But first, Impa taught me the song “Zelda’s Lullaby” to play on my ocarina. She also instructed me to head to Kakariko Village. The game is very linear so far, and I haven’t yet wandered off to really explore.
What are You, Chicken?
But for now, I headed to Kakariko Village. The first thing I did was help out the Cucco lady by bringing all her chickens back. She rewarded me with an empty jar, which of course is much better than it sounds. You can use it to store bugs, potions, fairies, milk, etc. No word on iced coffee yet, but I’m hoping maybe later. 😉
When night fell, I went to the graveyard and tried out the grave-digging tour. It was raining, so the tour host was a little damp, eh?
I ended up finding a piece of heart, and that’s where I stopped for this time.
Impressions
So far, I’m really enjoying the game. Ocarina of Time is such a great game, and the new fresh coat of paint makes it feel new and familiar at the same time. The graphics are fantastic, and so is the music. Ocarina of Time has an all-time great soundtrack, and hearing these songs again adds to much to my enjoyment of the game (not to mention the nostalgia).
I’m looking forward to playing more, and I plan to update this blog with my progress (much like I did with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom). I’m not sure what types of videos I may make (if any), but I’ll save any interesting clips just in case.
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