The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remastered introduces fifteen changes, covering character voice acting, controls, exploration, visual details, and map layout. Key characters and major cutscenes will feature full voice acting, though Link remains silent.
Characters such as Zelda, Ganondorf, and Saria now speak. Kaori Mizuhashi returns as Navi's Japanese voice actress after 28 years, while the English version features new voice actors due to expanded dialogue. In terms of controls, players can actively control Link's jumps, and swimming mechanics are smoother, though still limited by breath capacity.
Loading screens when entering and exiting buildings in towns and settlements have been removed. Hyrule Castle Town now features more residents, merchants, and travelers, with increased interactions between NPCs. The camera can now rotate freely, and improvements have been made to textures, weather effects, vegetation, and clothing details.
A new "Timeline" feature records story progress, achievements, and current quests on an ever-expanding tapestry, reducing players' reliance on on-screen markers. The terrain, rivers, ruins, and layout of Lon Lon Ranch in Hyrule Field have also been adjusted.
Other changes include replacing the Mirror of Truth with goggles that Link actually wears, allowing Iron Boots to be mapped to the D-pad, and skipping ocarina performance animations. Link's finger movements now correspond to the notes played. Additionally, the Switch 2 version is reportedly around 24.54GB in size, compared to approximately 32MB for the original and 512MB for the 3DS version.