Nintendo World 2011: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Hands-On

by Daniel VuckovicJanuary 9, 2011

We go hands on with the king, after waiting 75 minutes to play it

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timewas, and still is my favourite game ever. Period. It’s a timeless classic that can still be enjoyed today. But, riddle me this, what if Nintendo were to take the game I absolutely adore, put it on a portable, add 3D graphics, update the graphics and finally, add some unexpected twists and turns? I’d like it! That’s what, and both Nick and I absolutely enjoyed what we played even after the hour and a half wait.

The demo we played offered three save files at different points throughout the game; Kokiri Village/Forest, The Deku Tree and the boss from the Deku Tree, Gohma. We only managed to try the first two and are happy to report that the layout of the levels remained mostly the same, what did change, however, was how it looked.

There are two main components that Nintendo have upgraded in Ocarina of Time’s presentation. The first is the rather obvious graphical update. Link and his enemies’ models have been updated and to our eyes it looks like the animations may have been redone too. The world is also a lot more colourful and is missing the “vasoline” textures that the Nintendo 64 is now infamous for. The second part is most obviously the 3D effects. Like most 3DS games, the effect is used quite subtly to make Link pop out from the background. It’s best used, however, when Link is strolling through the Deku Tree’s area, with flowing wisps floating around in the air and it really does look like they’re hovering in front of your eyes. Classy.

On the control side of things, Nintendo has added gyroscope sensor enabled controls to the slingshot; however we’re not entirely convinced. Unless you move your 3Ds with your body at the same time, the 3D effect is lost and we had trouble trying to aim it properly. That being said, it does work fine and if you’re playing in 2D you will definitely have no problems, but we found it best just to stick with the Circle Pad for now.

The bottom screen of the Nintendo 3DS is a dedicated touch screen inventory for quick access and a map. Navi’s “Hey! Listen!” button is also featured on the bottom screen.