MajinPhil jokingly describes himself as your "friendly neighbourhood masochist" on his YouTube page, and looking at his history of challenge runs, it's easy to see why. He 100%ed The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask without taking a single hit in 2024, and then beat a completely randomized version of the game hitless in 2025. The next logical step, it seems, was doing the same with an Ocarina of Time randomizer.

Randomizers are mods that shuffle the locations of enemies and items within a game. They offer a challenge similar to speedrunning, where a player's knowledge and mastery of a classic game is put to the test – in this case, it's just tested in a completely different way with every run. Typically, a randomizer has some built-in safeguards to keep the game from being completely unwinnable, but beyond that, it's all fair game.

MajinPhil's Ocarina of Time randomizer challenge, which he'd been streaming on Twitch for 16 months, had some additional parameters, too. Most notable is the fact that he could only take a single hit before dying – and he's not allowed to block. Taking a single hit from any enemy, even when MajinPhil is behind a shield, is an instant death that also deletes the save file.

So you might start to see why this challenge ended up taking 135 attempts across 16 months. But hey, the winning run, which kicked off last week, had an auspicious start. "I'm calling it now: this is going to be a banger," MajinPhil said near the start of run 135. "I'm manifesting a banger here. Manifesting a banger. 135? That's some good shit."

There are some tricks in MajinPhil's favor here, like the fact that he can save and quit at any time to get out of a bad situation – the caveat being, of course, that he has to run all the way back to wherever he saved, past loads of respawned enemies, every time the game restarts.

If you want some examples of just how devious this can be, MajinPhil's previous run ended when an invisible enemy appeared with a rare glitch, present even in the original game, that rendered it briefly invulnerable. You'd think that the multiple Iron Knuckles that appeared in the very first dungeon of run 135 might've been similarly dangerous, but MajinPhil bypassed them without much trouble.

Once he finally reached the threshold of the final boss fight, MajinPhil took a moment on stream to get up, pace around the room, and collect himself. "For anyone saying I'm being dramatic, I promise you I'm not," he explains. "I've been doing this challenge since March of 2025. This is the first time I've ever gotten this far."

Experienced Ocarina of Time players will know that the scariest part of the final few fights is the back-and-forth with Ganondorf, where you bounce a ball of magic back at the boss like it's a tennis match. At one point, there's a rally that stretches on for an absolutely absurd 18 swings. MajinPhil laments that as "bullshit" – but a type of bullshit he manages to clear, just before clearing the castle escape and dealing the final blow to Ganon.

By the time the ending starts to play, MajinPhil sounds like he's on the verge of hyperventilating. "My head's freaking out," he tells his viewers. "I'm freaking out, man. I can't believe I beat it. It's actually so much more intense than Majora's Mask. This feels so much more intense. The wind-down is like… I can't explain how I feel. The feeling of all that anxiety from the beginning of the stream, like it was two hours of anxiety – two and a half hours of anxiety – all released when that final Ganon hit [was] hit."

After 16 months of trying, "I genuinely didn't think it was gonna happen," MajinPhil admits, and says "that was the hardest thing I've ever done, gaming-wise." The scariest part? Now, I reckon, he's gonna have to try and figure out an even harder challenge.

Shigeru Miyamoto admits Nintendo's been pumping out "a lot of remakes" as Ocarina of Time approaches, but says most people stopped playing the original games within 5 years anyway.

It's December 2006, and after months of eagerly scrubbing through trailers and poring over Official Nintendo Magazine, a brand new Zelda game is on the way. Not just that, it feels like the Zelda game, a gritty successor to Ocarina of Time's throne, bolstered with the incredible motion controls of the Wii. As December 8 rolled around, I queued up at midnight with my best pal, giddy with excitement, and sped home quickly as if the wind of Tulin was behind me.

We stayed up until five in the morning playing Twilight Princess, briefly slept, then went straight back to it. My poor younger brother didn't touch Wii Sports for at least a week. But, it wasn't the much-touted waggle controls that offered the biggest thrills, or the (at the time) incredible graphics. Instead it was Twilight Princess's commitment to tone, to crafting a lived-in world, and the tangible feeling that this space was really right in front of us – if we could just reach in and touch it.

Now 20 years later, it's that attention to detail, along with a mixture of reality and fantasy, that still makes Twilight Princess's dungeons the best the series has ever produced.

Got that dog

Twilight Princess feels quaint in hindsight when compared to BotW, but when it comes to solving puzzles this works in its favour. Each dungeon feels like a distinct part of this world, but it also feels absorbing. Scale works both ways, and spending more time in a small but richly detailed world gives you a real sense of your place in 3D space, especially with the immersive motion controls helping to bridge your suspension of disbelief.

For instance, the Goron Mines in Twilight Princess feel like a functioning part of that world. Heavy doors groan when they're heaved open, and bridges thud with a distinct weight when you fire your arrow to lower them. Breath of the Wild offers so much to do, but occasionally the sheer scope of that world makes smaller moments feel weightless. Twilight Princess makes each room feel consequential, and every solution to a puzzle feels like you've shifted something monumental in the world. You can imagine the Gorons down here smelting all day, which makes it more fun when you interact with elements that feel tangibly useful.

One standout example is Snowpeak Ruins, a dungeon that sneaks up on the player as you slowly realize this frosty new area you have discovered is your latest mystery to solve. Here, you also consistently interact with the Yeti couple Yeto and Yeta as you explore the grounds, further strengthening the belief this is a space that characters actually inhabit. So, when you unlock the fantastic Ball and Chain and start swinging wildly, the sense of power and relief is thoroughly earned. Not to mention, the Snowpeak boss uses both those interactions and your understanding of the space perfectly, turning your time bonding with the Yetis into an emotionally resonant fight instead of just another piece of Ganon fodder.

Speaking of the Ball and Chain, Twilight Princess has one of the best selections of items in any game, let alone a Zelda game. Unlocking the Spinner, and not only discovering a Beyblade-esque method of transport, but the function of those conspicuous jagged teeth in the wall of the Arbiter's Grounds, is immensely satisfying. It is phenomenal dungeon design to add a weapon that feels like a genuine part of this world, then offer both functional ways to use it in this established environment but also ways to attack enemies like the awesome fight against Stallord.

Perhaps it was the overcorrection after Wind Waker's reception, but Twilight Princess works so hard to establish a feeling of unease, of an oppressive and omnipresent sense of dread in the world. Link feels truly up against the world, and you want to help every character you meet in this slim cast. Nintendo consistently makes great dungeons for Zelda games (except for you Breath of the Wild), but in Twilight Princess the mixture of tone, a push for realism, and the immersive motion controls really help to elevate already stunning work.

Even on GameCube, stripped of those motion controls, Twilight Princess works on many levels to make every action feel important. Link's quest here feels uniquely intimate; the standout cast of characters offers support and genuine peril, and the unique selection of weapons works overtime to make you feel like you're interacting with a living and breathing world. As we look to the future, I hope even as Zelda continues to grow, we can reclaim the sense of consequence and importance that occur when we interact with a smaller, functional, and uniquely living world.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was so secret within Nintendo, most employees found out about it for the first time at its E3 reveal: "We popped off"

Despite having only just been revealed, it's already proving hard to buy Hasbro Legend of Zelda action figures. Namely, I've seen one sell out already even though it's only been available to pre-order for a few hours.

With that in mind, I thought it might be helpful to track where you can currently get your hands on these toys. I've already gone on record about how good I think they are, so I'd say they're well worth grabbing - and from what I've seen so far, speed is of the essence if you want to buy Hasbro Legend of Zelda action figures. Link is selling out fast, for example (perhaps going back to the shrine for another 100 year nap).

Where to buy Hasbro Legend of Zelda action figures in the US

Where to buy Hasbro Legend of Zelda action figures in the UK

• See all the latest action figures at Hasbro Pulse

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I honestly think Hasbro getting the license to make Legend of Zelda toys is the best thing for fans.

Now, listen: I appreciate the concern about corporate giants scooping up IP so we're left with a monolithic industry run by big names. The company isn't perfect, either, so don't mistake this for blind loyalty. But Hasbro winning the license to make Legend of Zelda toys has me excited nonetheless – and it's all thanks to a galaxy far, far away.

As you probably know, Hasbro is a behemoth in the field – it has numerous companies under its belt, from the creators of Furby to D&D's Wizards of the Coast. One of these is an imprint called Hasbro Pulse, which focuses on high-quality action figures and replicas for adults based on Star Wars, Marvel, Transformers, and more. Hand-to-heart, I think it produces some of the best toys around – and it just got its paws on Legend of Zelda, as revealed by its first action figures based on the series. That means fans are in for one hell of a treat.

For starters, Pulse's action figures are absurdly detailed (often using face scans of the actor in question) with premium deco accompanying a host of accessories and multiple points of articulation for more realistic poses. However, they don't come with a premium price. The six-inch Star Wars Black Series range starts at around $27.99 per figure through Hasbro Pulse, for example, and you can usually get them for significantly less at the likes of Amazon after launch. The same has proven to be true for Legend of Zelda, and considering how good they look, I don't think $28 for Link or Zelda is bad.

Yes, Ganondorf is pricier at $43. But we saw the toy in person at SDCC so can confirm it's about two or three times the thickness of the others – so that higher cost does make sense in context.

What really excites me are the replicas, though. Hasbro Pulse is also responsible for a wealth of roleplay items such as lightsabers (including my all-time favorite, the Darth Vader Force FX Elite Lightsaber), helmets, and even masks from the Marvel universe. I've found the vast majority of these to be truly excellent thanks to a host of neat interactive features, quality build materials, and impressive weathering that makes them look as though they've been stolen from a movie set. If you take that care and apply it to the Legend of Zelda universe, we'll be truly cooking. We'd get Master Swords and Hylian Shields like this replica that made us weep with pure Zelda fandom joy, sure, but that also opens up the floor to Majora's Mask or accessories like the hookshot.

Crucially, both action figures and replicas will be much easier to get hold of than anything else we've had before. Existing Legend of Zelda toys are hard to pin down and often expensive due to being out of print. Hasbro's equivalent, on the other hand? Judging by how widely available its other products are, they'd be easy to find.

Of course, there's plenty of other Hasbro-related possibilities to get excited about. Hasbro is responsible for a wealth of board and card games including Magic: The Gathering, for instance, so a crossover seems inevitable. In much the same way, I'd be surprised if a Zelda supplement of some description didn't appear in the Hasbro-owned D&D down the line. But despite all that, it's the action figures or replicas that excite me most – and that's all thanks to how good Pulse's Star Wars gear is.

For more cool collectibles, don't miss the new Lego Star Trek Enterprise Bridge from the original series or the recently-revealed, playable Lego Donkey Kong Arcade set.

Mario and Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto says that the games that resonate the best with players aren't made to chase profit or global appeal.

Speaking to Famitsu (via machine translation by VGC), Miyamoto is asked why he thinks Nintendo's games have global appeal on the scale that they do. The Mario creator recalls the many times he's been asked how a "mustachioed middle-aged guy" became the best-selling game franchise of all-time, and admits he has wondered the same thing, but that the key may be that he was introduced alongside fun games.

And that may be the key, because if you really think about it, there is something kind of weird about video games' most iconic character not being a space marine or some sort of superpowered animal, but instead the guy you hire to fix your shower. But Miyamoto explains that when Nintendo comes up with new game ideas, the developers start with the fundamental ideas instead of looking at the current market trends.

However, that isn't to say those trends aren't taken into account, but starting from that point isn't the right way to go about it. The same goes for developers who seek to make a better version of the games they love. He explains that if a game is remembered for being unique, it'll end up making an impact on people.

Miyamoto also adds that he dislikes terms like "recouping costs" or "depreciation," adding that if you are constantly asking, "Will this make money right away?" you won't be making something unique or with broad appeal.

"The people funding these projects are doing it to make a fortune, so why celebrate things like ‘we recouped our investment’ or short-term profits?" He says. "To me, if you’ve burned through the talents of so many people just to achieve that, that feels like a massive failure."

He explains that when people at Nintendo ask what they should do, his number one piece of advice is to turn their idea into something that showcases they were the one who created the game. This has proven to be a great thing for many Japanese developers; you know when you're playing a game directed by Hideki Kamiya, Masahiro Sakurai, or Hideo Kojima simply by playing it, and Miyamoto bringing his own experiences into projects is how we got games like The Legend of Zelda and Pikmin in the first place.

Shigeru Miyamoto admits Nintendo's been pumping out "a lot of remakes" as Ocarina of Time approaches, but says most people stopped playing the original games within 5 years anyway.

Hasbro has pulled back the curtain on its first Legend of Zelda action figures during San Diego Comic Con 2026, and they're based on one of the most beloved games in the series.

Three toys will lead the line-up next year; franchise hero Link, villain Ganondorf, and Princess Zelda herself. All of them are inspired by the versions seen in Tears of the Kingdom, and they come with a host of accessories drawn from that game (including the broken Master Sword hilt for Zelda and a Hylian Shield for Link). All three Hasbro Legend of Zelda action figures will be available for pre-order later today. They should release in Spring 2027.

Produced by company imprint Hasbro Pulse (which is known for highly detailed action figures and replicas based on everything from Star Wars to Marvel), these Legend of Zelda toys stand at around six inches tall and feature multiple points of articulation for more realistic poses.

Hasbro Pulse has a reputation for creating impressively screen-accurate figures, and these don't disappoint. They certainly rival some of the best toys in terms of attention to detail. Actually, the thing that impresses me most is how they capture the cel-shaded design of the video game perfectly; they're surprisingly close to their on-screen counterparts. That's not easy to pull off without striding headfirst into the uncanny valley.

Am I a little disappointed we didn't get classic Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf to kick things off? Yeah, but Tears is a phenomenal game that's widely beloved with its own excellent designs, so I can't say it's too much of a blow. Plus, I'd be astounded if we didn't get more old-school Legend of Zelda action figures down the road. This isn't gonna be a one and done situation thanks to how broad the licensing deal is.

Indeed, this is just the start. As revealed last week, Hasbro has the license to produce all kinds of toys and games based on the series. Seeing as Hasbro Pulse creates props like helmets and lightsabers, I wouldn't be surprised if we got replicas based on Zelda mainstays like the Master Sword or Majora's Mask at some point.

What do you think about these figures? Will you be pre-ordering them? Let us know in the comments.

For more toy-related goodness, you'll want to believe you have space in your collection for this Lego X-Files set.

After recently winning the license, Hasbro has teased its first Legend of Zelda action figures with a couple of iconic accessories – and these suggest which game the toys will be based on.

In a cryptic Instagram post that suggests "The hero's journey begins tomorrow," Hasbro Pulse (creator of the Star Wars Black Series line, e.g. some of the best toys in the biz) showed off miniature versions of the Master Sword and Hylian Shield that will presumably come with its first Legend of Zelda action figures. That in itself isn't a surprise; it stands to reason that a version of franchise hero Link with his most recognizable weapons will be front and center. However, what's interesting is the design used here. This Hylian Shield uses the same aesthetic introduced in Skyward Sword and continued through Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, suggesting that Hasbro's initial wave will be based one of those games.

If I had to guess, I'd assume we're getting Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom Link as our first Hasbro Legend of Zelda action figure. It'd certainly make sense; both games were wildly popular and are very much in the public zeitgeist, so it'd be logical to use them as the basis for a brand-new wave of toys.

There is another possibility, of course; that Nintendo has carried over the Skyward Sword shield design to its Ocarina of Time remake, and these action figures are based on that new game. I doubt it, though. We've not seen anything of the remake beyond a teaser trailer, so I'm not sure we'd get our first look at the revitalized character designs via these action figures.

What do you think we'll get from Hasbro's first Legend of Zelda action figures? Shout about it in the comments.

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The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – now known as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – was such a tightly-guarded secret within Nintendo's corridors that the vast majority of employees only found out about the game's existence along with the fans.

Nintendo of America ex-marketing and PR leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang (formerly the director of social media marketing and original content, and senior manager of creator relations and original content, respectively) recall that the open-world sequel was perhaps the most top secret project in all of their years working at the company, courtesy of a recent YouTube video.

Ellis says the sequel held a "higher level of security than anything else" he's ever worked on, and "less than 10 people probably at Nintendo of America" knew about the game before its similarly shadowy reveal trailer during the Nintendo Direct at E3 2019 – one that didn't even come with an official title, release window, or gameplay glimpse attached.

"I had to do all of these teams' jobs in secret, and when this [the reveal] happens, feed them this thing and tell them what to do with it," Ellis, one of the few people who did know about the game's existence before its reveal, says. "For example, the social team, who I was overseeing at the time." Ellis didn't usually create social media content for the publisher's various channels or write press releases and whatnot, but in this case, he did because the rest of the team had to remain in the dark.

That also means that for many Nintendo employees, including Yang, their first time finding out about the sequel came when they watched the Direct stream live together. Although Yang had already seen the rest of the presentation in advance, the trailer's appearance at the end came as a complete surprise.

"We popped off," Yang says. "That was the first time I've had a surprise at Nintendo in all of my, at that point, 12 years or something... It was crazy." The duo also remember that it was the first and perhaps only time Nintendo had ever kept a secret from that many staff members so close to a project's reveal.

Before E3's eventual demise, Nintendo would also screen their presentations for the media before they went live for the rest of the world. The version of the Nintendo Direct that the press saw and that Nintendo employees rigorously prepared was missing that final One Last Thing moment.

I can't say I'm entirely surprised, either – Breath of the Wild was the game that ushered in the Nintendo Switch era and it very quickly became one of the most lauded games of all time. For good reason, I might add. It's still one of the best Switch games ever, and funnily enough, also one of the best Switch 2 games so far thanks to some very sweet technical improvements. No surprise that it's follow-up carried so much hype, then.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says Zelda: Breath of the Wild was "the first open-world game that actually delivered on the promise of an open world."

Hasbro has locked in a new licensing partnership with Nintendo to produce The Legend of Zelda toys and products from 2027 (quick, someone play the treasure-chest-opening sound effect).

Although it's still early days, the first reveals will come in just a few days; three 6-inch figures are going to be revealed during San Diego Comic Con, which takes place between July 23-26. However, these Legend of Zelda toys aren't just going to be limited to action figures. By the sounds of it, this deal includes all kinds of products – and because Hasbro produces everything from plushies and roleplay replicas to tabletop games, it's possible that Link and co will join the best board games as well as the best toys.

Hasbro's president of toys and board games, Billy Lagor, says that the “Legend of Zelda franchise has captivated fans through its deep lore, unforgettable characters and enduring sense of discovery [for decades]. By combining Nintendo’s iconic storytelling with Hasbro’s leadership in action and role-play, we’re delivering toys that invite fans to play, explore and forge their own epic adventures."

Considering how few and far between Zelda toys have been up until now (they're largely limited to the Nintendo Store or replica items from the likes of Paladone at Amazon), this is likely to be encouraging news for fans who'd like to see more Legend of Zelda merch based on the franchise. I'm not concerned about quality, either; Hasbro is responsible for everything from the incredibly detailed Marvel Legends action figures to high-quality helmet/lightsaber replicas from Star Wars The Black Series, so it has a track record.

Hasbro is also a giant in the industry with access to some of the world's biggest IP, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that we'll see high-profile crossovers in the not-so-distant future. It owns the organization that makes the best Nerf blasters, for example, so I think we can count on a tie-in Zelda blaster at some point. In much the same way, it also heads up Wizards of the Coast – the organization that makes D&D and Magic: The Gathering. Whether fans of those games would want a Zelda tie-in is up for debate (it's a fierce argument right now, with MTG head designer Mark Rosewater saying fans must adapt or "walk away" if they don't like Universes Beyond), but it's now a possibility at least.

It's certainly been a fruitful year for Hasbro so far; just a few months ago, the company announced that it had gained the Harry Potter merch rights (which makes an MTG crossover feel inevitable). In addition, it recently got the license to produce KPop Demon Hunters toys as well.

For more cool collectibles, don't miss the best Lego sets - which includes Legend of Zelda models, no less.

It's no secret that Breath of the Wild broke Nintendo's usual Legend of Zelda formula with its expansive open-world take on Hyrule – but it didn't just revolutionize the decades-old series.

According to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 creative director Guillaume Broche, it also transformed the open world genre in its entirety. The RPG lead explains as much in a new episode of Video Game Club via Konbini on YouTube (below), first recalling his introduction to The Legend of Zelda as a child.

"I played Zelda when I was really little on the Game Boy," says Broche. "And the only other Zelda game I've played is Breath of the Wild."

This sets the director apart from the rest of Sandfall Interactive, as he points out "we have a lot of big Zelda fans on the team" – but he was impressed by Breath of the Wild, to say the least.

"Generally speaking, I'm not really into open-world games," as Broche describes. "It's literally the first open-world game I've ever liked." He wasn't sure he would, though. "When I started playing it, I was really reluctant."

He continues, detailing how he went on to "force" himself to play Breath of the Wild because "everyone was saying it was good."

And his verdict? "It's truly exceptional. In my opinion, it's the first open-world game that actually delivered on the promise of an open world – of simply not having a minimap. You have a big map, but you really get that sense of exploration. You see something, and you want to go there."

And, you can. Or, you can do something else – the world is truly open, in that sense. "Ten thousand things happen along the way, and you get sidetracked. You never end up where you want to go because you keep getting sidetracked by all sorts of things."

As Broche concludes, "In terms of level design, it's an absolute masterclass." I can certainly agree there, as a longtime Zelda fan myself. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are wonderful.

Sure, they break free from Nintendo's beloved Zelda formula – but I'd say that's what makes them so brilliant. They serve as the perfect stepping stone into the series' setting (and apparently, open-world games in general), while also presenting veterans with a fresh take on Hyrule.

I know that not everyone feels the same here, but they're undeniably gems. Heck, take a look at their Metacritic scores… even compared to other Zelda entries.

I do wonder what Broche will think of the Ocarina of Time remake now – or whether or not he'll play it at all, considering his previous stance on Zelda. Personally, I hope the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director gives it a go.

Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 show "RPGs are as vibrant" now as ever, Obsidian lead says, even if the genre can look "a little tired" sometimes.

Discounts on any first-party Nintendo games are rare, so you can imagine how shocked I was to see not one, but multiple Prime Day Zelda discounts on Amazon's store page this year.

There are price slashes on Switch and Switch 2 games, including the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom (aka the best Zelda games ever made, fight me). Then there are also bags, Nintendo cases, and a bunch of fun gift ideas for hardcore fans. Now, as someone who is already deep in Zelda fever thanks to the recent announcement of the Ocarina of Time Remake, I've already checked out most of these deals myself and have decided to share with all my fellow feral Link lovers the top discounts that are still live before the sale ends.

Below are 10 Zelda deals to help scratch any Hyrule cravings you may have. A reminder that Prime Day ends soon, so if you want to make the most out of expanding your Ninty collection, now is the time to reach for those gold coins.

If you love Zelda, then you should check out our guides on the best Prime Day Switch deals and the best Prime Day Switch 2 deals next. You can also find more merch in our best Legend of Zelda merch guide.

After 10 years of work, the creator behind the internet's most famous unofficial Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake project has laid down their sword, stating that "the best move would be now to move forward."

If you're a Zelda fan who's had any level of access to the internet over the last decade or so, there's a very good chance you've come across Giuseppe "CryZENx" Macula's Ocarina of Time Unreal Engine remake. The creator first began posting videos recreating parts of the original 1998 game with shiny new visuals back in 2016, and it's only grown from there. Progress has been steady, with fans even able to play through their work, but the journey ends here (thanks, Time Extension).

"I think I have made history with my Remake," CryZENx writes in a Patreon post celebrating the announcement of the official Switch 2 Ocarina of Time remake, noting that they don't want to "step" on Nintendo.

"The best move would be now to move forward" with a new project, the creator believes, "because im sure nintendo will do it this time the right way."

They've followed this up with another post to clarify that their project has now officially "stopped." They're still keen to make more content, and have been asking fans for suggestions about what they might like to see them recreate next, but don't expect more Ocarina of Time.

To be clear, in none of CryZENx's posts has the creator indicated that Nintendo had gotten in contact with them to request that they stop working on their remake, so it seems this was a decision made purely out of respect.

We've not actually seen much of the official Switch 2 Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake yet, but funnily enough, the glimpse we saw of Link actually matches up with the more realistic-looking vibe CryZENx has been aiming for for all these years pretty well. Clearly, the modder is happy, too: "Finally after 20 years we got a real remake with a high budget."

Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake more like the 1998 original than Breath of the Wild, fans theorize after digging up now-removed details from Nintendo.

Breath of the Wild effectively did away with old-school Zelda dungeons, and while Tears of the Kingdom brought the idea back, it was without the traditional puzzle box design of the classic games. One of the most exciting parts about the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake is the opportunity to explore these challenges with modern graphics and visual flair, but ironically, it was during the production of the original Ocarina of Time that Shigeru Miyamoto decided traditional dungeons were boring in the first place.

"In every Zelda development, the dungeons take a huge amount of time to make," Miyamoto explained in a 1999 interview that was translated some years ago by Shmuplations. "I can't tell you how many times they end up having to be remade and revised, while the team is on the verge of tears. Did you know, in the original Legend of Zelda, at the beginning of the development it was just dungeons. There was no overworld map. That's a testament to the 'Dungeon Supremacy' philosophy we've always followed."

The Zelda games immediately following Ocarina of Time – Majora's Mask and The Wind Waker – would notably have fewer dungeons, featuring instead a much bigger focus on overworld exploration. Twilight Princess, I suppose, served as a return to that "dungeon supremacy" era in some respects, but modern entries have very much broken from that structure.

"With Ocarina of Time, for the first time we didn't spend as much time on the dungeons," Miyamoto explained in that interview, describing that decision as a very "'un-Zelda' thing to do." That's partly due to the fact that the developers had something of a fresh canvas to work with, no longer iterating on the ideas from A Link to the Past. "To the extent that we weren't constrained by earlier notions, it went fairly quickly," Miyamoto added.

"You know, we asked ourselves whether those mazes, where everything is always linked in a linear fashion, are actually still interesting to players," Miyamoto said. "Is it still fun to spend all that time plotting your way through them? And the conclusion we came to is no, it's not really that much fun. Instead of mapping your way through a maze, I think what's more important is a sense of dread, a sense of pressure, and of course an opportunity for finding secrets and solving puzzles – we should be pursuing an emotional immediacy, the sense that you are really there."

Miyamoto added, "There are still traditional mazes, like Gerudo's Fortress and the Forest Temple, but overall I don't think those are very appropriate to a 3D game."

I feel like that quote in particular goes a long way toward explaining why Nintendo has at times seemed reluctant to fully populate Zelda games with classic dungeons. Certainly, the idea of "mazes" that are "linked together in a linear fashion" has been effectively dead since Breath of the Wild, but it's wild to see that sentiment expressed just after the launch of Ocarina of Time, which was arguably the peak of the series' classic formula.

In my mind, the Ocarina of Time dungeons are the most memorable ones in the series. Admittedly, that might have something to do with the fact that I played the game to death at a very impressionable age, but the theme, the atmosphere, and the puzzles have always stuck with me more than anything else in the series.

Getting to see locations like Gerudo's Fortress and the Forest Temple from a new perspective is the whole reason why I'm excited for the remake. This style of Zelda game hasn't been around in years, and some primitive part of my gamer brain is dying to see old-school dungeon designs with modern bells and whistles. I hate to say that Miyamoto is wrong, but these dungeons are still plenty interesting to me.

These are the best Zelda games of all time.

Ever since its big reveal during this month's surprise Nintendo Direct showcase, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake has been on fans' minds – so much so, they just can't stop digging up new details.

First, it was the Triforce of Courage that took the web by storm – and now, it's an allegedly hidden description on Nintendo's official online page for the upcoming remake.

In case you missed it (because honestly, I did, too), the description supposedly read as follows: "The N64 classic reborn as a full remake for Nintendo Switch 2. Experience Ocarina of Time with stunning visuals, updated designs, and timeless gameplay."

Unpublished description for Ocarina of Time Switch 2 visible through web search from r/GamingLeaksAndRumours

Now, there's no way to really confirm it anymore, as it wasn't on the page itself when you'd click onto it, but rather under its headline on a Google search for the remake – but there are screenshots of the intriguing description floating about (and claims of it being in the meta data still)… so, take that as you will.

It still brings quite a few questions to mind, though. As one fan who found the details explains in a post, it could point to linear gameplay.

"I found this on accident while reverse searching where they used 'reborn' to describe the Zelda remake," they write. "'Timeless gameplay' implies it's probably linear, which might also imply it isn't made by the main Zelda team since they've said they don't want to go back from open gameplay."

They're likely referencing how series producer Eiji Aonuma stated that Breath of the Wild "created a new kind of format for the series" back in 2023.

That's certainly a possibility, I guess – and others agree. The top comment reads, "It seems like an outsourced game imo," drawing a comparison to the new Star Fox 64 remake.

Not everyone is on the same page, however. One reply argues, "That seems like a bit of a logic leap? I don't think there's enough here to really tell us anything." Honestly, it's hard to know. It might mean something… or it might not.

Either way, the discussed description is now gone. Who knows – it might pop back up with a future trailer. For now, though, it's clear Nintendo doesn't want folks reading too far into the whole "timeless" bit about the Ocarina of Time remake.

"If you're Nintendo, you're looking to kill": Ocarina of Time remake teaser fell flat with Legend of Zelda fans because of leaks, ex-marketing leads say

Genuine nightmare fuel for me is hyper-realistic versions of cartoon characters, but with their features intact. As in, Frieza from Dragon Ball Z in real life, exactly as they are on the show, just in the real world. I bring this up because The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has several entities that will look cursed in the upcoming remake, given the eye toward realism.

King Zora is one such example. He's a plump fishman who sits atop a waterfall, and unless there's a significant redesign, he'll look like he's auditioning for Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. "I hope the developers possess the courage to extend the length of the cutscene," says a top-rated comment on Reddit, and respectfully, I'm hoping they do not.

ReDeads and Dead Hand are more candidates, fleshy, corpse-like beings that shamble towards you. Bottom of the Well could very well become an honorary Silent Hill spin-off with these things. "They’ll make them look 'realistic' but give them new sounds that aren’t scary. Calling it now," a fan on Twitter predicts, and that sounds like a safe bet.

In a similar vain, you have The Great Fairy, who already reminds me of Princess Mombi in Return to Oz (she's the one with all the heads if you've seen film, and if you haven't, you're welcome for the recommendation) - just ethereal enough to be unnerving. Her sequences can be enhanced through glitter and magic, anyway.

People are quick to point out Gohma and Bongo Bongo, bosses with gigantic eyes, and to be honest, I'm not sure they'll be all that freaky. Perhaps it's because Stranger Things has desensitized me to the archetype of creatures with a gaping mouth or eye for a head, but they're fantastical enough I reckon we're safe.

I feel the same for Gloom Hands - FromSoftware has long prepared us for that kind of terror. A lot of players are lowkey hoping Nintendo leans into the fear at every opportunity. "I genuinely hope they make it as terrifying as possible," says a player.

This all said, those Nintendo 64-era Zelda games really were pretty terrifying, huh? "Ocarina of Time horror was exponentially more terrifying than anything in the newer games," says another fan on Twitter. I'm inclined to agree.

"If you're Nintendo, you're looking to kill": Ocarina of Time remake teaser fell flat with Legend of Zelda fans because of leaks, ex-marketing leads say

As Summer Game Fest came to a close, a surprise Nintendo Direct gave us Legend of Zelda stans what we've long been hoping for: confirmation of an Ocarina of Time remake.

It didn't exactly come out of the blue, however, as rumors have been circulating regarding the remake for some time, thanks to well-known leaker Nate the Hate. That might've put a bit of a damper on the entire "reveal" from Nintendo, which arguably wasn't the biggest out there.

It's a very short teaser, all things considered, showing a little bit of Link and a Triforce that has drawn attention for its appearance on the young protagonist's hand.

Former Nintendo PR managers Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang discuss the trailer – if you can call it that – and the effect Nate the Hate's leaks regarding the Ocarina of Time remake may be having on our reception of Nintendo's upcoming revamp.

Ellis asks Yang, "Did what we know about Ocarina impact the way you received that teaser?" She answers honestly: "I kind of feel like at this point I'm so desensitized."

It makes sense, and as Ellis goes on to say, the leaks had a "huge effect" on fans' reaction to the remake's official announcement. "If that was actually a surprise, and there was a teaser of an Ocarina of Time remake at the end of a Direct… it would be insanity."

Nintendo's choice to keep what was likely its original teaser – Link "sleeping on some dirt," as Ellis amusingly puts it – probably didn't help the whole situation, either.

The company is "stubborn," though, and "cannot rearrange" its plan – even if it might've left a more "surprising" reveal for fans in the end. "I think they should have rethought some stuff."

Ellis also admits he's "so mad at Nate the Hate for doing this," however, with Yang chiming in, "If you're Nintendo, you're looking to kill" – and, yeah, I get it. It does all stem from the leaks, really, even if Nintendo could've perhaps mitigated the damage a bit.

I feel that, regardless of the lukewarm reactions (or, at least, lukewarm compared to how they might've been without earlier leaks), the Ocarina of Time remake will perform well. Heck, I know I've been waiting years for it myself.

Searching for something else to wishlist aside from the Ocarina of Time remake? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to, spanning all platforms.

Even though Summer Game Fest has come to a close, a surprise Nintendo Direct yesterday gave us Legend of Zelda fans what we'd long been hoping for: confirmation of an Ocarina of Time remake… finally.

Although I'm personally a bit disappointed that the rumors of a Twilight Princess revamp didn't end up ringing true this Nintendo Direct, I'm beyond thrilled to know Ocarina of Time is getting a remake (or, well, another one… if you count the 3DS release).

I'm not the only one, either, as is made evident by all of the fans closely analyzing the upcoming game's very brief teaser – so much so, in fact, they've made a bit of a discovery.

In the trailer, we see young Link asleep in his home in Kokiri Forest. The camera pans over his hand for a moment, and that's the important bit here – it shows a glowing Triforce… one that sort of makes no sense upon further thought.

In the original Ocarina of Time, Link doesn't have the Triforce of Courage until after he's an adult and has entered the Sacred Realm. The teaser shows a very obviously child Link, however.

As one fan writes in an online post on the discovery, "Weird detail. Link shouldn't have the Triforce of Courage here. That happens after Ganondorf gets into the Sacred Realm and the Triforce splits, so Link doesn't have it until he's Adult Link. Changing the story, I guess? Or maybe just visualizing the Triforce already chose him?"

Honestly, it's hard to tell. Comments see others speculating, with somebody drawing a comparison to Skyward Sword.

"I think it's sort of like Skyward Sword, where Link had the Triforce symbol appear those few times before actually getting the Triforce?"

It could be, I suppose. It's strange that the teaser stresses it so, though. Others think this could just be a case of Nintendo jumbling the timeline about a bit (which wouldn't exactly be outside the realm of possibility, let's be real). A separate thread makes that point – and I'm inclined to think it might be right.

"Link only gets the Triforce of Courage after entering the sacred realm for the first time, right? So is this a mistake? Or is the remake up to some time loop shenanigans?"

Replies see folks discussing the potential of a new post-Skyward Sword canon. "The lore was changed after SS, where the mark shows on those who were chosen by the Goddess. They are probably updating the lore in the OoT remake to match current canon."

Honestly, who knows? I'd be happy with any of the possibilities, I think. I'm just excited to be getting a remake at all, at this point, and if that means a new timeline or story break, so be it. It certainly wouldn't be the first – nor will it be Nintendo's last.

Searching for something else to wishlist? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is officially official, with Nintendo confirming the project for a 2026 release exclusively on Switch 2.

The 1:38 reveal trailer didn't show a whole lot – it was mostly vibes, really, with some lovely auditory flourishes calling back to that iconic score – but we did get a glimpse of Link, who's apparently been pretty dramatically redesigned from his look in the original game, and of course, that means everyone's freaking out.

In fairness to the Zelda fanbase, Ocarina of Time is one of the most beloved games of all time. Speaking specifically as a millennial who grew up with an N64 controller in my hand, the first 3D Link is one of the most formative characters of my youth and one of the big early drivers of my passion for gaming, and I know that's the same for a lot of gamers in my age bracket.

That's all to say, I get why people are protective of that little blue-eyed polygonal weirdo. He's iconic. But early reactions to the character's redesign, which we see little more than a single frame of in the reveal, are so dramatically opposed to each other that I can't help but wonder if we all need to take a collective deep breath and wait until we see more.

One very common criticism is that Link looks like he has an adult head but a child's body, which, frankly, I'm just not seeing. He looks like HD young link to me, with a big-old head and unformed jawline indicating pre-pubescent boyhood. Other folks say he looks AI-generated (he's not). And then there are plenty of people seeing a resemblance between Link's redesign and the countless Unreal Engine fan remakes of Ocarina of Time that social media algorithms loved to pass off as official Nintendo projects for a few years there.

Other Zelda fans simply hate the new redesign without explicit reason, with one such critic going as far as to call it "the worst case scenario," which I just find hilariously dramatic. Likewise, another reaction calls it "the ugliest redesign I've ever seen in my life."

Not everyone's bummed about the redesign, but there seem to be very few takes between unbridled disgust and full-blown embrace, with one such commenter calling the design "perfect," and another writing in all caps, "LINK'S NEW DESIGN GIVES ME SO MUCH HOPE." I'm exhausted.

I just think this is all a bit much. We saw 15 seconds of the new Link lying down on one side with his eyes closed in dim lighting. Let's reserve judgment for better lighting, gameplay footage, and a full view of a character I have no doubt Nintendo would only work on with the utmost care. The remake is due out this year, so it won't be long before we see more.

Here are all of the upcoming Switch 2 games to keep on your radar

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is officially real and on the way.

After much rumor and speculation about a remake of Link's beloved adventure that first landed on the N64, the Nintendo Direct June 2026 showcase at last confirmed we're getting an Ocarina of Time remake, and better yet, it's set to land exclusively among the lineup of upcoming Switch 2 games coming our way this year.

And what a year it is to see one of the best Zelda games make a big comeback on Nintendo's latest console. 2026 marks not only the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda series, but it's also now been 15 years since Ocarina of Time first captured our imaginations and cemented its place among the best N64 games of all-time. With a trailer offering us our first look, there's still a lot of questions about what's in store, but here's hoping Nintendo shows off more in not-too-distant future. In the meantime, you can find a helpful recap of what we know so far about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake below.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time release date speculation

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time currently has a 2026 release window. This means it's currently scheduled to launch this year, but Nintendo has not provided an exact date for when.

Nintendo tends to turn up with another Direct later in the year to finalize its holiday releases, although with The Legend of Zelda movie planned for 2027 and Ocarina of Time being as big as it is, it's possible we'll hear more on the developer's plans for Hyrule sooner rather than later. Maybe we'll even be treated to a dedicated Nintendo Direct or Nintendo Treehouse in the future... here's hoping.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time trailer

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time story and gameplay

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time tells what is arguably the series' most foundational story: when Link, the only child in Kokiri Forest without a fairy companion, meets the great Deku Tree. He's then shortly sent on a quest to save Hyrule from the schemes of Gerudo thief, Ganondorf. Not only does this serve as the introduction to the series' main antagonist, but nearly every Zelda game released since can trace its story back to Ocarina of Time – which famously split the series into multiple timelines with its paradoxical ending.

As for how Ocarina of Time will play on Switch 2, it remains to be seen whether Nintendo has taken a light touch or opted for a more sweeping overhaul. The original plays closest to its ancestors, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, with Link set loose in a central area (in this case Hyrule Field) from which he can explore Hyrule, tackle optional minigames and stories, and clear dungeons to foil Ganondorf.

That said, given Nintendo has already revived Ocarina of Time before, it's possible the developer looks to take things a step further in a similar vein to its Switch remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. So unless anyone has an ocarina handy, we'll have to wait to learn more.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time platforms

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's remake will be a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, which means you unfortunately won't be able to play this on a base Nintendo Switch. Nor will it land on another platform, as Nintendo famously keeps the Zelda series exclusive to its own consoles.

If you don't own a Switch 2, sorry to be the bearer of bad news – but if it helps, we've hand-picked the best games like Zelda to scratch the itch no matter your console of choice.

Looking for something to play while you wait? You're in luck: we've ranked the best Switch 2 games you can play right now.

Nintendo has confirmed the rumors: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is coming later this year.

Earlier this year, we got a blowout of info from leaker Nate the Hate, which was headlined by news of a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, and after the surprise announcement of Star Fox, fans figured it was all but confirmed. And here we are, in today's Nintendo Direct, Nintendo has confirmed that the 1998 classic is being remade, and it's coming out in 2026

We don't know much about it so far, but we can say that the new version of the game features voice acting, as the trailer opens with what is presumably the Great Deku Tree narrating the opening of the original game, and speaking about the Kokiri and that one boy who didn't yet have a fairy.

We also know that the game will have a semi-realistic art style (at least compared to what we saw from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom). Unfortunately, we didn't actually see anything from the game itself on the gameplay front, but we got a shot of Link as he sleeps at the beginning of the game.

Nintendo did not confirm an exact date for this remake either, with a simple 2026 appearing at the end of the trailer. And other than saying "Ocarina of Time will be reborn on Switch 2" and that "more details will be announced in the future," Yoshiaki Koizumi – who hosted the direct – didn't have much else to say about the remake. Hopefully, we see something in the Nintendo Treehouse, but given how little we saw, I'm not holding my breath.

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Super Mario Maker prompted years worth of requests for a similar The Legend of Zelda Maker, a game that would let fans create their very own temples and dungeons, and while Nintendo hasn't gotten around to it yet, we might not need the company to even bother. An indie dev's halfway there already.

One-man studio Ki3 Games just released a free demo for Temple Maker 64, which is exactly what the name suggests. On one hand, it's an intuitive and really easy-to-use level creation tool fit for making large, interconnected dungeons or short, sweet challenge rooms. On the other, it's a third-person adventure game so clearly reheating Ocarina of Time's nachos, only this time with fan-made spaces to untangle.

Temple Maker 64's demo currently has two modes: build or explore. The former gave me access to a pretty slim selection of toys to mess around with, but the actual controls are so simple that it doesn't actually take long to dream up and build functioning puzzles. Creating rooms is as easy as drawing boxes on a map, for instance, and you can then drag them about on said map to reorganize dungeons quickly.

Of course, the latter then had me scrolling through a decent selection of player-made temples that already exist, forcing me to use bombs to get through clearly sus walls and stun a bunch of blobby monsters with a boomerang.

Some try to fully recreate dungeons you probably already know and love, some remix familiar ideas into all new spaces, and one was simply titled, 'Remember that one Super Monkey level?' It forced me to painfully walk along the topside of a very, very narrow fence.

As a proof of concept, Temple Maker 64's demo works brilliantly. Current fan-made temples might be a bit too familiar to be exciting right now – a lot of them repeat lock-and-key puzzles I've seen before – but that's due to change as the full game increases the number of gear and enemies and platforms and cosmetics and interactables available to builders.

Temple Maker 64's Steam page calls it "an N64-inspired love letter." And with its polygonal charms and Link-imitating controls, I couldn't disagree. There's no release date so far, but a Kickstarter page is set to go live at some point in the future.

Zelda: Twilight Princess PC port forced to change its name, and for once Nintendo has nothing to do with it.

Zelda boss Eiji Aonuma previously admitted that he was extremely impressed with Resident Evil 4 during the development of Twilight Princess.

In a 2005 issue of Edge, Aonuma was asked about his then-recent move from director to series producer, taking over from Shigeru Miyamoto, with Aonuma recalling telling the series creator he was ready to move on from The Legend of Zelda after directing a few entries, however, Miyamoto's solution was to give him the producer role.

"The fact of the matter is, I could not think about any concrete idea other than Zelda". Aonuma admitted, adding, "As I said, my first, the very first game I hit upon myself shared some essence with Zelda. So, yeah, somewhere in my mind I really want to take some distance away from it, but the fact of the matter is I am more and more involved in The Legend Of Zelda, and sometimes I think it is a kind of... fate for me, so I should give up escaping from that!"

As for what caught his eye while he was transitioning to that new role, Aonuma said, "Quite recently I am playing Resident Evil 4. That's a... stunning, a very, very nice game. Sometimes I have to feel that, yeah, they did it. I should have done it myself." Although, despite not moving on from the series, he does say with pride about Resident Evil "sometimes I have to say that, well, maybe they are making this section in part by thinking about Zelda." He adds, "all in all I think they have chosen a very right direction in terms of making the game. I think I can learn quite a lot from RE4."

Granted, I don't know if you could be in development in 2005 and not being somewhat inspired by Resident Evil 4, it was one of those games that redefined the industry upon release – much like a number of Zelda games, namely Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild. And while Resident Evil 4's influence isn't blatant in the Zelda series, it may be worth looking back at Twilight Princess to see it through a different lens.

Zelda: Twilight Princess did what Ocarina of Time couldn't because Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto really "wanted to see Link fight on horseback"

The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma previously revealed that he got the job working on the series after its creator Shigeru Miyamoto saw similarities between it and his directorial debut.

Before Ocarina of Time, Aonuma had only directed one game, the Japan-only SNES release, Marvelous: Another Treasure Island, which took inspiration from A Link to the Past. In a 2005 issue of Edge, Aonuma recalled, "Marvelous was said to be similar to The Legend Of Zelda in terms of gameplay, and as a matter of fact... I really wanted to incorporate some essence of Zelda into it."

And whether this was his way of manifesting it or mere coincidence, he recalls that afterwards Miyamoto approached him to ask if he'd be interested in working on Zelda, "I said: Yes!" and then the rest was history. He would go on to be responsible for dungeon design in the 1998 epic.

This would pay off, of course, as you could argue that Eiji Aonuma is probably the person who has been the most important aspect of The Legend Of Zelda, with half of its 40 years being shepherded by him as series producer, and 28 of those years having him on board. He debuted in the series as one of the directors of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – y'know what a lot of people consider the best game ever made – and then going on to co-direct Majora's Mask and go solo for The Wind Waker (two more of the best games ever made, for those keeping score).

Zelda: Twilight Princess did what Ocarina of Time couldn't because Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto really "wanted to see Link fight on horseback"

The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma previously took the blame for The Wind Waker feeling unfinished on the leadup to Twilight Princess' release.

If you ask people what is the best The Legend of Zelda game, you tend to get a lot of Ocarina of Time or Breath of the Wild, but before Tears of the Kingdom, The Wind Waker would be a strong contender to take that third place spot.

It's sometimes easy to forget just how derided The Wind Waker was at launch – mostly down to its cartoony art style not matching what people had in mind for a proper 'next-gen' Zelda – but it's firmly a fan favourite now. But it's not without its problems, mainly a feeling of it being 'unfinished' with dungeons being cut from the final release, and the tedious Triforce quest took the place of them to lengthen the game.

Back in a 2005 issue of Edge, Aonuma was asked about The Wind Waker feeling unfinished, to which he responded "I think that that's my fault. To tell the truth, originally we were thinking about something bigger, and in order to make it on time we had to make it more compact-sized," adding, "even though I say compact, we were trying our best so that we could entertain people enough."

Aonuma continues, "That was our intention and I thought that we could do that But if people are feeling that way, that was my fault for lack of effort, and of course when it comes to the new Legend Of Zelda, I really don't want to have that kind of impression from the players,"

Of course, The Wii U version of The Wind Waker brought the game to a new audience and fixed some of its biggest issues, only furthering its popularity, and the game continued to grow on people once the issues with its artstyle subsided (although contrary to fan backlash, it was extremely well received by critics at the time). Plus, fans speculate those extra dungeons ended up being used as the basis for future entries' dungeons.

Zelda: Twilight Princess did what Ocarina of Time couldn't because Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto really "wanted to see Link fight on horseback"

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess served, in many ways, as a love letter to Ocarina of Time. That's not just because of the grown-up Link and harder-edged fantasy – though both were notable after The Wind Waker – it's also the expansive Hyrule Field and emphasis on mounted exploration. As it turns out, it also offered Nintendo a chance to revisit something Shigeru Miyamoto had wanted to see going back to the N64: Link fighting on horseback.

Horseback combat was one of the first things Nintendo showcased about Twilight Princess, even before that subtitle had been publicly announced. Scenes of Link battling atop Epona against hordes of enemies did, after all, figure prominently into the famous "blades will bleed" trailer that introduced the game at E3 2004.

"One of the things about the horseriding is that it's really Mr. Miyamoto's favourite," director Eiji Aonuma explained in an interview for Edge magazine #138 in the wake of that trailer's debut. "He always wanted to do that; he wanted to do that in Ocarina of Time but it didn't happen."

Clearly something was lost in translation here, since there's plenty of horse riding in Ocarina of Time, but the next few lines make clear that Aonuma is specifically talking about mounted combat: "This time I remembered that he mentioned it during Ocarina of Time, so I suggested using this element in the new game. And Mr. Miyamoto wanted to see Link fight on horseback, so I added that."

I've lost count of how many times I've played through Ocarina of Time, and even now I have to stop and think, "Wait, was there really no horseback combat?" But yes, Link was really barred from swinging his sword atop Epona's back in the N64 game. You could fire arrows while mounted, but there weren't many enemies to meet while riding around Hyrule Field.

It's funny that its inclusion felt so natural in Twilight Princess that it seemed like it had been there the whole time. And hey, maybe that rumored Ocarina of Time remake will be the opportunity the company's waited decades for, finally offering that version of Link the opportunity to flail with his sword from Epona's back.

"I have a lot of communication with Mr. Miyamoto and sometimes I can't tell if he is kidding," Aonuma added in that 2004 interview, "but sometimes he mentions things so many times that I think maybe he really wants to do it." Maybe somewhere in Nintendo headquarters, he's demanding Link get his mounted combat skills together all over again.

These are the best Zelda games of all time.

At this point, Eiji Aonuma's name is just as synonymous with The Legend of Zelda as Shigeru Miyamoto – after all, he's now led the series just as long as the man who created it. But early in his tenure with the series, Aonuma actually wanted to move on to something entirely different. Until, that is, Miyamoto convinced him that making Zelda games was his inescapable fate.

"I had worked on three different Legends Of Zelda," Aonuma said in the June 2005 issue of Edge Magazine. Aonuma initially served as one of many directors on Ocarina of Time, and would take on more direct leadership roles for Majora's Mask and The Wind Waker.

"I thought I had done almost everything I could," he said. "So I told Mr Miyamoto: 'Look, I have already done that and I have already done this, there seems to be few more things that I could do with Zelda. So can I graduate from it?' And Mr. Miyamoto said: 'OK!' So I took his word, but the next assignment he gave me was: 'You are going to take care of this new Zelda game.' I said: 'Wait a minute! I thought that you gave me permission to work on some other projects.'"

Aonuma recalled that Miyamoto told him he'd "be the producer, not the director, this time, and I really want you to take some distance away from the actual designing of the game but see things differently, so that you can see the whole process from a much higher-up position."

That new Zelda would, of course, be Twilight Princess, which would be released for Wii and GameCube in 2006. Aonuma was ultimately still credited as director for this game, but it was nonetheless here that the guard truly changed.

"The fact of the matter is, I could not think about any concrete idea other than Zelda," Aonuma explained. Even the first title he directed, a Japan-only Super NES game called Marvelous, "shared some essence with Zelda," as he put it. "So, yeah, somewhere in my mind I really want to take some distance away from it, but the fact of the matter is I am more and more involved in The Legend Of Zelda, and sometimes I think it is a kind of... fate for me, so I should give up escaping from that!”

Clearly, Aonuma has very much given up on any thought of escaping from Zelda. He's served as producer on every major entry in the series since Phantom Hourglass in 2007, and is effectively now the face of the franchise. I'd offer up a Majora's Mask quote here, but I'm not sure leading one of the most beloved video game series of all time is such a terrible fate to be met with.

Zelda: Twilight Princess PC port forced to change its name, and for once Nintendo has nothing to do with it.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the latest beloved classic to get an unofficial PC port, but it's run into trademark issues – yet somehow, the dispute isn't with Nintendo. The project was known as Dusk, but that's also the title of a beloved FPS that's got a trademark to defend. Luckily, this all has a happy ending for everybody involved.

"After talking to some cool people at New Blood Interactive," the devs behind the Twilight Princess port say in a Discord message, "we mutually agreed that to avoid any confusion between our projects going forward, we have decided to change the name of our port to Dusklight! No other changes are planned, the project will continue development as usual."

New Blood Interactive is an indie label best known for the kind of violent throwback FPS titles the world now collectively knows as "boomer shooters," and David Szymanski's Dusk is the game that established that brand. New Blood has a reputation for irreverent, community-friendly approach to publishing, but hey, it does still have to make sure there's no brand confusion over Dusk.

Which makes asking a community project to slightly change its name a pretty reasonable ask. "This also benefits the TP project by making it easier for people to search for," New Blood says in a tweet. "A win-win." Good looking out for the little guy.

New Blood also notes that Twilight Princess is Szymanski's "favorite Zelda so this whole thing has been pretty funny." While the publisher says that it "very much" owns the Dusk trademark, the devs behind the project now known as Dusklight were "super cool when we asked them about it. Their project is awesome and a crossover is not entirely out of the question…"

It's tough to imagine what kind of crossover is realistic here, since New Blood can't exactly start adding Link and Midna to its games. Maybe Dusk characters replacing Twilight Princess NPCs in Dusklight? For now, New Blood is simply offering some Dusk Switch keys to members of the Dusklight community.

But, uh… is New Blood at all concerned about offering this unofficial stamp of approval to Dusklight? After all, it has a business relationship with Nintendo, a company that's historically not been especially friendly toward these sports of fan projects. To that question, New Blood has a simple response: a shrug emoji.

A fanmade Jak and Daxter 3 PC port is now in beta, finally making Naughty Dog's most underrated trilogy fully available on PC.

Nintendo's former marketing lead says that Nintendo is likely to be very unhappy that the Ocarina of Time remake has been indirectly confirmed already, ruining the element of surprise.

Earlier this year, word that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will apparently be getting a remake on Switch 2 emerged from leaker Nate The Hate as part of a massive info blowout about Nintendo. The leaker also included other claims like that Rhythm Heaven Groove and Splatoon Raiders would both release later this summer, which has since been confirmed, but the big one was the existence of a new Star Fox Game to release within a few months. And since Nintendo confirmed its Star Fox 64 remake will arrive on Switch 2 next month, fans have figured that Ocarina of Time Remake is all but confirmed.

As such, Kit Ellis, Nintendo of America's former marketing lead, says on the latest episode of the Kit and Krysta podcast, "if you're Nintendo, you're obviously pulling your hair out at this, like this is a worst-case scenario." He adds, "You're the company that banks on surprising people – the surprise being a major factor to why announcements are impactful and work – like we saw that over and over again."

He adds that typically, Nintendo is "going to sacrifice a lot of things to maintain that element of surprise, and now that has been taken away presumably, for a while." Nate the Hate's leaks also covered some of next year, most notably that a 3D Mario game is planned to release in 2027, so this leak is even further reaching than just Zelda.

Granted, as much of a surprise Ocarina remake could be, I'd argue it's far more interesting to actually see what direction Nintendo is going to take with it rather than the simple fact that it exists. Let's just hope Nintendo has some surprises in store for us that we haven't heard about yet.

As The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake rumors swirl, Nintendo boss teases "new titles beyond those already announced."

Amid rumors of a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake releasing later this year, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has said there's still unannounced Switch 2 games on the way.

During the company's latest shareholders Q&A (translated by Genki_JPN), Furukawa was asked about the rate Nintendo Switch 2 titles are releasing at, responding, "While it would be ideal to deliver new titles more frequently and in a more timely manner, as you pointed out, software development periods have become longer compared to the past."

He continues: "Even under these circumstances, we will continue to implement various initiatives, such as refining our development systems and processes, so that many titles can be enjoyed on the Nintendo Switch 2."

As for what is in the works, Furukawa explains: "Regardless of whether it is considered a major title or not, we are preparing a variety of new titles for the Nintendo Switch 2." While it hasn't really hit Switch 2 as of yet, Nintendo has been releasing some of its more esoteric franchises as of late, with Tomodachi Life returning last month and Rhythm Heaven set to get a new entry in July, so perhaps we could be seeing more of those smaller franchises soon.

And while it was a foregone conclusion to say 'Nintendo is making games,' given the looming specter of GTA 6, many have speculated that the holiday season in 2026 may be quite a bit quieter than usual, but Furukawa seems to confirm this won't be the case for Nintendo. He explains, "In addition, for the lineup for the second half of this fiscal year, we have prepared new titles beyond those already announced, and we will provide details at the appropriate time."

While it's not mentioned by name, we can speculate that the rumored Ocarina of Time remake could be one of them, especially following the reveal of the new Star Fox game, which had been leaked at the same time by the same leaker. Now we know that one of those leaks was true, many fans now think the Zelda remake is now all but confirmed, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time fans share hopes for its rumored remake – not just "prettier graphics," Nintendo, just "swing for the fences" but don't make "Ocarina of the Wild."

WWE Champion Cody Rhodes reveals that Nintendo once sent him a cease and desist notice for using The Legend of Zelda's Triforce on his gear.

This was revealed in his podcast What Do You Wanna Talk About? (spotted by VGC) with fellow wrestler Kit Wilson. Wilson recalls that during Rhodes' earlier run before leaving WWE in the 2010s, he was a "fan instantly for one reason only," and that was his wrestling boots that had the Triforce on them.

Rhodes shows the Triforce tattooed on his ring finger, saying "I live that shit, dog," before explaining why exactly he decided to integrate the logo into his ring gear. He says: "I thought [about] the principles of the Triforce, which are power, courage, and wisdom."

Continuing, he notes: "I just liked the idea of thinking and leaning towards your own wisdom, or what you’ve learned and applying it, of being ambitious and wanting to be powerful, if you can, in a world that's competitive, of sports and sports entertainment, and then having the courage to do it."

Then, as he relates these principles to performing an elbow drop nightly which will in turn damage your body, he casually slips in: "I also got a cease and desist from Nintendo." He explains: "It was very kind, they weren't… it was polite, they weren't coming after anybody, I'm not the first guy to have the Triforce." This likely explains why the symbol hasn't been a part of his boots since.

Rhodes also likens the release of Twilight Princess to wrestling. He explains, "Twilight Princess is a story about wrestling. Fans like what they like, and when they get vocal enough, the whole world can change," he says, likening the edgier Zelda coming due to the reaction to The Wind Waker's art design to events like fans campaigning for him to face Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 40 instead of The Rock. Although, he does clarify "Wind Waker's a great game. They just weren't ready for how it looked"

Of course, it wouldn't be the last time Rhodes implemented games into his attire, with the current WWE Champion arriving at his match at Ring of Honor's Final Battle 2018 show dressed as Venom Snake from Metal Gear Solid 5. And I wouldn't be shocked if we see him rock up in his Guile costume at some point in WWE around the time the Street Fighter movie comes out – perhaps in a match with his co-star Roman Reigns, who plays Akuma alongside Rhodes' Guile.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess comes to PC with much higher resolutions and uncapped frame rates thanks to a fan project that's been on the go for over 6 years

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess fans have finally natively ported the game to PC and mobile, swinging the doors wide open for mods.

Decompilation efforts for the Nintendo GameCube version of the game began as early as 2020, and fans finally completed their years-long mission six months ago. It took practically no time at all for the group to then pump out a PC port called Dusk that's not just functional, but really damn impressive.

The Twilight Princess port obviously requires that you dump your own copy of the game before playing (find out more here), but judging from the trailer embedded below, it's well worth the effort.

Dusk comes with much higher resolutions and uncapped frame rates, options for gyro aiming while using a bow or grapple, multiple bloom presets, better shadow details, the Wii U version's free cam, the Wii version's mirrored mode, achievements, and difficulty modifiers.

More transformative additions are also included, such as quality-of-life features that can make Link climb ladders faster or quickly skip through text, and cheats that can practically break the game - I imagine both will make the game's notoriously arduous opening slightly easier to get through.

What I'm most excited for, however, are the mods that'll inevitably roll out from here on. The trailer already gives us a taste of what's possible with support for custom models, giving Wolf Link new fur coats and, more drastically, replacing this Hylian Link entirely with Linkle or his design from Ocarina of Time.

"So excited to share this with the world," modder Taka Rikka tweets. "This wouldn't have been possible without so many people in the zeldaret / GC decomp community and beyond coming together to dedicate their talent to this. The biggest thanks to all of them."

"When we started the decomp project in August 2020, it was hard to imagine ever finishing, much less seeing it be used for a project like this," they continue. "So many hours of effort were poured into the decomp by many contributors all over the world." They also hint at "future updates" in the pipeline.

Twilight Princess' port is yet another in a fast-growing line of fan-made decompilation projects. Decompiling games involves taking apart their code, making things like unofficial ports possible. Most recently, we've seen the process lead to some incredible preservation tools, such as the ones that made Sonic Unleashed's Xbox 360 version playable on PC.

Unofficial Animal Crossing PC port is here, offering the widescreen 4K experience the 24-year-old GameCube classic deserves

The Legend of Zelda fans are now more certain the rumors of an Ocarina of Time remake are true following the surprise reveal of Star Fox.

Earlier this year, Nintendo leaker Nate The Hate leaked a ton of alleged information about upcoming Nintendo games, and headlining the pack was word that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will apparently be getting a remake on Switch 2 which will release later this year. Other claims included that Rhythm Heaven Groove and Splatoon Raiders would both release later this summer, both of which turned out to be true. The other big one was that a new Star Fox game would also be released this summer, and while the announcement missed the rumored April window, Nintendo dropped a Direct for Star Fox last night out of nowhere, revealing a Star Fox 64 remake for Switch 2.

Over on Reddit, fans are preemptively celebrating, as one post reads: "The Starfox 64 Remake being real pretty much confirms the existence of the Ocarina of Time Remake." Meanwhile, another says: "Remake is all but confirmed." With that said, some are remaining on the side of caution, adding that "it's certainly way more believable now."

[OoT] Star Fox 64 got a remake?? from r/zelda

Others, however, are more focused on what the rumored remake would actually be like, with one user saying "I am pretty interested how Zelda will look" after the reveal of Star Fox's more realistic art style change made for a drastic overhaul of the series' signature look.

Of course, with leaks, the best thing to do is not believe them until the evidence in front of you. Even with Nate The Hate's extremely solid track record over the last year or so, things can still be wrong – which he admitted with the April announcement for Star Fox – plus, plans can change. Just think back to how many leaks there have been over the years about Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD making their way to Switch, and don't get yourself too invested for now, even if it seems very likely.

Also, in what is more of an interesting tidbit about this than an actual piece of evidence, the timing of a Star Fox 64 remake and a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake arriving in the same year would be funny, given that's exactly what happened last time both games were remade in 2011 for the 3DS.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time fans share hopes for its rumored remake – not just "prettier graphics," Nintendo, just "swing for the fences" but don't make "Ocarina of the Wild."

During my daily hunt for deals on the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, I stumbled upon the best sight a collector and Legend of Zelda fan can behold, a discounted amiibo.

The stunning collectible that sees Zelda and her Lofting as seen in Skyward Sword HD is normally $39.99 at full price, which is a lot to pay when so many other Legend of Zelda amiibo are typically found for $19.99 instead. However, the saving I found sees the toys-to-life figure as low as $21.70 (Woot), which marks the lowest I've spotted for it so far. There's only 12 days left to pick up Zelda and her Loftwing friend, so if your amiibo collection is missing a spot (or you want to enable fast and easy travel in Skyward Sword HD) then you should grab this amiibo deal before it flies away for good.

There is a reason behind its usual $39.99 cost. As someone who owns this and almost the entirety of the Legend of Zelda amiibo (I'm missing two, and yes, it causes me great pain), it's one of the biggest of the lot. Not Legend of Zelda Guardian amiibo big, but hefty enough that its price feels more justified. Remember, this figure doesn't just represent Zelda, but has an entire recreation of her blue Loftwing too.

If you're a big Skyward Sword fan, the value is definitely there, as it's not just big but also pretty detailed. Unlike older Zelda amiibo where the sculpts are questionable at best, you can make out every tiny feature of the Princess's outfit, from the ties in her hair to the markings on her shimmery gold belt, which her Loftwing also sports.

On my one, not a lick of paint is out of place, and it's really handy to have while replaying Skyward Sword HD, too. Tapping the amiibo on the right Joy-Con grants you the ability to create a sort of checkpoint in the sky, which you can return to at any time. It's pretty handy, though it will mean having to remove the amiibo from your display shelf each and every time you want to take advantage of the feature.

If that all sounds good to you, or you just want another piece of Legend of Zelda merch for your shelf, I recommend taking Amazon's Woot up on this deal while it's still around. Its savings can disappear when stock is gone, which would be well before its stated 12-day sales timespan. Alternatively, it is surprisingly in stock for $28.45 at Amazon if you'd rather flock away to Amazon's usual online store instead.

• View all Nintendo Switch gaming deals at Woot

Our guides to the best Nintendo gifts and best Legend of Zelda merch are full of even more collecting-worthy goodies. Or you can check out the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers if you're hunting more accessories instead.

Speaking during a Q&A included with the 1994 audio CD The Legend of Zelda: Sound and Drama (and surfaced via Retro Gamer's 40 years of The Legend of Zelda issue) Miyamoto explained that Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda were not only being worked on simultaneously, but once Mario was finished, developers from it went to help get Zelda across the finish line.

But these were games with vastly different scales, which is why in Japan, Super Mario Bros. was a traditional game cartridge release, while Zelda was released for the floppy disk-using Famicom Disk System allowing the game to be more expansive than the relatively simple sidescroller. "We were eager to take advantage of the Disk System's features," said Miyamoto. "We were able to register names, add better sound, save the player's progress, and incorporate other new ideas, which made the game a lot of fun to make."

Zelda 1 however, can be a bit obtuse at times – especially compared to Mario – and this was something the team was conscious of. Miyamoto added, "We were worried that people wouldn't know what to do, even at the beginning of the game, and the game wouldn't be well received."

"I wanted to create a game where the player understands the history and nature of the land, and it feels like they're exploring." Miyamoto explains, "In traditional RPGs, the game progresses solely through dialogue, but we wanted the player to interact with the game world using the controller, and conquer dungeons using a simple mapping system."

The Legend of Zelda is a brutal game at times. If you take the wrong turn in the first screen of the game you'll be exploring without a sword, while others will need you to use your – ammo limited – bombs to explode seemingly random parts of the game world to progress. But despite Miyamoto's fear, Breath of the Wild would later take inspiration from the freeform exploration of the original game in its approach to the open-world formula, so all is well.

Shigeru Miyamoto thinks Zelda 2 was "sort of a failure," and A Link to the Past is the "real sequel"

Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto recalls that early Nintendo was a bit of a madhouse, with Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda – which he also created – being in development at the same time.

Speaking during a Q&A included with the 1994 audio CD The Legend of Zelda: Sound and Drama (and surfaced via Retro Gamer's 40 years of The Legend of Zelda issue) Miyamoto recalls, "We had started development on Super Mario Bros shortly before [starting on LoZ in 1984], so we were extremely busy with planning, with the two projects progressing simultaneously." He explains, "It was very difficult to finish Mario and then get the Mario programmers involved in the final push to finish The Legend of Zelda."

Super Mario Bros – as revolutionary as it is – is pretty simple to grasp, whereas the first Zelda can be real obtuse at times, even if you take a wrong turn on the first screen you'll be left without a sword. This was something Miyamoto and the development team were conscious of, with the developer recalling "We were worried that people wouldn't know what to do, even at the beginning of the game, and the game wouldn't be well received."

Miyamoto explains, "I wanted to create a game where the player understands the history and nature of the land, and it feels like they're exploring." He adds, "In traditional RPGs, the game progresses solely through dialogue, but we wanted the player to interact with the game world using the controller, and conquer dungeons using a simple mapping system."

It is wild to think that two games that revolutionised the industry both came out so close to each other, and even wilder when they were directed by the same person and worked on by a lot of the same developers. Especially considering the average time between Mario and Zelda games nowadays is closer to half-a-decade at the minimum.

Shigeru Miyamoto thinks Zelda 2 was "sort of a failure," and A Link to the Past is the "real sequel"

Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto thinks The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the real sequel to the original after the second game failed to live up to the hype.

Speaking to the Swedish Superplay Magazine in 2003 (via Retro Gamer's 40 years of The Legend of Zelda issue) Miyamoto mentions what remains the black sheep of the Legend of Zelda series, Zelda 2: Adventure of Link. The game took the top-down perspective of the first game and made it an RPG-like world traversal system, with the actual action taking place on a 2D plane, feeling more like a progenitor of the Action RPG genre than a traditional Zelda.

Miyamoto says that Zelda 2 "was my original idea, but the actual game was developed by another team." As for why it turned out to be a bit of a rough entry in the series he explains "The games I make usually get better in the development process, since we keep coming up with good ideas, but Zelda 2 stayed the same. It was sort of a failure."

After Zelda 2, however, came what many still consider to be the best Legend of Zelda game of all time; A Link to the Past, which notably took the series back to the style found in the original entry, as opposed to following up Zelda 2. Miyamoto adds "We actually see A Link to the Past as the real sequel to The Legend of Zelda. Zelda 2 was more of a side story about what happened to Link after the events of The Legend of Zelda."

Granted, I'd say Zelda 2 turning out like it did and being a bit of a failure and an entry of the series that most fans don't really love – even if it still has its diehards – is one of the most important things to ever happen to the series. This reception likely inspired the team to go back to the classic Zelda style with A Link to the Past, which not only resulted in arguably the best entry in the series, but laid the groundwork for the series going forward, leading to Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Breath of the Wild.

Monster Hunter and Pragmata creators praise The Legend of Zelda as the series turns 40: "A source of inspiration in countless ways for so many game creators"

The Legend of Zelda timeline was a matter of intense debate in the forums I frequented as a young Nintendo fan, but by the time it was ultimately revealed in the 2011 Hyrule Historia book, I had moved on to caring about topics other than whether there were multiple Links and Zeldas. But Nintendo had a secret document detailing the whole thing all along – even if Shigeru Miyamoto himself didn't care about it all that much.

"For every Zelda game we tell a new story," Miyamoto explained in a 2003 interview with the Swedish Superplay Magazine, which was translated and hosted on various corners of the old internet. "But we actually have an enormous document that explains how the game relates to the others, and bind them together. But to be honest, they are not that important to us. We care more about developing the game system."

I'm one of those skeptics who found the 2011 Hyrule Historia timeline, which split the series into three separate lines that branch from the ending of Ocarina of Time, a little ridiculous. I'm not sure knowing Nintendo had planned its timeline this far back improves my impression of it here in 2026, but I guess I'm glad to know Nintendo had a plan in the first place. Even if, as Miyamoto puts it, it doesn't actually feel "that important."

But that's always been Miyamoto's take on story in games. "The most important thing for me," he said in the same interview, "is that the player get sucked into the game. I want the games to be easy to understand, and that the people appreciate the games content, its core. I will never deny the importance of a great story, but the plot should never get that important that it becomes unclear."

Nintendo would allude to the existence of the Zelda timeline a few times between 2003 and its eventual release. Maybe the most notable example is this 2010 interview with series producer Eiji Aunuma, who said that "the only people to have access to that document are myself, Mr. Miyamoto and the director of that title."

I still feel like the mystery of not knowing how the games connected was more compelling than the answer we eventually got, but I recognize that might be a fringe opinion these days – at least judging by the cottage industry of Zelda lore breakdowns on YouTube, which I do admittedly like to check out from time to time.

What can I say? Even something unimportant can start to feel important if you pay enough attention to it.

These are the best Zelda games of all time.

Monster Hunter series creator Kaname Fujioka has shouted out The Legend of Zelda series as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Speaking to GameInformer Fujioka – who directed the likes of the original Monster Hunter through to 4, and was most recently an Art Director on Monster Hunter Wilds – congratulated the developers on 40 years of Zelda, saying "As a fan, I have nothing but gratitude for the Zelda team, who, amidst the industry’s rapid changes, have never given up while carefully building upon a foundation of comfort and wonder."

He adds, "The gaming experience, where freedom gradually expands from small puzzles within vast worlds, is truly unique to the Zelda series." Fujioka says he believes "these past 40 years have been a journey of continually exploring what a Zelda game can be" and adds that he will "look forward to seeing Zelda continue its legacy and evolve in the years to come."

Elsewhere at Capcom, Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama recalled working on The Minish Cap and called series creator Shigeru Miyamoto "a North Star guiding all game creators."

Meanwhile, Yonghee Cho – a former Platinum Games staffer who is stepping into the director's chair for the first time with the upcoming Pragmata – called the series "a source of inspiration in countless ways for so many game creators." He adds, "it’s a series that always delivers new discoveries and experiences, surprising us time and again." Cho also included a sketch of Diana from Pragmata donning a Link cap and holding a cake with a 40 on it, in the style of her drawings seen in trailers.

Of course, Zelda and Monster Hunter have had the chance to cross over multiple times during the series' history with a Link-themed armor set and weapons included in Monster Hunter 4, a Toon Link Palico skin in Generations and a Breath of the Wild themed collab for Generations Ultimate. Plus a selection of Zelda characters could scrap with a Rathalos in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake could be launching this year on Switch 2, prominent leaker claims.

Street Fighter 6's director recalls working with Shigeru Miyamoto on The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and says the experience still affects him to this day.

Fans have known Takayuki Nakayama as one of Capcom's all-stars ever since he directed Street Fighter 6, but as a developer, he'd already been with the company for over 20 years by that point – debuting with the Japanese-exclusive Jojo no Kimyo na Boken: Ogon no Kaze (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind's PS2 adaptation) back in 2002.

That's around when Nakayama had one of the most formative experiences of his career, while working with Nintendo on The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. It was Capcom's second entry in the series after working on the Oracle duology (which I suppose would technically make it Capcom's third?).

Speaking to GameInformer to celebrate The Legend of Zelda's 40th anniversary, Nakayama says, "I gained invaluable experience while working on The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap." He explains, "The advice I received from Shigeru Miyamoto-san left a lasting impression on me, which has greatly shaped the way I approach game development even today. He is, and will always be, a North Star guiding all game creators." He congratulates Nintendo on the "incredible milestone" of Zelda's 40th.

It's amazing. In the decades Shigeru Miyamoto has been involved in games, he's never developed a fighting game, yet his approach to design still managed to inspire the director of one contender for the best fighting game ever.

Plus, it's always good to see people shout out The Minish Cap, the first Zelda game I ever bought with my own (well, my parents') money, and the first game I ever got paid to write about. So, by the way, if you're reading this and haven't played it, go play one of the best 2D Zelda games ever made.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake could be launching this year on Switch 2, prominent leaker claims.

Eric Barone's genre-defining farming sim Stardew Valley is most obviously inspired by Harvest Moon, but it also has plenty of The Legend of Zelda's DNA buried beneath the surface. That makes sense considering Barone's long history with the Zelda series, and now we can point to a specific game that made him fall in love in the first place: Link's Awakening, specifically the Game Boy version.

Talking to Game Informer for a story celebrating '40 years of Zelda's Legend', Barone named Link's Awakening his all-time favorite Zelda game. It's not necessarily a controversial pick, but it is fairly uncommon. We ranked Link's Awakening at number four, behind Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and A Link to the Past, in our ranking of the best Zelda games, and even that feels a little high compared to general public opinion.

Anyway, opinions are subjective, and Barone says Link's Awakening is his personal number one.

"It was my first introduction to Zelda so it has a special place in my heart. And something about that game had a very 'indie' feel to it. It was creative and unique in a way that seems harder to find in modern triple-A games," he says.

Link's Awakening was definitely a major departure for the Zelda series when it launched in 1993, being the first game in the series not to be based in Hyrule as well as the first not to include Zelda or the Triforce. Director Takashi Tezuka has said David Lynch's groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks was a major story inspiration for Link's Awakening, which definitely explains its somewhat fuzzy, dreamlike qualities.

While Link's Awakening is Barone's favorite, the Stardew maker says the series as a whole has inspired his game design tendencies in a variety of fundamental ways.

"One thing about Zelda games that has influenced me is the sense of exploration and foreshadowing. You’ll see an area that you can’t currently access," he says. "But you know that, eventually, when you find the right items, you will be able to get there. That’s an exciting feeling that makes you want to continue playing.

"The more I think about it, there are a lot of little things in Zelda that have influenced my game design approach... from the menus, to the little bushes you can cut, to the idea of finding 'special items' that grant new abilities. It’s kind of basic stuff, but it just shows how important Zelda has been for influencing all of gaming."

It's interesting how these realizations seem to trickle into Barone's consciousness as he talks, and he's absolutely right that it just goes to show how influential Zelda is across all sorts of genres. Come to think of it, there are probably elements in games that were inspired by Zelda without their developers even being aware, simply because the series has been informing action-adventure design for so long.

Witchbrook's taken 10 years because "Harry Potter meets Stardew Valley" got old and the devs wanted time to make "something more unique"

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask art director Takaya Imamura says he's worried the magic of the series will be lost when Link speaks in the upcoming movie.

Over on Twitter, Imamura responds to a post asking about people's thoughts on the upcoming The Legend of Zelda movie now that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – which Imamura won't be seeing until later this month when it releases in Japan – has been out for a few days.

The legendary ex-Nintendo dev says (via machine translation) that he's a little worried that some of what he describes as the magic of Zelda will be lost when Link speaks in the film (assuming he does). When asked by a fan how he thinks the film will handle Link speaking, Imamura reckons that he'll definitely be talking, but will generally be a quiet character throughout the runtime.

While it's not been outright stated that Link will speak in the film, in a Reddit AMA (thanks, Zelda Dungeon) back in 2024, The Legend of Zelda movie director Wes Ball was asked if he thinks Link should speak. He responded, "When I play Zelda as Link I speak with many villagers and creatures throughout the game; asking and answering many questions," and added shrugging emoticon, seemingly hinting that we'll be hearing Benjamin Evan Ainsworth speaking as Link in the film.

Of course, Ball has a point, Link does speak in most The Legend of Zelda games, it's just that we don't ever hear him or see what he's saying, but characters responding to something he's told them is a common thing during his adventures.

But Imamura is probably right that when it comes to how they handle it, I can absolutely see him being a quiet character in the film, and we very likely don't need to worry about Link saying anything like, "Gee, it sure is boring around here," "I just wonder what Ganon's up to," or "Excuuuuuuuuuuuuse me princess."

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake could be launching this year on Switch 2, prominent leaker claims.

With rumors of a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake coming to Nintendo Switch 2 later this year, fans are talking about what they want and don't want Nintendo to do with it.

Last week saw a Nintendo Direct-sized bunch of leaks drop from ratings boards with Capcom's Devil May Cry 5, Hell is Us, and Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival rated for Switch 2. But it was a podcast from prominent Nintendo leaker Nate the Hate that was an even bigger blowout. And the headline act of these rumors was a remake of 1998's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which will be the big Holiday 2026 release on Switch 2.

Ocarina of Time is one of the most beloved games ever made, so naturally, fans are bound to be hyper protective of it, as is the case with other pillars of the industry like Final Fantasy 7, Super Mario 64, and GTA San Andreas, where every change will be scrutinized to no end. Given that there's already a 1:1 remake on the 3DS and the original is available on Switch 2, some feel more open to a Resident Evil- or Final Fantasy-style re-interpretation.

One user on the Zelda subreddit says, "I would like it not to be a 1:1 and improve/expand/modernize many things," while another says, "I don't just want prettier graphics, I'd love it if they expand the game regions with more stuff to find." However, even with the prospect of an open-world reinterpretation, others say, "I just don't want it to be Ocarina of the Wild."

As for the remake overall, one user added that "I'm already skeptical that this remake, if it's even real, is going to do enough to justify itself," and that "I'm of the opinion that if they're going to do this they should just swing for the fences with it. People who want the original have plenty of ways to play it; I want to see something new."

Even with the faithful 3DS remake, others want more Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and less Resident Evil 2 remake, with one user saying, "I want new graphics and modern gameplay features and some expanded areas, that’s it."

At the very least, there's something everyone seems to agree with, and that's that we're all keen/terrified to see what the Dead Hand enemy will look like in 4K. And while Nintendo typically plays to a family-friendly audience, one user hopes the more terrifying elements of Ocarina of Time are enhanced, with a user saying, "Man, please go all-in within the bounds of the T-rating. Like, just give us a room that looks like Dark Souls. You know deep down you can do it, Nintendo."

Crimson Desert devs are looking into bringing the massive open-world game to Switch 2, says Pearl Abyss CEO.

Nintendo's former senior PR manager Kit Ellis says Nintendo is likely furious over the massive batch of rumored game leaks that surfaced last week, which included a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake.

Last week didn't have a Nintendo Direct, but it might as well have with all of the leaks that occurred for Switch 2. Not only did multiple game ratings boards leak titles like Capcom's Devil May Cry 5, Hell is Us, and Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival seemingly coming to Nintendo's system, but prominent Nintendo leaker Nate the Hate dropped some bombshells.

The leaker claimed that there is going to be a new Star Fox game released this summer alongside Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Splatoon Raiders, and Rhythm Heaven Groove, and that Nintendo's big holiday 2026 title isn't going to be 3D Mario – which is set for 2027 – but will instead be a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Responding, Ellis has taken to Twitter, saying that "Nintendo has a huge problem with leaks they don't seem to be able to fix." Attached is a video where he goes over the leak, saying: "I can promise you that Nintendo is absolutely furious".

He explains that with Nate the Hate, "This isn't just somebody cryptically tweeting out a few things 24 hours before a Nintendo Direct. This is somebody who has laid out their entire lineup for the rest of this year and part of next years." He continues, saying: "For a company like Nintendo whose approach to marketing is propped up by the element of surprise, it's a big problem."

Ellis says that dealing with these leaks could likely become "a major priority" going forward, as he notes that leaks like this could impact the company's share prices if shareholders decide to act based on the information.

Of course, with a leak this massive, I always wonder if it's a case of a company releasing fake info to weed out leakers, which has been done in the past, so it's best not to get too excited in case this does turn out to be false. However, with Nate the Hate's track record, I'm personally inclined to believe.

Crimson Desert devs are looking into bringing the massive open-world game to Switch 2, says Pearl Abyss CEO.

A prominent Nintendo leaker has dropped a boatload of Nintendo Switch 2 games news, including claims of a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and a new Star Fox… just don't expect 3D Mario this year.

Leaker NateTheHate has been a big name in the Nintendo community for some time, but being the one to accurately break the random afternoon that Nintendo would be revealing the Switch 2 on – as well as subsequent Nintendo Direct reveals – has made him a somewhat trustworthy source. And, off the back of Nintendo surprisingly announcing Star Fox lead Fox McCloud for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda this year, the leaker has dropped some bombshells.

On the Nate the Hate Podcast, the leaker dropped a ton of claims about upcoming titles. Sadly, this news included word that a new 3D Mario game is apparently not planned for 2026, and will instead aim to arrive in 2027, plus word that we're probably waiting until June for a proper Nintendo Direct to arrive.

However, that doesn't mean that there won't be Nintendo news between now and then, as he also claims that Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Splatoon Raiders, Rhythm Heaven Groove, and a new Switch Sports release (he is unsure if its a new game or a re-release) are all set to arrive in the summer. A not "set in stone" Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition is apparently possibly coming in summer too.

Joining them in the summer, apparently, is a brand new Star Fox game, which does make some sense given Fox's return in the new Mario movie is very out of the blue. Nate says the game is a "classic style" Star Fox game that's set to feature online multiplayer. He also alleges that the game will be announced within April 2026 (presumably after The Super Mario Galaxy Movie comes out).

As for later in 2026, Nate claims that a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake is set to be Nintendo's big game for holiday 2026, which he describes as a full-blown remake instead of a remaster of the 3DS or N64 version.

VGC has corroborated Nate's claims about Star Fox, 3D Mario, and Ocarina of Time Remake, saying it lines up with information it's heard from its own sources. Of course, with any leaks, it's best to take things with a grain of salt, especially when they're giving out as much info as Nate has in this podcast episode.

With that said, one claim that has a bit of evidence is that "Capcom is going to be porting Devil May Cry 5 to Switch 2," as a rating for a "Devil May Cry 5 Devil Hunter Edition" appeared on a Taiwanese ratings board earlier today.

Nintendo legend had "high hopes" for a Star Fox movie, and after today's Super Mario Galaxy Movie reveal he's full of gratitude: "Thank you, Miyamoto-san."

Overwatch co-creator Jeff Kaplan has dubbed Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as the greatest game ever made.

Speaking with Lex Fridman, Kaplan is asked which games he thinks are in the running for the greatest game of all time. He responds, "So, there's one that's the best – it's Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – and then there's this list of 'greatest games'" with Kaplan shouting out classic adventure game Zork and RPG Ultima.

Kaplan continues, explaining it's "the greatest game ever made" because "every aspect is so thoughtful, so well designed." He shouts out specific instances like "the way you can chop down a tree and float on a river," and adds, "The world is a toy, and everything works as you wished and hoped it would work."

The Overwatch director also asks, "How can Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time exist, and somebody make an even better Zelda game?" He explains, "there are so many things that that game gets right, that other games are lucky if they get one of those things right." Kaplan continues, "Nintendo is the mecca, they're the best," and that "if it's from Nintendo it's going to be great."

Breath of the Wild would go on to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards the year after Overwatch won the same prize, and if you put every one of that award's winners against each other, I feel like Zelda would probably come out on top.

Zelda Breath of the Wild actor didn't even know what game she was auditioning for, let alone that it was for the title role: "I'm grateful I didn't know."

Auditions in acting can be opaque due to studio secrecy, with fake or alternate scripts being bandied around to prevent leaks and limited details on the character or setting. Patricia Summersett, the voice of the eponymous princess in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, had no clue who she was actually trying for, and she considers that a blessing.

"Looking back, I'm grateful I didn't know what role I was auditioning for," she tells Nintendo Everything. "If I'd realized that mysterious script-without any real clues about the game - held the keys to the castle - I might have overthought it or made different choices instead of trusting my gut."

Honestly, fair enough. As useful as more information would be on its face, knowing you're stepping up to an iconic role in a monumental franchise is enough to make anyone sweat, and potentially overthink their time in the spotlight.

"I had just moved to LA, so the stakes already felt high and I needed things to work," she adds. "Any role in any game would have felt like a win. Honestly, I still tend to feel that way about landing a role."

Acting for a decade at that point, Summersett's roles were typically smaller, doing walk on TV parts and providing the voice of the narrator in 2010's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and the like. It wasn't until she'd actually agreed to a part and showed up for work that it was revealed she'd be part of a Nintendo benchmark.

"After landing 'a role' in the game, I showed up for the first recording session, signed an NDA, and was then informed that the role was Princess Zelda," she reveals. "The adrenaline rush was unreal. I only kept my composure because - I don't know how. Acting. And there was a recording session I had to nail!"

Talk about pressure. But then, with a bit of power, wisdom and courage, she nailed it, and Breath of the Wild became a modern classic. Sometimes taking a leap of faith is exactly what you need to be doing.

Peak devs originally borrowed from Zelda Breath of the Wild's climbing, but "everything changed" 1 week into development: "At this point, the game kind of made itself"

Ratcheteer DX is a faithful throwback to the golden days of The Legend of Zelda's handheld games - that much is obvious simply by looking at footage from its wonderfully nostalgic, pixelated world - but the new retro-style adventure is now mimicking the series' transition from GameBoy to GameBoy Color with its PC and Switch ports.

For context, Ratcheteer DX was originally released simply as Ratcheteer on the Playdate, an endearing handheld console that boasts a novel crank and is still supported with brand new games made with an old-school twist. It also supports mostly black and white graphics, throwing it back to the OG GameBoy days.

Now that the top-down action-adventure game has made its way to PC (Steam) and the Nintendo Switch, it's called Ratcheteer DX and is in full color, mimicking several GameBoy to GameBoy Color remakes that sported the same naming convention - Link's Awakening DX, Kirby's Dream Land DX, and so on. The commitment to the bit really is endearing.

Ratcheteer DX's Steam page promises 250 interconnected rooms and six dungeons, eight tools to master and a hidden alien language to learn, six bosses and a secret boss rush time trial mode, four graphics settings, and the original 8-bit soundtrack now with "CD-quality stereo sound."

Ratcheteer DX is also published by Panic, the maker of the Playdate and publisher of indie hits including Thank Goodness You're Here, Untitled Goose Game, Firewatch, and Arco. You can grab it on Steam with a 25% launch discount.

Forget another Ocarina of Time remake – Nintendo needs to get weird with Zelda's 40th anniversary

A total lunar eclipse will cause a red blood moon early March 3, and you'd better believe that Zelda fans have clocked that this scarlet heavenly body is descending nine years after the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which also descended upon humanity on March 3 and notably used blood moons as a sign that enemies in its open world have respawned. I look forward to seeing what horrors reappear in our world overnight.

Over here on Earth, a blood moon is caused by light filtering through our planet's atmosphere during a lunar eclipse alignment, with physics painting the moon with the same brush it normally reserves for sunsets. The March 3 blood moon will reach totality at 3:04am PT / 6:04 am ET and will be visible for folks in North America, Australia, and East Asia, as Space.com reports. Peak bloodiness is expected around 3:34am PT / 6:34am ET.

Estimates from Time and Date suggest billions of people will be able to see the red moon before totality begins to fade after approximately 58 minutes. The whole eclipse event is expected to last for more than five hours altogether, starting at roughly 12:44am PT / 3:44am ET.

This is the last blood moon projected until 2029 – technically, the night of December 31, 2028. Nasa has a handy sheet showing previous and projected lunar eclipses.

This week's blood moon is the first to perfectly align with a blood moon-filled Zelda game anniversary like this, though we're expecting another one on March 3, 2045, which should be close to the release date of Fallout 5. And in 2078, which I hope to live to see, we'll get a penumbral eclipse on April 27, the original, Japanese release date for the moon-heavy The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

In Hyrule, or at least in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom's shared vision of Zelda's stomping grounds, a Blood Moon signifies a swell in the power of Ganon. When the big bad's energy reaches its peak, a special cutscene triggers and all of the enemies around the world respawn. Meticulous players will estimate blood moon timing when farming enemies for high-value items and resources (I spoke to one player who's spent thousands of hours pushing this to a rare extreme), and many fans are saying the same thing about tonight's lunar event.

"Better hurry killing all Lynels and restock horns and arrows," one Tears of the Kingdom fan suggests on Reddit.

"Time to cook all my power meals for the year," another fan joked in a previous post.

The Legend of Zelda actor would love to see an Ocarina of Time remake in Breath of the Wild's engine: "You'd have two of the most innovative games coming together".

Princess Zelda actor Patricia Summersett revealed that she is fluent in the Hylian alphabet featured in Twilight Princess.

The Legend of Zelda turned 40 this year, with the anniversary of the original game's release hitting on February 21. However, despite the legacy of the franchise and how story heavy each entry can be, it wasn't until over 30 years in that the titular princess was fully voice acted, with Summerset taking up the role in 2017's Breath of the Wild before reprising it for Tears of the Kingdom and multiple spinoffs (well, she was voice acted in the Zelda CD-I games too, but we're sticking to canon.)

Naturally, being the first to lend your voice to such an iconic character would be a lot of pressure, but Summerset nailed it, becoming a hit with fans with the series, and that may be down to how much prep she did for the role.

Speaking to IGN, Summerset mentioned that she sees a lot of cosplay of Twilight Princess versions of the characters at conventions and casually mentions she writes notes in Twilight Princess Hylian to fans, as if knowing that is a regular occurrence.

When pushed, Summerset explained, "It's something I did early on when I was recording [Breath of the Wild] and I was just starting to look through [series companion book] Hyrule Historia at the different versions of the languages from all the previous games." She explains that she didn't know what would be in Breath of the Wild, but that Twilight Princess Hylian was "so beautiful."

Summerset adds, "I thought I could probably learn those characters, which is essentially just the alphabet, and started practicing that over coffee. So now I can kind of write fluently and use it all the time." So if Nintendo ever gets around to a Twilight Princess remake, they know who to call.

The Legend of Zelda actor would love to see Ocarina of Time remade in Breath of the Wild's engine: "What's not to love?"

It's never a particularly easy time to be a ZeLink shipper. As The Legend of Zelda celebrates its 40th birthday, it's never been explicitly confirmed that Link and Zelda are in a romantic relationship, despite many, many hints over the years that they're more than friends. Now though, Zelda actor Patricia Summersett has doubled down on the idea that she thinks it's better for things to remain so "ambiguous."

Speaking to IGN in a new interview, Summersett, who voices Zelda in Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and Age of Imprisonment, is asked to share her thoughts on the kind of relationship Zelda and Link have – be it romantic, platonic, or something else entirely.

"I have all sorts of personal theories about what this might be," she says, "but I think there's something beautiful in the way that it's left ambiguous, it's left in a kind of – if there are romantic undertones, it's left in an unrequited state. There's obviously a deep friendship and a protectorship between the two of them. It's a gorgeous relationship and it continues to evolve and be left open in so many iterations of this."

From Summersett's perspective, "as somebody who represents the character at things like conventions," it means "anybody can come up to me" with their interpretation of the two characters. "A lot of it comes in the form of coupleship – people proposing to each other and getting engaged with Zelda as a theme, or they feel like it's something that they want to just celebrate with family or friends. It can mean kind of anything, and I love that it lives in that space," she says.

The actor is cautious with her choice of words when it comes to discussing the nature of the pair's relationship, especially after having to previously clarify older comments she made to say that she did "not imply that Link and Zelda are a romantic couple," and that "we are all in different types of relationships." She's previously made it clear that "I personally love the ambiguity and that if there is something there it's left to us."

On that, she notes that she has to "be careful with that word unrequited," which "might be one interpretation of what their particular kind of relationship is – and relationship meaning that they could be friends, they could be warrior buddies, they could be a princess and a soldier, they could be a lovership, or people who are destined to be together even in a non-romantic way, but for their life they're going to have this lifelong friendship. It could be anything."

Even so, she continues, suggesting that ZeLink becoming official might not be the best move, anyway. "Even for those who do put an obvious romantic tinge onto it, it would still be really on the nose to suddenly have Link and Zelda, because they have this deep relationship, having to get together in a romantic sense. Because that's not the way life works. I think that I prefer that it's not so on the nose as that, personally."

I'm sure the most enthusiastic shippers out there would beg to differ, but I don't think Summersett has anything to worry about when it comes to Nintendo potentially removing the subtlety from the pair's relationship. After all, series producer Eiji Aonuma previously stated that he'd "leave it to everyone's imagination."

Zelda and Link shippers are in shambles after Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment describes them as just friends.