Nintendo's stunning Zelda: Ocarina of Time Switch 2 remake looks like a childhood dream come true

Credit: Nintendo Published Sep 8, 2026, 10:20 AM EDT Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto. Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more. Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. Sign in to your XDA account This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.During its 40th Anniversary The Legend of Zelda Direct presentation, Nintendo showed off gameplay footage of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, giving us our first glimpse at the eagerly anticipated remake of the Nintendo 64 classic for the Switch 2. Based on the footage we've seen so far, the new take on Zelda: Ocarina of Time seems to be mostly a 1:1 remake of the original, only with a far more modern, realistic art style that, almost amusingly, is reminiscent of the fan-made Unreal Engine remakes that have been appearing online for several years now. In the remake's gameplay footage, we saw iconic locations like Kokiri Forest, theGreat Deku Tree, Hyrule Field, and even Castle Town. There's ample detail throughout, with Castle Town being reworked almost entirely. In the original 1998 Nintendo 64 release, Castle Town featured static pre-rendered backgrounds, but in the remake, players can walk around the area freely.A section of the demo also showed off how players can use the Nintendo Switch 2's built-in mic to hum a song Link has already learned in order to play it in the game. It seems like a clever way to use the console's mic, but I also imagine I'll feel pretty silly humming songs to myself. While it's still unconfirmed, the Ocarina of Time remake appears to be a faithful remake of the original game with a fresh coat of paint and quality-of-life features like the ability to jump. At least right now, we don't know if there will be new dungeons and other revamped mechanics. The brief section of the game that showed off the Great Deku Tree opening dungeon suggests most of the title will follow the original game. At the end of the gameplay section, Nintendo revealed that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake will release on November 5th, 2026. Nintendo also revealed a special edition The Legend of Zelda Switch 2. More to come...