Celebrating Zelda's 40th Anniversary: Remastering Ocarina of Time with Stunning 4K Textures
Sarah Smith
Published May 17, 2026
By Published May 12, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT James is a gaming writer from London who has spent thousands of hours exploring titles from every genre. Though he has a particular affinity for multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft, Destiny 2 and League of Legends, he has also put thousands of hours into single-player experiences, from deep RPGs to epic PC strategies. When he's not playing or writing, he can usually be found supporting his beloved Brentford FC. Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
has absolutely earned its position as one of the most iconic franchises in the history video games, and its celebrating an epic 40 years since the release of the first game in 2026. As part of that, players are nostalgic for the releases of old, with still sitting at the top of the tree for many.
The iconic N64 classic seemingly remains as relevant today as it ever has, and fans continue to play it every day in one form or another. For many, that means returning to it via emulator on PC rather than faffing around with or an older console, and there's a new pack you might want to be aware of that makes the game prettier than ever before.
Over on YouTube, the Henriko Magnifico Showcase shared their latest video updating players on the progress they have made with the Zelda: OoT 3D 4K Texture Pack 4.0 Update. This download greatly advances the game's visuals without compromising the original vision for the art too significantly.
As you might expect, those who grew up playing the game were keen to express just how delighted they were with how the project is shaping up so far.
"Henriko's texture packs dramatically enhance games to the point where they look like professional remasters and I highly recommend them, having played a few. This 4k texture pack x Ship of Harkinian x OST replaced with Z.R.E.O.'s reorchestration using Darunia's Joy mod, and it's the perfect remaster," one said.
"Really cool work. Do you think it’s possible in future videos to show the original game and textures for comparison so we can really see the difference?" another added.
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Others identified dream features they would like adding, with one saying, "One I would really want to see (but I'm pretty sure it's not possible because it would need to tweak the font code) would be to add more grass and trees to the overall world (mainly at Hyrule field). I know this is kind of a hard task for the 3DS remake, but in theory it would be possible on Ship Of Harkinian. This would make the game feel like a proper remake."
If that doesn't really take your fancy at the moment, rumors continue to persist that Nintendo is working on a full remake of the game for the It certainly would be a great way to mark the 40th anniversary of Zelda, and it would tide us over until we find out exactly what the developer plans to do next with the beloved series.
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