Talking Point: What Do You Think Of Link’s New Ocarina Of Time Design?

It might not have been the biggest surprise out there (thanks, leaks), but yesterday’s Direct brought with it the news that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Switch 2 remake is real, and it’s launching at some point this year.

The 1-minute 36-second reveal trailer gave us very little to go on in terms of what the remake will bring to the table. The visuals on that tapestry certainly look detailed, there’s a voiced narration (a hint of full voice acting, maybe?), and Link’s design is… different.

It sure is something, but is it what we really want? Naturally, the Hero of Hyrule’s big reveal has been a divisive one.

Most of us here at Nintendo Life Towers seem to sit in a vague middle ground. “A bit shiny — pink and elf-y — but fine from what we’ve seen,” says Gavin. “I think it’s noteworthy that Nintendo has once again adopted the dark, realistic style that (some) fans have been constantly wishing for since Space World 2000,” says Ollie. “It’s way to early to judge, but I do like the idea of Nintendo trying a realistic art style across its N64 remakes,” Matt chimed in, “I’m super keen to see how the rest of the game comes across as a result.”

But things were a little more negative elsewhere. On the one hand, we’re excited for the added level of detail. On the other, it looks a little ‘I remade Ocarina of Time in Unreal Engine 5’, doesn’t it – something that was on my mind recently when I went hands-on with Ubisoft’s upcoming Rayman Legends remake. Former editor of The Verge Nick Statt thought the same of this Link:

“Those few seconds of footage show a clean, polished, realistic, and utterly dull version of Link that doesn’t seem to convey any of the visual identity the series is known for,” wrote NL contributor Nathan Ellingsworth for GameSpot.

What we really need is a good side-by-side comparison, so below, we’ve done just that. Assuming that the Link from the remake reveal trailer is the one found in the game’s opening cutscene — we’ve seen and know so little at this stage — we’ve taken the same moment from both the N64 original and its 3DS counterpart, for the fairest point of comparison.

(And yes, we know that we’ve only had the briefest of glimpses at the Switch 2 design so far. A proper look at this 2026 game will be coming soon enough, but what can we say? We’re excited!)

Three rather different looks, no? Which is your favourite? You can let us know in the following poll.