Released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has gone down as one of the most important releases of its generation, if not of all time. Considered a landmark video game that helped usher in the change to 3D back in the 90s, it was instrumental, along with the likes of Mario 64 and the original Half-Life, in helping the industry move forward. Therefore, it was almost inevitable that the game would get unofficially ported to PC, and now players can enjoy better dynamic lighting and shadows.Modder Dario is taking the PC version of Ocarina of Time and giving it a ray tracing facelift. As spotted by DSO Gaming, a couple of screenshots and a video on Twitter, show the improved lighting effects from this nearly quarter of a century old Nintendo classic. Currently, the mod is still a work in progress and there doesn't appear to be any release date yet. It's also worth noting that, as it's still in development, it's likely that any images or footage shown off will see additional improvements before the add-on rolls out.In any case, Dario's mod is looking pretty good so far, and many fans will no doubt be looking forward to the upgrade. With a couple of unofficial PC ports of Ocarina of Time being released not long ago, there are now opportunities for people to play the beloved Legend of Zelda title, which was originally only available on N64 and later GameCube. There was also the 3DS version, which came out in 2011, and now a Switch port available through a Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscription. Generally, it's been pretty difficult to play OoT without a Nintendo console.
Dario is also no stranger to enhancing the visuals of classic Nintendo games. They've managed to do a ray tracing update for Mario 64 on PC, another classic game from a bygone era. Similar to the Ocarina of Time mod, Dario gave the aging title a lighting boost, which makes it look a little more up to date, even if the overall graphics have become dated over the years.
Ocarina of Time is considered by many to be the best Legend of Zelda game ever made, with a Metacritic score of a near-perfect 99. As such, it's nice to know that people can play it on something other than a retro console. For anyone who missed the original game when it first came out 24 years ago, now seems like as good a time as any to give the PC ports a whirl.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is available on 3DS, GameCube, Nintendo 64, and Switch.
Source: DSO Gaming