🎮 I played an hour of Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 at a Nintendo preview event
🌳 Kokiri Forest and Deku Tree for me; Castle Town and the Forest Temple for Kevin
✨ Ground-up remake, not just a port – and yes, it looks like the trailer
🎼 You’ll be able to play ocarina songs with buttons or hum them into the Switch 2 mic
📆 November 5, 2026 – $59.99 digital, $69.99 physical
🔺 Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 ($519.99) lands October 29 (I’m tracking restocks)
The ‘link’ between me and Zelda
You could say the “link” between me and The Legend of Zelda is strong – I may be where I’m at today partly because Ocarina of Time came out in 1998. That’s around when I bought my first video game magazine with my own money – and it wasn’t my last:
Ultra Game Players Magazine had Link on the cover in a preview of this highly anticipated N64 game. It actually was one year before the game actually launched – and it was still called “Zelda 64.” I couldn’t wait to get my gold cartridge back then, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the Switch 2 remake on November 5. My pre-order is already waiting.
That magazine I ended up subscribing to has a fitting twist. Ultra Game Players was owned by Imagine Media, which was later folded into Future – the same company that owned TechRadar when I worked there. I began buying other magazines with Zelda on the cover: Next-Gen by Imagine/Future, EGM and Expert Gamer by Ziff Davis, etc. I thought: “How can I get a job at these places writing about games (and tech)?” The magazine that got me into this business and the publisher I spent a decade at turned out to be, well, linked.
Back to the game: I was a teenager when I first played Ocarina of Time in 1998 – not quite young Link’s age, but with the same wide-eyed, something-to-prove energy. Now, firmly past adult Link’s age, I got another chance to preview Ocarina of Time. Not in the pages of a video game magazine (they hardly exist anymore), but with a sneak peek from Nintendo so I could write about it on my Substack (a modern-day magazine equivalent).
Why it’s even better today
Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 is even better than I remembered as a kid. That’s because the upgraded graphics of this remake on a 4K TV make the bright colors pop. It’s also because of the console’s versatility: docked to a TV when you want it on a big screen (that’s how I played it here), and handheld when you just can’t get enough of Hyrule on the go.
I’m hyped to play it again after spending almost an hour demoing it with The Shortcut’s Kevin Lee. We got to step into Link’s boots in Kokiri Forest, run through the giant Deku Tree, and drop (on purpose) into that giant spider web. That was all within the first 15 minutes, which is where Nintendo cut off the first part of my demo.
Key info:
Release date: November 5, 2026, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2
Game price: $59 digital, $69 physical
Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition Switch 2: $519, October 29, 2026. (The game isn’t included)
Zelda 40th Anniversary Pro Controller: $99, or $109 with a display stand
HORI Electric Ocarina of Time: a $49.99 licensed ocarina that plays the game’s 12 songs so the Switch 2 mic can pick them up
I played Zelda in 4K on Switch 2
I can confirm, Zelda fans: everyone gushing over Ocarina of Time’s September trailer is right. My demo looked like that footage you saw on YouTube. It’s just better to see it in real life.
Kokiri Forest is drenched in green with light filtering through the canopy and everything from Deku Tree’s bark to Link’s knitted green hat has actual texture. The parts of Hyrule I’m not allowed to talk about yet look even better, so I’ll wait to describe them in the full review.
This is a full Ocarina of Time remake, not a re-release. Maybe you’ve played the enhanced version on Nintendo 3DS in 2011, or the N64 version through Nintendo Switch Online. But this is the first time in 28 years the game has been rebuilt from the ground up for a powerful home console that can be docked to your 4K TV. Of course, it stays true to the original every boot step of the way, too. Eiji Aonuma, the Zelda series producer, called it a “faithful interpretation using modern technologies,” and that’s exactly how my demo played out.
🖼️ Faithful 4K upgrade: The original character designs are preserved, only rendered with modern textures and lighting. For example, Young Link is still a wide-eyed cartoon child, and adult Link still has that sharp ‘98 jawline. Nintendo didn’t redesign it into a different game.
⚔️ What’s the same: If you memorized Ocarina of Time’s maps like I did back in 1998, you still know where everything is on Switch 2. Combat is the same as I recall, using the Z-targeting lock-on mechanics (then groundbreaking).
🆕 What’s new: That dedicated jump button. I had to get used to no auto-jump at the edge of platforms. I died a few (dozen) times during my demo because of this. Sprinting and quick item switching make the game feel more modern in our hurried world, but for me the biggest surprise in Ocarina of Time was the fully voiced cutscenes. I really enjoyed sitting back and taking in the graphics while the voice actors did their thing.
🪈 My Ocarina talents at work. I’m about to play a wind instrument for the first time since I played clarinet for six months in seventh grade. In the final game, you can play ocarina songs with buttons or by humming the tune into the Switch 2’s built-in mic. I didn’t get to try this out in the game, but I did get to hold the new HORI Electric Ocarina of Time.
🎵 Soundtrack: Refreshed and orchestrated. The Kokiri Forest theme in full orchestra will take you back to better days.
What I played: Kokiri Forest and Deku Tree
The opening of Ocarina of Time is exactly how you remember it, just prettier. Link wakes up in his treehouse to Navi, the fairy that’s been yelling at us to “Hey! Listen!” for the last 28 years. The Great Deku Tree has summoned the one Kokiri boy without a fairy, and the forest’s bully, Mido, wouldn’t let me through until I showed up with a sword and a shield. Job #1.
Kokiri Sword: I had to jog my memory. Hidden in a treasure chest behind the crawlspace in the training area – I had to squeeze through a tiny tunnel and dodge a rolling boulder to get it. I was hooked after solving my first puzzle.
Deku Shield: This cost me 40 rupees (no inflation here, thankfully) at the Kokiri Shop. I was busy slashing through the tall grass and boxes around the village to fill my pouch. They’re the same green and blue rupees – but they sparkle in a way the N64 original never could.
Mido: Mido is still a jerk. I came back with the sword and shield, and he did the little grumble and moved – except now he actually says it out loud, and the voice they gave him is exactly the smug kid I had in my head in 1998.
The Deku Tree level, if you recall, is essentially a tutorial dungeon. It’s a tall hollow trunk with a giant spider web stretched across the floor. I raced through the platform-jumping, vine-crawling, and puzzle-solving, only to drop straight onto the web. That’s the “falling into a web” moment, and it’s on purpose. The web breaks and dumps you below – and that’s where my first demo ended.
What Kevin played: Castle Town and the Forest Temple
Kevin took over the next demo section while I watched over his shoulder: exploring Hyrule Castle Town as young Link, then jumping seven years ahead to the Forest Temple as adult Link. Recalling the labyrinth of puzzles felt as perfect as the nostalgic music that set the tone.
Hyrule Castle Town was always the game’s busiest space, and on the N64 it was also the most console-taxing, with pre-rendered backgrounds and no more than a dozen townsfolk. This is where the remake starts to flex. Nintendo stopped us at a certain point in the castle grounds, so the rest of the town is for the full review.
The Market: Still a loop of stalls, the Bazaar, the Potion Shop and the Happy Mask Shop, but now it’s a real 3D space you can run through with the camera swung all the way around. The crowd is bigger, and nobody’s a flat sprite anymore. We’ve all grown up 28 years later.
Then Kevin jumped ahead to adult Link and the Forest Temple, which I recall being the best dungeon in the entire game. It’s the first one you tackle after pulling the Master Sword, and it’s where Ocarina goes from charming to unsettling – in a good way.
Twisted corridors: What gave me goosebumps as a kid still does: Hallways rotate 90 degrees after you hit a switch, so a door you walked past on the floor is suddenly on the wall. It’s just as trippy today as it was back then. It still messed with my head, and the remake’s lighting makes the twist land harder.
What’s next: Ganon, Epona and the hardest boss of all
I can’t wait to fight Ganon, learn every song on the Ocarina, ride Epona across Hyrule Field, save Princess Zelda and – hopefully – play all of it on the hard-to-find Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition Switch 2 and with the Zelda 40th anniversary Switch 2 Pro Controller.
That last one might be the toughest battle. The console’s first pre-order wave sold out in minutes, which is a familiar feeling for anyone who followed my PS5 restock alerts in 2020. Stay tuned for more alerts on that and a full review when I get my copy.