The Legend Of Zelda: Minish Cap Returns With Modern-Day Remaster

Published Sep 27, 2026, 6:30 PM EDT James is a gaming writer from London who has spent thousands of hours exploring titles from every genre. Though he has a particular affinity for multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft, Destiny 2 and League of Legends, he has also put thousands of hours into single-player experiences, from deep RPGs to epic PC strategies. When he's not playing or writing, he can usually be found supporting his beloved Brentford FC. Sign in to your ScreenRant account The Legend of Zelda is having a big birthday this year, as 40 years have passed since its initial debut onto the scene back in the mid-1980s. As part of that, many of the older games in the series are at the forefront of the community's minds for the first time in a long time, as a nostalgic wave washes over the significant player base. Whichever one you happen to lean towards, it often feels like the 3D efforts draw all of the attention, when there are just as many brilliant 2D releases that are worth spending some time on if you're feeling like reminiscing. One of the best examples of those remains The Minish Cap, and it has just returned to prominence thanks to an unexpected release that's bound to turn heads now it has dropped. Over on Twitter/X, the user estebanpdn shared details of the 2.0 update for the Native 3DS port of The Minish Cap, and if you have the console but haven't played the game yet, it could easily be the best option out there in 2026. The post confirms that the game can now be completed 100% without major issues on the EU version, and the developer has also fixed plenty of bugs, with the release now also fully playable at 60 FPS on the old hardware. It's a fairly remarkable achievement, but its also worth noting that this goes a lot deeper than simply being a clunky emulated version of the game that doesn't feel at home on the handheld. Based on the open-source Project Picori decompilation, it essentially rebuilds the game from the ground up for the console, taking advantage of the dual screens and control options that it comes with. The game itself at 400×240, with true widescreen presentation on the top screen, while the bottom screen serves as a dedicated interface, where you'll be able to easily view things like the live map and dungeon information. It also boasts touch-screen item controls, native stereo audio, and various display options, as well as 3DS-specific enhancments including 804 MHz CPU mode, L2 cache and multicore rendering. It's all totally free to download and available now, though you will want to make sure that you have a legitimate copy of The Minish Cap at home to keep everything above board from a legal perspective. Other than that, the best thing we can do as Zelda fans is sit tight and wait for the release of the Ocarina of Time Remake in November. It will be interesting to see how far Nintendo has taken any changes, though it looks much more like a visual update on the original, rather than a remake that drastically changes the areas that fans are so familiar with. Released November 4, 2004 ESRB E For Everyone Due To Mild Fantasy Violence Developer(s) Capcom Publisher(s) Nintendo Engine fox Franchise The Legend of Zelda Genre(s) Action-Adventure