Somehow, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is 25 years old. The action-adventure masterpiece was released on the N64 in Japan on November 21st and in North America on the 23rd (Does that make anyone else feel old? Anyway, moving on…)
To celebrate the quarter-century milestone, YouTuber RwanLink recreated the central hub of Castle Town in Unreal Engine 5, but not as a game — as a Studio Ghibli-inspired short film.
In a video, he explains that he spent over 600 hours across four months — while still maintaining a full-time job — to produce the short. In it, you can see the world of Hyrule in gorgeous, smooth animation that is definitely reminiscent of a Ghibli work. Since everything was built using Unreal Engine, RwanLink’s video also shows him playing as Link in the same art style.
Given the beauty on display here, one would wonder why Nintendo hasn’t greenlit a Zelda animated film, especially considering Mario got a massively successful one earlier this year. However, it was announced earlier this month that Nintendo is working with Sony Pictures (ironic, given its rivalry with PlayStation) on a live-action Zelda movie.
For now, though, we can admire the splendor of this Ocarina of Time fan work. It should be noted that unless you still have a 3DS to play Ocarina of Time 3D (or, of course, an actual N64), the only official way to play the game on modern hardware is on Nintendo Switch through a Switch Online membership.
Image credit: RwanLink
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