Ocarina of Time Remake: Switch 2 Release Date and Changes

The 1998 Ocarina of Time never gave you a jump button. Run off a ledge and Link hopped the gap on his own, which meant the game, not you, decided whether a jump happened at all. The Switch 2 remake puts jumping on a button. Of everything Nintendo showed at the September 8 Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct, that is the change I would watch, because it touches more of the game than any new character model does.

Below is what Nintendo has actually confirmed, pulled from its own announcements and store listing: the date, the price, the editions, the control changes, the phone app. Then the list of things it has not said yet, which is where the interesting questions live. Nothing here comes from playing it — the game is not out.

The short version

Nintendo's store copy calls it the classic tale "built from the ground up for the Nintendo Switch 2 system," and series producer Eiji Aonuma was the one who showed the first gameplay. That is the distinction worth holding onto: this is a remake, not the emulated N64 cartridge that has been on Nintendo Switch Online's Expansion Pack tier since October 25, 2021. That one is still the 1998 game. This one is something else.

What actually changes

Nintendo's September 8 recap lists the headline changes. Game Informer's write-up of the gameplay demonstration fills in the button-level detail Nintendo's own copy skips. Together:

Look at the top-right corner of Nintendo's Castle Town screenshot and you can see the item scheme in action: one equipped item — the Slingshot, with 28 seeds — under an R scroll indicator and over a ZR label. That is a long way from three C-buttons.

The jump button is the real headline

I think the controls matter more than the new visuals, for one reason: Ocarina of Time's platforming was built around having no jump button. Running off an edge was the input, and the game resolved the rest. A jump button, plus the jump-while-climbing and dash-while-swimming moves Zelda Wiki lists from the footage, hands you decisions the original never offered.

Whether that opens shortcuts through rooms that used to be linear, or whether gaps have been re-tuned around it, is not something the footage settles. It is the first thing worth testing on November 5.

The item scroll matters almost as much. On N64 your entire loadout fought over three C-buttons, which is why our Ocarina of Time 3D vs N64 breakdown argues the 3DS version's button-assignable Iron Boots did more for the Water Temple than any map marker. Zelda Wiki's notes from the Switch 2 footage say the boots are items here too, as on 3DS. The Water Temple's reputation for menu-diving looks like it will stay an N64 problem.

What the footage adds

Zelda Wiki keeps a running list of differences spotted in Nintendo's trailers and demonstration. These are observations from footage, not Nintendo feature bullets, so treat them as provisional until launch:

• Boots behave as items, as they did in Ocarina of Time 3D.
• Song playback after you play a melody can be skipped.
• Some buildings can be entered without a loading screen.
• Kakariko Village has a changed layout — the wiki's example is that the Cucco Lady and her pen are in a different spot.
• Hyrule Field gains waterfalls, puddles and more enemies, Tektites among them.
• The Master Sword and Hylian Shield have been redesigned to resemble their Skyward Sword versions.

Songs: hum them, or learn a third button layout

The microphone is the showpiece. Play or simply hum one of Link's learned melodies within range of the Switch 2's built-in mic and he performs it in-game. Nintendo also announced two physical ocarinas for later in 2026: a playable one, and an electric one from HORI that plays notes or entire songs at the press of a button. The game responds to both.

The quieter detail is in Nintendo's own promotional screenshot of Zelda's Lullaby.

Look at where those buttons sit. On the Switch 2's face buttons, Y is on the left, X on top and A on the right — exactly where C-Left, C-Up and C-Right sat on the N64 controller. The remake puts those three notes back in their N64 positions. If your hands learned this game in 1998, the lullaby is already in your thumb. If they learned it on a 3DS, where C-Up became A, you are relearning. The two remaining note buttons are not in that screenshot, so I will not guess them. Every song's N64 and 3DS inputs are in our Ocarina of Time songs guide.

ZELDA NOTES: the phone half

As with the Switch 2 Editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, the remake plugs into ZELDA NOTES, a game-specific service inside the Nintendo Switch App. Nintendo lists a Nintendo Account, a persistent internet connection and a compatible smart device as requirements. The four features Nintendo highlights:

Nintendo's promotional screenshot of the app shows eleven tiles, not four: Map, Gossip Quests, Hall of Fallen Foes, Today's Record, My Play Data, Global Play Data, Photo Studio, Threads of Time, amiibo, Play Ocarina and the quiz. Four of those names carry over from the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom version. Voice Memories, Navigation, Daily Bonus, Item Sharing and Autobuild Sharing — the features our Tears of the Kingdom Switch 2 Edition guide spends much of its length on — are not among the eleven. This is a different feature set wearing the same logo.

The quiz's Rupee cost is where the app reaches into the game's economy: Nintendo says Rupees you earn in the game can buy extra quiz attempts, so the phone app is a Rupee sink.

Editions, amiibo and the Zelda Switch 2

Two things about that table. The anniversary console is a $20 premium on the standard Switch 2 for a black-and-gold dock and green-and-gold Joy-Con 2, and it does not include the game — the product page says so in parentheses. And you do not need the new amiibo to get something from the ones you own: the store listing says tapping any Legend of Zelda series amiibo gives in-game extras. The two new figures are the ones tied to the retro-style masks, and they arrive the year after the game does.

What Nintendo has not said yet

None of the following appears in Nintendo's June 9 announcement, its September 8 recap, or the US store listing:

• Master Quest. The remixed-dungeon version has shipped on two platforms before: on a GameCube bonus disc handed out with The Wind Waker pre-orders, and as an unlockable mode in Ocarina of Time 3D, where the whole game is mirrored and Link takes double damage. Nothing yet says it is in this remake.
• The 3DS extras. Ocarina of Time 3D added a Boss Challenge mode and Sheikah Stone hint videos. The remake's confirmed help system is Threads of Time; whether anything like the others returns is open.
• Frame rate and resolution. Nintendo says the game "runs much smoother" and loads faster, and the store lists HDR and VRR support. It gives no numbers. Our Breath of the Wild Switch 2 Edition guide ran into the same wall.
• Room-by-room layouts. Nintendo's September promotional screenshots show the Deku Tree, Dodongo's Cavern, the Fire and Water Temples, and Gohma, King Dodongo, Phantom Ganon and Volvagia, so the dungeon line-up is recognisably the original's. How closely each room matches is not something a trailer settles.
• The old bugs. On N64, collecting the Poacher's Saw permanently blocks a Deku Nut upgrade — a flag error Ocarina of Time 3D fixed, per Zelda Wiki and our mask trading guide explains. Whether the remake carries it is unknown.

That last point is the practical one for this site. Every walkthrough in our Ocarina coverage describes the N64 and 3DS game. The Kakariko layout change alone means the Cucco positions in our bottle locations guide are N64 and 3DS positions. Treat room-by-room and position-by-position guides, ours included, as accurate for those versions until the remake is actually out.

Wait for it, or play the original now?

It depends which Ocarina of Time you are after.

• Never played it, and you own a Switch 2: the remake is the one Nintendo is pitching as the entry point, and its changes — free camera, a jump button, an objective tracker, voiced story — aim squarely at the friction a first-timer hits in a 1998 game. You would be waiting weeks, not months.
• You want the game as it shipped: the N64 original is on Nintendo Classics for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members. Auto-jump, three C-buttons, fixed-camera Castle Town. Nintendo has not said the remake replaces it.
• You want Master Quest: keep your 3DS cartridge. Ocarina of Time 3D's mirrored, double-damage Master Quest is the version that justifies owning one, at least until Nintendo says otherwise. Our 3D vs N64 guide covers what that version changes.

My read: the controls tell you what kind of remake this is. Nintendo kept the loading screens between areas on purpose and rebuilt the jump and the camera. That is a company protecting the structure of a 1998 game while replacing the parts of it that aged. Whether the new art direction lands for you is a separate question, and one you can answer from the trailer today.

Quick Action Checklist

• Mark November 5, 2026. It is Switch 2 only.
• Pick an edition: $59.99 digital or $69.99 physical at Nintendo Store. The physical first print run has foil cover art while supplies last.
• Clear roughly 27 GB of storage, Nintendo's estimated file size.
• Want the Zelda console? It is $519.99 on October 29, and the game is not in the box.
• Install the Nintendo Switch App before launch if you want ZELDA NOTES; it needs a Nintendo Account and a persistent internet connection.
• Dig out your existing Zelda amiibo — any of them gives in-game extras. The Young Link and Young Zelda figures and their retro masks are 2027.
• Coming from the 3DS? Nintendo's screenshot shows Zelda's Lullaby as Y, X, A, Y, X, A on Switch 2, not X, A, Y.
• Do not count on Master Quest until Nintendo confirms it.
• Using one of our walkthroughs with the remake? They describe the N64 and 3DS game; expect some rooms and positions to differ.