Summary
- Nintendo has confirmed The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is being remade for Nintendo Switch 2, arriving in 2026 to mark the Zelda series’ 40th anniversary, with no specific release date announced
- The reveal trailer shows a complete visual overhaul of the Nintendo 64 original that departs significantly from the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom aesthetic, with Nintendo describing the game as “reborn” on Switch 2
- The remake follows a GameCube port in 2003 and a 3DS remake in 2011, and arrives as Nintendo builds toward a live-action Zelda film opening April 30, 2027
Nintendo has confirmed a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo Switch 2, arriving in 2026 to mark the Zelda series’ 40th anniversary. Revealed during the June 9 Nintendo Direct with a brief teaser trailer, the game is described by Nintendo as being “reborn” on Switch 2, with visuals that completely overhaul the Nintendo 64 original while departing drastically from the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom aesthetic that has defined the franchise’s most recent entries.
The trailer is short but specific. Narration from the Great Deku Tree mirrors the opening of the 1998 original, with Link shown sleeping restlessly as a nightmare unfolds. Where the original game opens with a vision of Sheik and Zelda fleeing Hyrule Castle while pursued by Ganondorf, the remake adds a new detail: the Triforce begins to glow on Link’s left hand during the nightmare. It is a small but deliberate change, one that signals the remake is not a straight visual translation but a considered reimagining that adds new narrative texture to familiar material.
The visual departure from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom is the decision that will generate the most discussion. Nintendo has spent the last decade building a consistent open-world visual language for Zelda, and this remake appears to chart a different course entirely. What that course looks like beyond the brief trailer remains to be seen, but the word “reborn” suggests something more ambitious than the HD remasters Nintendo has applied to Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword, and closer in spirit to the 2019 Link’s Awakening remake, which rebuilt the Game Boy original in an entirely new graphical style.
Ocarina of Time’s place in the cultural record makes this announcement weightier than a standard remake reveal. Originally released in November 1998 for the Nintendo 64, the game transformed the Zelda series from a 2D top-down adventure into a fully realized 3D world, introducing Z-targeting and context-sensitive controls that became foundational to the 3D action-adventure genre as a whole. It holds a Metacritic score that has placed it at or near the top of best-games-ever lists for nearly three decades. A 3DS remake arrived in 2011 with stereoscopic 3D and quality of life updates, but that was the last time Nintendo substantially revisited the game. The 2026 Switch 2 version is the first full remake in 15 years.
The broader Zelda anniversary calendar gives the remake its context. The franchise turned 40 earlier in 2026, and Nintendo appears to be staging its celebrations deliberately: the Ocarina of Time remake lands this year, a LEGO Ocarina of Time Final Battle set is already available, and the live-action Zelda film directed by Wes Ball, starring Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link and Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda, opens in theaters on April 30, 2027.
Watch the trailer above and stay tuned for official release details.
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Sophie Caraan Managing Editor
Sophie Caraan is the Managing Editor at Hypebeast, where she sets the editorial direction, standards, and output strategy for the HQ team. With a decade of editorial experience, she brings both a storyteller’s instinct and a strategist’s eye — spotlighting the figures and movements that shape the culture across a multitude of lanes. Her tenure is marked by high-impact conversations with the likes of RZA, Mads Mikkelsen, CORTIS, Erling Haaland, Kasing Lung, NIGO, and more.
