On November 5, 2026, the Nintendo Switch 2 version of *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* (hereinafter referred to as *Ocarina of Time*) was released.
In the original version of *Ocarina of Time*, released in 1998, there was an Easter egg where, if you looked inside Hyrule Castle from the courtyard, you could see a painting depicting Nintendo characters such as Mario and Yoshi; however, this element has been removed from the Nintendo Switch 2 version.Eiji Aonuma, producer of the *The Legend of Zelda* series, explained the reason for this in an interview with the international media outlet Game Informer.
We want to avoid anything that might disrupt the player’s experience of the world… A shift in development philosophy over 28 years
In the Game Informer interview, Aonuma explained the reason behind the removal of the Nintendo character paintings in Hyrule Castle as follows:
Back when we placed those there, no one thought it was such a big deal. Perhaps we were approaching things with a more laid-back attitude back then.
However, this time, if players are experiencing the world and its presentation that we’ve created and find themselves wondering, “Why is Yoshi here?”, it would undermine their immersion in that world. That’s why we’re taking a slightly different approach this time.
Twenty-eight years ago, we casually included Nintendo characters as Easter eggs, but now it seems those elements were removed because they were deemed to interfere with the immersive experience of *Ocarina of Time*.
[OoTHD] The window inside Hyrule Castle has replaced the Mario characters with something else. [Spoiler]
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u/dakupoguy in
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On the international forum Reddit, images showing the replaced graphics at that location have been posted. Indeed, it appears that the Nintendo character artwork does not appear in the Switch 2 version of the game.
*The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* is currently available for the Nintendo Switch 2.
