The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Leak

There have been quite some worries all around the internet whether Nintendo has forgotten / skipped the 40th Anniversary of Zelda, despite the fact that the 30th Anniversary wasn't initiated until September 2016 either. Well, if you have followed this blog, then you will know that there never have been any doubts, especially with the remake of Ocarina of Time coming later this year.

However, just like with this remake, things got leaked in advance, before Nintendo could give us an official announcement. There are photos floating around of upcoming merchandise, which includes a logo for the anniversary on the package. This looks to be 100% legit with several sources confirming this. Apparently, there already have been leaks last month about this topic, which somehow eluded me... But it all lines up. Don't read the rest of the article if you still want to be surprised.

Zelda Movie: Casting Rumors

There have been some rumors from Deadline about the cast of the upcoming The Legend of Zelda movie and they are quite interesting. First of all, Dichen Lachman will indeed play Impa, where we already have seen leaked photos of her next to Bo Bragason, the actress of Zelda, during filming.

Uli Latukefu will apparently play Ganondorf. He is best known for Young Rock, but also starred in Alien: Covenant, or Black Adam.

Then we have Yvonne Strahovski in the role of some queen. Maybe it's the queen of Hyrule, where she has a similar role to Sonia, or possibly she could play the queen of the Zora. In any case, I'm a big fan of her, where I liked her in Chuck, Dexter, and The Handmaid's Tale. These would be exciting news if they were true.

Not as exciting as the biggest star in this list, however. According to the reports, Sam Neill will be in the movie, which would be tremendous in a sorrowful way. Sadly, he has passed away last month, on July 13th, which could make this his final role. He would probably play the king of Hyrule if these rumors were true. Alternatively, he could play an elder sage, like Rauru.

On a site note, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth can currently be seen in the third season of House of the Dragon. And his performance there really sold me on the idea of him playing Link. He is such a good casting choice that this already making me a lot more confident on the movie.

We will probably get a first trailer, where all of these casting rumors could be confirmed or debunked, next month in a September Nintendo Direct. It's likely going to be as with the September Direct from last year, where they have done the same for the Super Mario Galaxy Movie with the 40th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros.

40th Anniversary of Metroid

On August 6th 1986, メトロイド (Metroid) was released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan. Much like Mario and Zelda before it, this game has defined an entire gerne and spawned a major video game franchise, followed by seven more titles (including re-imaginings of the first two), a whole subseries with six games, and a single spin-off (Metroid Prime Pinball).

These numbers already give away, however, that this franchise has been living in the shadows of its slightly older siblings. Tears of the Kingdom alone has sold more than the entire Metroid series combined. It is more of a niche and Nintendo often treats it that way. While both Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda have seen multiple official anniversary celebrations over the last two decades, this has yet to happen for Metroid. But there is a first time for everything...

Given, it may have to share the spotlight with the 40th Anniversary of Zelda, where Nintendo has yet to initiate it, with the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake at the forefront. But Metroid could see some announcements of its own in the near future, whether they are tied to the anniversary or not. First and foremost, there has been a leak of a new Metroid game by MercurySteam, following Metroid Dread, which seems to be very much legit and would be exciting news.

And there also have been rumors that Super Metroid could see a remake in a pixel art style. Well, if Super Metroid ever were to get remade, it certainly would become much more faithful than Zero Mission and Samus Returns, but this sounds a little too faithful. Though, it also sounds like something special that could get released for an anniversary. And depending on how this is done and gets received, this could develop a new trend for remastering 2D games from Nintendo.

Otherwise, it would be nice if Metroid Dread got updated for the Nintendo Switch 2 or if Metroid: Samus Returns got remastered at some point, where such a remaster could be released for both the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. There are many possibilities to keep MercurySteam busy, though a new game is certainly the preferred choice.

We probably won't hear from Retro Studios during the 40th Anniversary, since Metroid Prime 4: Beyond isn't even one year old, but maybe we will get a remastered version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes before Prime 5 comes out. Technically, the anniversary will last for one year from now on, so there would be still time to announce and release something in 2027.

 

Happy 40th Anniversary, Metroid!

The Future of Zelda: Leaving Hyrule

My first adventure with Link was on the island Koholint, which is a virtual world that I keep close to my heart. And after I had explored the different iterations of Hyrule from the NES classics and Ocarina of Time, Nintendo invited us to visit the strange lands of Termina, Labrynna, Holodrum and Subrosia. When the Zelda series first had gained traction in the early 2000s, half of the games took place in Hyrule and the other half someplace else.

As exciting as this was, Nintendo has not followed this trend. In fact, most of the games that came after featured some version of Hyrule, where lately they even have revisited the Hyrule from a previous title. Now, the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake certainly won't change any of that, but going forward it will be nice to breath some fresh air... And that's what this article will be about.

The Future of 2D Zelda

We are going to get a remake of Ocarina of Time later this year, while a new 3D Zelda game is presumably in development at Nintendo EPD3. So, the Zelda fans who prefer the big adventures from a 3rd person perspective already have a lot coming on the Nintendo Switch 2. But if you also enjoy following Link's and Zelda's journeys from a top-down or side-scrolling perspective, then you will have to wait and see for now.

To be fair, the latest installment in the series is still Echoes of Wisdom, which isn't even two years old yet. But presuming that GREZZO is not the studio behind the Ocarina of Time remake, it's likely that they are already working on the next 2D Zelda game, whether that's another remake or a new title. So, let's talk about how this could look like... and what may lie beyond.

Super Zeldathon

Zeldathon is running the whole week, collecting money for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Check it out and maybe leave a donation. This time it's digging deep into the 90s nostalgia and they even have SuperMCGamer back on board, who started the whole thing, but stepped down from his leadership role after Zeldathon 1986 two years ago. And that's making me nostalgic as well.

Echoes of Wisdom ~ Multiplayer Sequel Ideas

In The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom you briefly play as Link, before you slip into the role of Princess Zelda for the first time in the mainline series. Unlike Link, who still relies on his trusty sword, shield, bow and bombs, Zelda primarily fights by summoning echoes of monsters, while she can also freely steer entities around by binding them to her own movements.

Now, this is a great basis for another cooperative multiplayer Zelda game, following Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures and Tri Force Heroes, but this time tailored to two players. It would be perfect for pairs who are into Zelda, where Hazelight Studios has popularized this genre of games, with A Way Out, It Takes Two and Split Fiction.

This idea is as old as Echoes of Wisdom itself, but let's finally get into more detail here. Spoiler warning for the game's ending! Don't hit "read more", unless you have beaten Echoes of Wisdom or don't care.

Echoes of Wisdom ~ Stamp Rally Challenge

GOOOOOO STAMP RALLY! As a fellow stamp enthusiast, why just collect stamps when you can collect stamps in a specific order? Isn't that some stamp-tacular idea? Yes? Let's doooo this!

Okay... So, in Echoes of Wisdom you get five stamp cards to fill, where each of them has five slots for stamps. And there exist five different stamp designs in the game, where each design has five designated stamp stands in the world. The game remembers which stamp was put in which slot, meaning that the stamp cards will look different at the end for a number of players.

Knowing this, you can plan ahead and fill out the cards in an order of your liking. And that's what I did when I was recently replaying the game. There are very different approaches you can take here, but if you want some order to your order, then you will either go for five different stamps on each card or five of the same stamps. Let's talk a little bit about this...

Echoes of Wisdom ~ Review Added

This is to inform you that a new review was added to Hyrule Blog, one for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Most of it got written back in late 2024, after I had first played through the game, so I decided to add it into the archive around the time, because it makes the most sense there historically. Here is the link:

Read the Review

All the screenshots were also taken during my first playthrough in 2024, but a lot of them didn't find their way into my Adventure Log. And here it's nice to show off some more, so they don't just rot on my harddrive.

Well, at the time, I wasn't able to finish the article for personal reasons. And it can be tough to write a review when I already have talked so much about a new game, because it feels redundant. Still, I find them to be very valuable, because they collect all my important thoughts from the play logs. But once some time has passed, I need to play the game again to refresh those thoughts, which is what I have done in this case (see here).

There are also half-finished reviews for both Age of Calamity and Imprisonment somewhere in my drafts, where hopefully I will get back to those one day. Sadly, for Breath of the Wild I only have an intro and some notes, while I didn't even bother with Tears of the Kingdom...

PS: I also added a post about the connections to Oracle of Ages, which is also something I meant to write back then.

Replaying Echoes of Wisdom

After replaying Ocarina of Time back in June, I was in the mood for some top-down Zelda goodness, where Echoes of Wisdom was on top of my list. It and Tears of the Kingdom are the two most recent Zelda games, where I had played and completed both of them only once so far. Well, this won't change anytime soon for Tears of the Kingdom, because I'm fed up on that game, but with Echoes of Wisdom it's hard to say no when it's so short and sweet, just like a good classic Zelda.

But there is more to it, because I was also able to experience the game in new ways. This time I played it from start to finish in Hero Mode, which I had ignored entirely during my initial run. And thanks to the free update for the Nintendo Switch 2, I was now able to play Echoes of Wisdom in 4K and fluid 60FPS. In addition, I've went through the game's dungeons in a completely different order. Hit "read more" to learn more about all of this.

Majora's Mask HD and the Oracles?

Last week two curious entries appeared on IMDB, for unannounced Zelda remakes:

• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask HD
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracles

They are featuring different voice actors for Link: Mitsuki Saiga, who has voiced Link in the more recent top-down Zelda games and Hyrule Warriors, as well as Nobuyuki Hiyama, whose voice was used for adult Link in the Nintendo 64 era. It also lists Hidemaro Fujibayashi (the current director of the Zelda series) as doing mocap for Din, which is hilarious and teaches you all you need to know about the credibility of this information. I can only imagine him performing all those gracious dance moves.

Of course, anyone with the necessary rights can edit IMDB and add whatever they want, so this shouldn't classify as a meaningful leak in any book, unlike a certain Metroid game that has appeared in the news earlier this month... It's still weird how no one has bothered with removing this yet, or with checking any sources. Still, I appreciate the idea of this hoax, because Majora's Mask and the Oracle games are the exact remakes that I would love to see happen next, after Ocarina of Time.

"Majora's Mask HD" is a strange title, however, because the HD suffix implies that this is not a remake like Ocarina of Time, but an HD remaster of either the Nintendo 64 original, Majora's Mask 3D, or a mix of both. Maybe even still coming to the Nintendo Switch, because on the Nintendo Switch 2 this should be called "Majora's Mask 4K".

And that's not what I would want. I would want Nintendo to follow up on the Ocarina of Time remake and take their time with this. The Nintendo 64 Zelda games are siblings and always deserve to receive the same treatment in the same quality. Also, Majora's Mask has re-used a lot of the assets from Ocarina of Time and it makes all the sense in the world for a remake to do the same.

It's the same reason why I still want remakes of Oracle of Ages & Seasons to happen. It simply makes too much sense to recreate them in the same style as Link's Awakening, because they have borrowed so much from the original. Period.

At least, the IMDB entry got the right idea in this case. I like the simplicity of the title "Oracles", where this would be the first time for a Zelda game to receive a one-word subtitle. But it implies that this is going to unite the two Game Boy Color games into one experience, which is how it should be and refreshing to see.

Often you just find pure pessimism or rejection amongst the Nintendo and Zelda community when it comes to this particular remake. Some believe that this will never happen, because they were originally made by Capcom. And if they were to happen still, then Nintendo would never release them as one, because they are too greedy.

But Nintendo owns all the scenario rights for the four Zelda games developed by Flagship. Only the music rights could pose a problem. It's the main reason why you can find Stickers and Spirits based on these games in the Super Smash Bros. series, but no music. However, the music shouldn't be a major hurdle, because they can just compose new tracks...

And splitting Oracle of Seasons and Ages into two games again would defeat the entire purpose of such a remake. Sure, you wouldn't need to use passwords any longer, because they could just read each other's save files, but you would still need to connect these save files manually, making things needlessly complicated, whereas this could and should become a completely seamless experience. (See my Oracle of Worlds article for how this would work in greater detail.)

Plus, when they are effectively offering two Zelda adventures as one, then the full price that Nintendo is definitely going to charge won't feel as unreasonable. At least to some people.

In any case, I personally hope that the "Oracles" is GREZZO's current project, where this might even get released next year. A proper Majora's Mask remake on the other hand may take a couple of years to appear.

id Software Got Butchered

You've probably heard the news already, but this needs to be talked about. Microsoft has announced heavy layoffs in the video game branch earlier this week: 1600 people got fired immediately and 1600 are to leave later. They've tried to make it sound reasonable by talking about trimming down management, which is usually a good thing, but these changes also hit where it hurts.

One developer was hit particularly hard: id Software, the studio behind classics like Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake. An article from Kotaku shares insights into the extent of the cuts: 136 of 185 employees got fired, more than two thirds of the staff. This happened right after the launch of DOOM: Revelation, an expansion for DOOM: The Dark Ages, leaving the studio now crippled.

One of the affected people is Adam "SyncError" Pyle, who has been keeping their free-to-play multiplayer shooter Quake Champions alive for the last couple of years, with new maps, weapon skins, features, and lots of fixes. On his own admission, he did a lot of that in his free time, not because he had to, but because he deeply cared about the game and the franchise. He worked together closely with the community, who tested upcoming features and gave feedback.

If you have someone as passionate and talented as Adam Pyle working for your company, you don't let such people go. But Bethesda under ZeniMax Media under Microsoft apparently doesn't care about such talent – they only care about margin. And classic gaming franchises like Doom and Quake seemingly don't create enough of that these days, where it looks like their fate is sealed, unless Bethesda is planning to outsource them to other studios...

Of course, these aren't the first major layoffs in the industry in the recent years. There's a whole Wikipedia article about the topic, which lists pretty much every major publisher except one: Nintendo. The worst you hear about them lately is that they are killing one of their few mobile games...

I wouldn't even be surprised if some of the people who have worked for id Software now found their way to Retro Studios, helping out with the development of Metroid Prime 5. Both are located in Texas, in Richardson and Austin to be exact, which aren't that far from each other...

And just like Retro Studios spawned from Iguana Entertainment back in the day (the creators of the classic Turok games for the Nintendo 64), all this talent from id Software may open their own studio. If that happens, then that new studio will certainly have my interest, unlike Microsoft going forward.

Mario Kart Tour Ends

Nintendo has announced today that Mario Kart Tour will cease to exist at the end of September. And this time there won't be a way of playing the game offline, like there is with the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp - Complete Edition. It doesn't really affect me, because I have only tried the game once and didn't like it, but it's an interesting view into the nature of such service games.

First of all, this sucks for everyone who has invested in the game somehow. But let that be a lesson learned to not invest into this form of gaming, where your ability to play the game depends on some online service that is likely to shut down once the game stops being profitable. You want to stay as far away from it as possible.

(And I perfectly know it's not easy to resist. If Nintendo were to release a Zelda mobile game with micro transactions, I would still play it. And as a fan of classic Arena Shooters, I'm also still playing Quake Champions, where I had recently praised Bethesda for keeping it alive, as the franchises has reached its 30th anniversary. But with this week's lay-offs from Microsoft, things are looking very bad for the game. More on that later.)

Free-to-play became a new standard for multiplayer games, because everyone is doing it and a price tag is therefore creating a barrier. But I can still play those Arena Shooters from the old days, because the community is keeping them alive. And I can still play Mario Kart Wii whenever I want, with community mods even online.

Anyway, the silver lining is that a lot of the contents from Mario Kart Tour found their way into either Mario Kart 8 Deluxe via the Booster Course Pass, or into Mario Kart World. The latter mainly got the characters and costumes, where hopefully they will add more of them in the future. It would be nice to finally have Dixie Kong playable in a console Mario Kart game. And all-but-one of the exclusive courses made it into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, where they are preserved. Only the Piranha Plant Pipeline (also known as Pipe Canyon) will be fully lost.

Well, three years ago I was an advocate of a second Booster Course Pass to truly preserve as much as possible, but what we got was already quite good. And the lost course will eventually return in the future, maybe already as DLC for Mario Kart World. It is even in the current rotation of Mario Kart Tour, where it may be the last chance to play the Piranha Plant Pipeline in the game. But best not to start now...

Wario Land Week

Yesterday Nintendo has added the Free Roam playlists for all three Super Mario Land games in Mario Kart World to Nintendo Music. I still remember hearing them for the first time while playing the new Mario Kart and getting really pumped, because the Game Boy was my first own video game system and these three titles were my entry into gaming, followed by Link's Awakening.

They have a special place in my heart, but are often overshadowed by the Super Mario Bros. trilogy and Super Mario World, where it's nice to even get a reference here and there. Well, I've already sung my hymn of praise about these Game Boy classics some years ago, so I won't repeat that. But today they are finally reunited on Nintendo Switch Online with the addition of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3.

It's easily one of the best looking and sounding, if not the best looking and sounding title made for the original Game Boy, so you should definitely check it out if you have never played it before.

Some rumors were floating around about a new Wario Land coming to the Switch 2. I certainly hope that it will be more like this one, because I never really liked the direction the series took with Wario Land II and those transformations. By the way, the sequel is still missing on NSO as well... They are certainly taking their sweet time.

Metroid Ravenous Leaked

One of my overblown expectations for the June Nintendo Direct included the announcement of a new Metroid project by MercurySteam, which didn't happen. But it looks like we might be still getting one in the near future.

The Ministry of Justice and Public Safety in Brazil temporarily listed a rating for an upcoming Nintendo title, called Metroid Ravenous. This was obviously by mistake and has been removed already, but the internet sees everything and never forgets, so you can find some screenshots of the matter, originating from UniversoNintendo.com.

Well, this is certainly exciting. MercurySteam could have been working on a Super Metroid remake and that would have been awesome as well, but amidst the current wave of remakes of beloved classics from the 90s, it's probably best to follow up directly on Metroid Dread, which came out in 2021 and was absolutely fantastic. After having waited 19 years between Metroid 4 and 5, shortening that wait to five years would certainly be a refreshing change of pace for the franchise, right in time for its 40th Anniversary.

The title "Ravenous" indicates that Samus is not yet done facing her dark Chozo connections, as revealed by the antagonist Raven Beak. Sorry, English is not my first language and I interpreted the word as "raven-like", but it actually means "voracious". My bad. But in that case...

It probably refers to how far Samus's Metroid DNA has evolved. The game may even focus on her Metroid siphoning abilities, where this could go into a similar direction as the Hypermode in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and let you temporarily turn into your Metroid form / change into the Metroid Suit.

Anyway, the cat is out of the bag and the bag is out of the river, so Nintendo might as well release a trailer for the game as soon as they have one ready. Show us what this is about. I'd also love to see a Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade for Metroid Dread, while they are at it.

Mario Kart World: Drill and Boomerang Rally Added

After the addition of Bob-omb Blast back in March, the latest update for Mario Kart World adds some new features as well, and promises a series of similar free content updates for the future. With version 1.7.0 they have added two new rallies for the Knockout Tour: the Drill and the Boomerang Rally.

It's probably the easiest way to expand the game, without actually adding anything. Out of the 202 routes, which are connecting the different courses, only 62 were used in the Grand Prix mode and the Knockout Tour. The rest has been exclusive to the VS Races and Free Roam mode. So, it makes a lot of sense to utilize them for additional Knockout Tours.

Ideally, there would be custom or random rallies for the Knockout Tour, but having more dedicated rallies certainly is more convenient when playing online. Custom rallies would require the players to vote for six courses one after another, instead of just a single rally. And nobody has the patience for that.

You can access these new rallies in a similar way to the Booster Course Pass cups in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, where you now flip between two rows via the L and R buttons. Next to the two new rallies, there are open slots for six more, which they are going to add in future updates.

In addition, you can now use your sticker collection in the Photo Mode. It's almost strange that this wasn't in the game already, especially since Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury had a similar feature to reuse the Miiverse stamps. And this is finally adding a little more value to collecting all these stickers.

The update even got its own trailer. And you can find the full patch notes on Nintendo's website, where there have been a number of tweaks. For example, they have raised the acceleration of characters and vehicles with low acceleration.

If they add two more rallies per update, then this means that we will be getting three more of these updates, hopefully each of them also coming with their own additions. These could include 200cc, more outfits, and potentially even new drivers. (See here for more ideas.)

And it doesn't look like they are interested in adding more Knockout Tour rallies via paid DLC, if there's going to be any. However, this fits the general idea that paid DLC would probably expand the world with new islands around it, e.g. DK Island. And these islands wouldn't connect as nicely to the rest of the world, so they may not contribute to the Knockout Tour in any case. Each island could serve as an individual Grand Prix cup, however, with four new courses per island.

Hopefully, they will release new magnets on the Nintendo Store once all rallies and eventual DLC cup have been released. I need my fridge trophies.

Ocarina of Time Remake Suggestions

Back in May I talked about how a full re-imagining of Ocarina of Time could look like. Well, from the little footage we've got, it's too early to tell whether the upcoming Ocarina of Time for Nintendo Switch 2 will be like that, or more of a faithful remake, where they reuse the game's code and simply wrap a modern graphics engine and some shiny new cutscenes around it (like they did with the new Star Fox).

Whatever might be the case, I took some notes while replaying the Nintendo 64 classic for things that they should improve either way, going beyond what they already have done with the Nintendo 3DS version. This will be a long list, so you have to hit the "read more" button.

Replaying Ocarina of Time via NSO

After the announcement of the Ocarina of Time remake for this year, I felt like I needed to refresh my memories of the original game. Well, it's not like I have forgotten everything, because I have played the N64 original so many times over the years that most of it is ingrained into my brain. But it has been over nine years since I had last played the game and some details got blurry...

The best example are probably the Gold Skulltulas. There was a time where I could have listed you all 100 of them of the top of my head. And while I still was able to do this for the most part, I was confused about what Skulltulas on the overworld only appear for young Link and for adult Link. If that's not a dire reason to replay the game immediately, then I don't know...

Last time I played the game on the Wii U. It was during the 30th Anniversary of Zelda, where I had made it my goal to play through absolutely all Zelda games on the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U, before Breath of the Wild came out. Unsurprisingly, my experience with the game on the Nintendo Switch (2) has been very similar, where a lot of my sentiments from the time still stand. And Nintendo has done some improvements to Nintendo 64 service since its lackluster launch back in 2021, so that it's not any worse than the Wii U version used to be.

Overall, the Nintendo 3DS remake is still the preferred way to play the game (next to the unofficial Ship of Harkanian PC port of the Nintendo 64 version), but for this blog I like to go with Nintendo's latest offerings to see what they can do for you. (That and playing on my Switch 2 is simply the most convenient for me right now.)

In late 2024, I even got the Nintendo 64 controller for the Nintendo Switch, but I probably should have saved that money, because the classic Nintendo 64 analogue stick is absolutely awful. Not sure how we ever managed to play games with that thing... Nintendo really should have modernized this into something that looks mostly like the N64 stick, but feels better.

Well, the main reason to buy the N64 controller was the default button mapping for the normal controllers, which wasn't exactly ideal either. You had to hold down ZR to turn the four face buttons into the C-buttons and it was utterly confusing. So, at the time it seemed like going with the dedicated Nintendo 64 controller was the best option, despite its stick. But shortly after I bought the peripheral, Nintendo introduced per-game button mapping for the service, which eliminates most problems.

It should have been like this from the beginning. And now it looks like Nintendo was making it shitty on purpose, just so that people would buy the additional hardware. It certainly had worked in my case...

Anyway, I went with a Pro Controller in the end and my button mapping for Ocarina of Time looks like the following:

• A: C down
• B: A
• X: C left
• Y: B
• R: C right
• ZR: R
• ZL: Z
• D-pad: C-buttons 

This felt like the most natural with how the buttons on the Nintendo 64 controller were arranged and how they are displayed on the HUD. The only problem was that I'm using the B-button to confirm things inside the game, while it's still the A-button within the menus, which kept confusing me. But this is a general problem, which you also have when coming from a PlayStation or Xbox controller back to Nintendo.

But before you set up your controls, you should pick the right version to play. I simply went with the PAL/European version at first, because that's the one I grew up with, but after Dodongo's Cavern I realized that I probably should have went with the NTSC/North American version instead, which is based on 60Hz instead of just 50. As a result, the PAL version doesn't actually run at 20FPS, but 16.66FPS, making it even more sluggish.

And the difference is quite noticeable. The North American version runs more smoothly and also slightly faster. In the early game you have to run around a lot, back and forth from Hyrule Castle Town to other places, and here the slight increase in speed made things already less dull. I also noticed the difference when killing Gold Skulltulas with the Fairy Slingshot. In the PAL version, I often miss the second shot, because the spider is still in its hurt animation from the first shot. In the NTSC version on the other hand, I can just fire at the spider twice in a row without missing.

The Shooting Gallery mini-game becomes even harder, though, especially since you still have the problem of the all-or-nothing stick sensitivity with these emulated versions. But luckily, there is now the rewind, so you can just quickly undo any mistake. It makes most mini-games easier, where it also helped with the fishing. I got a 20-pounder on my "first try", because I could just rewind whenever it broke from the line. I say "most" mini-games, however, because the Bombchu Bowling Alley is still a pain, even with rewind.

The rewind is generally nice to undo small mistakes with great effect, for example in lava rooms where you need to collect Silver Rupees. Or if you accidentally jump down somewhere where it would take some significant backtracking to return to where you were.

Whenever I replay Ocarina of Time, I try to mix up the dungeon order a bit and this run was no different. Though, for a moment I thought about just doing the vanilla order, but with the remake in mind it's interesting to think about how it could allow for a little more freedom, so I was testing my limits.

As adult Link I first tried to achieve as much as possible without going into the Forest Temple as I could. Free Epona, grab the Hookshot, clear the Ice Cavern, become a member of the Gerudo, and complete the Biggoron's Sword trading sequence, all without going into any of the temples.

Then I proceeded with the Water Temple to secure the Longshot and finished the Fire Temple, before finally doing the Forest Temple. The Fairy Bow is quite the gatekeeper in the game's second half: it unlocks two target shooting mini-games and the whole Big Poe hunt, while it's also required to finish the Water Temple. None of the other temple items in the game give you as much to do.

And of course, beating the Forest Temple is required to get Sheik out of the way, so I could proceed with the Bottom of the Well, the Spirit Temple, and the Gerudo Training Ground. And only then I went back to the Water Temple to clear it, which finally lets you learn the Nocturne of Shadow for the Shadow Temple.

It's a shame that Nintendo has never added the Master Quest version to their online service, because I'd like to give those goofy dungeons another run as well. But with the upcoming remake this will probably not happen anytime soon... Maybe I will also go and play the Nintendo 3DS remake one more time in the next months, but I didn't like how they mirrored everything for the Master Quest mode.

And for now I have achieved my goal of refreshing my memories, so I'm ready for the remake and prepared to talk more about Ocarina of Time in the upcoming weeks and months. It will be exciting to see how the game has evolved once more, and I do have collected a number of ideas for how to improve it. More on that later...

30 Years of Nintendo 64

It's probably not a coincidence that Nintendo is launching the new Star Fox remake this week, since this is marking the 30th anniversary of the Nintendo 64. We will also be getting a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time later this year, and if this is marking a new trend, then we might be getting a Super Mario 64 remake afterwards, to complete the trinity of Shigeru Miyamoto's first 3D hits before he retires.

The Nintendo 64 holds a special place in my heart, because it was my first own home console. I got it only three years later, for Christmas 1999, the fancy grape purple edition (see here). But games like Ocarina of Time were absolutely magical at the time, which might be difficult to grasp today, with the clunky controller and the blocky graphics. There was nothing like this before. It was a whole world in your TV, which felt alive and which you could freely explore in three dimensions.

And there was a big emphasis on those three dimensions. Just look at the first dungeon, Inside the Great Deku Tree, with its multiple floors, where you had to jump down from the very top to break through a giant spider net in the middle. While you had tower-like dungeons in A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, where you could drop down from one floor into the rooms below, such verticality in the level design wasn't possible before. It was awe-inspiring.

Another thing I always like to praise about the games from this early 3D era is their atmosphere. What they may have lacked in the number of polygons, they made up for it with incredible soundscapes and soundtracks. Play the rattling of the windmill in Kakariko Village, with birds humming in the distance, and I'm immediately taken back into the place, fully immersed.

Anyway, it looks like the remake of Star Fox is more of a remaster with a full engine swap, re-using the code base of the Nintendo 3DS version. Let's see whether they will take the same approach for Ocarina of Time or give us a complete re-imagining. In any case, it will be a nice way of celebrating 30 years of this beloved classic console.

30 Years of Quake

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30 years ago, on June 22nd 1996, Quake was released. One day before the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 in Japan, it was at the forefront of real-time 3D rendering, offering fully polygonal models and levels in three dimensions. It was the spawn of a new era in gaming in the late 90s, where such 3D graphics were the shiny new thing, but still so blocky that you had to make up for it somehow.

And games like Quake, or later Ocarina of Time, did with it their atmosphere, created by fantastic sound effects and a striking soundtrack, in this case provided by Nine Inch Nails. With many inspirations taken from Lovecraft, Quake created something unique, something that has left a legacy until today with a number of sequels.

Personally, I'm only half a fan of the series, where I've primarily played the multiplayer episodes: Quake III Arena, Quake Live and Quake Champions. But eSports is another category where Quake had excelled things – to this day it's one of the fastest first person shooters with one of the highest skill ceilings, where it's incredibly impressive to watch professional games of Quake, even though the Quake Pro League sadly ended in 2023.

But you have to give it to Bethesda for keeping things alive with Quake Champions nevertheless. It's currently running its 30th season, while the average player count on Steam is around 250... This is rivaling the numbers of Sony's mega-flop Concord from two years ago, but Quake Champions somehow manages to stay afloat, with one main developer behind the project – a level designer who also creates weapon and character skins, while constantly delivering new features and improvements for the game, working close with the game's tiny community. It's truly refreshing to see this in modern times.

And it seems like the plans are to slowly transition Quake Champions out of its live service model, like how it was done with Quake Live, to preserve it for the future, despite its small following. The latest Battle Passes have been offering players a second chance of obtaining certain cosmetics and weapon skins, some of which that weren't available for years.

For example, the current pass (which is entirely free) finally brings back all of the time-limited QuakeCon weapon skins, just in time for QuakeCon 2026 from August 6th to 9th – an event that has been "Quake" in name only, for several years now.

Still, if you're a fan of classic Arena Shooters, then you should give this a try, and now is a great time to do so. But if you're sticking to a Nintendo Switch, you can also play the remasters of the first two games by Nightdive Studios, with lots of additional content. Though, I personally would recommend to use something with a mouse and keyboard...