Nintendo Reveals Who Made the Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake and Why
Hey! Listen! It's the same team.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake comes out for Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5, and Nintendo just answered two big questions about it. In the first part of a new Ask the Developer interview, the company revealed who made the game and why it decided to remake Ocarina of Time a second time (IGN).
As an Amazon Associate, Church of Nerds earns from qualifying purchases. Buying through the Amazon links in this post supports the site at no extra cost to you.
Who made the Ocarina of Time remake?
Some fans guessed Monolith Soft, the Xenoblade studio that has helped on Zelda games before. Nintendo confirmed the remake was made by Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 3, the same team behind most Zelda games for the last 30 years.
Series producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi lead off the interview. HokWai Ng, Aya Shida, Hiroki Taguchi and Masato Ohashi from the team will appear in later parts (IGN).
Why remake Ocarina of Time again?
This is the second remake, after the Nintendo 3DS version in 2011. Aonuma said the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda got him thinking about his team. Many of them have only worked on the newer games.
"That led me to wonder, 'Do they truly understand just how significant The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was to the series as a whole?'" Aonuma said. He believes rebuilding it from scratch "may trigger new insights that they can carry forward into future development" (IGN).
He also wanted players who grew up on the open worlds of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom to try a "carefully paced adventure and story."
How much did the team change?
Aonuma said he let the younger developers make the changes they felt were necessary. "That said, I did deliver my fair share of lectures along the way," he added with a laugh. Fujibayashi said the team set clear rules early about what would and wouldn't change from the Nintendo 64 original.
My read is that this is a really smart way to use a remake. Teaching a new generation of Zelda developers by having them rebuild the game that defined 3D Zelda is a good sign for whatever comes after Tears of the Kingdom. (Somewhere, a new hire is still stuck in the Water Temple.)
Are you playing the remake on day one? Tell us in the comments.
More gaming news is right here.
Header image and in-article image are official images of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo Switch 2, from Nintendo.
