Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake wins early praise ahead of November launch
Early hands-on previews of Nintendo's Switch 2 remake praise its visuals and controls, while sources give two different launch dates in November.
A 1998 classic gets a 40th anniversary rebuild
Nintendo is remaking The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo Switch 2, timed to the franchise's 40th anniversary. EL PAÍS notes that the 1998 Nintendo 64 original is still rated the best video game on Metacritic, and that Nintendo unveiled the remake by surprise in June. Salva Fernández, a Spanish journalist and author of Zelda, detrás de la leyenda, says the original set the template for 3D games, from its aiming mechanics to its use of music. EL PAÍS played the remake in Frankfurt, the European seat of Nintendo, a few weeks before publication. The outlet calls it the most anticipated game of the year, after GTA VI.
Fernández puts it bluntly:
Yes, I think it is the best game in history, because no other game has had that impact.
Early hands-on impressions
TechRadar spent two hours in an early access preview with Nintendo of Europe, covering the first 45 minutes in Kokiri Forest, the Hyrule Castle Town Market and all of Adult Link's forest temple. The reviewer found the 2026 version faithful to the original but additive, with a maximalist art style that online discussion has split over. The Verge and NPR each spent around 90 minutes at a New York City preview event, and The Verge describes a Threads of Time progression marker viewable on pause, a dedicated jump button and Zelda Notes integration in the Nintendo Switch app. The Guardian's hands-on demo lists a sprint ability, a manual jump, a free-rotating camera and a scrolling inventory bar among the changes from 1998. Engadget singled out the Forest Temple fog and the new Spin Attack effects, but its one gripe is that water does not look quite right. The Verge also found that the Forest Temple's red stained glass lets the horror themes land in ways the 1998 hardware could not.
Release date and competition
The release date differs between sources: EL PAÍS gives 14 November, while NPR says the game debuts on 5 November. NPR places the launch two weeks ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI, which it describes as the only other large release that month. NPR also says the Zelda film arrives next April, following films for The Super Mario Movie and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie that it says made billions. It contrasts the remake's cartoony look with the photorealism of GTA VI, which NPR says Rockstar showed off in a Netflix preview.
- Nintendo announces the remake by surprise
- First hands-on previews published
- Zelda film due next April, according to NPR
What the previews left open
TechRadar's preview covered only part of the game, and The Verge says every section it played was truncated. NPR's reviewer skipped a chest holding a key needed to progress in the Forest Temple, and a Nintendo representative pointed the way. None of the sources in this cluster report full-game length or final performance figures. The release date will settle which of the two November dates applies.