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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake looks to be a mostly faithful modernization of the classic game, with a few quality-of-life tweaks and updated visuals to make it play like a modern game. One of the more controversial of these is the addition of a jump button, which the original game famously lacked. But now having gotten hands-on with the remake, I can say that the addition of a jump is a good change, and Ocarina is better for it. 

Ocarina was designed without a jump button, and to be clear, the addition of one doesn’t transform this into a platformer. Based on my limited experience, the need to jump is occasional and often simple, just clearing small gaps. This geometry was never created to ask you to handle complex jumping challenges and the remake doesn’t appear to have any intention of changing that. 

My demo covered the beginning of the game in Kokiri Forest and into the Deku Tree, first exploring Hyrule Field and Hyrule Castle Town, and some of the Forest Temple with adult Link. The jump button made it feel more natural to hop across streams in Kokiri Forest, and to clear the small boulder challenge to obtain Link’s first sword. In Hyrule Field, I was able to freely jump on top of a rock and then control how I jumped off. And in the Great Deku Tree and Forest Temple, I found that jumping fit naturally into the exploration, as I would easily hop onto a wall of vines to start my ascent. 

Most importantly, the jump button just felt like it should be there, because modern games feel lacking without one. I tried to imagine the same encounters in the classic Ocarina style, in which you’d just walk up to a ledge and automatically jump, and it just wouldn’t be the same. This version of OOT looks modern, and so it only seems right that it should play modern too.

It may seem like heresy to add a jump button to Ocarina of Time, but after only a few minutes of play, it felt completely instinctive. I was a convert almost immediately, which suggests to me that this was the right decision. Ocarina of Time is still a classic, but you can still improve upon a classic, and it’s better with a jump button.

“}]] [[{“value”:”The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake looks to be a mostly faithful modernization of the classic game, with a few quality-of-life tweaks and updated visuals to make it play like a modern game. One of the more controversial of these is the addition of a jump button, which the original game famously lacked. But now having gotten hands-on with the remake, I can say that the addition of a jump is a good change, and Ocarina is better for it. 

Ocarina was designed without a jump button, and to be clear, the addition of one doesn’t transform this into a platformer. Based on my limited experience, the need to jump is occasional and often simple, just clearing small gaps. This geometry was never created to ask you to handle complex jumping challenges and the remake doesn’t appear to have any intention of changing that. 

My demo covered the beginning of the game in Kokiri Forest and into the Deku Tree, first exploring Hyrule Field and Hyrule Castle Town, and some of the Forest Temple with adult Link. The jump button made it feel more natural to hop across streams in Kokiri Forest, and to clear the small boulder challenge to obtain Link’s first sword. In Hyrule Field, I was able to freely jump on top of a rock and then control how I jumped off. And in the Great Deku Tree and Forest Temple, I found that jumping fit naturally into the exploration, as I would easily hop onto a wall of vines to start my ascent. 

Most importantly, the jump button just felt like it should be there, because modern games feel lacking without one. I tried to imagine the same encounters in the classic Ocarina style, in which you’d just walk up to a ledge and automatically jump, and it just wouldn’t be the same. This version of OOT looks modern, and so it only seems right that it should play modern too.

It may seem like heresy to add a jump button to Ocarina of Time, but after only a few minutes of play, it felt completely instinctive. I was a convert almost immediately, which suggests to me that this was the right decision. Ocarina of Time is still a classic, but you can still improve upon a classic, and it’s better with a jump button.”}]]  Read MoreGameSpot – All Content