Ocarina of Time Remake Overview Trailer Unveils Humming Songs and Hall of Fallen Heroes

Nintendo released a five-minute overview trailer today for the Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, giving a straightforward tour of the remake ahead of its November 5 launch. The video walks through Link’s early journey as the boy without a fairy, then moves into the broader kingdom of Hyrule with its people, monsters, and dungeons before settling on the tools and additions that reshape how the adventure plays.

The ocarina takes center stage during the presentation. Link continues to play tunes that warp time and space, but now players can hum a learned melody or pluck one on a real instrument close to the Switch 2 mic, and the game detects those notes, with Link responding appropriately on screen. There will be an official ocarina and an electronic version from Hori available as extras, but even if you don’t have one, humming along works just fine and is entirely optional, in addition to the regular button pounding. The trailer shows all of this in action, including the delicate motion of someone blowing into a real instrument.

The Hall of Fallen Foes, a type of museum packed with sculptures of all the creatures you’ve already defeated, is located somewhere in the globe. Players can go in there and learn more about each one, and if you’ve been struggling with a specific foe, you can even return for a rematch, complete with a stopwatch to try to beat your prior times. The trailer shows the hall, with new platforms emerging as you win battles, and it was later revealed that you can even confront King Dodongo, with valuable goods appearing with a timer to show how your times build up. Kaepora Gaebora appears in some of the descriptions, situated far up in the cosmos, but Link’s path to it has yet to be revealed.

Cut scenes now have excellent voice acting with significantly more dialog than previously, and the music is now performed by a complete orchestra rather than the original MIDI tracks. The visuals, on the other hand, have been completely overhauled, with much thicker textures, detailed lighting, and a lot more going on in the settings, but happily, it retains the stylized style that has been a Zelda series hallmark for a long time. People were impressed with the way the Forest Temple looked in the early footage, all misty and creepy, with lighting that makes you feel uneasy, and then there’s Kokiri Forest, where the sun shines through the trees and you can see all the hand-stitched details on Link’s tunic. They’ve also introduced free camera control on the right stick, a dedicated jump button, a sprint option, and faster item switching, all of which contribute to a more fluid movement and combat experience. Finally, the day-night cycle finally works inside towns.

The new Zelda Notes feature, which is all part of the Nintendo Switch app, allows you to keep a daily journal of your gameplay, participate in Gossip Quests that appear based on your location, compose and share your own music scores via QR codes, and even take a quiz with over two thousand questions. Two brand new Young Link and Young Zelda amiibo figures will be released in ’27, unlocking some special masks when scanned, while the existing Legend of Zelda amiibo will still give you some cool goodies. The trailer concludes with a reminder that the remake will be released on November 5th, which should be a pleasant return for longtime fans and an easy entrance point for novices to the Zelda franchise.