Ocarina of Time remake would be a bold move for Nintendo

A Switch 2 version of the N64 all-time classic needs to be both bold and safe

Nintendo reportedly has a new remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time coming in 2026, a major release that will be closely timed to the series' 40th anniversary. If accurate, the remake for Switch 2 would be one of Nintendo's most ambitious (and riskiest) remakes to date.

The existence of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake was unofficially outed by reliable leaker Nate the Hate in his most recent podcast. The remake, he said, is planned to be one of Nintendo's major holiday 2026 releases. Beyond the game's existence and a release window — and an assertion that there won't be a new 3D Mario game until next year — there aren't many details on what the new Ocarina of Time will be.

Nintendo is no stranger to remakes, but it cautiously approaches what it updates. The company already revisited The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time once, updating the Nintendo 64 game in 2011 for the Nintendo 3DS. Ocarina of Time 3D featured updated graphics, quality of life changes (like touchscreen controls that made the game's infamous Water Temple much more tolerable), and stereoscopic 3D effects. The 3DS version was somewhere between a remaster and a remake, hewing closely to Link's original 3D adventure.

In 2019, Nintendo also revisited The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening with a Switch remake that radically overhauled the original Game Boy game's visual style. Despite some technical issues that plagued the Switch version of Link's Awakening, the remake was positively received.

Revisiting Ocarina of Time for a second time will no doubt carry massive expectations, especially when a large portion of the current Nintendo audience expects Zelda games to look and play like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. For those players, a 3D Zelda game like Ocarina of Time might feel antiquated or constrained. But if the company opts to massively rework how Ocarina of Time plays, it risks alienating fans who consider the original sacrosanct.

Nintendo rarely remakes its games in the bold scope of, say, one of Capcom's Resident Evil remakes or Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2. The company instead often rereleases games with modern graphics (Metroid Prime Remastered, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD) or new experiences tailored to its distinctive hardware (Super Mario 64 DS, Star Fox 64 3D). Once in a while, though, Nintendo will take a bigger swing, such as it did with Metroid: Samus Returns.

Nintendo will need to swing for the fences with any modern remake of Ocarina of Time, while also cautiously approaching the game that changed The Legend of Zelda forever. It will be fascinating, and even a little scary, to see how Nintendo brings a '90s classic into the modern era... and tees up next year's The Legend of Zelda movie.