A dataminer has found potential evidence that the new Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake will receive a Master Quest mode in the future. While looking through the files, a Bluesky user going by MrCheeze posted a look at the game’s internal files. After being asked about any evidence of Master Quest elements being present, he posted the following:
What is This Ocarina of Time Data?
As you can see in the post, this data references specific rooms in Ocarina of Time. In this screenshot, the second dungeon of the game, Dodongo Cavern, is being referenced. The top half of the image shows the basic rooms in the dungeon, each listed by a particular number — potentially in the order that you would enter these rooms. If you look towards the bottom, though, you will notice the same exact rooms being referenced, but this time, Dodongo Cavern is accompanied by “MQ.” Pretty interesting naming choice for a variant of the same room.
For anyone who doesn’t know what they are looking at in the image above, you are not alone. I asked MrCheeze to explain what these particular things would be used for in Ocarina of Time. He said that these fields are directly related to the game’s save data. Where it says “ClearRoom” would essentially be associated with when you defeat all enemies in a room.
He also pointed me towards this GitHub page that has the full list of data that this screenshot came from. After doing a page search for “MQ,” I found 1,116 references to it. All of the main dungeons have MQ applied to them, plus some notable extras. The Ice Cavern, Gerudo Training Ground, Ganon’s Castle, and the Bottom of the Well also include it. If a harder mode is being worked on to change enemy difficulty, all of these locations would be the prime locations for Master Quest changes to be implemented.
Is the Ocarina of Time Remake Getting Master Quest?
Of course, until Nintendo confirms Master Quest is coming to Ocarina of Time, we can’t say for sure that it’s on the way. That said, Master Quest is essentially entirely focused on making the dungeon experience more challenging. The fact that all of the dungeons and other areas with focused combat or puzzles in them have references to MQ outside of the normal rooms might hint that, at the very least, it was being worked on at some point.
Breath of the Wild ended up getting its Master Mode as free DLC after launch. Master Quest is quite different, so if it were to be brought to the game, it wouldn’t surprise us if Nintendo charged like $10 for the expansion. Hopefully, if it is on the way, it’s a free update.
