A single animator spent an unknown number of hours hand-drawing, coloring and sound-editing under three minutes of Ocarina of Time, and the result is better looking than most of what actually gets greenlit.
No AI. No studio. Just one person named Hugo, a YouTube upload, and the sword-pull scene you’ve had in your head since 1998.
The timing could not be better for Zelda fans
An official remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is expected to launch on the Nintendo Switch 2 later this year. That’s already enough to keep the faithful busy. Then this landed.
The animation turns the 1998 title into the kind of thing you’d expect from a proper anime production, and it’s hard to watch it without wanting a full series.
Why this particular game carries that weight
First released almost 30 years ago for the Nintendo 64, Ocarina of Time isn’t just filed among the greatest video games ever made. Plenty of people will tell you it’s the best Zelda game, full stop, and they’ll fight you about it.
You follow Link as he returns to Hyrule once again, setting out to stop the evil king Ganondorf by traveling through time itself. His trusty ocarina comes along for the ride, and playing it is what lets him move forward.
The game already got a remake once. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D arrived on the Nintendo 3DS back in 2011. Another modern remake is coming later this year.
The animator did every single part of it himself
“This is a fan-animation of the video game ‘The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’, entirely hand-drawn, animated and digitally painted by me,” the video description reads. “As a professional traditional 2D animator, doing this project from A to Z, including the digital painting, coloring process and the sound editing was a challenge.”
Challenge or not, it paid off. And the fact that no AI touched any of it is part of why the response has been what it’s been. This is what people can do when they decide to put the effort in.
The comments section lost it
“Please clone yourself many times so you can make an entire movie with all your clones,” the top comment reads. “You are absolutely incredibly talented, and I’m blown away.”
Another viewer zeroed in on the source material. “What really makes this is the callback to the original artwork. Seeing it in motion is incredible. Well done.”
One fan caught a specific flourish. “I loved the Ghibli hair effect when pulling the sword,” they said. “The transition in referencing the concept art blew me away! Absolutely beautiful. Ocarina of Time is an everlasting story. Thank you for your hard work!”
Then there’s the one that needs no elaboration: “Literally the best Zelda animation I’ve ever seen. PERIOD.”
What happens next is up to two parties
Hugo hasn’t confirmed any plans to continue the project. Which is the frustrating part, because a following now exists and it’s hungry.
If he doesn’t come back to it, Nintendo has an obvious move available: hire him and finally make the animated Ocarina of Time people have been asking about for years.
