Developers behind The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's remake supposedly wanted to nod at the series' infamously twisty, hotly debated and convoluted timeline, but series producer Eiji Aonuma thought it would be better to instead focus purely on making the Switch 2 version the best it could be.
Eiji Aonuma said as much in an interview with Game Informer, when asked if The Legend of Zelda canon was ever considered during development. "It's funny because the staff would sometimes ask me about the possibility of including nods to the timeline or references to the other game," he recalls, "and I actually, at the time, would say, 'No, let's focus on this game. Let's make this the best version of Ocarina of Time that we can.'"
The Zelda timeline notably diverges into three parallel branches after the events of Ocarina of Time - there's the Fallen Hero timeline (Link to the Past, Link's Awakening), the Child timeline (Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess), and the Adult timeline (Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass).
But Nintendo has never placed too much importance on directly connecting these games one way or another, as series creator Shigeru Miyamoto never thought it was "that important." Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom's chronological placements have even been left a little ambiguous (they come after every other Zelda story falls into myth, sure, but are potentially set in an entirely separate Hyrule.) Needless to say, debates around the official timeline will likely persist as long as the series is still kicking.
"So, the timeline was in the back of our mind, but we didn't consider taking an approach to this game where we actually, explicitly included references like that," Aonuma adds.
Things might get even more complicated with more Zelda on the way next year, though Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi thinks it's important that new Zelda games don't simply re-use older ideas.
Nintendo exec says "new games and remakes both have a place" following Zelda: Ocarina of Time launch
