Nintendo considered adding fast-travel points to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake before deciding that the feature undermined one of the adventure’s defining qualities: discovering unexpected places while travelling through Hyrule.
In a recent Ask the Developer post, series producer Eiji Aonuma explained that he initially asked the development team to add warp points. The idea was influenced by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, where numerous locations allow players to move quickly across its large world.
Aonuma said that players of the original Ocarina of Time often crossed Hyrule Field by repeatedly rolling whenever they needed to reach a destination quickly. He believed the remake should address that inconvenience, so the team created shortcuts that were not present in the original game.
However, testing the feature led Nintendo to reconsider. According to Aonuma, the warp points meant players missed the moments of discovery that occur when they stop during a journey and wonder what they have spotted. The team ultimately removed all of them, despite the fact that Aonuma himself had proposed their inclusion.
Aonuma also discussed why Nintendo chose to revive Ocarina of Time now. He said some of the younger developers may never have played the original, which was released 28 years ago, and that remaking it could provide new insights for their future work.
Art director Aya Shida addressed the remake’s debated visual style, saying the team used concepts such as a puppet-show feeling and the analogue quality of practical-effects films during early development. She explained that neither approach reproduces reality exactly, but both can make characters feel convincing within their fantasy worlds.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is scheduled to launch on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5. The remake is also introducing other modern touches, although fast travel will not be among them.
Sources: Eurogamer.