Nintendo is rebuilding Ocarina of Time for Switch 2 while keeping things familiar, but closer inspection of the revealed footage shows plenty of new surprises. Find out all the subtle details from the trailer and gameplay demo below.
Spoiler warning ahead for some sections. Proceed with caution.
Small Details from the Ocarina of Time Footage
The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct gave fans an extended gameplay look into the Ocarina of Time remake, on September 8, 2026. Along with the subsequent trailer and extra footage from Nintendo's Japanese website, this gave a lot of material to see all the changes the company did to modernize the the 1998 classic, while keeping it faithful.
Beyond the big gameplay reveals, let's take a look at some of smaller changes and details seen from the available footage.
Movement and Combat Have Been Rebuilt for Modern Zelda
Link Is Left-Handed Again
The Hero of Time once again wields his sword left-handed, as he did in the 1998 Ocarina of Time and the 3DS version. In a post describing Link, Nintendo calls the hero as "left-handed…mostly", since his dominant hand has occasionally changed throughout the years.
For example, Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom feature right-handed Links. Another example is that the Wii version of the right-handed Link in Twilight Princess was mirrored to better match players using motion controls, as the original GameCube release was left-handed.
Ranged Weapons Now Work in Third Person
Link remains visible while aiming the Slingshot and can move with it readied, rather than shifting into the N64 game’s stationary first-person aiming mode. Additionally, the crosshair follows the same pattern seen in Breath of the Wild. Combined with optional gyro aiming, where players can aim by physically tilting the Switch 2, ranged combat should feel more fluid.
Link Can Leap Upward While Climbing
It’s now possible to jump upward along climbable vines instead of moving at the original’s fixed climbing speed. However, nothing suggests Ocarina of Time is adopting the free-form climbing system seen in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
Swimming Is Noticeably Faster
Young Link can perform a faster dash through the water, reducing the original's slow surface swimming. When diving, an oxygen bar appears next to the hero and depletes quickly, giving just enough time to collect a Rupee underneath. There’s a good chance that Link still needs to collect the Silver and Golden Scale to extend his time underwater.
Navi Feels More Like an Active Companion
Despite the new Threads of Time, a quest journal feature that offers direction on where to go next, Navi still provides enemy weaknesses and combat hints. The gameplay demo showed that players need to tap the right D-pad to view the hint, prompting the fairy to advise Link on stunning the enemy Deku Baba with a Deku Nut.
The remake also appears to expand her presence outside combat: she reacts to more objects and locations, with small glimpses of her providing ambient commentary. Additionally, Navi’s glow illuminates dark areas, especially when she’s hovering over an enemy during the lock-on system.
Navi Is Intentionally Still an Orb and Not a "Cute Girl"
Nintendo could easily give Navi a detailed fairy body now, but she remains the familiar glowing orb with wings. In a conversation between the late Satoru Iwata, fourth president and CEO of Nintendo, and Yoshiaki Koizumi, co-director of Ocarina of Time, Koizumi said that a fairy should have been a "cute girl," but technical limitations with the N64 system made it impossible, leading to him settling on designing the fairy as a ball of light with wings.
Adult Link Can Block Bigger Hits
Adult Link was able to hold his ground when blocking an overhead swing from an Iron Knuckle, one of the hardest-hitting enemies in the Zelda series. In the original game, blocking that big hit would normally send Link flying back. Additionally, shield impacts have been more physically animated, as when Young Link gets visibly pushed backward against a Deku Baba, compared to the 1998 release where he would barely move.
The Interface Has Been Rebuilt Around Faster Access
The Quick-Select Menu Comes Straight From Breath of the Wild
Instead of repeatedly pausing to assign items to the N64’s C-buttons, the remake uses a horizontal quick-select menu similar to Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and Echoes of Wisdom. While this has drawn criticism in previous installments because it feels unintuitive to navigate a large item collection, Ocarina of Time’s smaller inventory should make it easier to use. The exact controls aren't confirmed yet, but the trailer suggests ZR uses the currently selected item, and R opens or cycles the item selection.
Boots and the Lens of Truth Get Much Faster Access
The Iron Boots, Hover Boots, and Lens of Truth are mapped to D-pad shortcuts, as seen in the top left of the new HUD. Footage in the Water Temple showed how quickly it was to remove the Iron Boots, while Nintendo Japan’s website had a similar video for the Hover Boots in the Shadow Temple. This is another positive change lifted from the 3DS.
One mystery is that the menu shows space for another item assigned to the Up on the D-pad. For now, fans speculate it could be a camera, a common item in the Zelda series.
Young Link Appears to Start With a 200-Rupee Wallet
The HUD shows Young Link with a 200-rupee capacity, up from the original and 3DS versions’ starting limit of 99. This could affect the Gold Skulltula progression, where collecting 10 of the game’s 100 tokens originally awarded the 200-rupee Adult’s Wallet, followed by the 500-rupee Giant’s Wallet at 30 tokens. Nintendo's Japanese website shows footage of the Gold Skulltulas, confirming the collectible is returning.
New Inventory Layout Still Fits Ocarina of Time’s Original Arsenal
Fans on Reddit have already tried filling the remake’s redesigned inventory with every item from the 1998 game, and the old arsenal fits the new layout surprisingly well. There are still prevailing questions like if the two slots on the bottom right are reserved for quest and trade items and whether Masks would be part of the D-pad assignments or included in the item menu.
The New Fifth Bottle Suggests Extra Content
The item menu showed an extra space for what could be a fifth Empty Bottle, one more than the four obtainable in the original. These four bottles were tied to side quests and minigames, like one tasking Link to find chickens scattered around Kakariko Village. If it follows the same pattern, the extra Empty Bottle could mean a new associated quest to retrieve it.
Magic Meter Is Now Segmented
The old continuous green magic bar is divided into clear sections in the remake. This is most likely a visual change that makes individual magic costs, such as Spin Attack and special arrows, easier to judge.
Link Plays the Ocarina Notes Correctly
The remake pays much closer attention to how Link actually plays the ocarina, with his finger positions now matching the correct fingerings on the real instrument. Playing the titular Ocarina of Time also has two new quality-of-life changes: players can now skip through the playback after successfully inputting the song, while ZL brings up the songbook while holding the instrument.
Better Graphic Reveals Character Details and Zelda Connections
Link’s Tunic Hides an Owl Motif
Link’s new tunic is covered in woven details and embroidery, but fans have focused on the owl-shaped pattern across his chest, which is particularly clear on Adult Link. Some connect it to Kaepora Gaebora, the owl who begins guiding Link just outside Kokiri Forest, while others compare it to the owl imagery associated with the Hero’s Shade in Twilight Princess.
The Ocarina of Time Now Hangs From Link’s Belt
Link now visibly carries the Ocarina of Time on his belt when he isn't using it. In the N64 game, the instrument simply disappeared back into the inventory.
The Goron and Zora Tunics Are No Longer Palette Swaps
The original Goron and Zora Tunics were essentially Link’s normal clothing recolored red or blue. The remake gives them distinct ornamentation instead, including fish and scale-like motifs on the Zora Tunic and flame-like patterns with a lizard or salamander motif on the Goron version.
Mido’s Body Paint Resembles Sonia’s Markings
Mido, the mean leader of the Kokiri posted near the Deku Tree, has body paint or tattoos similar to Queen Sonia's from Tears of the Kingdom. Although the other Kokiri have their own markings, they don’t resemble the elaborate style of the founding Queen of Hyrule.
Malon’s Dress Is Filled With Lon Lon Ranch Details
Malon’s redesigned dress now features tiny horse patterns, while its Hylian lettering repeatedly spells ロン (Lon). The Lon Lon text is actually preserved from the 1998 design rather than being a new Easter egg.
Sheik’s Redesign Makes The Twist Harder to Hide
Spoiler Alert. Sheik’s new design is more visibly feminine, with more defined curves, longer blond braided hair, visible eye makeup, and softer facial features. This makes the twist that Sheik is Zelda harder to hide compared to 1998’s more masculine build and shorter hair.
Sheik’s Harp Reaffirms the Skyward Sword Connection
Sheik’s redesigned harp closely resembles the Goddess’s Harp from Skyward Sword, but the connection itself predates the remake. In a 2011 Nintendo Power interview, series producer, Eiji Aonuma confirmed that the Goddess’s Harp was designed to be visually similar to the same as the harp Sheik uses in Ocarina of Time. The remake’s better graphics make these fine details easier to spot.
The Trailer Recreates the Original Title Screen
This is more of a homage than an actual change, but the trailer briefly mirrors Ocarina of Time’s shot composition for the iconic title sequence, with Adult Link riding Epona across Hyrule at dawn.
Hyrule Looks Familiar But Not 1:1
Multiple Areas Are Not Exact Recreations
A bombable floor on the way to the Deku Tree, altered dungeon layouts, enemies appearing away from their familiar spots, and reworked terrain all show that the remake is rebuilding Ocarina of Time, not creating a strictly room-for-room remodel. Another clip from Nintendo Japan’s footage shows Link crawling through Hyrule Castle, then appearing in a new sewer system before climbing up to the gardens.
Small Interiors Are Seamless, but Major Area Transitions Remain
Shops and other minor interiors can now be entered without the obvious loading cuts used in 1998, like when Link seamlessly enters the Kokiri Store. Larger region transitions have been intentionally kept to "preserve the essence of the original game", as stated by Aonuma in the gameplay demonstration.
The Kokiri Shop May Have a New Training Area
The Kokiri Shop now appears to include a Slingshot practice target and an opening toward a possible rear section that wasn't present in the original's simple square layout.
Castle Town’s Outskirts Have New Structures
The area around Castle Town appears to contain several additions absent from the 1998 field, including a new stone marker near the entrance and extra houses visible along the road toward Hyrule Castle. It wasn’t clear whether it was a signpost or something more lore-related, like a monument or gravestone.
Kakariko Village Has Been Rearranged
Kakariko still looks immediately recognizable, but closer comparisons suggest some buildings and the construction area have shifted from their original positions. The House of Skulltula and the construction site have swapped positions, and Impa’s house has been moved toward the end of the village, with the Cucco pen under it. The construction site itself also appears to use broader platforms instead of the N64 game’s narrow beams.
Hyrule’s Landmarks Are Now Visible Across the Horizon
The remake’s vastly longer sightlines make Hyrule feel more physically connected. From Hyrule Field, players can see landmarks such as Hyrule Castle, Death Mountain, Gerudo Valley’s rock formations, and even Kakariko’s windmill with its blades visibly turning in the distance. The huge formation east of Death Mountain is likely Zora’s Domain and Zora’s Fountain, a region that was hidden behind multiple screen transitions in 1998.
Owl Flights Are in Third Person
Kaepora Gaebora’s transport scenes now show Link visibly hanging beneath him instead of using the first-person perspective of the 1998 game. The clip in the trailer seems to recreate the flight from Lake Hylia to outside Hyrule Castle Town, one of the two owl rides available, as well as the trip from Death Mountain to Kakariko Village.
Familiar Dungeons Are Getting New Surprises
The Slingshot Room’s Floating Platform Is Now a Collapsing Bridge
Snippets of the dungeons show that the remake is giving the world more physicality, instead of leaving it to video game logic. The Great Deku Tree’s Slingshot room previously contained a floating platform that fell when Link jumped on it, but now contains a more brittle wooden bridge that collapses on first contact.
In the same room, the original had a ladder wrapped in spider webs that fell conveniently to the next area when shot. The remake shows a ladder contraction with a visible mechanism and an eye switch to release it.
Link Physically Interacts With Heavy Dungeon Doors
Another quick detail: Link now visibly pushes heavy dungeon doors upward with his body instead of standing in front of the door and watching it magically open like in the N64.
The Water Temple Keeps Its 3DS Navigation Fixes
The remake retains the colored markings introduced in Ocarina of Time 3D to distinguish the infamous Water Temple’s water-level routes. In the same shot, there’s a cracked bombable wall on the second level of the central chamber that does not appear in the previous versions.
The Mirror Shield Can Reflect Beamo's Lasers
Nintendo Japan’s extra footage shows Link reflecting a Beamos laser back using the Mirror Shield, something the original did not allow. If consistent, this gives the item more combat use outside the Spirit Temple’s light puzzles and Twinrova fight.
Lake Hylia May Refill With an Actual Surge of Water
One trailer shot appears to show a large wave or surge moving through Lake Hylia, something not properly depicted in 1998. This is most likely a cinematic interpretation of the lake being restored after completing the Water Temple, replacing the original’s anticlimactic and instantaneous refill.
We'll continually update this article with any new details uncovered in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's trailer and gameplay footage. For now, stay tuned for any updates to the release date for one of the most anticipated games of the year!
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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Gameplay Demo
Nintendo Japan Ocarina of Time
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Where the Name Navi came from
