Nintendo Rewrites Ocarina of Time and Keeps the Loads

Nintendo set November 5 for the Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2, and Eiji Aonuma added a jump button the Nintendo 64 never had.

The 30-minute Zelda Direct on September 8 marked 40 years of the series. Aonuma walked Kokiri Forest, the Great Deku Tree, and Hyrule Field, then kept the old loading screens between them.

A 40th Anniversary Built Around a 1998 Game

This was the first of two Nintendo Directs in the same week, and it was all Zelda. Shigeru Miyamoto opened on the live-action film. Aonuma closed on the remake. In between sat a concert tour, a Kyoto museum makeover, Lego, amiibo, and a green Triforce Switch 2.

The software at the center is not a new Hyrule. It is the 1998 game, rebuilt as a Switch 2 exclusive after a teaser on June 9. Nintendo’s U.S. store calls the project built from the ground up for Switch 2, with overhauled textures, voiced cutscenes, extra dialogue, and orchestral music. Digital pre-orders are $59.99. The first physical run uses textured foil cover art and lists at $69.99. The download is about 27 GB and supports HDR on compatible TVs.

Aonuma, the series producer, called it a “faithful interpretation using modern technologies,” with a “different appeal” from Breath of the Wild. Nintendo’s own listing also sells it as an entry point. Those two claims sit in the same sentence, and they do not sit easily.

Link Can Jump, Swim, and Dash Now

On the Nintendo 64, Link hopped when you ran him off a ledge. The remake maps a dedicated jump to X, the same face button Breath of the Wild uses. You can roll and hold A to dash. The right stick turns the camera, including in towns that used to be locked views. Motion controls aim the slingshot and bow. Items scroll the way they do in the open-world games.

Aonuma also let Link swim and dive without special clothing, and time now keeps moving inside towns. Hyrule Castle Town is a full 3D space with extra alleys. Navi is still there, still talking. Climbing is still vines, not a cliff-grab. The dungeon route is still the old route.

WHAT CHANGED IN THE REMAKE

That table is the Direct in miniature. Nintendo modernized every input that made 1998 feel like 1998, then spent the rest of the demo insisting the bones had not moved.

Why Nintendo Kept the Loading Screens

When Link left Kokiri Forest for Hyrule Field, the picture went black. A small Triforce sat in the corner for a few seconds. Aonuma talked over it instead of hiding it.

By the way, there’s a loading screen whenever you move between areas. This is something we intentionally kept to preserve the essence of the original game.

Eiji Aonuma, Zelda series producer, Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct

Shops inside a town load in place, the way later Zeldas already do. The big seams stay. Nintendo says actions feel snappier and loads are faster, and still chose a black gap as a souvenir.

Inside the Great Deku Tree, Aonuma used the first dungeon as a short lesson. Classic Zelda is a locked path of tools and keys. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are not. The remake is the old kind, with new hands. He even left the chest-opening pose alone.

A Tapestry Instead of Navi’s Nagging

The new safety net is called Threads of Time. Open it at any point and you get story progress plus the next objective. A large tapestry fills in as you go. It will not draw a line on the map. It will tell you what the game thinks you should be doing.

Zelda Notes, the phone layer that used to trail Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, now has a real job on this remake. Nintendo’s anniversary write-up lists the Threads of Time tapestry and Gossip Quest beside a daily log, a quiz, and a virtual ocarina on the Switch app.

ZELDA NOTES ON OCARINA OF TIME

• Today’s Record: A day log of what you did, including enemies beaten.
• Gossip Quest: Find a spot in Hyrule from a hint photo on your phone and earn points toward ocarina scores.
• Play Ocarina: Tap a virtual instrument, follow a guide, or share a score with a QR code.
• Ocarina of Time Quiz: More than 2,000 questions, once a day, or extra tries paid with in-game rupees.

The ocarina itself is now a microphone trick. Hum, whistle, or sing a song Link already knows, and he plays it. A real playable ocarina is coming later this year. HORI’s Electric Ocarina of Time for $49.99 is not a wind instrument. It is a toy with hole buttons, a 12-song auto-play mode, a volume dial, and a headphone jack. Three AA batteries are not in the box. The Switch 2 mic still has to hear it.

Tap any Zelda amiibo for extras. Young Link and Young Zelda figures arrive in 2027 and unlock masks that recall the old polygonal look. That is Nintendo selling the 1998 face back to you as a reward, after spending the Direct replacing it.

Young Link Looks Too Real for Some

Aonuma said the team had many talks about style. They wanted a world that had been remade and still felt a little nostalgic. “But we didn’t just aim for realistic graphics,” he said. “We were particularly focused on reimagining them in a way that invokes nostalgia for the original game.”

The argument that followed is almost entirely about young Link. His leaf-cut tunic, hair, and skin are built at a density the Kokiri villagers next to him do not match. The forest is wetter, shinier, and more muted than the N64’s flat color blocks. Adult Link in the closing trailer drew less fire than the child in the demo.

The look sits closer to a high-detail fan render than to Breath of the Wild’s painted cliffs, and that is the split. Some players wanted that sheen. Others wanted the fairy-tale squash of the old models. Nintendo did not ship a second visual mode in the Direct. The 2027 amiibo masks are the closest thing to an official shrug.

The Zelda Switch 2 Ships Without a Game

Hardware lands on October 29, seven days before the remake. Green Joy-Con 2 controllers carry a Triforce pattern. The dock is black with a gold Triforce. Nintendo’s U.S. store lists the system at $519.99. A matching carrying case with a screen protector is $39.99. A Pro Controller comes with or without a display stand; the stand version is a Nintendo Store exclusive and uses a Hyrule map.

Japan’s corporate release prices the set at 62,980 yen, including tax, and states in plain language that the anniversary Switch 2 does not include a game. The Pro Controller with stand is 12,980 yen. The case is 3,980 yen. Same note on those boxes: no software.

THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY CALENDAR

1. September 17, 2026: Mineru’s Construct amiibo, already announced for Tears of the Kingdom, goes on sale.
2. October 29, 2026: Zelda 40th Switch 2, Pro Controller, and case arrive, game sold separately.
3. November 5, 2026: Ocarina of Time remake launches; Nintendo Museum Official Book Vol. 2 and new museum photo ops land the same day.
4. Spring 2027: Lego’s 1,750-piece Link and Epona display set, Hasbro’s 27-inch electronic Master Sword with more than 15 sounds, and the Young Link and Young Zelda amiibo.
5. April 30, 2027: The live-action film opens worldwide.

Nintendo Museum in Kyoto gets a Zelda ticket design from September 9 and a Super Family Restaurant later in fall 2026, with anniversary programming for a year. Nintendo Today began handing out daily Zelda cards on September 9.

Miyamoto’s Film Has No Subtitle

The movie is called The Legend of Zelda. Miyamoto said you will understand the missing subtitle after you see it. He called it an original film drawn from 40 years of stories, ideas, and concepts, not a straight port of one game. Wes Ball directed. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth plays Link. Bo Bragason plays Zelda. Nintendo, Arad Productions, and Sony Pictures Entertainment are on the credits. Further updates, Miyamoto said, will run through Nintendo Today.

A 40th Anniversary Concert series starts in Tokyo in January 2027, then Chicago in February, London in April, and Melbourne in May. That tour is the other 2027 product that is not a cartridge.

The Direct did not show a new mainline Zelda. It showed a 1998 dungeon game with a jump button, a hint tapestry, a microphone, and a $519.99 console that still makes you buy the software. Aonuma kept the black screens so the essence would survive. The essence, as of November 5, also jumps when you press X.