What parents need to know
The title sold as Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time in stores on Nintendo Switch 2 is the second remake of Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64.
It is a single-player 3D action-adventure game where you play as Link, a Kokiri, an eponymous forest elf who lives in the kingdom of Hyrule. He learns from the beginning of the adventure that he is the chosen one, that he must face a number of trials and obstacles, and must save Hyrule from the domination of the terrible antagonist called Ganondorf.
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (Zelda OoT) when it was released in 1998 (after multiple delays at the time) turned the entire video game industry upside down thanks to its great qualities and many mechanics, new for the time. It was a huge commercial and critical success, which redefined what an adventure game could be in the early days of this famous third dimension. Well-worked scenario, pleasant gameplay, mythology inspired by Peter Pan, Greece and fairy tales, OoT is a monument of video games, a masterpiece, which has marked its history definitively and popular culture.
Since this worldwide success, Nintendo has made the game available on all its home consoles. It is on the Nintendo 3DS handheld console that Zelda OoT will get its first remake in 2011. The base is largely identical, but the graphics have been redone, and the game now runs in 30 frames per second instead of 15 – 20 frames per second of the Nintendo 64.
Which brings us to the release of the moment in November 2026, Nintendo’s blockbuster of the year and the holiday season: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2.
An essential title to sell Switch 2 consoles by the millions for Nintendo.
The game was provided by the publisher for review purposes but this does not influence our opinion.
Details
Level of experience required
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Evaluation
Link fights against monsters with swords, spears, axes, etc. There is no presence of blood.
When Link gets hit or defeated, he lets out a cry of pain.
When enemies are defeated, they disappear into a cloud of smoke.
Some enemies, especially the game’s bosses, could scare younger children or sensitive people because of their rather scary and creepy appearance.
Some characters such as fairies have huge plunging necklines, oversized breasts and suggestive screams.
A lot of instructions and texts to read, each new object is introduced by a text, the whole story is told verbatim with a few scenes that are dubbed by dubbing actors.
All the language of combat, destruction, provocation, friendship, courage.
The game emphasizes the values of mutual aid, courage and determination.
The game puts more emphasis on Link’s quest and exploration.
Zelda is unfortunately the damsel in distress that Link must save once again.
You control Link with the left stick and you control the camera with the right stick. Having to orient the camera with the right stick constantly can be confusing for people who are not used to 3D games.
Although the game shows the mechanics of the game in a fairly gradual way, you will have to use all the buttons on the controller in order to get by. It can be difficult to get by with the multiple button combinations.
The running buttons are placed on the A button on the Switch controller, and the jump button on the X. When you want to run and jump, you have to do a funny position with your fingers to reach the 2 buttons at once. It is possible to swap the 2 buttons in the options, but that’s it. This doesn’t change much of the problem, and all the rest of the buttons are not configurable. The accessibility options are very limited, and people with disabilities can have a lot of trouble playing the game.
Nintendo sells additional items that are completely optional for game progression:
- 2 amiibos of Link and Zelda young,
- controllers and consoles bearing the image of the saga,
- or toys in the shape of Ocarina and available in electronic or non-electronic version.
Our opinion
Woooww. What an enchantment! What quality! Do you see the memes on the Internet where the characters have their jaws off? Well, that’s me, throughout the game.
This remake is beautiful from start to finish in every way. The art direction is amazing. The gameplay has been reworked very well and is much more enjoyable than it was 28 years ago.
The player plays as Link, a Kokiri who lives in a village where children don’t grow up and are all dressed in green (hence the reference to Peter Pan). Link will soon be equipped with a sword and a shield and will have to heal the Mojo tree (Deku Tree in VO) of an evil creature that haunts him inside. This is Link’s first dungeon and tutorial.
As the adventure progresses, Link will follow the following progression: quiet moment, moment of crisis, you have to intervene in a dungeon to stop the crisis. In a dungeon, you will find many puzzles to solve, many enemies, a sub-boss, and a boss. You will also discover a key item that will allow you to access the second part of the dungeon, and defeat the boss whose weakness is this. Items can be slingshots, bombs, bows, boomerangs, and each dungeon is the tutorial. With more than a dozen items and dungeons to go through, the game constantly teaches you how to play it, and unlocks parts of the world at the same time.
The pleasure of discovery is total, even if you have already played the game, you wonder what awaits you around the next corner.
Outside of the dungeons, Ocarina of Time is full of villages, secrets, life! The fauna and flora have their own life, everything comes alive at all times, and we marvel just by seeing the foliage move near Link.
Everything is subject to experimentation, interaction,… to the game! If you meet a character, an element, a room in a place and you don’t know what to do with it, come back later with more objects, it will make sense at that moment. And that’s the genius of Nintendo, nothing is left to chance, everything is a game constantly, every weird wall, hidden creature. It’s the fun of the toy at all times.
I do my best not to spoil anything in this review, and this is difficult because what can I say that has not already been said in 28 years?
Even without having played the game, you may have seen multiple clips of it on the internet, or everyone who is talking about it right now, but nothing beats the experience than playing it.
I couldn’t get away from the game from start to finish. I did long sessions for days on end, something I haven’t done for years.
Very few games manage to captivate me these days, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Switch 2 version is one of them. Thank you Nintendo for this parenthesis in these troubled times.
Whether you discover and rediscover this masterpiece in this new form, you will come away delighted.
