What Star Fox tells us about the Ocarina Of Time remake – Reader’s Feature

Like many fans out there, I was completely blindsided by the announcement and release of the Star Fox Direct on Wednesday night.

The game’s existence was nothing but a rumour before then, albeit a very credible one, and after 16 or so minutes we had a name, a price, and news that it was once again a remake of the series’ best game, Star Fox 64 (or Lylat Wars, if you’re an OG), retaining its core gameplay with gussied-up visuals.

I think this reveal gives us lots of clues as to how Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 2026 will pan out, should that game exist at all (it does) but first my overall takeaways from the Direct…

The graphics are really good, if a bit generic, and while I was initially put off by the character models, I had warmed to them by the end of the Direct.

This has got to be the most voice acting-heavy Nintendo game ever. Star Fox as a franchise has always had more actual spoken dialogue than most, even dating back to the SNES gibberish, but this seems rammed with long cut scenes and the usual chatter during play.

I really liked the silly Nintendo touches, like being able to use the N64 controller and have characters as a sort of online avatar that mimics your facial movements during Mario Kart, etc. I’m not going to avail of either of these, but it’s always nice to see Nintendo being Nintendo.

The biggest issue for me personally is that the game is mostly a straight remake of Star Fox 64, which I grew up playing on N64, so am concerned that I’ll quickly grow bored of it once the novelty of the graphics wear off.

The price (£41.99 on eShop) is very fair, and appropriate for a shorter game like this. I think we all panicked when Nintendo said it would introduce a sort of dynamic pricing strategy for its games after Switch 2 launched, but this is a smart price and definitely makes me more likely to pick it up on day one.

So how does any of this factor into the inevitable Ocarina of Time remake?

I think Nintendo’s approach to Star Fox gives hints on how this will all pan out. Firstly, looking at the graphics, the game could lean to a more ‘realistic’ look, for the first time since Zelda: Twilight Princess, and be used as a technical showcase for the Switch 2.

I can’t say I’d love that, as I’ve always preferred Zelda to use a more distinctive art style, and I’m even one of the few people who enjoys the toy like aesthetic of recent top-down games.

But Nintendo are in a bit of a ‘look what our console can do’ phase for Switch 2, both with third and first party games, so a Zelda with the Best Ever Graphics could push that message even harder.

I don’t think Nintendo will go all-in on voice acting in Ocarina, but will they do a Breath Of The Wild and have voice-acting for cut scenes? They’ve set the precedent now so I wouldn’t be surprised to see voice-acting in some form.

The game’s presentation will definitely be an important factor, but my enthusiasm is really tied to how the game will play.

I had hoped and assumed that since we got remakes of both Star Fox and Ocarina Of Time on 3DS, these Switch 2 remakes would be more their own thing in terms of gameplay, but I worry now that that’s not the case.

Again, I’ve played Ocarina Of Time to death and was hoping for more of a Resident Evil 2 situation, where the original game is used as a skeleton for a relatively new experience.

Now I’m guessing we’re getting a fairly loyal remake with modern graphics, which is great for people who’ve never played it but not so much for people like me who know it back to front.

We’ll know soon enough how Ocarina Of Time’s second remake turns out, as rumours have it pegged for late 2026 with a summer reveal.

I’m going to stay cautiously optimistic that it can maintain the core feel of the game while giving established fans, like me, a new experience.

I’ll admit that would be no easy feat, but if any game deserves it, it’s Ocarina Of Time. You don’t get to be the best game of 1998 by being pretty good.

By reader ANON

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