Nintendo has confirmed a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, reborn exclusively for Switch 2 and arriving at some point in 2026. The reveal at the June 9 Nintendo Direct was a short teaser with no gameplay and no firm date. For a game many people call the greatest ever made, that is a curious way to say hello.
I have been playing Zelda games since long before the word “remaster” ever entered a marketing deck, so an Ocarina of Time remake is precisely the kind of news that pulls me out of whatever else I am doing. Nintendo finally confirmed it during the Nintendo Direct on June 9, after months of leaks had already let the cat out of the bag. The catch is that confirming it seems to be the only thing Nintendo was prepared to do. We got a teaser, one screenshot, and very little else.
What Nintendo Actually Said
The announcement itself is a single sentence. “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: The Nintendo 64 classic returns for a new generation in 2026, reborn exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2,” Nintendo wrote, and then stopped. No release date beyond the year, no gameplay footage, no word on which studio is building it. The 1998 original is not a small target to be remaking; it holds a Metacritic score of 99 and sits at the very top of that site’s ranking of the best games ever made. It also already got a remaster once, on the 3DS back in 2011, with reworked controls and touchscreen support. So this is the second time Nintendo has returned to this particular well, and the first time on hardware powerful enough to rebuild the game rather than simply touch it up.
A Reveal That Was Already Spoiled
Here is the part that makes the brief teaser strange. This remake was not a secret. VGC reported back in March, citing its own sources, that a new Star Fox and an Ocarina of Time remake were both coming this year; Star Fox was confirmed last month, which told anyone paying attention that the Zelda half was probably next in line. By the time the Direct arrived, the only real question left was the date, and that is exactly the question Nintendo declined to answer. Polygon called the reveal a mistake, arguing that Nintendo ran a short teaser for a game that had already leaked and left too many questions hanging. IGN was gentler, reckoning the trailer was “still sure to get fans excited” for a holiday launch, though that holiday window is IGN’s read rather than anything Nintendo committed to. When your headline reveal has already been reported months in advance, turning up with less than the rumour mill already had is an odd way to own the moment.
The Catch Is the Console
Now the part that matters for your wallet, and for mine. When I first heard about this, I assumed it would land on the Switch I already own, the way these anniversary re-releases usually do. It will not. The remake is exclusive to Switch 2, the console that currently runs around €449. So the honest framing is that this is not a thirty or forty euro nostalgia purchase; for anyone still on the original Switch, playing it means buying a new machine first. I have said myself that this might finally be the game that makes me upgrade, and that is genuinely true, but I want to be clear-eyed about what is being asked. Nintendo is using one of the most loved games ever made as a reason to move hardware, which is smart business and a real cost to the player at the same time. Both of those things are true at once.
So, have you played Ocarina of Time? Almost certainly. Should you be excited to play it again? I am, cautiously. The game underneath is untouchable, and a proper rebuild on capable hardware is a genuinely good idea. But Nintendo has told us the what and almost nothing else, and it is asking Switch owners to buy a new console to find out the rest. I will be waiting for the next trailer, the one with actual gameplay, before I let myself get carried away. You probably should too.
