| Compared with | The Nintendo 64 game and the Nintendo 3DS remake, only where both sides can be checked |
|---|---|
| Controls | Manual jump on X, dash on a held A, free camera on the right stick, one quick-select item slot |
| New | Threads of Time, Fairy’s Thoughts, Echo Gem, Business Scrub Seed, Hall of Fallen Foes, microphone Ocarina |
| Changed numbers | 5 bottles (was 4), wallets of 200, 500 and 1,000 rupees, Great Fairy offerings, cheaper Bombchu Bowling |
| Unchanged totals | 36 Heart Pieces, 8 boss Heart Containers, 100 Gold Skulltula tokens, 6 Great Fairy Fountains |
The Switch 2 remake keeps the story, the dungeons and the big collectible totals of the Nintendo 64 game, but it plays differently. You jump by hand, dash by holding A, steer the camera freely and read your next goal in a quest log. Several prices, rewards and counts change too, so a list copied from the original is wrong in many places. The totals that stay the same are 36 Heart Pieces, 8 boss Heart Containers, 100 Gold Skulltula tokens and 6 Great Fairy Fountains. Every other page describes the remake only.
Table of Contents
Quick comparison
| Topic | Original (Nintendo 64, 3DS) | Remake (Switch 2) |
|---|---|---|
| Jumping | Automatic at ledges | Press X |
| Running fast | Repeated rolls and side hops | Hold A to roll, then dash |
| Target button | Z on Nintendo 64, L on 3DS | ZL |
| Items in use | Three C buttons | One quick-select slot, used with ZR |
| Ocarina notes | A and the C buttons (L replaces A on 3DS) | L, R, Y, X and A, or humming |
 Empty bottles | 4 | 5 |
| Starting wallet | 99 rupees | 200 rupees |
| Adult’s and Giant’s Wallet | 200 and 500 rupees | 500 and 1,000 rupees |
 Great Fairy | Gives her gift for free | Asks 25, 50, 100, 200, 300 or 500 rupees |
| Bombchu Bowling | 30 rupees for 10  Bombchus | 10 rupees per play |
 Big Poe | 50 rupees each, bottle at 1,000 points | 30 rupees each, bottle at 500 points |
| 20 tokens reward | Stone of Agony (Shard of Agony on 3DS) | Echo Gem |
| 40 tokens reward | 10 Bombchus | 20 Bombchus |
Controls and camera
Manual jump
Press X to jump. In the Nintendo 64 and 3DS games Link hopped over ledges on his own and you had no jump button. The remake lets you cross gaps and platforms by hand. It also adds a jump attack that hits much harder than a normal slash: hold the target button, press X and then Y. Side jumps and backflips remain, now taught as ZL plus a stick direction plus X by the swordsman at the Kokiri training grounds.
Dash
Hold A and Link rolls into a run. The original has no sprint, so players chained rolls or backwalked while targeting to cover ground quickly. The Basic Controls chart in the remake lists A as Actions with Dash (Hold) beneath it.
Free camera
The right stick turns the camera in all areas, and pressing it resets the view. The original locked the camera in many places. The 3DS version smoothed the targeting camera and added gyro aiming.
Quick select and shortcuts
You equip one item at a time instead of three on the C buttons. The item sits in the top-right corner and you use it with ZR. Holding R opens quick select for the other items, and the Lenses of Truth and boots sit on D-pad shortcuts. The 3DS version moved items to its touch screen, while the Switch 2 menu starts with the tabs Collection, Equipment, Items and System.
Ocarina input
The Ocarina songs use the buttons L, R, Y, X and A. The Nintendo 64 used A and the four C buttons, and the 3DS used L in place of A. You can also hum a tune into the Switch 2 microphone and the game turns it into notes.
Menus and guidance
Threads of Time
Threads of Time is a quest log that opens after the Great Deku Tree. It lists the story chapters and side quests with your next objective. The original has nothing like it, apart from the 3DS Sheikah Stone hints. Banners such as Event Update and Forest Temple Mysteries point you to it. See Threads of Time for every chapter.
Fairy’s Thoughts
Navi stops beside walls, rocks and trees where a fairy’s thoughts linger and reads out a hint. Some solve a puzzle and some lead to Heart Pieces. They are separate from the Gossip Stones, which the original used for hints. See Fairy’s Thoughts for the list.
Maps and minimaps
Areas such as Hyrule Castle Town now have a minimap, and the world map shows how many Heart Pieces and Gold Skulltulas you have yet to collect. The 3DS version showed the map on its second screen, and the Nintendo 64 game had no such counters.
Time keeps moving
Time passes in towns and dungeons, and you can sleep in a bed to change the time of day and heal. In the original, time stopped in those places. The Sun’s Song still swaps day and night.
Collectibles and rewards
Five bottles
The remake has 5 Empty Bottles, one more than the original’s 4. The new one comes from the Potion Shop in Hyrule Castle Town, where the shopkeeper asks you to catch a bug that escaped. The Cucco Lady, Talon, Ruto’s letter and the Poe Collector still give the others. See Bottle Locations.
Wallet sizes
Your first wallet holds 200 rupees, where the original held 99. The Adult’s Wallet, from the Cursed Rich Man at 10 Gold Skulltula tokens, holds 500, and the Giant’s Wallet at 30 tokens holds 1,000. The original sizes were 200 and 500.
Echo Gem
The 20-token reward is the Echo Gem, which replaces the Stone of Agony (the Shard of Agony on 3DS). Equip it and it reacts with light and sound when a Gold Skulltula is near, stronger as you close in. The 40-token reward doubles to 20 Bombchus.
Great Fairy offerings
The six Great Fairy Fountains remain, but each fairy now asks for rupees: 25, 50, 100, 200, 300 and 500, one amount per fountain. In the original every fairy gave her gift without a fee. See Great Fairy Fountains for which fountain asks what.
Heart Pieces
The total stays at 36 Pieces of Heart, but a number of them sit in new places or need different tricks. Cuccos carry you to rooftops and across Gerudo Valley, and the Graveyard piece no longer needs the Sun’s Song. The Ice Cavern and Hyrule Field water hole pieces are gone, replaced by the Hyrule Field chest with the lock left undone and the Death Mountain Crater Business Scrub. Heart Pieces are picked up with A, not with the Boomerang or Hookshot. The original list does not match, so use Heart Piece Locations.
Bombchu Bowling
A play costs 10 rupees in the remake. The original charged 30 rupees for 10 Bombchus and handed out a random prize. Here three plays in a row pay Bombchus first, then the Biggest Bomb Bag, then a Piece of Heart.
Big Poes and the Poe Collector
New in the remake
Business Scrub Seed
The Business Scrub Seed does not exist in the original. Plant it anywhere, even in a dungeon, and a wandering Business Scrub appears to sell you goods. Seeds turn up in chests and as rewards.
Hall of Fallen Foes
As an adult, lie down on the glowing green bed in the ruined house beside the lab at Lake Hylia and you dream of the Hall of Fallen Foes, a round hall of statues of every monster you have beaten. You can read about each one and rematch your strongest foes from the outer ring. The 3DS version had a Boss Challenge after the ending, and the Nintendo 64 game had no rematch mode.
Voiced cutscenes and graphics
Characters now speak their lines in the cutscenes, and the whole game uses new, softer models and lighting. Link’s name cannot be changed, and Navi gives no enemy information before the Great Deku Tree.
Other adjustments
Deku Scrubs have to be hit directly after you deflect their nuts. The Fairy Ocarina stays in your inventory once you have the Ocarina of Time. Enemies drop only one item and dropped rupees do not disappear. Kaepora Gaebora no longer asks trick yes or no questions, and spin attacks no longer cost magic when charged.
