Nintendo has revealed how the Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake changes the Water Temple. According to Eiji Aonuma, the Switch 2 release addresses several issues that made the original dungeon difficult to navigate.
Nintendo Explains Ocarina of Time Remake Water Temple Changes
Nearly 28 years after the original release of Zelda Ocarina of Time, the Water Temple still haunts the dreams of children of the ’90s due to its difficult design. Nintendo recently acknowledged this in a recent Ask the Developer interview and revealed how it changed the infamous water dungeon in the Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake to make it easier.
In the official Nintendo interview, Eiji Aonuma discussed revisiting one of Ocarina of Time’s most infamous locations. The Zelda producer, who designed the original Water Temple, explained why he wanted to make adjustments for the remake.
“I had some overdue homework: I wanted to do something about the Water Temple I created 28 years ago,” Aonuma said. “Since it became well known for its difficulty in the original game, I had the team make some adjustments in this version.”
However, Aonuma’s original vision for the dungeon was about more than creating a challenging puzzle. According to the developer, he wanted players to enjoy the feeling of exploring an underwater environment.
“When I designed the Water Temple all those years ago, I wanted to create an experience where simply being underwater was fun,” he explained. “It was a time when there were very few 3D games that even let players go underwater.”
Aonuma said his interest in freediving helped inspire the location, particularly the way sounds and surroundings feel different beneath the surface. However, navigating the Water Temple could get in the way of that experience.
“With the dungeon’s complex structure and a lot of item toggling involved, you often had to open the menu screen repeatedly, making it hard to keep track of where you were and which way you were facing,” he said. “We addressed those issues in this version.”
What Changed in the Zelda Remake Water Temple?
The Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake makes item toggling easier and changes parts of the Water Temple environment to help players understand its layout. In particular, some walls now allow players to see into neighboring rooms.
“In this version, we’ve made item toggling much easier,” Ng explained. “We also changed some of the walls that made it easy to lose your sense of direction to lattice-style structures, making it possible to see the rooms beyond them and get a better sense of the overall space.”
The changes are part of a broader effort to improve dungeon navigation while keeping the original game’s mechanisms intact. According to Ng, players familiar with the Nintendo 64 release may notice some differences in object placement.
“We basically retained the dungeon mechanisms from the original game, but we did make some adjustments to improve playability,” Ng said. “For example, we placed objects in such a way that players intuitively figure out which direction to go.”
So, while the Water Temple is getting adjustments, Nintendo’s explanation focuses on helping players navigate its rooms and manage their items. Fans will get to see how much of a difference those changes make when Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5, 2026.
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