Beginner Tips

    
                               

Whether you are new to Ocarina of Time or played it on the Nintendo 64, these tips will help you get started in the Switch 2 remake. They don't spoil anything past the first few hours.

For Everyone

  • Check the Threads of Time. If you forget where you are supposed to go, the quest log in the menu tells you your current objective. Navi will also nudge you when she has something to say.
  • Learn to Z-target. Lock on to an enemy, hold up your shield and wait for an opening. Most enemies, including the early Deku Babas and Keese, are much easier that way. You'll want a Deku Shield from the Kokiri Shop before you go into the Great Deku Tree.
  • Use the new jump. Gaps that look too wide often aren't now that you control the jump yourself. On the other hand, Link won't jump for you any more, so press the button before you run off a ledge.
  • Put your most-used items on the directional buttons. Bombs, the Hookshot and later the Iron Boots and Lens of Truth are worth keeping close. That saves a lot of trips into the menu, especially in the Water Temple.
  • Talk to everyone, and read the Fairy Thoughts. Some of them hint at hidden Heart Pieces, such as the chest and the Business Scrub in Hyrule Field.
  • Watch the map counters. The map now tells you how many Heart Pieces and Gold Skulltulas each region still hides, so you can tell at a glance where you have missed something.
  • Mind the clock. Time now passes in towns too. Some things only happen at night, like Dampé's grave-digging in the Kakariko Graveyard, and the Treasure Chest Shop and Richard the dog in Castle Town, and others only happen by day. The Sun's Song skips ahead once you have it.

Things Worth Doing Early

  • Collect every bottle you find. A bottle lets you carry a fairy that brings you back when you run out of hearts, and you'll need them for potions and side quests too.
  • Plant Magic Beans as a child. The bean salesman at Zora's River sells them. Every patch of soft soil you plant one in grows into a platform you can ride as an adult, and several of them carry you to a Piece of Heart.
  • Pick up Gold Skulltula tokens as you go. Bring them to the House of Skulltula in Kakariko Village for rewards, including the new Echo Gem at 20 tokens, which helps you track down the rest. See our Gold Skulltulas page.
  • Learn the Scarecrow's Song at Lake Hylia as a child, then come back as an adult. Pierre the scarecrow appears when you play it in certain places and gives you a Hookshot target, and you need him to reach a few Heart Pieces.

For Returning Players

  • Don't trust your old route for collectibles. Several Heart Pieces and Gold Skulltulas were moved. The Ice Cavern Heart Piece is gone, and Hyrule Field has new Heart Pieces in place of the old grottos.
  • Sequence breaks are mostly gone. Jumps that used to rely on the automatic hop, like the early climb to the bean-plant Heart Piece on Death Mountain Trail, no longer work. Most pieces have to be reached the way the designers intended.
  • The order is the same. The dungeons, songs and story are unchanged, so you can still follow our original Ocarina of Time walkthrough for the main quest. Just use the remake's own Heart Piece list.
  • There is one save slot, so you can't keep a second playthrough going on the same profile.