Nintendo Recasts the Ocarina of Time Remake as an On-Ramp

Nintendo put a November 5 date on its Ocarina of Time remake for Switch 2 and spent a 30-minute Zelda Direct showing a jump the 1998 game never let you trigger. Digital copies are $59.99. A themed Switch 2 at $519.99 ships October 29 with no game in the box.

The broadcast on September 8 marked the series’ 40th anniversary. Nintendo billed it as the first of two Directs that week, and series producer Eiji Aonuma used most of the hour to walk a rebuilt Kokiri Forest, then sell the remake as a first Zelda for people who did not grow up on a Nintendo 64 pad.

What Nintendo Changed in Ocarina of Time

Aonuma added a dedicated jump, a free right-stick camera, a dash off the roll, faster swimming, a dive, motion aiming and a shoulder-button item scroll borrowed from Breath of the Wild. He treated the jump as the change that rewrites how this version plays, because the N64 original hopped for you at a ledge.

Link can now jump at the press of a button like this. Even in places with gaps, you can jump and jump again to cross them. Just like with the camera, jumping might seem obvious for those of you who have played recent games in the series. But in the Nintendo 64 game, you’d automatically jump when you got close to an edge. So, jumping by pressing a button is a major change.

Eiji Aonuma, Zelda series producer, Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct

He dropped into a pond on purpose and kept going. Link swims faster, and he can dive for rupees without stopping to change clothes, a small line in the Direct that quietly retires one of the original’s kit puzzles.

WHAT AONUMA ADDED TO THE CONTROLS

• Jump: A button press replaces the old automatic ledge hop, and chained jumps now cover gaps the N64 version handled for you.
• Camera: The right stick rotates around Link in forests, dungeons and Castle Town, which no longer sits on a locked angle.
• Dash: Hold the roll and Young Link sprints, the move players used to fake by rolling across Hyrule Field.
• Aiming and items: The slingshot can use motion controls, and items scroll on the shoulder buttons the way they do in Breath of the Wild.

Cutscenes are voiced and the dialogue is longer, though Aonuma’s demo still had Saria toss an unvoiced greeting in the village. Day and night now keep moving inside towns. Nintendo also kept a loading screen between Kokiri Forest and Hyrule Field, on purpose.

The Store Page Calls It an Entry Point

Nintendo’s own listing is blunter than Aonuma’s stage talk. The company says the remake was built from the ground up for Switch 2, with overhauled textures, voiced cutscenes, expanded dialogue, orchestral music, and jump and dash controls that make it “an excellent entry point into the Legend of Zelda series.”

That sentence is the Direct in one line. Aonuma still called the project a faithful interpretation using modern tools, and he reminded viewers that this adventure has a different appeal from Breath of the Wild. The store copy is doing other work. It is pitching a 28-year-old dungeon game to people whose Zelda is climbing, gliding and a map full of pins.

Threads of Time sits in the pause menu as the translation layer. Open it and the game shows the story beat you have reached and the next objective, while a large tapestry fills in as you go. Navi still talks. The tapestry is the new one, a quest log with a souvenir attached, and it is aimed at players who will not stand in Hyrule Field until a melody tells them where to walk.

The look is already the fight around that pitch. The Direct leaned into heavier material detail and shinier faces than Breath of the Wild, and the child models in Kokiri Forest are drawing more heat than the Water Temple. That argument is about varnish. The jump button is about whether Ocarina still plays like Ocarina once you can hop whenever you want.

Nintendo of America posted the new trailer with the November 5 date the same morning.

Adventure through Hyrule and become the Hero of Time when The Legend of #Zelda: Ocarina of Time releases Nov 5 on Nintendo Switch 2. #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/rW3r7o2L9r

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 8, 2026

the $59.99 digital pre-order is live on Nintendo’s store, with a 27 GB download and a physical disc at $69.99. First-print cases use textured foil art while supplies last. This is the first Zelda that exists only on Switch 2, after the company already sold upgrade packs for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

A $519.99 Console Ships Without the Game

Seven days before the remake, Nintendo puts the first special-edition Switch 2 on shelves. Green and gold Joy-Con 2 controllers carry Triforce detailing. The dock is black and gold with the Triforce on the front. The bundle includes the 7.9-inch 1080p system, the dock, straps, grip, AC adapter and an Ultra High Speed HDMI cable. It does not include Ocarina of Time.

WHAT THE ZELDA DIRECT PUT ON SALE

The U.S. product page for the $519.99 Zelda Switch 2 already reads sold out and asks shoppers to check back. Matching Pro Controllers and the carrying case share the October 29 date. New York and San Francisco Nintendo stores get the Pro Controller with a display stand as a shop exclusive.

In Japan the same hardware is a 62,980 yen Japanese-language system, listed with the same warning: this product does not come with a game. The Pro Controller with stand is 12,980 yen there. The case is 3,980 yen. President Shuntaro Furukawa’s company put that in writing on September 8.

A themed console that ships empty is not a bundle. It is a hardware week, then a software week, and anyone who wants both pays for both. For players still on the fence about Switch 2, the green controllers are doing the job a new 3D Zelda would usually do.

Gossip Quests Live on the Phone

Producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi used the back half of the software segment to extend Zelda Notes, the Switch app layer that already sits on the Switch 2 editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. For Ocarina it is no longer a side notebook. Several of the Direct’s “new features” only finish on a phone.

ZELDA NOTES FOR OCARINA OF TIME

• Today’s Record: The app lines up that day’s feats in order, with auto screenshots, enemy counts and other session stats.
• Gossip Quest: A photo on the phone is the hint; find that spot in Hyrule, earn points, and trade them for ocarina sheet music.
• Play Ocarina: A virtual instrument on the touchscreen can follow a guide, play a score, or share a custom tune as a QR code.
• Ocarina of Time Quiz: More than 2,000 questions, free once a day, with extra tries paid in rupees sent from in-game shops.

Nintendo’s store notice also lists a map, a Hall of Fallen Foes, play data, a photo studio, Threads of Time and amiibo tools inside the same app. A Nintendo Account, a live internet link and a compatible phone are required, and data charges may apply. Gossip Quest is the one that changes the shape of a session, because the hint image does not live on the TV.

The in-game ocarina got its own hardware trick. Hum a learned melody into the Switch 2 microphone, or play it on a real instrument, and Link performs it. Nintendo will sell a playable ocarina later this year, plus an electric HORI model that dumps whole songs at a button. The 40th anniversary wants you holding a plastic flute and a phone while the console sits in a gold dock.

Hyrule Field Still Has a Loading Screen

For a Direct that added a jump Aonuma called a major change, the team was careful about what it would not open. You still climb on vines, not on every cliff. The load between Kokiri Forest and Hyrule Field stays in so the original’s gated world still feels gated. Z-targeting combat is the old lock-on, not a Breath of the Wild weapon dump.

Castle Town is the exception that shows the split. The camera is free, alleys that used to be closed are open, and Aonuma lingered on extra minigames off the main path. Adult Link, the Water Temple and the supporting cast got a second trailer after the demo. The chest-opening animation is the same piece of theater with new lighting on it.

Existing Zelda amiibo tap in for extras. Young Link and Young Zelda figures, due in 2027, unlock masks that push the picture toward a retro look, a joke aimed at anyone who already hates the new faces. Mineru’s Construct amiibo for Tears of the Kingdom still lands September 17. The company is stacking old hardware tricks on a remake it is also calling brand new.

Miyamoto Left the Movie Without a Subtitle

Shigeru Miyamoto opened the Direct with the live-action film and declined to give it a second name. The title is The Legend of Zelda. It is due in theaters on April 30, 2027, and he said later updates will go out through Nintendo Today.

Once you see the film, you’ll understand why there isn’t a subtitle. This is an original film based on the many stories, ideas, and concepts of the series, built up through the games for 40 years. Through the creative power and visual expertise of the talented production team, it’s become an artistic work worthy of The Legend of Zelda series. Both the development team from Nintendo and I are also involved, of course. When we talk about The Legend of Zelda, there’s the Triforce. What role do you think it will play in the film?

Shigeru Miyamoto, Zelda creator, Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct

No new trailer ran. Miyamoto asked for patience and pointed at the Triforce. The rest of the 40th is objects: a Kyoto museum makeover and a Master Sword photo spot from November 5, Nintendo Museum Official Book Vol. 2 on the same day as the remake, a 1,750-piece Link and Epona Lego set in spring 2027, a concert tour next year, and action figures of Zelda, Ganondorf and Link.

THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY CALENDAR

1. September 8, 2026: Nintendo runs the 30-minute Zelda Direct and dates the remake.
2. September 17, 2026: Mineru’s Construct amiibo goes on sale for Tears of the Kingdom.
3. October 29, 2026: The Zelda Switch 2, Pro Controller and carrying case arrive, with no game in the system box.
4. November 5, 2026: Ocarina of Time launches on Switch 2; the museum book and Master Sword photo spot land the same day.
5. Spring 2027: The Link and Epona Lego set is due, with Young Link and Young Zelda amiibo listed for 2027.
6. April 30, 2027: The Legend of Zelda opens in theaters without a subtitle.

The Nintendo Store already lists the Zelda Switch 2 as sold out. Pre-orders for the remake are open at $59.99 digital and $69.99 physical, with first-print foil cases while they last.