Fan tributes in the gaming world have always been a fascinating challenge for amateur developers. Using the established characters of a popular universe is a great way to get attention on an ambitious new creator, but it also risks attracting negative (or legal) attention from the companies that control the IP in question. It’s usually a good way to get eyes on a new project, but it’s rare to see the fan concepts actually materialize into a full game.
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Most of them fizzle out over time, but CryZENx’s efforts to remake Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time remained strong for over a decade. As time has worn on, their efforts have only become more pronounced and impressive — however, the project has finally been killed by Nintendo formally doing their own remake. It’s a shame, given the amount of impressive work that went into the project, even if it feels like it was always
CryZENx’s Ocarina Of Time Remake Has Been In The Works For A Decade
Even if you didn’t know CryZENx by name, you’ve likely seen the YouTuber’s work on a hypothetical remake of Ocarina of Time. The amateur developer has spent a decade working on a faithful remake of the classic Legend of Zelda game, recreating the Nintendo 64 fantasy epic in Unreal Engine. The videos of the remake have been uploaded to YouTube over the years, showcasing how vivid the polygonal graphics could look in a more modern style. The update only got more impressive over time, with the amateur developer pushing themselves as a creative by faithfully recreating the original game in an entirely new engine — finding a happy medium between classic touches of the beloved title and the modern modern aesthetic of game design. With each new video detailing the progress of their playable demo, CryZENx gradually earned over 250,000 subscribers and plenty of followers on Kickstarter, with the remake becoming famous among players.
Notably, despite Nintendo’s tendency to be very strict on its recreations and fan projects, CryZENx’s efforts remained active online for years. Given how popular the videos from the creator were on online platforms like YouTube, there was little chance that the remake wouldn’t pop up on their radar. As opposed to games like Palworld, which Nintendo claimed was actively monetizing their efforts to replicate the success of Pokémon, the pure fandom behind CryZENx’s efforts potentially made it less of a concern for Nintendo. There’s even a chance that the success of the videos helped convince Nintendo that there was an appetite among the broader player base for a fresh reimagining of the game. However, the confirmation that Nintendo is moving forward with an Ocarina of Time remake has led CryZENx to announce that they are stepping away from the project, citing a desire not to step on Nintendo’s plans for the next game in the series.
We Were Never Going To Get CryZENx’s Zelda Remake — But We Deserve Their Next Game
At the end of the day, there was little chance CryZENx was going to ever be able to fully complete and release their remake of Ocarina of Time. While it was one of the most impressive gaming fan projects I’ve ever seen, the sheer faithfulness of the gameplay recreation and the use of a typically non-Nintendo engine meant it was never going to get the chance to be fully completed and released. While demos had been released, there wasn’t a full game. Any intentions of monetizing the project beyond fan support through platforms like Kickstarter were going to be rendered moot by the inherently copyright-infringing aspects of the project.
Even beyond that, there are clear visual similarities between what CryZENx has been refining over the last decade and what Nintendo has teased about the Ocarina of Time remake, highlighting how hard it was going to be for the remake to ever make it out of the fandom space and into the hands of gamers. It’s a shame, though. CryZENx has been putting in lots of impressive work over the years on the project, and now most of it will remain online as proof of concept for a remake that can never formally be finalized or released for fans.
Things remain bright for CryZENx, however, who has already announced that they are taking votes on the next game they endeavor to remake — with options including Diddy Kong Racing, Metroid Prime Hunters, or Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess. Those games likely face the same threat of never being released as a result of Nintendo’s focus on copyright. However, it’s worth pondering what the amateur developer could do with the decade of experience they gained in building a new version of a gaming classic. It’d be fascinating to see how they approach creating a fresh fantasy epic, seeing what they take from the Zelda formula and what they bring to the concept. Especially with the news that the remake won’t be moving forward, it’s time for CryZENx to use their fame in gaming circles to craft their own world.
