Ocarina of Time remake brings back Navi's original voice actor after 28 years
Nintendo used blind auditions for the Switch 2 Ocarina of Time remake and picked Navi's original actor without knowing it, 28 years after the N64 version.
Nintendo cast the same actor as Navi in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 that voiced the fairy on the Nintendo 64 in 1998, and it did so without realising. Eurogamer reported the story on November 4, 2026, a day before the remake's launch.
Blind auditions, same voice
The remake adds full voice acting to its cutscenes, but the team did not want to change sounds players already know. Director HokWai Ng said in Nintendo's Ask the Developer interview that Navi's famous "Listen!" was a clear example of something they would not touch. To keep that feel, Nintendo ran blind auditions and picked voices only on how closely they matched the original game.
Series producer Eiji Aonuma said one of the people chosen turned out to have voiced the same character on the N64, and nobody on the team expected it.
Who it is
Nintendo did not name the character or the actor. Fans had suspected Kaori Mizuhashi was back as Navi in the Japanese version, and a leaked video of the game's credits now appears to back that up, according to Eurogamer.
Why it matters for the remake
Most of the discussion about this remake has been about its new art style and how much Nintendo changed. Keeping the original voices, down to the same performer, shows how carefully the team handled the parts players remember most. Eurogamer gave the remake five stars in its review.
If you are picking it up this week on Switch 2, expect the familiar fairy calls, now alongside fully voiced cutscenes for the rest of the cast.
Source: Eurogamer, quoting Nintendo's Ask the Developer interview.
