Zelda Chief Eiji Aonuma Says Some of the Younger Members of the Ocarina of Time Remake Team Had Never Played the Original Game — and That's a Good Thing
Eiji Aonuma, producer of the Zelda series at Nintendo, has said some of the younger members of his team had never played the original Ocarina of Time, but insisted that was very much a good thing for the development of the remake.
Ocarina of Time launched on N64 28 years ago. While it is considered one of the most influential video games ever created, a generation of game developers were born after its release. Ahead of next week’s release of the remake, Aonuma told AFP (via Japan Times) that having people on the remake’s development team who had never played Ocarina of Time before actually helped.
"It's thanks to these young people, by thinking about how to adapt the game in the best possible way, how to make it fun once you have the controls in your hands, that this remake came into being," he said.
Given the 63-year-old Aonuma has been steering the Zelda ship for a quarter of a century, you’d forgive him for perhaps wanting to take his foot off the gas and pass the baton to someone younger. But it sounds like he’s still keen to lead Zelda into the future.
"I'm very interested to see what the younger staff will imagine" for future titles, he said, and he’s "extremely happy" to offer his guidance so they can "think together" about the next Zelda.
What might that be? In December last year, Aonuma suggested Nintendo’s collaboration with Koei Tecmo on Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment might influence the next mainline Legend of Zelda title. Age of Imprisonment is the latest entry in a spinoff series that combines Dynasty Warriors-style 1 vs. 1000 musou gameplay with the characters, lore, and locales of The Legend of Zelda. It allows players to experience the Imprisoning War that sealed away the Demon King Ganondorf. Like previous Hyrule Warriors games, Age of Imprisonment was a collaboration between Koei Tecmo and Nintendo, with Koei Tecmo and its new AAA Games Studio handling the development.
“The inspiration we received from this collaboration with Koei Tecmo may be reflected in the (next) Zelda we create,” Aonuma said. “Please picture this while playing Age of Imprisonment, and look forward to our Zelda.”
In September 2023, Nintendo said it had no plans to release DLC for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and was instead moving on to a brand new game in the series. However, Aonuma failed to rule out a return to the Hyrule of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, potentially setting up a third game.
“In the first place, the reason I decided to make this a sequel to the previous work was because I thought there was value in experiencing a new game in that Hyrule place,” Aonuma said. “If that's the case, if a new reason arises, we might return to the same world again. Whether it's a sequel or a new work, I think it's going to be a completely new game, so I hope you're looking forward to it.”
As Nintendo has pulled back the curtain on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, we’ve begun to get a better understanding of how this Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive will look and feel to play. IGN has already got you covered with an extensive hands-on preview, as well as a roundup of all the changes we’ve noticed so far compared to the N64 masterpiece.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5, 2026. While you wait, check out a special episode of Nintendo Voice Chat where we dive deeper into our Zelda preview.
Photo by Joel Saget / AFP via Getty Images.