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The story
A product page for what appears to be a Switch version of “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” showed up on the Norwegian electronics retailer site “elkjop.no,” setting off a wave of remake speculation on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. The big question was who’s actually developing it, with many pointing to Monolith Soft, which previously helped with asset creation and programming on “Breath of the Wild” and “Tears of the Kingdom.” The thread was split: some expect a full-blown remake — overworld included — if Monolith is involved, while others worried, citing past remakes handed off to outside studios that flopped (like “Front Mission” and “Star Fox”).
Is this for real?
Source: elkjop.no / Original listing here
What people said
Grezzo's a small studio and they're busy working on Chiisana Eiyuu (their new title), so I doubt they've got the bandwidth to help out with this one.
Monolith Soft's official site has put up a special page introducing the "Legend of Zelda" series dev team. Starting April 6th, they're running three straight days of interviews with the development staff.
https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/news/260406u
Even if this time they're doing more than just support work and actually lead development, Nintendo's still going to be supervising closely — it's not like Monolith gets free rein. Nothing to worry about.
For BotW they only helped with asset creation and the shrines.
It wasn't until TotK that programmers even joined in.
And Xenoblade Chronicles X, which Monolith made, became the foundation for their HD development work.
Does it really matter who makes it?
Given the Diamond/Pearl precedent, I get why people are on edge about it.
The Star Fox remake was rough.
That would mean it's not some Super Mario RPG-style remake, but a serious one where the whole field gets turned into an open world.
That's what Monolith Soft's involvement implies.
You can bet it won't be some cheap remake — it'll be one they actually poured effort into.
The second Monolith got attached, my hype shot way up.
I'd figured it would just be a graphics-polish job like the Mario RPG remake.
Huh?
Did you forget how crappy Xenoblade 3's overworld was?
Huh?
Xenoblade 3's field design has nothing to do with this.
I'm saying that with Monolith involved, there's a good chance Ocarina of Time gets reborn as an open world…
Wonder if this is Genesis, Zelda, or something else entirely they're working on.
That one's suggested to be Genesis, based on something in the website's source code.
Just like with Ocarina of Time, the job listing vanished shortly before the announcement.
Meanwhile, Tetsuya Takahashi's new RPG is still hiring for it, so that one probably isn't Genesis.
Seriously.
What matters most is the supervision.
Skimp on that and you end up with something like Front Mission.
So they've got a built-in excuse if it flops?
And if it ends up being a key card release on top of that (a cartridge that's just a download code, no actual game data), it definitely won't sell.
Monolith isn't really "outsourcing" though — they're a 100% Nintendo-owned subsidiary.
Resident Evil 2 and 4 Remake should be in-house, though.
it doesn't sound like they just carelessly farmed it out overseas.
Something Zelda-tier probably can't be handed overseas, right?
It'd be top secret, so it can probably only go to a Japanese company.
Monolith's just got a lot of headcount.
They're kind of a small-time game company whose only in-house IP is Xenoblade, and only a limited number of staff even work on that.
Everybody else is basically a subcontracted temp worker for Nintendo.
Though from BotW onward it's basically at a core level, not just the outskirts.
For Skyward Sword and BotW they only did asset work.
It wasn't until TotK that programmers even started joining in.
How long are you gonna keep spouting nonsense?
There's no way to typo "outskirts" into "core" — those aren't even similar words, so don't pretend that was just a slip.
so a half-assed job won't be forgiven.
Nobody really complained about Grezzo's work either, so if anything I feel like overseas fans are more lenient about that stuff.
Ocarina aside, I honestly do have some complaints about the Majora's Mask remake.
Nah, the modeling would be easy for them…
Looking at the teaser PV link, the models aren't realistic enough to call photorealistic — they're fairly stylized.
If you've got the fundamentals down, I don't think it'd be that hard a job.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Monolith Soft is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nintendo. While it develops the “Xenoblade” series in-house, it has also joined Zelda development — handling asset creation on “Breath of the Wild” and, from “Tears of the Kingdom” onward, contributing on the programming side as well. Past Zelda remakes have been handled by Grezzo, but since that’s a small studio reportedly busy developing its new title “Chiisana Eiyuu” around the same time, commenters in the thread doubted it could take this one on. Worries about a remake led by an outside studio stem from precedents like “Front Mission 1st: Remake,” which took a reputational hit due to thin oversight, and lingering dissatisfaction with “Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl,” which another company handled. At the same time, there’s a persistent counterargument that Monolith, being so close to Nintendo itself, is a fundamentally different case from ordinary outsourcing.
*This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Ocarina of Time Remake — Is Monolith Soft the Developer?.”
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