Nintendo's recent 40th Anniversary Direct revealed a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a move met with a mixture of excitement and apprehension from fans. While the game's updated art style and potential gameplay additions have been discussed, a significant point of contention is the expanded role of the Zelda Notes companion app.
First introduced with the Nintendo Switch App for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda Notes offers features such as an in-game map, gameplay statistics, voice-acted logs, and item sharing. Previously, these features were considered non-intrusive additions to the gameplay experience. However, the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake marks the first time Nintendo is integrating the app as a core component of the game's launch content.
The remake's version of Zelda Notes will include a virtual ocarina, a trivia minigame, and a stats page. More significantly, it introduces "Gossip Quest," a GeoGuessr-style quest system where players must identify locations based on in-game images to earn musical rewards. Crucially, the hints for these quests will only be accessible through the Zelda Notes app, compelling players to use their smartphones while playing.
This reliance on a secondary device has drawn criticism, particularly at a time when many players are actively seeking to disconnect from their phones and immerse themselves in gaming. The current cultural climate, marked by a desire for more mindful leisure activities, makes Nintendo's emphasis on second-screen applications, a trend largely abandoned by other companies in the 2010s, seem particularly out of step.
Critics point out that Nintendo has already made substantial modifications to the Ocarina of Time remake, including new dialogue, a jump button, and expanded areas. The argument is that integrating features like Gossip Quest directly into the game, perhaps through an in-world NPC or a quest board, would have been a more harmonious approach, preserving the game's original feel while offering engaging side content without disrupting immersion.
Zelda titles are characteristically solitary and focused on exploration within their game worlds. The necessity of pulling out a phone to complete quests in a game designed for immersive, phone-free experiences is seen as a fundamental misstep. While companion apps might serve a purpose for games involving quick messaging or stat checking, they are viewed as detrimental to the atmosphere of a game like Ocarina of Time, especially when navigating its iconic landscapes. Despite potential enhancements to the remake's visual fidelity or minor delays to its release, the core concern remains Nintendo's insistence on integrating phone-based gameplay elements that detract from the intended player experience.