The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launched Thursday for the Nintendo Switch 2, reviving the midnight game launch with roughly 500 fans queued outside an Argos on Oxford Street in London, The Guardian reported.
In a first-person column for The Guardian, the outlet’s games writer argued that the event showed what physical releases still offer in an era of downloads. “There was something heartwarming about seeing the video game hype cycle transformed into a shared experience,” the writer wrote.
Top Gear reported that the 4K remake holds a 96 Metascore, making it the highest rated game of 2026.
Midnight Queues Return to London
Launch attendees in London received a limited ocarina-shaped keyring and an exclusive replica of the original 1998 N64 box, The Guardian reported. The writer, who arrived at 22:45 with a bottle of water, found the queue already snaking around the corner.
Store staff told queuers that everyone would receive the replica box, even if stock ran out, with remaining customers leaving their details to have boxes posted, The Guardian reported. In Paris, by contrast, the writer’s partner attended a similarly enormous launch but walked away with nothing, as Nintendo France was not taking details or promising to post boxes, according to The Guardian.
How the Remake Compares to 1998
IGN called the original “the biggest game of the decade” when it launched on the N64 in 1998, and it set the standard for 3D games, the BBC reported. Nintendo producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi told the BBC that game expectations have evolved naturally over nearly 30 years.
The remake’s stylized graphics lean cartoonish compared with the original, which contained horrifying elements such as the Skulltula House, where people had been morphed into human-spider hybrids, the BBC reported. Series producer Eiji Aonuma, who worked on the original, told the BBC the original had limited means to express ideas compared with today.
At the core of the series, Fujibayashi said, is “the combination of exploration and discovery.”
Producers on Passing Down the Legend
The remake opens on a tapestry depicting Hyrule’s people and places, IGN reported.
Aonuma told IGN that passing the original down to younger developers was a main reason the remake exists: “There are much younger developers who are working on this game, and I do think this is a really valuable experience for them to familiarize themselves first with the original Ocarina of Time and then have their own reinterpretation of it.”
YouTubers and Players Share Views on the Remake
YouTuber Ed King, known as Zeltik to his 893,000 followers, told the BBC that “the level of detail and charm” in the remake stood out. He said the Forest Temple remake “really leans into the surreal, uncanny nature of the original dungeon.”
Fellow YouTuber StrawHatMidas told the BBC the remake was the “perfect” way to “bring this classic back,” saying it pays homage to the N64 original while expanding on what made it memorable. One player named Mike told the BBC: “I loved the original as much as the next person, but I don’t think I’ll be going back to it.”
Questions About the Switch 2 Remake
The Ocarina of Time remake was released on Thursday. The Switch 2 remake launched Thursday, after years of rumors that Nintendo would remake the game, the BBC reported. It arrived with midnight launch events in cities including London and Paris.
According to The Guardian, attendees at the London launch received a limited ocarina-shaped keyring and an exclusive replica of the 1998 N64 box.
How is the remake rated? Top Gear reported a 96 Metascore, the highest rating of any game in 2026. The original was called “the biggest game of the decade” by IGN in its 1998 review, according to the BBC.
Asked whether Nintendo might remake the game again with 30 more years of technology, Aonuma replied: “I will be long retired,” with a laugh, the BBC reported. The franchise’s first movie is due next year, the BBC noted.
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