Zelda De-Make's on the Game Boy Color
If you are a regular reader of RetroGame.News then you are probably aware of a Game Boy Color de-make for a famous (or infamous) Zelda game for the CD-i. If it’s news to you then you should read our previous article on Zelda’s Adventure for the Game Boy Color. While the game was a bit average on the CD-i, with the digitized environments being a bit on the blurry side and B grade FMV cut scenes it, surprisingly, translated quite well to the Game Boy Color. The result of the project was a very polished and well made version of Zelda’s Adventure, though without the cutscenes as the GBC isn’t capable of FMV.
Ocarina of Time De-Make for the Game Boy Color
However we are looking at a different game today but a similar situation. A game dev has started working on a de-make for the Game Boy Color of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (a.k.a Zelda 64). This game is a classic, even a masterpiece and the source of many pleasant childhood memories adventuring in the digital realm. It really is an epic game and I highly recommend that you finish the original game on the Nintendo 64 if you haven’t yet. This is a bit of a strange choice for a game to de-make and is also extremely ambitious as the game is very long and complex. I’m sure it can be done for sure, but it won’t be easy and it will be a lot of work. Especially for a team of only two people.
An Ambitious Project
None the less two motivated amateur game developers have taken on this very ambitious project and have released a video showing a short preview of the game. It is unclear how far along the game development process is as there is no webpage, no ROM demo to download or anything. There is just a very short video showing Link entering the Temple of Time and going to the altar. He then goes into the inventory screen and selects the ocarina before playing the Song of Time.
The game looks great and the vibrancy of the Game Boy Colors color palette really works well. The preview so far seems to show most of the elements present in the original Nintendo 64 game, including Navi the fairy following Link, the Temple of Time and the Inventory screen. However the UI appears to mimick the other Game Boy Zelda games simply having an item assigned for the A button and the B button. It doesn’t have the directional item assignments and the inventory screen doesn’t appear to have the extra compartment boxes for the Spiritual Stones or the heart containers, though they might be on another screen. Obviously they are going to have to make some sacrifices to make it work on the GBC, hence the term “de-make”. None the less it looks like it will be an epic action-adventure game for the Game Boy Color and a welcome addition to the growing number of Zelda games even if they aren’t official.
How it feels sitting on the only copy of Ocarina of Time for Gameboy Color and not sharing it with any of you... pic.twitter.com/69YwmsXA3u
— 𖤐chocoVania𖤐 (@chocovania) February 18, 2026
| The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - GBC de-make teaser | Source: X.com post by @Chocovania |
Relevant Links
- RetroGame.News article on Zelda’s Adventure de-make [https://retrogame.news/cdis-most-valuable-game-gets-ported-to-game-boy-color/] The other Zelda de-make for the GBC developed, so far…
- Link to original teaser post on X.com by Chocovania [https://twitter.com/chocovania/status/2024222298367246551] Shows the video you see above and a comment by one of the developers
- Article about the de-make on Retro Dodo [https://retrododo.com/modder-teases-ocarina-of-time-demake-for-game-boy-color-in-new-video/] The only other article that I could find on this game
