Remaking a game like The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time required Nintendo to nail a fine balance between staying faithful to the original and updating it where it mattered. The Ocarina of Time remake largely sticks to the original's foundations while adding features like a dedicated jump button and updated controls. That was one of several changes, as Nintendo's core design philosophy was to modernize execution and comfort while preserving the original emotional and narrative intent.

As Legend of Zelda producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi explained in an interview with GameSpot, early pre-production focused on setting clear boundaries for what would and wouldn't change in the remake. "One of the first discussions we had leading up to the full-blown development of the title was really clearly establishing what it is we were going to change and what it is that we weren't going to change," Fujibayashi said via a translator. "Starting with the kind of stuff that we wanted to change, was really focused on leveraging the capabilities of the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware because it was going to be developed for that hardware. Leveraging all that capability so that we can remove any stress from the gameplay experience so that people can enjoy the game, fully."

In addition to the changes in the game's controls, Fujibayashi added that the updated graphics also allowed the team to "provide a lot more information" to players, and the sound design also got a big upgrade: 5.1-channel surround sound for the background music.

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