The Legend of Zelda franchise producer Eiji Aonuma says the Ocarina of Time remake’s Water Temple is now the best version, thanks to one-button Iron Boots and a free camera.
This remake of the legendary Nintendo 64 game isn’t the first time Nintendo has revisited the iconic Zelda title. Nintendo previously released an upgraded version on the Nintendo 3DS. However, third time’s the charm: Mr. Aonuma finally feels the water temple is at its best thanks to new upgrades in the Switch 2 version.
He told Game Informer recently that the single-button ability to switch on the heavy iron boots and the improved camera control have made this the best version of the water temple.
Another consideration compared to the original is that you couldn’t move the camera angle in the original game, and so if you were looking for a certain room in this 3D space relative to where you are now, it was much more difficult to orient yourself and think about the space where that room might exist. So I think those two together, you know, also with the heavy boots being one button press, I think this, for me, is the best version of the Water Temple.
Why Yoshi, Mario and Other Easter Eggs Were Cut From the Ocarina of Time Remake
Other changes from Nintendo include removing Mario and Yoshi’s portraits from the original game. Nintendo also removed the Skyward Sword art added to the Nintendo 3DS remake. Aonuma says they removed these to maintain continuity. Plus, they no longer needed Easter eggs to promote a Wii U game release.
[Laughs] I do remember at the time the designers on the 3DS version were really interested in placing Easter Eggs like that throughout the game, and the timing of the release of Skyward Sword was such that it was perfect to go ahead and include that. So I said, “Okay, sure.” But like earlier when we were talking about in the courtyard sequence with the Yoshi portrait. You know, you don’t want to interrupt the player’s experience by seeing something that’s unrelated to what they’re currently doing in the game. So for that reason, we decided not to go that way.
The remake is one of 2026’s highest-rated games so far, proving the Zelda franchise’s long-standing benchmark still holds up nearly 30 years later. For more, learn how the franchise keeps looking forward instead of relying too heavily on ideas from games gone by.
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I'm Robert DeFelice. I spent years covering pro-wrestling industry for outlets such as Fightful. After years in wrestling journalism, I’ve transitioned to video games, another passion of mine.
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