First on the agenda: the Water Temple. Many fans might remember the trials and frustrations this temple elicited, largely because of a confusing layout and cumbersome interface. But beneath these problems lied a carefully crafted temple that’s been given new life in Ocarina of Time 3D.

 

By and large, the biggest problem was the temple’s reliance on the Iron Boots--an item that allows Link to sink underwater and explore the temple’s flooded floor. And it wasn’t even the item itself that caused the problem, but the process that you had to endure to equip it: Pause, select menu, select Iron Boots, equip, and finally unpause...then repeat when you want to take them off. This consumed 5-7 seconds and would be repeated dozens, if not hundreds of times throughout the temple. Luckily, Ocarina of Time 3D reduces this process down to a single button-tap, thanks to being able to hotkey the Iron Boots to any of your four inventory slots--an option not available in the original. This change alone makes the Water Temple immensely more enjoyable, and as Mr. Owsen explained, makes it more about exploring the environment than trudging through it.

 

But that’s not the only improvement. Navigating the confusing temple has also been greatly simplified with the addition of three colored paths that line the walls, each leading to one of the locations where Link can raise or lower the water level. You’ll be visiting those locations often, so the directions are much appreciated (it’s not like there’s a gas station Link can stop and ask at!). We also noticed some key doors were also emphasised with a colorful border surrounding them.

 

 

With our worries of the Water Temple washed away, we tried out the new ability to replay boss fights at any time. Here’s how it works: whenever you defeat a boss in the main game, you can “relive its memory” by sleeping in Link’s bed in Kokiri Village. The battle plays out exactly as before, only now they’re timed as well, which should foster competition among you and your friends (inexplicably, there is no support for online leaderboards).

 

 

After unlocking and defeating every boss again, you’ll unlock Boss Rush mode. In this, you’ll have to fight through every boss, one after another. Between battles, you’ll mercifully be awarded a chest containing some kind of power-up (such as Deku Nuts or hearts), similar to the boss mode in Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Unfortunately, Nintendo was suspiciously coy about whether further rewards await those who finish Boss Rush, but we’re holding out hope.

Speaking of replayability, we also had the chance to try out the game’s Master Quest--a second quest with redesigned dungeons that becomes unlocked after finishing the main game. Although the Master Quest was previously seen on the GameCube in the form of a pre-order bonus disc, Nintendo’s reworked it even further to offer a greater challenge. Now, the entire world has been mirrored (similar to Twilight Princess on Wii) and Link endures twice the damage from enemies (poor guy). These tweaks should ensure that Master Quest offers a challenge to even the most experienced Zelda fan.

 

While Nintendo has addressed the expert gamer with the reworked Master Quest, what about those new to the game, or even gaming in general? In keeping with Nintendo’s recent “super guide” philosophy, Ocarina of Time 3D features a brand new help-system that aims to keep gamers on-track and hopefully frustration-free. However, since Zelda has had to be retrofitted with the new help system, it works a bit differently than the super-guide implementation in previous Nintendo games.

Scattered throughout the environment are Sheikah Stones--a larger and more animated variant of the Gossip Stones of the original. This particular model can be crawled inside in order to receive “visions” of the future. These visions are actually pre-recorded snippets of gameplay, each consisting of 3-5 short clips that loosely demonstrate what to do next. They’re not meant to replace video walkthroughs (such as our own), but are instead intended to offer lost gamers at least some idea of what they should do next. You’ll unlock these visions as you reach their respective points in the game, so don’t worry, there are no spoilers. Besides offering just dungeon or boss help, they may also help direct you to Hyrule’s many secrets, such as heart pieces.

And with that, our demo session ended. Our additional hands-on time further cemented the care that has gone into updating--and more importantly, preserving--this timeless classic. The visuals have been suitably enhanced for the new hardware, and it really looks terrific in 3D (seriously, the screenshots don’t do it justice). And while there aren’t too many gameplay enhancements to speak of, the few additions have been implemented gracefully. I’d wager that many might not even realize many of these features weren’t even present in the original!

Stay tuned to GameXplain for more on Zelda as well get closer to its June 19th release date!

Click here for more Ocarina of Time 3D screenshots!