The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 is a game full of Easter Eggs, secrets, and hidden mechanics (did you know if a butterfly lands on your Deku Stick, it summons a fairy?). Now in its second remake, not every secret has made its way forward through the previous iterations, but many have. Below you will learn about a few of the secrets that made the cut, and others that didn’t.
No More Nintendo Character Portraits Near Zelda
In the courtyard where Link first meets Zelda, there is arguably the most fourth-wall-breaking Easter Egg in the whole game. If you don’t rush to Zelda and instead pause and enter first-person to look around, you will see portraits of other Nintendo characters through the windows, like Mario and Yoshi. In the 3DS remake, the portraits are replaced by an image of a Mario stage.
For the 2026 remake, there are no references to other Nintendo characters. Instead, the tapestry you build over the course of the game is on display. Removing the reference to Nintendo characters outside of the Zelda universe is understandable, but it is a little odd that art representing the full adventure of the game – an adventure that has not yet concluded – is on the wall.
There Is Still A Guard You Can Annoy
As stated above, the Nintendo character portraits are gone, but there is still a guard you can annoy. If you fire a Deku Seed into the left window, a guard will pop out, yell at you, and then throw a bomb at you. You can’t pick up the bomb. In fact, at this point in the game, you haven’t even seen a bomb.
Malon And Talon Still Sport Bowser Clasps
The Hyrule Castle portrait references to Yoshi and Mario are gone (though Mario and Luigi are still kind of in the game in a way), but Bowser gets a pass for some reason. Both Malon and her dad, Talon, are still wearing Bowser pins on their clothes. And unlike the N64 game where the detail was a little vague, there is no mistaking it here.
The Gossip Stones Are Still Weird
Gossip Stones are all over Ocarina of Time and it takes a while to understand what they do. If you hit them with a sword, they tell you the time, and if you play Zelda’s Lullaby near them, they refill your magic. If you do the Happy Mask Salesman’s side quest, interacting with them while wearing the Mask of Truth offers little hints and details about the world. But then there are interactions that are just odd for no reason. Blowing up a bomb near a Gossip Stone still makes it take off like a rocket ship, and using the Megaton Hammer still flattens them for a moment like a Looney Tunes.
Zelda’s Lullaby Still Fixes Signs
And speaking of playing Zelda’s Lullaby for inanimate objects, if you slash a sign to pieces with your sword and regret your words and deeds, you can play the iconic tune to make the signs reform and become readable again.
No More Skyward Sword Art
This detail was exclusive to the 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time, and surprising no one, it has been removed. Ocarina of Time launched in June 2011 and Nintendo released Skyward Sword about five months later in November. For… marketing purposes, I guess, Skyward Sword art could be found in Lonlon Ranch, the Bombchu Shop in Hyrule Castle Town, and the Gerudo Fortress. It was a fun Easter Egg to discover back in 2011, especially since Skyward Sword was still months away, but these days it’s a bit of an odd inclusion.
The “Mario And Luigi” Ghosts Are Unchanged
Though never explicit, the composer ghosts guarding the Sun’s Song (and Link’s first ReDead encounter) have always been assumed to be inspired by Mario and Luigi. They are brothers; Flat is short, squat, and red; Sharp is lanky and green. They still appear in Ocarina of Time this way, which isn’t surprising, since they are important characters you must meet to get a very useful song. Fans have also speculated that Talon and Ingo are Mario and Luigi-inspired for similar reasons, but it’s worth noting that they are not brothers.
No More Inappropriate Hookshotting
In the Spirit Temple there is a large statue of a woman and for reasons that have never been explained, Link could attach his hookshot to her breasts. It served no purpose. It didn’t help solve a puzzle. If anything, it was confusing. But we all tried it and there is no shame in admitting it! That was removed for the 3DS remake, and it remains removed in 2026.
Koroks In The Lost Woods (Kind Of)
This is a very subtle reference to Wind Waker/Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom and is potentially the only addition to the remake that looks toward the future of the Zelda franchise. Obviously, plenty of characters in Ocarina later appear in Majora’s Mask (another remake of that is hopefully being considered), but it would be inaccurate to call those intentional Easter Eggs.
However, in Kokiri Forest and in the neighboring Lost Woods, the magical debris floating in the air often resembles a Korok as it would later appear in the series. It makes sense, too, because the Koroks are meant to be what the Kokiri transformed into following The Great Flood.
For more on the Ocarina of Time remake, you can find our review here. You can also find our interview with the game’s producers here.
Story via Game Informer. Read the original article
