Ocarina of Time On Apple Watch Brings N64 Nostalgia To Your Wrist

Toby, a game developer known online as Game of Tobi, has managed to port the Nintendo 64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to the Apple Watch. This legendary game is known for its massive world and devilishly difficult puzzles, all of which make it onto the tiny wearable in a version that pushes the device’s capabilities far beyond what most people would have thought.

Toby built on the ship code for the Ship of Harkinian project, also known as the Shipwright project on GitHub. This tool completely decompiles the original game code, allowing developers to transfer the game to newer systems without using traditional emulation. Given that the Apple Watch is essentially a little computer with access to some great graphics tools, Toby was able to adapt the codebase to operate on watchOS. He used SceneKit for visuals, which handled the game’s 3D world seamlessly on the small watch screen.

The gameplay progresses quickly, with Link tramping around Hyrule Field, wielding his sword, and navigating the various environments with no notable slowdowns. The menus appear as expected, objects are used properly, and battle runs well. There is a settings option that allows you to pick between a full-screen display that fills the watch face and the original rendered output, which both work.

Controls are probably the trickiest part, since the watch is essentially just a touchscreen and a digital crown, so Toby came up with a virtual button system to handle things like jumping, fighting, and using items. Yes, your fingers will cover part of the screen, but it becomes second nature after a little practice. You can technically pair a Bluetooth controller, though the Apple Watch is really built for one hand, which makes two handed play a bit of an awkward experience.

There are a few bugs still hanging around though, most noticeably some inconsistent text rendering that can make dialogue and signs a little hard to read. Toby is working on ironing those out before any wider release. Interestingly, he had already ported Super Mario 64 to the Apple Watch before this, and that experience seems to have helped him sidestep a few of the pitfalls he ran into here.
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