ZD Top 5 – Game Improvements in Remakes

Nintendo has been fond of retouching Zelda titles as they’ve re-released them over the years on various consoles . This week, we asked Zelda Dungeon staff to rank their top five changes made to games in remakes.

What changes made remakes stand out to you? Did any make the remakes more enjoyable than the originals? As always, leave your own lists in the comments.

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Jon Lett – https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/User:Colonel-Majora

5. Simplified Triforce Shard Hunt (The Wind Waker HD)
4. Water Temple’s Colored Guide Lines (Ocarina of Time 3D)
3. Swift Sail (The Wind Waker HD)
2. Better Save System (Majora’s Mask 3D)
1. Gyorg Fight (Majora’s Mask 3D)

I’ve said it a hundred times: that fish can go die is a fire. I HAAAATED that fight in my first playthrough of the original Majora’s Mask, JUST as much as I did every other playthrough. And then, Majora’s Mask 3D comes along, and while I was totally in love with the new save system, I was completely entranced with the new Gyorg fight. Not only could I beat him far more easily, but I could also blow him up violently from the inside. SO satisfying. Stupid fish.

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Thomas Jacobs – https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/User:ThomasJacobs

5. Not being bound to your console (Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora’s Mask 3D)
4. Not starting off severely injured (A Link to the Past GBA)
3. Color Dungeon (Link’s Awakening DX)
2. Faster Sailing (The Wind Waker HD)
1. Better Triforce Hunt (The Wind Waker HD)

#5 might seem like an odd point, given the absolutely staggering number of releases that Ocarina of Time has. However, I do believe that making it possible to play one of the best Zelda games (and its sequel) on-the-go without having to sit behind your TV makes for a very fun experience. And while A Link to the Past is my favorite Zelda game (and one of my favorite games ever) I have never quite understood why you started that game severely injured after you load a save game. Sure, the notion when you are at max rupees, bombs, and arrows is nice, but not having to spend the first few minutes gathering up fairies or hearts depending on where you start (I always started at Link’s house for this reason: there’s a nearby fairy fountain) takes away quite the annoyance. I like the Color Dungeon because, hey, more game! Plus the reward is pretty neat. #2 and #1 tie together for me because while I like having more game added in, removing the annoying parts (as seen in my #4) is even better. Being able to navigate the world faster and not having to do all sorts of annoying stuff is good, though I do feel that there’s quite a lot more that they could have done away with to make the flow of The Wind Waker HD more fluid. But hey, no game’s perfect. Except for A Link to the Past GBA, of course.

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Alexis Anderson – https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/User:triforce3

5. Gyorg Boss Battle (Majora’s Mask 3D)
4. Color (Link’s Awakening DX)
3. Improved Bomber’s Notebook (Majora’s Mask 3D)
2. Swift Sail (The Wind Waker HD)
1. Visuals (Various)

One of the reasons that I’m not too excited for Twilight Princess HD is it isn’t changing very much. The visuals are nearly the same and aside from any gamepad related changes it seems like it’ll be the same game. But in the past we’ve had some great remakes: visuals in Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of Time 3D were greatly improved; even The Wind Waker HD was able to spruce up its cell-shaded toons. But the best changes are those that help end gamer frustration, so thank you to the Swift Sail and the Gyorg battle’s ease-of-access alterations.

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Mark Olson – https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/User:Mark_Olson

5. Bomber’s Notebook (Majora’s Mask 3D)
4. Swift Sail (The Wind Waker HD)
3. Triforce Hunt (Wind Waker HD)
2. Color (Link’s Awakening DX)
1. Song of Double Time (Majora’s Mask 3D)

The Song of Double Time was meant to make Majora’s Mask more convenient; since so much of the game revolved around the time of day, on a number of occasions players could find that they had a bit of a wait before the next time-sensitive event on their agenda.  In the original, players could only skip to dawn or sunset.  This meant that if you had an event going on at four in the morning, you still had a lot of time to kill.  In the 3DS rerelease, the song’s effects were altered.  Now, players could choose any time of day to skip to, and it was wonderful — particularly given that it was on the 3DS, a system that isn’t as conducive to longer play sessions as a console.  

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