The release of the Nintendo 64 games via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack has been met with mixed reviews. While the N64 emulation service is nice, the increased price tag for the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack was a big turn-off. Worst of all, the emulation for the games has not been great with one of the biggest outcries over the poor emulation of the classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Ocarina of Time's emulation suffers from input lag, a strange controller setup, and the strange depth of field.
Most N64 games used fog to help increase the frame rate by limiting what the game needed to load at any one time. Obviously, an N64 game released today on such improved hardware like the Switch, fog is no longer required. However, it does break the immersion a little. One of the big problems players had with the Switch emulated version however, was the fight with Shadow Link. The Shadow Link fight in Ocarina of Time is iconic, namely for the atmosphere of the room it takes place in, with the water reflecting the shadow enemy you were fighting. The Switch doesn't have that kind of atmosphere because the water didn't reflect anything.
The change Nintendo made to the water effects was allowing it to reflect objects, like the single tree on an island in the middle of the pond which you fight Shadow Link in. It still doesn't look as good as in the original N64 version or the Wii U emulator, but it's an improvement. Nintendo looks like it has at least acknowledged the Online issue, and it is trying to make improvements to the emulation.
Nintendo is infamous for marching to the beat of its own drum, and they usually don't patch games they release unless there's something game-breaking in it. This acknowledgement of an issue could be an improvement Nintendo is making by listening to the fans with issues they are having.
With plenty of N64 games that Nintendo could emulate on the Nintendo Switch like the recent Banjo-Kazooie, Nintendo has the chance to keep making improvements to their emulator. In the future, Nintendo can work out the kinks that players have reported so far.
However, there's always the chance that Nintendo is simply updating the game since it noticed the issue early and pushed out this improvement alongside the update of Banjo-Kazooie. If Nintendo is making this improvement now, eyes should be on the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask to see if players find any kind of issues with Ocarina of Time's sister game.