When it comes to Zelda games, none stand taller than The Ocarina Of Time and A Link to the Past. The N64 and SNES (respectively) games represent two of the best examples of the medium. They have been remastered, ported, redone (the recent 3DS A Link Between Worlds) but they have never been married. That is, until now.
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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 2D (OOT2D) hopes to bring the storyline of Ocarina and combine it with the sprite-based graphics of ALttP. The project is being undertaken by a small group of fans who are meticulously recreating the entire world, cutscenes and enemy AI utilizing the C language.
Gaming Rebellion interviewed the main developer, who goes by the name Cheerful Sage, and who is the only core member of the team. Others contribute sprites and music and other elements when they can, but there are no more than 10 contributors. If you're talented in some regard, you can contribute to the game's development by contacting the team here.
Currently, the team is developing the game for the PC only. Cheerful Sage is up for different versions, stating "If enough fans would like a mobile version, I don't see why not, but I will first have to acquire a few different mobile devices." And since the team is not taking donations, that may be harder than it looks.
Nor is this the first time a project like this has been undertaken. All previous attempts have faltered, some speculating that the House of N put a stop to them. Sage, however, remains cheerful. "Nintendo is usually a pretty cool cat about fan projects. As long as we don't ask for donations, I don't think we have anything to worry about. I think every team attempting it thus far has cracked under the pressure and quit, since OoT 2D is like trying to put a square peg through a round hole, so I don't think the cancellation of any of them had to do with Nintendo."
He adds, "If Nintendo does happen to issue a cease and desist, however, we will reluctantly have to cancel the project, along with all of the future Zelda fan-games we have in mind."
The project is 10% complete at the moment, a long way off , but you can download a working demo at the site. Oh and don't worry, Epona will be usable. You can even do some horseback archery if you fancy.
Check it out below.