This week, social networks have been filled with confrontations between Link's followers and lovers of pocket monsters. The second group believes that Pokémon Legends: Arceus It's fine graphically, but the other group thinks the opposite. For them, Breath of the Wild is the technical ceiling of Nintendo Switch, and they insist time and time again that Game Freak hasn't matched the visual quality of a game from five years ago. Discussions aside... How could it become a Zelda —or an open world Pokémon— if there were no technical limitations?
This would be a hypothetical Ocarina of Time with Unreal Engine 5
Nintendo Switch is not the most powerful console on the market, and it did not aspire to be when it was introduced either. Those of the Big N changed course after GameCube, a very innovative console that was crushed by a competition that had better hardware and easier programming. Nintendo decided to go for the gameplay instead of the graphics. And though we've seen wonders like Breath of the Wild o Twilight princess in very limited hardware, that does not mean that let's dream of titles that have the graphic quality that we usually see on other platforms such as Xbox Series, PlayStation 5 or PC.
Ocarina of Time has already had ports to various platforms, but the youtuber rwanlink has dared to create a small remake to give us some clues about What would a Zelda game be like on a next-gen console?. For your project you have used the motor U, which has been available to developers since last September, and it looks like it will be the predominant engine in this next-gen.
Hyrule is filled with vegetation, details and reflections
According to RwanLink, this project is the most ambitious that he has carried out on his channel. Is recreating some of the most iconic environments of the original video game, and in a matter of a month he has already managed to make the Kakariko village and Lake Hylia.
The two videos that have been posted so far are absolutely stunning. They not only show the power of the engine, but also let us see the technical quality that it could have a Zelda video game if it did not have the typical barriers of Nintendo consoles. And all this, taking into account that it is a recreation made by a single person, who is in charge of all aspects of the animation, as well as the art direction. With a dedicated team, the result would be even better if possible.
Could RwanLink have problems with Nintendo?
We imagine that RwanLink will do some more episode of his peculiar vision of Hyrule in 4K, so if you like it, check out his channel from time to time. We just hope that Nintendo doesn't mind the work of this creator. He wouldn't be the first to get in trouble for showing a alternative view of intellectual property of the Japanese.