Zelda: Ocarina of Time ditches Nintendo Switch 2 tech again for 5-year-old downgrade ahead of launch

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake launches on Nintendo Switch 2 this week, but fans are already expressing their disappointment with Nintendo over its decision to use five-year-old graphics technology. And it's not the first time the company has made this decision.

Following its reveal during a Nintendo Direct in June 2026, the wait is almost over, with the Ocarina of Time remake arriving on Switch 2 this week. It's a chance for veteran players to rekindle their love for one of the greatest games of all time, while a new generation gets to experience it for the first time. And judging by the gameplay reveal, there's plenty to look forward to.

However, with Nintendo favouring AMD's FSR 1.0 over Nvidia's DLSS, its decision to use the older technology for the Ocarina of Time remake has drawn fresh criticism from The Legend of Zelda fans.

Nintendo fans criticise Ocarina of Time remake's outdated tech

“I don't understand why their studios are so allergic to DLSS,” suggested Reddit user lanternslight77.

“Why not DLSS? FSR is inferior in literally every regard,” said Scimitere.

“A year and a half into the generation and they still refuse to use DLSS,” exclaimed NeighborhoodPlane794.

“Yeah, FSR1 is just plain bad. They have access to DLSS, and they won't use it for reasons that are beyond me,” declared NotDugachug.

“It's baffling considering how they paraded how much of an upgrade the tech was,” added Expensive_Sea_1790.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (2026), Nintendo

While many would prefer DLSS to be used for first-party Switch 2 games, especially one that looks as stunning as the Ocarina of Time remake, it's not necessarily a bad thing, and Nintendo may have its reasons for favouring the older FSR 1.0 technology.

For starters, it can improve a game's performance by rendering it at a lower resolution before upscaling the image. It's also a technology that Nintendo might be more familiar with. Unlike DLSS, FSR 1.0 doesn't rely on AI to reconstruct images, instead processing each frame individually. However, this can come at the expense of visual quality, particularly when it comes to finer details such as foliage.

READ MORE: All confirmed details for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake

How could DLSS be better than FSR 1.0?

On the flip side, the AI that Nvidia DLSS uses can do fantastic work when reconstructing sharper images with more detail. DLSS can also use data from previous frames to help reconstruct the next image, potentially improving overall image quality and reducing visual artefacts. If optimised correctly, DLSS can even improve frame rates while maintaining high visual quality.

Nintendo hasn't explained why it appears to favour FSR 1.0 over DLSS, but the Switch 2 does support Nvidia's technology. Ultimately, it may come down to ease of use, development costs or simply the fact that developers are more familiar with AMD's software. We can only speculate.

That being said, as long as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake knocks it out of the park when it releases on Nintendo Switch 2 this week, we'd have no reason to complain, right?