Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life

Sitting in our Monday meeting, a theme emerged when answering the standard question, "Play any games over the weekend?"

Following on from last week's announcement (and months of rumours), we've all got Ocarina of Time on the brain. Jim and Ollie have been replaying via NSO, and the rest of us have only resisted the urge thanks to other games on the docket or life getting in the way.

It's the same whenever a new Zelda is announced. I remember how the upcoming release of Tears of the Kingdom sent us back into the cellars to quench our thirst on a previous vintage. I never finished that Skyward Sword HD playthrough, but I put a good 20 hours into it, and it got me in the mood. It's only natural!

And yet, without knowing the exact form the upcoming Ocarina remake will take, it presents a poser: To replay or not replay? Despite our natural urges for a draught of Hyrule's finest, we're split on our replay plans over at Nintendo Life Towers.

For some of us (well, for me, at least), a Zelda game is such an event that we tend not to replay them often. Over the years, I've gone back and run through the Young Link section in Ocarina several times — just to revisit Lake Hylia in the morning, for instance — but my only 100% replay came with the 3DS remaster in 2011. For whatever reason, these games stand apart from others for me, feeling more like historic moments I don't want to relive ad nauseam. I treasure them and then file them away in the memory banks.

But for others, these are comfort games like any other, as approachable and replayable on any given Sunday as a Jurassic Park rewatch or taking a favourite book from the shelf. Jim replays Ocarina every year.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life

This topic bleeds into previous discussions about what we all want from a (now-not-hypothetical) Ocarina remake. I would far prefer a total, REmake-style overhaul, myself. A paintover might work for Star Fox, but Ocarina? That deserves the most premium of premium treatment.

Then again, past evidence suggests something much more faithful than Capcom's reimaginings; when it comes to remakes, Nintendo tends to follow the original blueprint closely. And murmurs based on NOA's website blurb, which described the upcoming remake as "Ocarina of Time with stunning visuals, updated designs, and timeless gameplay", also suggest a more straightforward, 1:1 reworking.

At this stage, with so little revealed, it's impossible to have an informed opinion - we'll just have to wait until Nintendo pulls back the curtain and gives us more than a glimpse of the boy without a fairy.

And let's be absolutely clear: I will be playing this regardless. The opportunity to show my kids an updated Ocarina, possibly even recapturing some of that wonder from 1998, will be an experience to treasure, whatever its form. With that in mind, I won't be replaying any old versions beforehand.

But what about you? Have you already started a playthrough? Are you saving yourself until the looking-at-the-slate-probably-November release? Have you, in fact, never played Ocarina of Time? Let us know in the poll and comments.

Will you be playing Ocarina of Time before the Switch 2 remake comes out?

And speaking of never having played Ocarina, former NL video producer and fine fellow Felix Sanchez played Ocarina for the first time just a few years ago and chronicled his NSO journey in a series of live streams. Check them out below if you fancy dipping back in but can't commit to a full run yourself: