Satoru Iwata talks to the team behind bringing Ocarina of Time to the 3DS.

Nintendo has developed a number of titles that have become iconic and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of those that stands at the forefront. Their decision to remake the game thirteen years later for the Nintendo 3DS was one that was met by much excitement and trepidation, even by the team tasked to undertake the remaking.

In his discussion with members from both the original and new development teams Satoru Iwata discusses the difficulties faced when remaking the game. Elements had to be changed to compensate for the improved frame rate, touch screen controls and difficulty.

One of Eiji Aonuma's biggest desires for the remake was to "fix" the Water Temple, often cited as a frustratingly difficult element of the original game. The discussion notes that many people give up around that point simply due to how cumbersome it was switching boots. Mr. Iwata calls the desire to change the temple "a bone caught in your throat for 13 years," but at least the implementation of the touch screen controls has helped to make the whole process easier.

The original Ocarina of Time was a huge undertaking and not one without its problems. Many bugs were present in the original game and according to Shun Moriya many programmers wanted to keep the bugs in to maintain the feeling of the original. Ultimately they decided to fix ones that needed to be fixed and leave the others in, but as intentional references to the original rather than the bugs they originally were.

As with any game the course of development does not run smoothly, something the Zelda series is known for. These issues occur due to a great number of things: models being misaligned as a result of changing the style to match the modern games, the introduction of stereoscopic 3D causing Z-targeting issues or just Miyamoto throwing in a last minute request to be able to use the gyro sensor to look around at all times. The discussion covers all these areas and while they will have obviously caused a number of headaches and sleepless nights at the time the whole team seem to look back and laugh about them now.

The discussion closes with a reflection on the journey the teams have taken. The original was so well received it was bound to be a challenge to remake it but all participants seem proud of the final result. Satoru Iwata describes the process as "a kind of miracle," a sentiment shared by all participants it seems. The full discussion covers much more and is, as always, worth a read.