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Nintendo Switch 2November 5th 2026

Ocarina of Time

Ocarina of Time comes to Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5th 2026. Here is what Nintendo has shown and the story so far.

The trailer from the 40th Anniversary Direct, September 8th 2026. Nintendo of America on YouTube.

What we know

What's new
Voice and orchestra
Voiced cutscenes, symphonic music, rebuilt visuals, jump and dash controls and a modern camera. Nintendo (US store page)
Your ocarina
Hum the songs
Play or hum Link's songs into the Switch 2's microphone and he plays them in the game. Gematsu
A week before
October 29th
A Triforce-themed Nintendo Switch 2 – The Legend of Zelda – 40th Anniversary Edition console. Nintendo (news)
More of what’s announced6 more facts · open to read

Price

  • Nintendo gave the release date, November 5th 2026, on September 8th 2026 in The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct. Series producer Eiji Aonuma showed the first gameplay there. Nintendo of America on YouTube
  • It is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive. Nintendo describes it as the classic tale "built from the ground up" for the new system. Nintendo (US store page)
  • Nintendo announced Ocarina of Time for Nintendo Switch 2 on June 9th 2026 at the end of a Nintendo Direct. Video Games Chronicle
  • The first print run of the physical edition has textured foil cover art while supplies last. Gematsu
  • A new "Threads of Time" screen tracks your story progress and next objective as a tapestry that fills in as you play. Gematsu
  • The game supports ZELDA NOTES in the Nintendo Switch App. The new Young Link and Young Zelda amiibo (coming in 2027) unlock masks with a retro graphical style. Nintendo (US store page)

The story so far

Later chapters stay rolled up until you open them.

The boy without a fairy

In Kokiri Forest, every child has a guardian fairy given to them by the Great Deku Tree, the ancient spirit who watches over the woods. Every child except one: a boy named Link, who has never quite fitted in and has lately been troubled by a nightmare of a princess fleeing a man in black.

One morning a fairy called Navi wakes him. The Great Deku Tree has summoned him at last.

The Great Deku Tree's last wish

The Great Deku Tree has been cursed by a desert man in black armour. He asks Link to go inside him and break the curse. Link does, though too late: it has already done its work. Before he dies, the tree gives Link the Kokiri's Emerald, one of three Spiritual Stones and tells him to find the princess at Hyrule Castle.

So Link leaves the forest for the first time, crossing Hyrule Field towards the castle.

Zelda, the Triforce and Ganondorf

Link sneaks past the guards into the castle courtyard and meets Princess Zelda. She has dreamed of him too: a light from the forest parting dark clouds over Hyrule. Through a window she points out the clouds' meaning, Ganondorf, king of the Gerudo, who has sworn loyalty to her father but does not mean it.

Ganondorf wants the Triforce, the golden power of the goddesses hidden in the Sacred Realm, which grants the wish of whoever touches it. The way in is sealed by the three Spiritual Stones and the Ocarina of Time. Zelda asks Link to gather the other two stones first so they can reach the Triforce before Ganondorf does.

Link earns the Goron's Ruby on Death Mountain and Zora's Sapphire in Zora's Domain. When he comes back, Ganondorf is attacking the castle; Zelda flees on horseback with her guardian Impa and throws Link the Ocarina of Time as she passes.

Seven years laterSpoilers · unroll to read

In the Temple of Time, Link plays the Song of Time. The Door of Time opens and he draws the Master Sword from its pedestal. Because he is too young to be the hero yet, the sword seals his spirit away for seven years. And Ganondorf, who followed him in, walks through the open door and takes the Triforce.

Link wakes as a young man in the Chamber of Sages, where Rauru, the Sage of Light, tells him what has happened. Ganondorf has made himself king. Hyrule has fallen into ruin.

The six sagesSpoilers · unroll to read

Guided by Sheik, a mysterious Sheikah, Link travels between past and present, putting the Master Sword back to become a child again when he needs to. He frees five temples from Ganondorf's monsters and, in each, awakens a sage: his childhood friend Saria in the Forest, Darunia of the Gorons in Fire, Princess Ruto of the Zoras in Water, Impa in Shadow and the Gerudo thief Nabooru in Spirit.

When the sixth sage is woken, Sheik reveals herself as Zelda, in disguise for seven years. Ganondorf touched the Triforce with an unbalanced heart. It split in three: he kept Power while the other pieces went to the ones chosen by destiny, Wisdom to Zelda and Courage to Link.

The ending and the timelineSpoilers · unroll to read

Ganondorf captures Zelda. Link storms his castle and defeats him. When Ganondorf rises again as the beast Ganon, Link and Zelda bring him down together while the sages seal him away in the Evil Realm. Zelda then uses the Ocarina to send Link back to his own time to live the childhood he lost. He goes back to the castle courtyard and meets her again, as if for the first time.

That ending is why the official Zelda timeline splits. In the future Link left behind, a world without its hero leads to The Wind Waker. In the past he goes back to, the warning about Ganondorf leads to Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. And Nintendo's Hyrule Historia adds a third branch, where the Hero of Time is defeated, leading to A Link to the Past.

The Hero is DefeatedA Link to the PastChild EraMajora's MaskAdult EraThe Wind Waker

Where to go next

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