14 DAY TRIAL // The upcoming version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 3DS will be more user friendly, thanks to the improved touchscreen controls, which will help in controlling main character Link and his inventory.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, when it first appeared for the Nintendo 64 console many years ago, became notoriously hard to master, especially when players reached the infamous Water Temple.
At that point, gamers needed to use the Iron Boots to sink Link down, solve puzzles on multiple tiers and then equip other items.
The 3DS version, through the enhanced features of the portable console, will be more user friendly this time around.
"One of [series creator Eiji Aonuma's] long regrets was not necessarily the layout, or the puzzles or the difficulty of the water temple but the fact that the water temple involved putting the iron boots on and off, taking them on, taking them off, ... to move up and down in the water," said Nintendo's Bill Trinen.
"To do that you had to press the start button , you'd have to switch over to your inventory screen, you'd have to scroll around to get down to your iron boots and then, of course, in between, you're switching out the iron boots with the hookshot and things like this."
With the new touchscreen interface, however, things will be much better.
"[Aonuma] feels he's finally able to provide the experience the way it should have been in the water temple ... on the touch panel, you have access to your inventory, so instead of having to scroll down, to find all the different items you're going to have very simple and intuitive access to all the items and the equipment you're going to need," added Trinen.
Ocarina of Time on the 3DS will feature improved visuals, gyroscopic motion control for the first-person "look" mode, new items like the slingshot, but, at least according to Trinen, there won't be any bonus content like extra dungeons.
Judging by GameStop's pre-order list, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the 3DS is set to arrive on June 2 for $39.99.