Ocarina Of Time Could Inspire The Next Wave Of Zelda Games

The Next Zelda Game Could Be A Lot More Like Ocarina Of Time Than We Thought Published Nov 2, 2026, 9:25 AM EST Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 3,000 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, provided context on some AI drama, and revealed that Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on three occasions. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. Sign in to your TheGamer account Over recent years, it has felt like the more traditional Legend of Zelda formula was a thing of the past. 2017's Breath of the Wild was one of the most ambitious titles ever released, earning it a near-perfect 97 on Metacritic. A few years later, Tears of the Kingdom proved lightning can strike twice, and the feeling was that this would be Zelda going forward. For those who miss the more traditional format, there's good news, as The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma has revealed that the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake may inspire newer team members to make a similar title. Eiji Aonuma Believes Having Staff Rebuild Ocarina Of Time Is "Incredibly Valuable" Ocarina of Time's remake is now just a few days away. It's already shaping up to be one of the biggest games of the year, and it looks like the perfect way to revisit the only game to ever score a 99 on Metacritic. For fans new and old, it's an incredibly exciting time, but Aonuma views the remake as more than that, calling the process of rebuilding it "incredibly valuable" for new team members, potentially inspiring them going forward. "Many of the team members who work alongside me on Legend of Zelda games today have only experienced developing the more recent titles. That led me to wonder, 'Do they truly understand just how significant The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was to the series as a whole?'" Aonuma mused in a new Ask the Developer with Nintendo. I started to wonder how they'd interpret The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as they go about developing future Legend of Zelda games. "Of course, there are team members who vaguely know the game, and those who played it in their childhood days. But I started to wonder how they'd interpret The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as they go about developing future Legend of Zelda games. By learning the game structure and development style behind the original The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and by actually rebuilding it as a full remake, it may trigger new insights that they can carry forward into future development," he continued. Aonuma has played a pivotal role in the development and evolution of The Legend of Zelda, with his first work coming on Ocarina of Time all those years ago. These comments certainly make it seem like he would love to return to that format in some way in the future. The closest we have come to it since Skyward Sword is Echoes of Wisdom, a game that featured Zelda as the protagonist and launched to critical acclaim. As somebody who grew up on Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, but cites Breath of the Wild as their favorite game of all time (often interchanging with Elden Ring), the thought of a more old-school Zelda game excites me. Systems Released November 5, 2026 ESRB Everyone 10+ / Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence Developer(s) Nintendo Publisher(s) Nintendo Genre(s) RPG, Action, Adventure