Remade Ocarina of Time's Biggest Change Is Its Script
NEW: Forget the jump button or improved camera, the biggest change in the remade Ocarina of Time is its script
NEW: Forget the jump button or improved camera, the biggest change in the remade Ocarina of Time is its script
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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2 arrives on 5th November, and the first previews are now live. Nintendo Life rounded up hands-on impressions from The Guardian, IGN, GameSpot, Game Informer and Eurogamer, most of them positive about the visual detail, the new jump button and the more modern feel. Eurogamer found the English voice acting a little grating, while Game Informer said the combat occasionally feels dated.
Nintendo's remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a few weeks from release. The Nintendo 64 classic returns with streamlined controls, overhauled visuals, and new features including Zelda Notes and enhanced ocarina support. The piece also mentions a new addition called the Hall of Fallen Foes.
Physical preorders for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake are discounted by $10 at Amazon and Walmart, dropping the price from $69.99 to $59.88. The Switch 2 game launches November 5, 2026, and first-printing physical copies include textured foil cover art while supplies last. The discount is a preorder incentive, and the price returns to normal after release.
In Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, paralogues are optional character-specific side quests available only during a narrow window of time, and missing one forces players to restart the chapter. The author missed Leda's paralogue after assuming the in-game calendar would send notifications like Google Calendar, then restarted the chapter and stopped playing.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Switch 2) physical textured foil cover art reveal
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GameSpot's Steve Watts lists six main changes from his hands-on time with the Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He says the new art style won him over quickly in motion, with characters keeping their exaggerated doll-like look and more detailed clothing textures, while Kokiri Forest and the dungeons have been visibly reworked. The version also adds full voice acting, which puts pressure on the performers to carry the original's characters.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake adds a dedicated jump button, and the author's hands-on time suggests the change is a good one. The demo covered Kokiri Forest, the Deku Tree, Hyrule Field, Hyrule Castle Town, and part of the Forest Temple with adult Link, where jumping was mostly used for small gaps and climbing vines. The author says the button felt natural and that modern games feel lacking without one.
In the Ocarina of Time remake, Hyrule Field appears roughly the same size as the original and remains largely empty, aside from the spokes leading out from the hub and Lon Lon Ranch at its center. A few more irregular hills and rock formations add texture, and the default run speed is a little faster. The author says this fits the remake's goal of faithfully recreating the original.
An IGN editor played about an hour of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and found it is not a 1:1 remake, adding expanded dialogue, revamped puzzles, and a more detailed art style. The preview covered roughly the first 90 minutes of the adventure and the Forest Temple, the first dungeon as Adult Link, running at 60 fps on Nintendo Switch 2. The piece also describes a theatrical style, with loading screens between areas framed as set changes.
An IGN writer played over an hour of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2 and listed 29 changes from the N64 original. They include a starting wallet limit of 200 rupees, a third-person camera in Castle Town with no loading screens, reworked Forest Temple puzzles, and expanded miniboss fights and dialogue. The writer notes this is not the official preview and warns of original-game spoilers; the remake releases on November 5.
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Nintendo released an overview trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2, showing gameplay from the remake. The trailer features the new Hall of Fallen Foes, where players can view statues of defeated enemies, and Ocarina features that let players hum a tune or play a real ocarina while Link mimics it in-game. It also briefly shows Zelda Notes and upcoming amiibo, with existing Zelda amiibo adding items like hearts, bombs, and rupees. The game launches on Switch 2 on 5th November 2026.
Nintendo Life published over 20 minutes of gameplay footage from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2, based on roughly two hours of hands-on time. The author notes that the ladder leading up to the Kokiri Sword was not present in the N64 original or the 3DS remake. The game launches on 5th November 2026, and spoiler-sensitive players may want to wait until then.
Nintendo's new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake mostly shows prettier versions of the Nintendo 64 game's locales and boss fights, while revealing a new addition called the Hall of Fallen Foes. The museum-like space displays statues of defeated enemies with descriptions and locations, and lets players refight the game's bosses while tracking their best times. The remake launches on Switch 2 on November 5 as the series' 40th anniversary tentpole, with a live-action film starring Benjamin Evan Ainsworth and Bo Bragason due next year and no full trailer yet.
Game Informer's Brian Shea played over an hour of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, covering both Young Link and Adult Link sections. He describes it as a full remake with new visuals, fully voiced cutscenes, and additions like a jump button, sprint out of a roll, and a freely controlled camera. He also saw a new Threads of Time system that recaps the story on a tapestry and offers hints; the game launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5.
Why this: The author played the Ocarina of Time remake early and reports first-hand on visuals, voice acting, and control changes, helping readers gauge how extensive the remake is.
Nintendo released a five-minute overview trailer for the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which launches for Switch 2 on November 5. The remake lets the Switch 2 microphone hear players hum or play a melody so Link's ocarina responds, and adds the Hall of Fallen Heroes, where statues of defeated monsters can be studied or fought again. It also features overhauled visuals, fully voiced cutscenes with expanded dialogue, full symphonic orchestral music, support for the ZELDA NOTES service in the Switch App, and two new amiibo figures in 2027 that unlock special in-game masks.
Why this: Nintendo's five-minute overview for the Ocarina of Time remake details microphone ocarina play, the Hall of Fallen Heroes, and a November 5 release date.
Nintendo announced that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will come exclusively to Nintendo Switch 2 on Nov 5. Pre-orders are open now.
Why this: Nintendo has given a date and pre-order link for The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time on Switch 2, so readers can plan a purchase.
The author played three sections of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake at a demo event, covering young Link in Kokiri Forest and the Deku Tree, his departure into Hyrule Field and Hyrule Castle Town, and adult Link at the start of the Forest Temple. He says the remake largely strikes the right balance between reverence for the original and modernization, with the most striking change being its presentation, including an angular doll-like look for Link and the Kokiri children and detailed clothing that reads better in motion.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's new remake brings gorgeous visuals, modernized controls, and quality-of-life features that help the classic shine again. The author was skeptical that the game needed another remake but came away convinced.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake received an Overview trailer. Gematsu shared a link to the trailer.
Several outlets published hands-on previews of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, played on Nintendo Switch 2. IGN, GamesRadar, VGC, Eurogamer, GameSpot, TechRadar and Nintendo Life each posted their impressions, with IGN saying the remake is more different than you think and VGC and TechRadar describing their time with it and how returning to the original felt.
A VGC reporter played about two hours of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2 and found it keeps the original's core while adding new content and tweaks. Kokiri Forest gains talkative Kokiri and more rupees, Navi's hints move to speech bubbles and can be summoned on demand, and a hold-button sprint is added. Hyrule Castle Town becomes one connected area without loading transitions, the frame rate rises from the N64's 20fps to 60fps, and the game adds an always-on map, quick item swapping and three interface settings. It releases on November 5.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake arrives on Switch 2 on 5th November, and the author spent two hours with it across Kokiri Forest, the Deku Tree, Hyrule Field, Castle Town, and the Forest Temple. The remake adopts Breath of the Wild-style controls with a jump button, adds a summonable Business Scrub seed, and removes the time limit on the Forest Temple Poe picture, while visuals and lighting are heavily reworked. Navi speaks less aloud, but new floating text boxes now appear mid-screen during exploration, which the author found undercuts the scenery.
Eurogamer published a preview of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, arguing it is shaping up to be a brilliant remake regardless of how players feel about the art style. The full preview is on Eurogamer's site, with the link pointing to a Switch 2 version.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's infamous tutorial owl seemingly won't trap you in conversation in the Switch 2 remake
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An overview trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2 has been released on YouTube and is also available on Nintendo Today. Amazon lists the preorder at $59.88, $10 off MSRP, with Walmart also offering a preorder.
The author spent roughly 30 minutes playing the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and came away impressed. The remake looks impressive graphically and plays better than before, evoking nostalgia for Link's first 3D adventure while feeling modern.
An overview trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2.
Eurogamer's Lottie Lynn played the Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and describes it as a ground-up rework whose visuals are rewritten rather than smoothed like the 3DS version. Auto-jumping has been removed, the jump button can be mapped to Y, and a quick item select menu from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom has been added. Dungeons also differ, with an elevator added in the Forest Temple and fewer Skullutas in Inside the Deku Tree, while Hyrule Castle Town drops its fixed camera and Hyrule Field's geography has changed.
In the Nintendo Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the tutorial owl Kaepora Gaebora seemingly no longer traps players in long conversations. During a 15-minute preview, Eurogamer found the owl's dialogue short and pleasant, with no mention of the map before it flew away. The remake launches on 5th November, and the owl has a new design while still offering flights from Lake Hylia.
Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscribers now have three new Game Boy Advance games to play: Monster Rancher Advance, Metal Slug Advance, and Kururin Paradise. All three were added to the GBA Online app on Oct. 14, with Kururin Paradise making its first appearance in the United States.
Hamster has announced that Console Archives The Drug Store will launch for PS5 and Switch 2 on October 15 for $11.99 / 1,200 yen. The game is a simulation title originally released by HUMAN in 1998 for a 32-bit home console, in which players manage a drug store. The release includes only the Japanese version, with all in-game text in Japanese.
Rogue Factor's Hell Is Us comes to Switch 2 with a design that deliberately rejects hand-holding, encouraging players to trust their instincts and get lost. Set in an alternate '90s Hadea torn by war between the Palomists and Sabinians amid supernatural monsters, it makes a strong statement about humanity. The reviewer found the lack of a detailed map, unclear NPC cues, and Switch 2 performance issues like pop-in and frame drops made the experience frustrating.
The Entertainment Software Association has asked the US Trade Representative to add Chinese retro handheld maker Anbernic to its annual Notorious Markets List, saying the devices are routinely shipped with hundreds or thousands of unauthorised games. The ESA also proposed listing cracked game sources, torrent sites, unauthorised digital goods marketplaces and commercial cheat markets, naming G2A under the digital goods category. It asked the USTR to adopt seven measures, including treating preloaded unauthorised libraries as core evidence of commercial-scale piracy and improving customs targeting of preloading-related devices.
Nintendo has added three more Game Boy Advance games to its Nintendo Classics library on Switch Online: Metal Slug Advance, Monster Rancher Advance and Kururin Paradise, all available now via the GBA app on Switch and Switch 2. Kururin Paradise had only ever been officially released in Japan, making this its first official Western release after 24 years. The addition brings the total number of GBA games on Switch Online in the West to 32.
Three Game Boy Advance classics join Nintendo Switch Online today. The additions mark the latest batch of retro titles for the service's Game Boy Advance library.