Why Doesn’t Ocarina of Time Go Open World? 5ch: “Not Even Close, It’s a Trash Game”

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The story

A thread on 5ch’s hardware/industry (Geha) board heated up over whether an Ocarina of Time remake should go open world. It started with criticism that the original’s field areas are flat and empty, splitting posters into a cautious camp who argued that going open world would mean “it’s no longer Ocarina of Time,” and a reform camp who countered that bold remakes—like Resident Evil RE2 or the FF7 Remake—are what remakes are for. Concrete points also came up, like the two-part structure of switching between child and adult eras, loading between areas, and the sparse enemy placement in the field.

What people said

1AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:10
WHY
3AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:11
W H Y
8AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:19
That would stop being Ocarina of Time.
10AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:20
Re: #8
Resident Evil's remake ditched tank controls and the fixed camera and got huge praise for it, so there's zero need to stick to the original's specs.
12AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:22
Re: #10
So, did Resident Evil's remake become open world?
16AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:27
Re: #10
Isn't that just because the original was a trash game?
14AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:23
Re: #12
The point is that going open world doesn't necessarily mean it stops being Ocarina of Time.
15AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:26
Re: #14
Re: #10
So, did Resident Evil's remake become open world?
27AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:31
Ocarina of Time is a remake, so even asking "why not make it open world" is dumb.
29AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:32
Re: #27
It's exactly because it's a remake that it should change from the original — if it's the same as the original, you might as well just play the original.
30AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:32
I was genuinely shocked the field was left just as empty as the original, with barely any enemies.
34AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:34
Re: #30
Keeping it as empty as the original is just dumb, honestly.
Clear flaws like this really need to be properly redone.
39AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:38
Give it a rest, you still going on about this?
If you make it open world it becomes a different game, so it's not a remake anymore, I keep telling you.

Don't let them wing it on vibes like they did with FF7.
46AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:41
The Resident Evil remake thing is basically just turning painted backdrops into 3D, right?
Ocarina of Time already did that too.
Using that as an example to demand an open-world overhaul that changes the whole gameplay is off base — that's a completely different level of change.
48AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:42
Re: #46
The Resident Evil remake has no fixed camera or tank controls ("radio-control" style movement) — the gameplay itself changed completely.
50AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:44
There's zero point making Ocarina of Time open world when the progression order is completely fixed.
53AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:48
Re: #50
Changing exactly that kind of original spec is what a remake is for.
55AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:50
Re: #53
So that's why they shot themselves in the foot turning an RPG into an action game, lol
56AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:50
Re: #53
And the result of that is the FF7 Remake.
58AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:51
>55,56,57
Just a reminder that RE2 changed a ton from the original and is a universally-praised masterpiece.
62AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:52
Re: #58
That's basically the level of doing two Ocarina of Time dungeons and calling it done — just picking up a key and opening a door.
The bar for getting praised is so low, lol
60AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:51
To begin with, Breath of the Wild didn't go open world just because they wanted open world — open world just happened to be the best fit for what they wanted to express.
Demanding Ocarina of Time go open world is missing the point.
65AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:55
Re: #60
That basically means they wanted it to be open world though…
64AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:55
Resident Evil, FF7, and Ocarina of Time were all born in the same era, but
Zelda is the one whose system is so complete it doesn't need a gameplay overhaul.
66AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:56
Re: #64
Ocarina of Time does need an overhaul too — playing it now, it feels dated.
It's sad that Capcom and Square Enix clearly got that, but only Nintendo didn't.
84AnonymousSep 9, 2026 02:08
Re: #64
Still, I think there's room to improve the puzzles and the controls.
I'd want the bow's stick-aim switched to gyro aim.
I'd also want jumping to be doable with a single button.
Though jumping would change the core gameplay, so if they want to keep changes to the content minimal,
that part might be a bit tricky.
67AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:57
Re: #66
Huh?
Unlike Resident Evil and FF7, it's not dated at all.
68AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:58
Re: #67
Nintendo themselves must have thought it was dated too, since they added a jump-anywhere feature…
72AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:59
Re: #71
Lol, that's basically admitting Re: #67 was a lie.
69AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:58
Re: #66
Genuine question, but what specifically do you think needs fixing?
73AnonymousSep 9, 2026 02:00
Re: #69
Things like the loading between areas or how empty the field is — there's plenty that should be fixed…
71AnonymousSep 9, 2026 01:59
Re: #68
The only dated parts are that and the camera controls.
It's on a different level from trash games with tank controls and painted backdrop backgrounds.
89AnonymousSep 9, 2026 02:12
I don't get what "two-part structure" even means.
90AnonymousSep 9, 2026 02:14
Re: #89
Not the whole game being open, but an open structure split into two parts, child and adult.
 
It doesn't have to be that way,
but if they did make it open world, that's what it would inevitably end up being.
97AnonymousSep 9, 2026 03:06
Using fade-to-black transitions makes it easy to convey distance and time.
Open world has to express that through actual travel, which means you need to build huge connecting map areas.
They probably judged that would hurt the original's pacing.
98AnonymousSep 9, 2026 03:09
Re: #97
More than that,
I think Nintendo just wanted to make the classic look pretty.
Same with Star Fox —
they just want to do it with the best possible visuals right now.
There's probably no going further up from here anyway.
105AnonymousSep 9, 2026 03:22
"We deliberately kept the loading screens, lol"
Why on earth would you do that
109AnonymousSep 9, 2026 03:34
Re: #105
Because in Ghost of Tsushima it loaded so fast you couldn't even read the tips.

Background and Key Points of This Discussion

The “Resident Evil RE2” remake was highly praised even after ditching the fixed camera and tank controls, while the “FF7” remake split opinion by shifting from turn-based to action combat — posters repeatedly cited these two as a yardstick for “how far bold changes should be allowed to go.” N64-era software tended to have simplified field areas due to hardware constraints, and the empty plains of Ocarina of Time, despite their size, were brought up as one example of this. On the other hand, going open world doesn’t just mean making things bigger — it means altering the original’s core structure itself, such as the fixed order of puzzle-solving or the child/adult switching mechanic. Where to draw the line between “improvement” and “turning it into a different game” is what split opinion, and that’s arguably the heart of this debate.

※This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Why didn’t they make Ocarina of Time open world?

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