The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo Switch 2)

Some games you replay. Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2 is the one you get to discover again. Nintendo first showed the remake in its June 9 Direct, set the date at the Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct in September, and it launched on November 5 as a Switch 2 exclusive. A week later, players have already made their call.

What players are saying

On Metacritic, the user score sits at 9.6 out of 10 from 11,355 ratings, and 96% of those ratings are positive. That is player data only; Add to Cart never uses critic scores. User reviews keep coming back to the same things: the rebuilt visuals, the modernized controls and dungeons that are easier to get around.

The launch numbers line up with that. Industry analyst Christopher Dring reported that it is the UK's biggest physical game launch of 2026 and the second-biggest Zelda launch ever in the UK, 35% bigger than Breath of the Wild's launch. Nintendo says the game is off to a "very strong start." In the US, it went to No. 1 on the Switch 2 eShop best-seller chart when pre-loading opened on November 1 and was still there after launch.

The fun stuff

You can jump now. Link jumps on command instead of only hopping gaps automatically, and you get full camera control everywhere, including Hyrule Castle Town. He can roll into a sprint anywhere and swims faster too.

Every cutscene is voiced. The story scenes are fully voiced for the first time, and Navi reacts to more of what you do.

Hum it and Link plays it. This is the one everyone is talking about. Instead of entering button sequences, you can hum or sing a song into the Switch 2's built-in microphone. If it sounds like one of Link's melodies, the game plays that song. It even picks up a real instrument.

A real ocarina. Nintendo is releasing a playable physical ocarina, and the Switch 2 mic picks up its notes to trigger songs in the game. The companion Zelda Notes app lets you unlock songs to learn, design your own and share them by QR code.

A living Hyrule. Time now keeps flowing in towns. A new Threads of Fate screen tracks the tasks you still have to do and the ones you've finished, filling in a big tapestry as you play. There's also a Breath of the Wild-style item scroll on R and ZR next to the classic equip screen, and motion aiming for the slingshot is optional.

The verdict is the number

Ocarina of Time was already part of gaming history. This version keeps the adventure people love and adds the tools a modern player expects: a jump button, a free camera, voices and a way to play the songs just by humming them. Players are giving it a 9.6. My score: 10 out of 10. Add to cart.

Developer and publisher: Nintendo. Out now on Nintendo Switch 2.