A fully redone version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time arrives Thursday exclusively on the Switch 2. Nintendo has been releasing trailers and screenshots in the run-up to the launch, and the imagery, while whetting appetites, has also left fans with an overwhelming question: Why does Link look like that?

Specifically, child Link. Ocarina of Time allows players to time-hop and explore levels as child and adult versions of the game’s main protagonist. Gameplay starts as child Link in the Kokiri Forest, which looks more lush and verdant than ever in the remake. But aesthetic upgrades have also been applied to child Link, resulting in a curled-eyelash, laminated-eyebrow, douyin-lipstick yassified elf boy.

Fans have been quick to compare the design to the human-vampire hybrid Renesmee from Twilight and the Gerber Baby. “He looks so microwaveable,” one Reddit user wrote.

The changes feel all the more stark when juxtaposed with the remake’s background nonplayer characters, who remain noticeably simpler and more reminiscent of the original game’s character designs.

The original Ocarina was limited to minimal polygonal shapes and textures because of the small storage capacity in N64 cartridges, and these technical limitations produced what became a recognizable and beloved visual style. Thanks to the Switch 2’s larger storage capacity and higher memory bus speed, designers have been able to add details to Link and the other main characters that wouldn’t have been possible in the original.

Beyond better technology, though, people have different expectations of video games from major publishers.

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