- Nintendo initially considered adding new warp points to make travelling across Hyrule easier in Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake.
- Eiji Aonuma, the game's producer, realised that fast travel could take away from the joy of discovering things during exploration.
- The development team eventually removed all the newly proposed warp points to preserve the original experience.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is set to arrive exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5, 2026. It is bringing one of the franchise’s most iconic adventures back with a fresh coat of paint. However, Nintendo has revealed that the remake almost introduced new Warp Points that would have made travelling across Hyrule much easier.
During an Ask the Developer interview hosted on November 2, 2026, Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma revealed that he initially asked the development team to add new Warp Points to Ocarina of Time Remake. The main thought process behind the idea was to give players shortcuts to different locations. It was essentially to make the long journeys across Hyrule Field less tedious.
While Aonuma mentioned that players often relied on repeatedly performing forward rolls to move faster, he thought the remake could benefit from a fast-travel system. Despite Nintendo introducing some new gameplay additions in Ocarina of Time Remake, things changed once the team actually started testing the new warp points.
“We realised that we were missing out on the moments of discovery that came from stopping along the way”, said Aonuma. The developers came to the conclusion that while new fast travel points would reduce the travel time, they would also take away something important from the original experience.
These unexpected discoveries were an important part of Zelda Ocarina of Time’s design, and Aonuma felt that adding shortcuts was just not correct. As a result, Aonuma eventually asked the development team to remove all the newly proposed Warp Points.
“They just weren’t working for me in the end, so I got the team to take them all back out again,” told Aonuma during the interview. This decision shows Nintendo’s broad approach to the remake, similar to its stance on keeping physical games alive.
Would you have preferred new fast-travel points in the remake, or do you think it was the right call to keep exploration intact? Let us know in the comments below.
Ajith Kumar
