Video game remakes are not made for you

Whether you, the adult gamer, like the new coat of paint on an old classic is (or should be) irrelevant.

I've been hearing a familiar chorus with the development of video game remakes. They're boring. They're lazy. They're low effort, low-hanging fruit. They're nostalgia bait. Like with most things in life, there's always a degree of truth to that in some cases. The chorus grew louder this morning with the gameplay reveal of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Perhaps it's because the original holds such a sacred place for adults of a certain age. The Nintendo 64 classic is considered one of the greatest games ever made. It was inevitable that a remake would be held to higher standards and viewed with greater scrutiny. The ones who held the original as a gold standard were always going to be the ones to judge it the harshest.

But what if I said that something like this remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is not for those people? What if it's not for the cynical adult who has been summarily crushed by the world in the 27 years since this game was originally made? What if it's not for the adult who has since discovered exciting new forms of gaming art — games that are not necessarily better than Link's N64 adventure, but ones that were heavily inspired by it? What if Nintendo (or anyone else in the remake business) is trying to reach out to someone younger?

For the 30, 40, and 50-something adults reading this: take a moment to remember what it was like the first time that you discovered Ocarina of Time. It was a game-changing piece of work, realizing the potential of early 3D gaming. It also showed what the Legend of Zelda story could be, showing the grand narrative scope of everything Hyrule and the lands beyond its borders. It showed us who Zelda was, how the thief Ganondorf grew into the King of Evil, and it gave us a taste of who Link was. It showed us that Link was quiet enough for young imaginations to envision themselves in his place, but gallant enough to believe him as the world's greatest hero. This is all without even discussing the wild narrative twists of Sheik's storyline.

Remember what age you were then and now imagine someone that age today. That's who these remakes are primarily aimed toward. If they aren't aimed at those young people, then they probably should be. Older players are a dying breed. Some have moved on from games, others have found the hobby too expensive (a warranted stance, given today's economic climate of garbage), and some simply don't have the time to devote to it that they used to. All of that is normal. If you got a tear in your eye over Tuesday's remake reveal, that's great. If you believed it was cynical trash as you clutch your N64 cartridge, that's cool too. Just know, this game isn't (entirely) being made for you.

In a time when young people gravitate toward Fortnite and Roblox, transformative stories like Ocarina of Time aren't as prevalent as they were (forgive the use of this phrase) back in my day. They're not going to seek out the original Ocarina of Time to see what the big fuss was about. The common response to that will be "Well, why not? The hardware is readily available." Okay, sure, but you can tell a kid what a life-changing experience the original game was, it doesn't change that it's 27 years old and a kid will almost instinctively reject older media. It's a product of an older age, and part of the pressure of being a kid is keeping up with what's hot right now. Why are they going to waste time with something older when there's only so much time to devote to the current hotness? It feels like so many adults have forgotten what it's like to be a kid. They've also forgotten how kids think.

Let me put it this way: In 1999, your parents may have told you what a magical experience Pong and Pac-Man were. You weren't going to seek those games out because they were old. It didn't matter what a game-changer Pitfall was, you weren't going to actively look for old Atari hardware. Even though the advent of the internet has made the search for vintage hardware slightly easier today, you're not going to tell a 10 or 12-year-old child about the magic of Ocarina of Time and expect them to jump on a Nintendo 64. Just that controller design alone is going to get you the worst kind of side-eye. Older generations put up with a wild amount of jank, something younger kids simply don't have the patience for, nor should they.

Video games are a unique medium for many reasons. If we're talking about movies, a studio isn't just going to remake Casablanca. (Someone bookmark that for Freezing Cold Takes, please.) A TV executive isn't going to remake I Love Lucy or Seinfeld. Gaming can keep its most storied narratives alive through updated remakes. We're seeing it with Final Fantasy 7. We're seeing it with the original Dragon Quest trilogy. We watched it happen with Resident Evil. We've already seen it from Nintendo with Super Mario RPG, to incredible effect, I add parenthetically.

What makes Ocarina of Time's remake particularly remarkable, at least in the early going, is how much of it has changed while beholding how much of it has stayed the same. Characters have voices now! Time flows through towns now! There's a Jump button! To older series fans, something that was only introduced in Breath of the Wild still sounds like sacrilege, but younger people wouldn't even conceive of an adventure without one. This isn't a case of "The children are wrong" or anything like that. It just is what it is.

Now take a look at the bigger picture. Look at the layout of Kokiri Forest. Look at the layout of the Great Deku Tree dungeon. Take the free-roaming camera out of the equation and look at Hyrule Town. The layouts are the same. The relevant dialogue is mostly the same. The sequence in which events unfold is the same. Everything that made Ocarina of Time what it is appears to be the same. If the jaded adult doesn't like it, that's a matter of taste and something for debate on your social media network of choice. But it's not for that adult, it's for that young child or teen who's getting into games and may one day in the future be inspired to make something beautiful. It's for the young person who, in 20 years, will present their own contribution to video games and say, "I was inspired by Ocarina of Time." It's for that young person who, hey, maybe one day they will seek out the original hardware and compare the two versions. It might even be for the young kid who wants something to enjoy alongside their parents.

The best remakes are not the ones that keep adults in a nostalgic bubble. The best remakes are the ones that keep timeless stories alive for younger generations. Gaming companies should be aiming for the latter. If you ask anyone at Nintendo, they'll probably tell you that they're doing exactly that. If that's the case, then all of us weary adults should grow to accept that without getting hung up on "back in my day" grumblings. If an adult likes the new version of the thing they loved as a kid, that's great. Just know that whatever new remake hotness comes along, it's not for you, John Q. Adult.

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