Ocarina of Time remake launches on Switch 2 with 96 Metacritic score

Reviews land at 96

Reviews went live on 4 November, hours before the game went on sale at 12 AM ET on 5 November. Metacritic lists a 96 Metascore and OpenCritic lists 95. Beebom reported it is the highest-rated game of 2026, while noting that GTA 6's review embargo lifts in two weeks. The game is exclusive to Switch 2 and costs $59.99 physical and $69.99 digital.

The 1998 original still sits at 99 on Metacritic, the aggregator's highest-rated game, so the remake lands below the game it remakes. The Guardian's review called it "a dream come true" and said the flow and structure remain the same, with the same places visited in the same order. Key story moments now play out in fully voiced cutscenes, though Link stays silent. The Guardian's review said the new scenes could prove divisive.

The scores are close to unanimous. VGC, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+ and TechRadar each gave 5 out of 5, while IGN and GameSpot scored it 9 out of 10, Beebom's review roundup showed. The Guardian described it as an ambitious remake rather than a light-touch remaster. Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma said in an Ask the Developer interview that the team removed proposed fast-travel points to preserve the original's moments of discovery.

Launch comes as Switch 2 sales fall

The remake launched after Nintendo's fiscal second quarter ended on 30 September. Nintendo sold 2.67 million Switch 2 consoles in that quarter, down 41% from a year earlier and below the prior quarter's 3.82 million, CNBC reported.

During the quarter Nintendo raised Switch 2 prices in the US, Canada and Japan, after an earlier increase in Japan, and pointed to rising memory costs. Nintendo reported revenue of 448.2 billion yen, short of the 481.37 billion yen LSEG estimate. It kept its full-year Switch 2 forecast at 16.5 million units for the fiscal year ending March 2027.

Investors hope the remake could boost Switch 2 sales in the coming weeks, CNBC reported. Serkan Toto, chief executive of Kantan Games, called it "Nintendo's only real blockbuster this fiscal year" and said: "It's not enough to make investors happy, especially after the device is now as expensive as it is."

What happens next

Nintendo's fiscal year ends in March 2027. New Pokémon games are slated for 2027. Toto told CNBC that Nintendo must "step on the gas" and deliver more big games next fiscal year to keep Switch 2 momentum going.