Nintendo Reveals How Its Zelda Team Rebuilt Ocarina of Time From Scratch Ahead of Thursday's Switch 2 Launch

KYOTO, Japan — Nintendo has confirmed that the team behind "Breath of the Wild" and "Tears of the Kingdom" developed the upcoming remake of "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time." The developers have also explained why they rebuilt the 1998 game from scratch.

In the 24th volume of its "Ask the Developer" interview series, published ahead of the game's release, Nintendo named its in-house Entertainment Planning & Development Production Group No. 3 as the studio behind the remake. The game launches Thursday, Nov. 5, as a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive.

The confirmation settles months of speculation. Some fans had expected an outside studio such as Grezzo, which developed the 2011 Nintendo 3DS remake, or Monolith Soft to lead the project.

A new director

HokWai Ng directs the remake, his first time leading a Nintendo project. Longtime series producers Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi produced it.

The interview also included art director Aya Shida and program director Hiroki Taguchi.

Built from scratch

The developers said they did not use the original game as a base. Taguchi said that because 28 years have passed since the original's release, "we needed to recreate everything from scratch this time."

The team also adjusted the game so that players who started with "Breath of the Wild" and later games would not find it jarring.

Shida pointed to small details the team kept from the original, such as the slightly different jumping distances for Adult Link and Young Link.

Preserving the original

Aonuma said the developers had to be careful not to change too much. He said that if the team altered every detail simply because it was a remake, the game would no longer be the "Ocarina of Time" that players remember.

Aonuma said he gave the developers freedom to make changes they felt were truly necessary and encouraged them to make the game their own.

Fujibayashi praised the craftsmanship of the original. He said the team kept the feel of each location and the way the areas connect, which he described as defining features of the game.

Teaching a new generation

The interview also explained why Nintendo decided to remake the game. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first "Legend of Zelda" game.

Aonuma, who worked on the original as a dungeon designer and game planner, said he wanted current developers who had not worked on the 1998 game to learn from it.

He said rebuilding the game as a full remake could help younger staff understand its structure and development style and bring those lessons to future "Zelda" games.

Several members of the team said they had not played the original until the last few years.

In a separate interview with Agence France-Presse, Aonuma credited younger staff, some of whom had never played the original, with helping decide how the game should play today. He also said he felt nervous about how fans would receive the remake.

A landmark game

The original "Ocarina of Time" was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Critics praised its visuals, music, gameplay and storytelling, and it is often ranked among the greatest video games ever made.

Nintendo has re-released it on many platforms. The 3DS version updated the graphics and added quality-of-life features.

Launch details

The remake requires more Switch 2 storage than some players expected, according to reports. Nintendo has published the first two parts of the developer interview, and more are expected.

The game goes on sale Thursday, Nov. 5.