Recently Nintendo and Zelda fans alike were stunned to hear news concerning a remake of the epic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Although a rumour, it came from one of the most respected gaming magazines in the land of the rising sun, Dengeki. For all of you indolent people that didn’t read the news, here it is (posted April 22nd on Cube Europe):

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According to a Dutch gaming website Gamers.nl the latest issue of Dengeki has reported a Zelda OOT remake may be coming to the Cube!

Not much is known, but what we do know sounds fantastic! The game is reported to hold both the original OoT game, and the game with GameCube quality graphics. Why this is exactly we are not sure, but rest-assured as soon as we find out, you'll be the first to know.

It doesn’t stop there though! The entire thing is said to spread over a special 3 disc package, containing a right old assortment of goodies! Also included will be the unreleased 64DD expansion - Ura-Zelda! The game will also feature new dungeons and features additional to the original game.

Here's what is rumoured to be on each of the 3 discs.

Disc 1:
- Zelda Ocarina of Time
- Ura Zelda (expansion)
- Unreleased dungeons (which are to be played separate from the game)
- An option for Classic overworld or original OoT theme
- An option for enhanced graphic or the original Nintendo 64 graphics
- Artworks

Disc 2:
- Making of movie (More as we know it)

Disc 3:
- Music CD

For all those who weren't to sure about the Cel Shaded Zelda, this just might be the news you’ve been waiting to hear... And its not just an old remake, there are a load of more features, as you can see in the above. Nothing's official yet, but it seems an awful lot of details to be just something out of the blue.

The rumour also says the there will even be a Limited Edition version of the game, which will include a special figurine of either Link, Gannon or Zelda. The limited edition sets are also said to include an 80-page art book, a pocket watch and a cloth map of Hyrule!

I tell you if this isn’t all true, the dead man who made this crap up better start running! More as we have it, and we know you want it!

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Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Let’s analyse the situation. During Spaceworld 2001 Nintendo shocked us all by showing a new clip of a Zelda game that was to be released in 2002. As most of you know, this featured graphics and gameplay that were much more diverse than what we expected from the video shown previously at the E3 of the same year. The new Zelda featured cartoon graphics called “cel-shading”, a new technology that gave the game almost a juvenile look. Nintendo, and most of all Zelda, lost a lot of faith from all they’re loyal fans around the world.

This could change it all.

First of all, this game will not replace the Zelda that was shown to us thanks to that nifty video last year. The creation of that product will carry on into the year probably to be made public somewhere by Christmas (in Japan, that is). What this game will do is offer the possibility for all Zelda fans to relive the magical moments that were experienced during Christmas of 1998 (a little later for us Europeans). The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (OoT for short) was one of the fastest selling games of all time, 6 million copies distributed around the world. It was pushed to a further release date several times but when it came out we all discovered why Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to take all the time possible to make this game what it is, and there’s only one word to describe it: perfect.

Innovative in so many ways, everything from the graphics to the interactions with other characters broke new grounds in the world of video games. The Japanese geniuses down there in Kyoto put so much passion in this game that it appealed to not only the youngsters but also the elderly. The story was nothing but breath taking, the Zelda world that we all learned to love in the 8-bit days was represented with such ardour that you actually felt like the Hero of Time, in charge of the saving the magical land that was Hyrule.

Many of you (and I hope not too many) may think that this re-release is just another way to get money, selling a game (for a new console) that has already been sold and has had an enormous success. Well, I thought that too before I read what might actually be included in this collection.

Disc 1:

-The original epic game that has moved so many will be included along with an option to enhance the graphics (you have to love that).

-Ura Zelda. Remember this? It was originally planned for the very unfortunate 64DD (which stands for Disk Drive) but it never saw the light of day. It will include new dungeons and will probably get deeper into the story and might even reveal some information on…you guessed it…the tri-force.

-Musical Option. One tiny little flaw in this game was the omitted Overworld Theme that everyone liked to hear while running through the green pastures of Hyrule, well, here’s your change to hear it again in your favourite game.

-Artwork. Hey, why not? If you go to any good fan site you’ll find a bunch of drawing sent in by visitors, this could be fun for all those artistic people.

Disc 2:

-Making of Movie. You can’t really say much about this, if only a part of this news bit by Dengeki was to be false, this would probably be it. Who knows what Nintendo might be up to, though?

Disc 3:

-Musical pieces. How many of you haven’t whistled the Overworld theme once or twice? Link’s Ocarina introduced us to many great and lovable tunes that will probably included in this clever CD.

Unfortunately this news must be tagged a rumour as it has not been confirmed nor denied thus far, we’ll probably know more about it during E3. But who knows what Nintendo is up to? Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and pray to the Seven Sages…