The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was one of my favorite video games on the N64. When the news broke about this demo disc that would include OoT and the 64DD add-on Ura Zelda that never saw the day – I knew I had to get my hands on it.

Ura Zelda isn’t quite what I was hoping for, but it’s still a nice freebie. In a nutshell, Ura Zelda is a slightly remixed version of Ocarina of Time, with some rearranged items, and some differently placed or oversized enemies. I haven’t located any new dungeons yet, and have just made it past the first boss, but from what we’re told there is supposed to be new dungeons. How many, or if they are actually in here is still unknown.

Graphically, it’s Ocarina of Time running in high resolution. The frame rate has increased, and there’s no slowdown anymore. Honestly, that’s about it. If you’re looking for the “mature Zelda” Nintendo showed at Spaceworld 2000, this isn’t it. It just looks a lot better than the N64 version. You really can tell if you put the two side by side.

Obviously Nintendo has had to alter the control scheme a bit to fit with the GameCube controller, and it works famously. A – roll, B – use sword, L – “Z-targeting,” and R-uses the shield. They utilized the GameCube controller’s C-stick to correspond with the C buttons. The right, down, and left movements are for items, and moving the C-stick up enables free look. You can use the A, X and Y buttons for these as well, but since I’ve been playing so much Metroid lately, I’ve opted to use the C-stick instead. Within moments I was playing just like I was in the N64 version.

One of the first major changes I noticed was the addition of the egg enemies. I first encountered this in the Deku Tree. You’ll encounter an egg that hatches out mini-Ghomas (the first boss). If you don’t kill them right away, they’ll multiply. Also noted, some of the enemies, like the Deku Babas (Venus Flytrap head things) will some times be larger, which take more hits to kill. Enemy placement is different. Places where there would be a Deku Scrub, there may be a Deku Babas, or something.

The audio seems to be spot on with the N64 version, albeit possibly a tad cleaner. Nothing really to go too nuts over, but it still sounds great.

Since you’re playing on the GameCube, you’ll be utilizing the GameCube memory card for game saves. Saving takes about 5 seconds, and isn’t all that intrusive. On that note, the game takes 15 blocks on your memory card.

Ultimately, it makes me wonder how Ura Zelda would have worked on the 64DD. The mainly touted feature of the 64DD was it’s writability, but there’s nothing major being written to the memory card as far as I can tell. It could have been used to relocate of enemies and items like here, and maybe adding another dungeon or two. I guess that’ll be another mystery that'll be locked away with the failed 64DD.

Considering some form of this demo disc is coming to the US, and that this version is completely in Japanese, importers be wary. But if you can’t wait, it’s a wonderful Zelda collectable for those who are importing the next Zelda title. Who really can complain, it’s free! All-in-all, it’s a fun stroll down memory lane, but isn’t completely mind blowing. It is great to be able to play an Ocarina of Time remix in high resolution, but after about 20 minutes you’ll realize it isn’t all that different. Granted, I’ve only begun my new adventure, and haven’t encountered any new dungeons or enemies, but it’s still fun to go back after 4 years and see what I remembered, as well as warm up my skills for The Legend of Zelda: Kaze No Takuto.