The Legend of Zelda series has been around for a long time now, long enough for its more popular titles to get at least one remake or remaster each. It’s always nice when old games get brought forward to new hardware, but this prompts a question: what is the best or definitive way to play? Is the original always unquestioningly the best, or do the little updates that come as part of remasters truly elevate the experience? I say it, like so many things in life, depends.

If visuals are one’s main concern, then the obvious answer should be that remasters/remakes are always better, right? After all, they always look better. Evidence in favor of this would be the likes of Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD, since both run better, smoother and with much nicer visuals than they did on the original Wii. But they’re largely just cleaned up versions of what was already there, as opposed to the Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask remakes for 3DS, which go so far as to alter the original art style.

It’s not a dramatic change, mind you. In some cases, things just look a bit more cleaned up and smooth. In other cases, though, like with our main characters, their features don’t really match your mental image, creating a kind of gap that gnaws at you as you play. The visuals are still better, but they aren’t what they “should” be and, in the case of both Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of Time, the world and characters wind up looking a tad more cartoony than before.

For me personally, the extra clarity and higher frame rates are also a bit disconcerting. Games are designed with the limitations of the time in mind, so to have everything so clearly visible all the time takes away from things like the tension in dungeons or the sense of discovery when out and about in the games’ more open areas. It does look better, though.

Another metric could be that of overall experience. What plays better? Original or remake? Zelda remakes all have little adjustments made to them to help improve the overall quality of life. Wind Waker HD has the omni-directional sail, Ocarina has fast item-switching and Majora’s Mask has its new save system (one that doesn’t rely on turning back time). Again, for the sake of accessibility and adherence to modern standards, it should always be the remakes/remasters since they have modern playerrs in mind and play that much more smoothly.

What if you want the intended experience, though? In the case of Wind Waker HD and Ocarina of Time, the adjustments are minor and even optional. All they really do is save you time. In Majora’s Mask, however, the new save system messes with the flow a bit. It behaves similarly to the owl statues in the original, but doesn’t tie you to them and creates a permanent save state whereas permanent save used to only be possible via the Song of Time.

You still have to loop like before, but now you can be less strategic about when and where you save, which inevitably changes how you approach the game and its challenges. Saving anytime means that time passing (both in-game and IRL) becomes less important, which I think undermines an important part of the game. You’re supposed to feel some of the same urgency Link is, and that doesn’t happen in a “save anywhere” situation.

There’s also the significant alterations to Majora’s Mask’s bosses. They all play different from before and not for the better. All the fights in the new version are dragged out longer, making successive clears that much more annoying and less fun. So here, while the game does play more smoothly, you’re getting a vastly different and not necessarily better experience from the original.

Speaking of different experiences, what about Ocarina of Time: Master Quest? Is it the superior choice to the original Ocarina of Time? Everything is the same except for the dungeons, which have been completely re-done to feature harder puzzles. Also Link takes double damage. Is harder better? Or, are the original puzzles better designed? Can this even be quantified? I guess the answer lies in how hard you like your dungeons to be.

I suppose, in the end, there’s no real answer to this question. It all hinges on what you value as a game player and Zelda fan. Personally, I’ll almost always choose the original versions of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask because they’re what I grew up with. For Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, though, I’d play the HD versions if I had access to them. Small visual upgrades and optional gameplay changes aren’t enough to ruin them, I think. For me, it’s all about the experience. And, it that experience matches expectations, then it’s all good.

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What about you? Which versions do you prefer? What’s most important for you when playing the older Zelda games?

Image from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS