“Saa” in Ganon’s Castle: Why Link Speaks His First Actual Word Only in Japanese in Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2
Forty years of strict cinematic silence have just been broken atop a crumbling fortress. While millions of players are busy exploring Hyrule and checking the global Zelda Notes statistics where ReDeads lead all Game Overs in Ocarina of Time on Switch 2, those who have reached the remake's finale have stumbled upon a historic milestone for the franchise: in the middle of a dramatic cutscene, Link speaks an actual, recognizable word out loud, and the line plays exclusively in Japanese regardless of your console's language settings.
“Saa”: The Hookshot Escape Scene With Princess Zelda in Ganon’s Castle
The moment takes place during the final minutes of the campaign, as Adult Link and Princess Zelda race to escape the collapsing ruins of Ganon's Castle following Ganondorf's defeat. As debris rains down around them, the duo suddenly finds their path blocked by a chasm too wide to cross on foot. Their only way across is a Hookshot target perched on the far ledge.
In the original 1998 Nintendo 64 release, crossing this gap was a purely mechanical sequence with no vocal exchange. In the Nintendo Switch 2 remake, however, the development team staged a dedicated cutscene: after firing his Hookshot across the void, Link wraps his arm around Princess Zelda's waist, lifts her close, and clearly utters the Japanese word “Saa” (さあ) right before pulling them both through the air. In this context, the Japanese interjection translates to “Come on,” “Let’s go,” or “Here we go.”
Why Link Speaks Japanese Even With English Voice Acting Enabled
What immediately caught Western players off guard is that this spoken word never switches to English, French, or any other localized language. While the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake introduces full localized voice acting across multiple languages for pivotal cutscenes featuring Princess Zelda, Ganondorf, Saria, and the Sages, Link himself operates under a different audio rule.
True to series tradition, the Hero of Time uses a single universal vocal track across every regional release worldwide. In the Switch 2 remake, Adult Link is voiced by Japanese actor Shou Komura (stepping into the boots of Nintendo 64 legend Nobuyuki Hiyama), while Young Link is voiced by Serika Hiromatsu (succeeding Fujiko Takimoto). Because that brief “Saa” is baked directly into Shou Komura's master vocal bank alongside his sword swings and battle grunts, Nintendo did not record localized dubs for the line. Even if you play the entire adventure with English voices enabled, you will hear Komura's original Japanese delivery as Link sweeps Zelda off her feet.
Breaking 40 Years of Silence After Nintendo EPD’s Blind Auditions
Across four decades of mainline entries since 1986, Link has almost never spoken an actual word in a story scene. Longtime fans fondly remember Toon Link shouting “Come on!” (and mimicking a cat's meow) in 2002's The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, but that was a gameplay command prompt used to beckon Medli and Makar through the Earth and Wind Temples. Conversely, even when the franchise embraced full cinematic voice acting in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, Link remained strictly mute during cutscenes, a trait Princess Zelda's diary in Breath of the Wild famously attributed to the heavy burden of his destiny.
Giving Adult Link a single, reassuring word at the exact moment he rescues the princess reflects the meticulous audio direction behind the remake. As Eiji Aonuma and director HokWai Ng explained when revealing how Nintendo EPD rebuilt Ocarina of Time from scratch and held blind voice auditions 28 years later, every vocal candidate was judged anonymously by number so the team could honor players' memories of 1998, a process that famously led the staff to unknowingly re-hire original N64 actress Kaori Mizuhashi as Navi. With Shou Komura's quiet prompt amid the falling stones of Ganon's fortress, the Hero of Time finally speaks without losing an ounce of his mystique.
My Perspective
Hearing that quiet “Saa” cut through the rumble of Ganon’s collapsing castle legitimately gave me chills with the controller in my hands. Letting Link speak has always been Nintendo’s ultimate third rail, and giving him a full paragraph of dialogue would have shattered the spell instantly. But slipping in a single, urgent syllable right as he pulls Zelda close before firing the Hookshot is a masterstroke of direction. The fact that Shou Komura’s Japanese delivery stays intact even when playing with English voices only makes the moment more iconic, in a single breath, Link feels fiercely protective while keeping his legendary restraint intact.
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Based on the outskirts of New York City, Chaya 'Chayane' spent five years studying software engineering in Montreal before returning to her home state. A Full-Stack developer and Deep Learning AI architecture researcher, she explores neural networks and algorithmic optimization while engineering data pipelines for Retrocharting and Gamescharting alongside Grimtag. A gamer for over 20 years and an avid collector of Nintendo history and The Legend of Zelda, she explored World of Warcraft's Azeroth before bringing her deep technical background to video game analysis.
