---
title: "Ocarina of Time remake could have made ReDeads ‘very, very scary’, Eiji Aonuma says, but Nintendo held back"
url: https://badiyaa.com/ocarina-of-time-remake-redead-scary-aonuma/
published: 2026-11-13T13:54:00+00:00
modified: 2026-11-13T13:54:00+00:00
section: Gaming
publisher: Badiyaa
---

# Ocarina of Time remake could have made ReDeads ‘very, very scary’, Eiji Aonuma says, but Nintendo held back

Eiji Aonuma says the Ocarina of Time remake could have made ReDeads very, very scary, but the team tuned them so new and younger players stay in.

The ReDeads in Nintendo’s new Ocarina of Time could have been far worse. Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma says the Switch 2 remake’s team had the tools to make its horror enemies “very, very scary” and chose to hold back so younger and first-time players would not be scared off.

Aonuma made the comment in an interview published on November 4, the night before the remake launched, when he was asked about the enemies that frightened a generation of Nintendo 64 players: the shrieking ReDeads, the Dead Hand miniboss in the Shadow Temple and the grabbing Wallmasters.

## What Aonuma actually said

He did not say the team cut anything. His point was about calibration. In 1998, he explained, the enemies needed to be “a little bit scary” because Hyrule has both light and dark sides, with Link on the friendly side and Ganon on the frightening one. The remake keeps that contrast.

The difference now is the hardware. “If we really tried, of course, we could make something that was very, very scary,” Aonuma said. “But this is supposed to be for all kinds of players.” He added that the team tuned those moments carefully so they would not put off new or younger players.

Asked how the original ReDead scream was recorded, Aonuma laughed and said he did not recall.

## Part of a wider rule for the remake

The ReDead tuning fits the principle Nintendo’s developers laid out in their own Ask the Developer interview series: the visuals may change, but the experience does not. Director HokWai Ng said the team rebuilt Hyrule from scratch with modern technology while trying not to spoil anyone’s memories of the 28-year-old original.

Producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi raised a related problem in that series. N64-era characters were exaggerated to read clearly on limited hardware, and copying those features exactly with today’s detail “might look a little creepy,” he said. The art team’s answer was a deliberately handmade look inspired by puppet shows and practical-effects films.

Other changes followed the same logic. Aonuma had the notorious Water Temple reworked, calling it “overdue homework,” with easier item switching and see-through lattice walls. Boss fights got clearer cues too: Gohma now shields its weak eye with its arms whenever it cannot be hurt.

## How the scares compare

In practice, the remake treats fear the way it treats difficulty. Our reading of both interviews: the Water Temple got easier to navigate, Gohma got easier to read, and the ReDeads got richer visuals and sound without being pushed to their full horror potential. Fans who remember the scream are still getting the scream.

The approach seems to be working commercially. As Badiyaa reported, the [Ocarina of Time remake sold 5.2 million copies in four days](https://badiyaa.com/ocarina-of-time-remake-sales-5-2-million/) on Switch 2. If you are chasing completion, our guide notes that [all 100 Gold Skulltulas earn a 200-Rupee prize](https://badiyaa.com/ocarina-of-time-switch-2-gold-skulltulas-100-reward/).

The remake launched on Thursday, November 5, 2026, as a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, timed to the Legend of Zelda series’ 40th anniversary.

*Image: 0x010C, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons*

*This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/).*