Last week Nintendo made it official – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is real, and it is releasing on Switch 2 in 2026. While very little is known about the upcoming release, folks did sleuth out an official description on the game from Nintendo that might give us a better idea of what we are in for.
During last week’s June Nintendo Direct, Nintendo closed out the show with the official confirmation of the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake. The beloved N64 game has been rumored to be on the way for months, but we now know for sure it is coming.
The real questions about the remake have been surrounding just what sort of remake we are getting here. Is it just a remaster of the original with new visuals, a complete 1:1 remake for Switch 2? Or something more involved, akin to Square Enix’s complete overhaul of Final Fantasy VII? Fans have also been speculating heavily on the art-style Nintendo will go for this time around.
Nintendo really did not give us much during last week’s direct save for a look at a tapestry of sorts, overlayed with some new narration regarding the game’s story, and then a very brief shot of a sleeping child Link in what looks like a ground-up recreation of the original game’s opening scene.
If this shot is indeed the art direction Nintendo is going for here, we at least have a pretty good of what we are in for there – I guess it sort of looks more like Twilight Princess than anything, If I had to choose a past Zelda game to compare it to anyway.
But Nintendo hasn’t answered any of the other questions yet. It will presumably do so in some sort of upcoming Zelda Direct or something to mark the series’ 40th anniversary, but it is still unclear whether or not this is a 1:1 remake. It very much looks like there’s almost no chance it’s going to just be a lazy up-res remaster, which is very much a good thing, but we still don’t know if Nintendo is going to add anything new other than updated controls and visuals.
However, fans did spot an official description of the game Nintendo didn’t want us to see just yet:
The N64 classic reborn as a full remake for Nintendo Switch 2.Experience Ocarina of Time with stunning visuals, updated designs, and timeless gameplay.
We already knew it was a remake of some kind, but it’s the “stunning visuals, updated designs, and timeless gameplay” description that might give us a hint at what to expect here. And by might, I mean, not much, but perhaps something.
The wording is making many folks think this is just going to be 1:1 rework with new visuals. The timeliness gameplay mention there could suggest it will be identical to the original otherwise.
I don’t happen to think this statement is really all that telling – Nintendo added plenty of new cinematics to the Star Fox N64 remake, and even some story beats, but I think many gamers were hoping Nintendo would add new dungeons and completely new areas to the experience to explore, among other things. The teaser trailer also suggested to some that we might be in for some new narration in the experience or even full voice acting.
I too am hoping for some significant gameplay additions here, and a more cinematic approach to the story, but it does feel like the latter is far more likely than the former.
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