Nintendo has defended its decision to scrub the secret appearance of Mario characters from its The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake.

Hidden away inside Hyrule Castle, the game's original 1998 version included a wall of portraits that featured Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Yoshi artwork taken from Super Mario 64.

Visit the same area in Nintendo's newly-launched Switch 2 version, however, and all references to the Mushroom Kingdom have been removed. On a similar note, a selection of Zelda: Twilight Princess artwork has also been cut, having been snuck in when Ocarina of Time was re-released on 3DS.

Now, Nintendo has addressed its choice to remove these Easter eggs — and said that what was once a more "carefree" approach within Nintendo to referencing other games has been reconsidered.

"Certainly, at the time, when we put those there, I don't think anybody thought it was too big a deal," legendary Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma told Game Informer. "Maybe there was a more carefree or comfortable approach to that sort of thing.

"But looking at it now... given the overall way that we're creating this world and giving the player that form of expression, if they look up and they think, 'Why is Yoshi there?' We don't want that moment to interrupt their experience of the world in that way. So we're feeling a little bit differently about it this time."

While some fans might feel like it's a shame to see this more carefree attitude to Easter eggs is gone, it's fair to point out that Mario 64 Easter eggs (or Skyward Sword ones, for that matter) would make less sense today.

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