The gaming landscape has evolved tenfold since Link — in his 64-bit polygonal glory — first traveled through time to save Hyrule in “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (1998), but the game still stands as the highest-rated video game of all time on Metacritic. 

When a full remake of “Ocarina of Time” was announced in June — Nintendo’s second remake of the game, and its first on a modern home console —  it was met with excitement and skepticism. How can you replicate near-perfection, let alone improve on it?

Nintendo’s answer was “Ocarina of Time” (2026), released for Nintendo Switch 2 on Thursday. The remake takes the outline of their ’90s classic and colors it in full with the shades, textures and game-design techniques of a modern gaming juggernaut.  

“Ocarina of Time,” like the original, follows Link’s journey to stop Ganondorf and save Hyrule across its pre-apocalyptic state as a child and its post-apocalyptic state as an adult. It takes the whimsy from the original and realizes it as an epic, maintaining the spirit of the original while becoming arguably the most visually stunning title Nintendo has ever released.

From the moment Navi, Link’s fairy companion, wakes him up to begin his journey to save the world, the scenic, luscious beauty of Kokiri Forest sets the tone for the rest of the game. No longer is Link simply running on angular, dull textures. In this revitalized world, he traverses volumetric fog, climbs treehouses that cast dynamic shadows and skips across ponds — his boots dripping, dampening and splashing as he navigates the forest’s swampy terrain. 

Kokiri Forest might be the first in-game area players see that blossomed from the graphical rehaul, but it’s certainly not the last.

Locations that were already full of character, such as Hyrule Castle Town and Kakariko Village, have been improved graphically and mechanically. Instead of being stationary in day/night cycles, townspeople now move around these towns at different intervals of the day.

Dungeons that thrive on atmosphere also use the graphic jump to sell their worlds with more conviction. The Shadow Temple,filled with morbid imagery and enemies themed after the risen-dead in the original, now has added fog, more realistic depictions of enemies such as the mummy-fied “ReDead,” and more haunting decor to create an underground necropolis. 

Likewise, dungeons with previously underwhelming aesthetics, such as the drab Water Temple and the off-putting insides of Jabu-Jabu’s Belly, have new life breathed into them, making them feel distinctive instead of just bland and borderline gross.

Another improvement is the remake’s expanded capacity for more thorough storytelling. The new version added voice actors for some lines, re-tooled bits of dialogue for clarity and added full-fledged cutscenes to illustrate key plot points.

The remake enriches the game’s most iconic scenes, using movie-like animation to add depth.

When Link goes to pull the Master Sword and inadvertently allows Ganondorf to steal the Triforce, it’s no longer done through Ganondorf awkwardly floating in behind Link in a white background while he accosts Link in text boxes. 

The entire scene is stylized from start to finish — we see his figure, holding the Master Sword outstretched, lose color and freeze as Ganondorf’s footsteps thump behind our hero. We actually hear Ganondorf’s voice as he taunts Link, who’s helpless to stop him from reaching the Sacred Realm. 

Many of the improvements the Zelda team made here don’t just boil down to presentation — many of the original’s few dated gameplay kinks such as obtuse objectives, clunky camera movement and fighting physics, are ironed out too. 

The remake seeks to remedy these issues — perhaps the most significant of which came in adjustments to combat and Link’s control. Jumping, once conditional on Link running off a ledge, now has a dedicated button; there’s a free camera and Link’s swordplay is sharper than ever. Challenging enemies have re-tooled movesets, move animations and attack patterns that add a sense of increased stakes to key fights.

While the majority of the changes made in rebooted “Ocarina of Time” are welcome, a few subtract from some of the magic of the original. While the added cutscenes, dialogue and color give the world more depth, some of it can take away from the desolate atmosphere that made the original — specifically the parts in post-apocalyptic Hyrule so thematically compelling.

And even though many reworks to core mechanics were positive, some were overdone. Many navigational challenges in deliberately cryptic areas, such as the Forest Temple and Water Temple, were dumbed down, with the game adjusting locations of infamous small keys and simplifying puzzles to streamline the experience. It makes the dungeons lose some of their labyrinthine identities, decreasing how satisfying it feels to complete them. 

Still, the positive changes far outweigh the bad. “Ocarina of Time” (2026) expands the original game’s vision, but doesn’t warp it — creating an experience that feels fresh, but also familiar, capturing the soul of its nearly three-decade-old counterpart in a timeless experience.