Which Developer Is Working On The Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Remake?
Since the announcement of the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake in this year's June Nintendo Direct, we've had two main questions, with only a sliver of teaser footage and some narration to go on:
- Will this be a ground-up reimagining for the Citizen Kane of Video Games™ or a faithful 1:1 remake?
- Who's on development duties?
There are plenty of candidates with form in the Zelda universe, not least Nintendo's in-house teams. Even if an outside partner is doing the developmental legwork, we're certain that Nintendo will be keeping a tight hold of the reins with this particular project.
Monolith Soft has been a support studio on various non-Xenoblade projects, including several Zeldas, but third parties including Capcom (the Oracle games, Minish Cap), Grezzo (Ocarina / Majora's Mask 3D, Link's Awakening remake), Koei Tecmo (Hyrule Warriors), and Tantalus (Twilight Princess HD, Skyward Sword HD) have all been involved in Zelda development over the last 40 years. And with in-house studios like Retro and Next Level at their disposal, Nintendo has a wider pool to draw from depending on the scope of the project.
An awful lot depends on whether this is (as the admittedly slim evidence thus far suggests) a 1:1 remake that follows the original 64-bit template very faithfully, or more of a REmake-remake.
With the summer holidays in full swing, we're running on a skeleton crew here at Nintendo Life Towers, but let's check in with a couple of staffers and get some hot takes on who we think is helming this hallowed Hylian vessel...
OcaREna, amirite? (Ollie Reynolds, reviews editor)
During a recent break from work, I began to think about who might be working on the Ocarina remake, and I fell down a weird rabbit hole.
First of all, the debate over whether this will be a 1:1 remake or a more radical reimagining was effectively resolved for me when I read Shigeru Miyamoto’s recent Famitsu interview. Commenting on Nintendo’s production of remakes, he justified it by stating that new players may not have had the opportunity to play older games, and so remaking them is one way to rectify that.
So there you go. Nintendo isn’t remaking its games primarily for us, the hardcore fans, and it certainly won’t be going all meta like Final Fantasy VII Remake. It’ll be as 1:1 as possible.
So, who’s making it? I did consider Grezzo, as this would be the sensible option, but then I wonder if the team could really turn something around like this in the two years since Echoes of Wisdom. That’s not a lot of time these days, especially when you’re dealing with 4K visuals and highly-detailed assets.
Therefore, I’m going to go wild and say that it’s actually Capcom. I know, mad right?
My reasoning is simple: Capcom and Nintendo go way back, and who was it that directed every Capcom-developed Zelda game? That’s right, Hidemaro Fujibayashi; a man who, alongside producer Eiji Aonuma, is now the Zelda boss driving the series forward. I have to imagine that he’s maintained ties with Capcom to facilitate a new partnership on Ocarina.
In addition, Capcom has thrown its support behind Switch 2; arguably far more than any other major publisher (except maybe Square Enix). There’s a part of me that suspects this was to gain the necessary experience with the system to ensure the RE Engine can deliver the visuals and performance needed for Ocarina. Plus… the brief trailer footage kinda has an RE Engine vibe, right?
The only thing putting me off all of this is the simple fact that Capcom has quite enough on its plate with its own IP. We’ve got Onimusha: Way of the Sword launching shortly, followed by Dragon's Dogma 2, but it also continues to support Street Fighter 6 and has both Resident Evil Veronica and Mega Man: Dual Override confirmed for 2027 already. Does it have the resources to put out a Nintendo remake in 2026 as well?
Up-Grezzo (Gavin Lane, editor)
I've pulled a lot of 180s on this recently.
First, I was dead-set on a full-on reimagining à la the Resident Evil remakes (and who better to pull off one of those than Capcom, right?), but then Star Fox arrived and I realised that, actually, a 1:1 approach wouldn't be the end of the world. I'd still prefer a total overhaul, but I'm not losing sleep over it.
I wasn't going to replay the original before the remake, either, BUT I then thought of the children (won't somebody?) and realised that this summer was the perfect time to plant the Zelda seed in my kids' minds — with all those incredible melodies and characters — before exploring and comparing the new version this winter. We've just got the Silver Gauntlets and the soundtrack has been on hard rotation in the car. Job done.
Back to the remake: My main worry now isn't who's making it, but how they're going to map the Ocarina buttons to the Joy-Con. The triangular icons of the N64's C-buttons felt so thematically, Triforce-ally fitting and instrument-like in the original. What a shame to lose that! Then I remembered they'd already translated those controls successfully with Ocarina 3D, a game I haven't touched since 2013 according to my save file (I don't tend to replay Zeldas).
And having briefly revisited Ocarina 3D following several weeks with the original, I can't imagine anyone but Grezzo tackling this remake. Obviously everything needs to be reconsidered given the new platform, but so much analysis of the original must have been done for the 2011 overhaul. Grezzo sensitively dissected, retouched, and reworked so much; it's a no-brainer that you'd employ the same people with that wealth of very specific knowledge to handle this one. Resource-wise, it would be a waste to have another team dig into the original all over again.
I'd love to see Capcom take another swing at the series, though that feels improbable. My money's on the Switch 2 version being a Grezzo joint. Perhaps my recent shock at the 3DS version's smooth motion, rounded models, and significant upgrades (not forgetting the intelligent touchscreen implementation) are influencing me here. Refreshing my memory this week really was a "Bloody hell!" moment when I started running around the Temple of Time, marvelling at the texture, animation, and interface overhaul. Sterling work that holds up even now. That's not to say I'm expecting a simple 'Ocarina 3D HD', but Grezzo knows its Magic Beans.
I'm now bracing myself for a Wii Music-style Ocarina option where you lift a single Joy-Con to your face, place the mouse sensor to your lips, and try to play Saria's Song with a little jig.
A couple of options there, but what do you think? Would Nintendo partner up for this one or keep it in-house? A team with Zelda form or some fresh blood? Has the main Zelda team not been heads-down with the next post-TOTK mainline game, but working on this since 2023? Let us know in the poll. (Note. We've separated out some first-party subsidiaries below.)