Ocarina of Time Remake Lands on Switch 2 November 5

Ocarina of Time Finally Has a Date

The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct aired on September 8 and ran about half an hour, and it opened with the thing everyone had queued up for: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Switch 2 remake arrives on November 5, 2026. Nintendo showed the first real gameplay alongside it — Kokiri Forest, Hyrule Field, Hyrule Castle Town, and yes, Epona.

• Release date: November 5, 2026, exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2
• Price: $59.99 digital, $69.99 physical
• New in the remake: fully voiced cutscenes, orchestral score, right-stick camera, a jump button and a roll or dash
• Hardware: a Switch 2 Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition console arrives earlier, on October 29

What Actually Changed in the Remake?

This is the part where a remake either earns its keep or quietly becomes a resolution bump, and the feature list leans convincingly toward the former. Beyond the visual overhaul, Nintendo is adding a free-moving camera on the right stick, a dedicated jump, and a roll or dash — three things that anyone who has replayed the 1998 original recently will recognise as the friction points.

There is a Threads of Time menu that tracks story progress and points you at your next objective, which is the modern-quest-log concession, and the day-night cycle now runs everywhere including towns. Characters are fully voiced with expanded dialogue. The ocarina itself gets the most Nintendo-ish touch of the lot: you can hum learned melodies into the Switch 2's microphone to play them, with physical playable and electric ocarinas arriving later in 2026.

Importantly, the dungeon layouts and quest structure are staying as they were. This is not a Breath of the Wild reimagining — Z-targeting survives intact. That is the right call, and it is the difference between a remake and a replacement.

What Else Did the Zelda Direct Announce?

Plenty, and most of it is hardware and merchandise rather than software. The Switch 2 Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition console lands October 29 with Triforce styling across the console, Joy-Con and dock, joined by anniversary Pro Controllers (with and without a display stand) and a matching carrying case with screen protector.

Beyond that: Young Link and Young Zelda amiibo in 2027 with retro-style masks, ZELDA NOTES app integration bringing quizzes, location hints and a virtual ocarina, a third Lego Zelda set featuring Link on Epona, a 40th Anniversary concert tour with venues confirmed, and a live-action Zelda film. Shigeru Miyamoto also dropped further hints about the movie without committing to specifics.

Why November 5 Is a Smart Date

Slotting the remake a week into November puts it comfortably ahead of the holiday crush while giving the anniversary console a clean seven-day head start — buy the hardware on the 29th, have the game waiting on the 5th. It is a tidy piece of scheduling.

We flagged this Direct when Nintendo announced it and covered the original remake reveal back in June, and this is the payoff for both. It also continues a strong run of catalogue revivals on the platform, following Elden Ring's Tarnished Edition — more in our gaming coverage.

Sources: Gematsu — September 8, 2026; Engadget — September 8, 2026.