Ocarina of Time Remake Reviews: A 96 and the Best-Rated Game of 2026
Nintendo rebuilt its 1998 masterpiece for Switch 2 with a jump button, a free camera, voice acting and a Castle Town you can finally walk around. Critics say it works. Here is what changed and what reviewers think.
In 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time set a record that still stands: 99 on Metacritic, the highest score the site has ever recorded. Twenty-eight years later, its Switch 2 remake has come remarkably close.
The new Ocarina of Time launched exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5, 2026, two weeks before GTA VI. It opened at 96 on Metacritic from more than 80 critics, with every review positive at the time of the early tallies, and sits at 95 on OpenCritic with a 100% recommendation rate. That makes it the best-reviewed game of 2026 and places it among the 30 highest-rated games in Metacritic's history.
It costs $59.99 digitally and $69.99 for the physical edition in the US.
What Nintendo changed
The remake was first teased in June, then shown properly in September during The Legend of Zelda's 40th Anniversary Direct, where series producer Eiji Aonuma presented about 15 minutes of gameplay. The headline changes:
- A jump button. The original jumped automatically off ledges; now you jump when you want.
- A free camera controlled with the right stick.
- Sprinting, by holding the roll button, with no visible stamina meter.
- A quest log that tracks objectives and tells you when they can be completed.
- An explorable Castle Town. In 1998 it was a pre-rendered backdrop; now you can walk its streets.
- Voice acting in major cutscenes for characters including Zelda, Saria, Darunia, Ruto and Ganondorf. Link stays silent.
The environments were rebuilt, with denser plants in Kokiri Forest and a reworked Great Deku Tree, but Nintendo deliberately avoided chasing photorealism.
What critics are saying
The reviews are unusually consistent. GamesRadar+ gave it five stars, and outlets praised how faithful it feels while removing old frustrations. Game Informer's review headline summed up the tone: "exceptionally familiar".
The criticism, where there is any, focuses on the dungeons. IGN, which scored it 9/10, felt that the streamlined dungeon design takes a little edge off the puzzle-solving. RPG Site, at 8/10, argued that the remake is built first for players who have never played the original, with veterans as a secondary audience.
Why the timing matters
Nintendo chose an unusual date. Launching two weeks before the biggest game of the decade sounds risky, but it gives the remake a clear run during the quietest week for big rivals, when many players are clearing space before GTA.
It also caps an extraordinary year for Switch 2. With Pokemon Pokopia, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and now Ocarina of Time, Nintendo has three of the year's best-reviewed games.
Should you play it?
If you have never played Ocarina of Time, this is now the definitive way to do it. The heart of the 1998 adventure, a boy who travels seven years through time to stop Ganondorf, is all here, now with modern controls that make the first hours far less awkward than they are on the original cartridge. If you have, the new Castle Town, the quest log and voice acting make it more than a nostalgia trip, though purists may miss some of the old dungeon difficulty.
WGC's take: remakes are usually judged against memories, and memories are generous. That this one holds up against a 99 is a real achievement. See where it sits in the year in our 2026 AAA year so far and the full console line-up in our Switch 2 first-party guide.