Ocarina of Time Remake Tried Fast Travel, Then Dropped It

Nintendo's upcoming Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is getting a long list of modern updates, and some are easy to spot. The Kaepora Gaebora owl, for one, appears to have far less to say this time around. A less obvious change was one the team tried and then pulled: fast travel, borrowed from Breath of the Wild.

On paper, the idea makes sense. Hyrule in the 1998 original is large, and the long walks between Hyrule Field, Death Mountain and the Lost Woods are a common complaint from players returning to the game. A way to skip the backtracking looks like an easy win for a remake aimed at new and returning fans alike.

According to the developers, though, the feature took away something important. They concluded that players would be "missing out on the moments of discovery." Ocarina of Time is built on finding routes, returning to old places with new tools and piecing the map together as you go. Turning every destination into a menu option would blunt the feeling of stumbling onto something unexpected on the way back.

That is a telling call for a remake. Updates like this usually get treated as a checklist of quality-of-life upgrades, but this decision shows the team weighing each convenience against how the game actually feels to play. Breath of the Wild's systems were designed around an open world where travel is part of the experience, so importing them wholesale would not necessarily improve a game with a different structure.

The Switch 2 version is expected soon, and players will be able to judge the decision for themselves. Until then, the detail is a useful reminder that a remake is not just a list of additions. Sometimes the most interesting part is what the developers chose to leave out.