Nintendo hasn't revealed much in the way of information regarding the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it is possible that the game could incorporate a scrapped feature from Ocarina of Time. The first animated teaser in 2019 showed Link and Zelda exploring some ruins where they seemingly encountered Calamity Ganon. However, no gameplay footage was shown until E3 2021 when Nintendo released a proper trailer for the game. This trailer shows Zelda falling into a pit of darkness before cutting to gameplay footage that showcases new features coming to the long-awaited sequel.
Breath of the Wild 2 will see Hyrule expanded in a unique way. Whereas players could only traverse land and water in its predecessor, the sequel will take to the skies and see Link exploring floating islands throughout Hyrule, which will add more lore for fans to sink their teeth into. Link also appears able to control time in the sequel. After an enemy launches a mine at Link, he's seen pausing and reversing its path, hitting the enemy instead of himself. Unfortunately, the Breath of the Wild 2 E3 trailer is mostly all players have to speculate on at present, though its updates to Hyrule and Link's abilities look promising. What's become particularly interesting to consider in the meantime, though, is how scrapped features from past games might return in BOTW 2.
Breath of the Wild 2 has seemingly had ample development time. The first teaser trailer was released in 2019, and the game's 2022 release date remains unknown, indicating it might not release until the second half of the year. The development team likely also had reusable assets from Breath of the Wild that could be used in this sequel since it's not only set in the same Legend of Zelda timeline but also seemingly not long after its predecessor - and because it's on the same console, the Switch. What this could mean is that the development team has had time to add a lot of new features, some of which could have been scrapped from prior games. The leading speculation here might show that BOTW 2 is leaning even further into the mystical side of the Zelda universe than its predecessor.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998 and pushed the boundaries of what Nintendo's consoles could do at the time. Its story and graphics were widely acclaimed, but there were aspects of the game that were cut during development. One cut feature was portals, which would have specifically been used in Legend of Zelda's Hyrule Castle. These portals would come from crystals, with players able to see the other side of the portal in the crystal's glassy reflection. Interestingly, the portals were animated and implemented into the game well, but the Nintendo 64 ultimately couldn't handle the portals along with the rest of the game's size. This led to the feature being scrapped.
Ocarina of Time was a flagship game for the Nintendo 64, and it was a game Nintendo purposely utilized to test how far the console could be pushed. While Ocarina of Time's scrapped portal system couldn't work in the Zelda franchise in the late '90s — the portal work was completed around '96 or '97 per Giles Goddard, a developer who worked on a concept demo for Ocarina of Time - it might be able to now. The Switch can handle much more complicated coding and larger game sizes. The original Nintendo Switch handled Breath of the Wild, the franchise's biggest game, with ease, and now there are even newer Switch models with better specs and capabilities. With each new console, cooler features like these scrapped portals become increasingly possible.
The implementation of crystal portals into Breath of the Wild 2 would be unexpected, but also creative and fun. Link could find them in previously unexplored sections of Hyrule Castle where they were originally intended to be over two decades ago, helping players see new locations and building on BOTW's lore. They could also be used to access the floating islands across Hyrule's sky. In E3's trailer, Link is seen floating and maneuvering through solid rock, indicating that he'll have some form of control over his movement between Hyrule's surface from Breath of the Wild and the new settlements above it. However, it's fun to think that these crystal portals could play a part in that discovery. Perhaps Link and Zelda catch wind of the crystals, leading them to Hyrule Castle where they may be encountering Calamity Ganon in the teaser trailer. Then, once Zelda falls into the darkness, Link continues his search for the portals to help rescue her. There's also potential that each floating landmass in the sky has its own crystal portal to teleport between each other.
The possible uses for Ocarina of Time's scrapped portals in Breath of the Wild 2 are plentiful. It is possible that they could be located in strict positions, such as denoted to specific spots in Hyrule Castle. However, one must also consider their potential mobility. If Link can harness their power in BOTW 2 and move them, they might provide quicker access to the far reaches of Hyrule that the player would otherwise have a harder time accessing. After all, it's unknown if Link will maintain all of his teleportation points from Breath of the Wild in its sequel. If not, these crystals could prove to be paramount in his journey to aid Zelda and reclaim Hyule from the Calamity. Perhaps Zelda will be playable in BOTW2, and this is somehow involved with the portals.
At the end of the day, Ocarina of Time's scrapped portals are simply something fun to think about. While they may not feature in Breath of the Wild 2, it's possible they could be unlocked with the power of the Switch at Nintendo's disposal. Nintendo will likely bring many innovations to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's sequel, and may even revisit scrapped ideas like Ocarina of Time's portals to find inspiration.
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