Nintendo has confirmed that it intentionally included loading screens in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake to "preserve the essence of the original game," and the internet isn't in love with the idea.
Confirmation that loading screens would cut into the remake's playtime arrived during a gameplay demonstration shown as part of today's The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct. It's an extremely brief moment that saw series producer Eiji Aonuma confirm that the Ocarina of Time remake will channel the power of the Nintendo 64 when it launches for Nintendo Switch 2 this November.
"By the way, there's a loading screen whenever you move between areas," Aonuma said as Link and Navi traveled from Kokiri Forest to Hyrule Field. "This is something we intentionally kept to preserve the essence of the original game."
Let's take a second to break down the footage. In the 1998 Ocarina of Time, as well as so many other games before and after it, loading screens allowed developers to pause the experience and load new areas for the player to explore. With the exception of some cutscenes before and after the original transition between Kokiri Forest and Hyrule Field, players really only had control of Link taken away for a few seconds.
The Ocarina of Time remake appears to be a bit more seamless. It's unclear if Aonuma's demo will play out the same as the full release, but here, we see the player in control of Link before a black screen consumes the visuals. It and a small Triforce logo in the bottom right corner are on-screen for about three seconds before Young Link trots back into view.
Massive changes to the art style aside, Nintendo's decision to "preserve the essence" of 1998's groundbreaking adventure game seems to mostly line up. That said, in the nearly 30 years since that game came out, players have adapted to an advancing industry that often attempts to hide its loading screens – and that's if a game has them, at all.
Nintendo intentionally left some loading screen sections in the Ocarina of Time Remake to preserve the feel of the OG. pic.twitter.com/JBRtLfitq4
Choosing to intentionally include loading screens in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake has players split. While some love the idea of a reimagining that pays homage to '90s N64 gaming, others see the breaks between gameplay as not only a silly addition but a confusing one, too. Some even suspect Nintendo included the loading screens because it needed them on the Switch 2, and not because it wanted them.
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