If you can’t contain your excitement for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, I have good news: there’s a full new sequel to Ocarina of Time right now, thanks to some very dedicated modders.
Sealed Palace is a romhack for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time; in other words, it’s a mod that turns the original game into a new fan-made sequel. Developed by three well-known modders Junnosuke9, Shoopey and Col0Korn, the hack is available on Romhacking.net (opens in a new tab). Of course, you’ll need to provide your own Ocarina of Time ROM to grab the patch.
There are a handful of romhacks that make Ocarina of Time new games, but Sealed Palace’s scope is particularly impressive. It has brand new dungeons, a new world to explore, and custom stages. Judging by some of the early gameplay on YouTube (opens in a new tab), it’s also nearly 20 hours long, which is comparable to the original game.
I played Sealed Palace for about 30 minutes, and while I certainly wouldn’t call it the chilling classic that is Ocarina of Time, the project is truly impressive. The opening dungeon sees you trying to sneak out of the prison below Hyrule Castle, and the cathedrals and libraries that make up the location are far more impressive than most of the original game’s indoor environments.
While romhacks that bring classic console games to 2D with all-new campaigns are fairly common, we’ve seen a lot less development on early 3D titles, and that’s a shame. Thankfully, that seems to be starting to change, and there have been a few Ocarina of Time hacks on the internet in recent years. Projects like The Missing Link (opens in a new tab), Dawn & Dusk (opens in a new tab), and Master of Time (opens in a new tab) are particularly popular with the community. I know I try a few of these to fill in the months leading up to Tears of the Kingdom.
more than the best zelda games they deserve this level of love from the mod community.