Nintendo has confirmed that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake is being developed in-house by Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD), rather than by an external studio. The project is being handled by Production Group No. 3, the team behind the series’ recent major entries.
The details appeared in a new instalment of Nintendo’s “Ask the Developer” interview series. HokWai Ng is directing the remake, marking his first time in the role after working on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Aya Shida is art director, following character-design work on Breath of the Wild and leadership of that department on Tears of the Kingdom. Hiroki Taguchi is programming director, and Masato Ohashi is responsible for music and is one of the sound directors.
Series veterans Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi are producers. Aonuma said the project was prompted in part by The Legend of Zelda’s 40th anniversary and by a desire to help younger developers understand Ocarina of Time’s importance to the series. For many team members, the remake also offered a chance to work with a classic that predated their experience on the newer games.
Ng said the team’s guiding principle was to update the graphics and controls without changing the experience or the structure of the 1998 Nintendo 64 game. Ng recalled playing the original as a student, while Shida said she first tried it after joining the project.
The remake is scheduled to launch exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5.
Sources: Vandal.