Nintendo sets the date: the Ocarina of Time remake arrives in November

Nintendo has finally put a date on one of the most talked-about projects of recent months: the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will arrive in November. The core information comes from Eurogamer Spain, which reports on the Japanese company's official announcement. After so many rumors, leaks and speculation on social media, there is now a month marked on the calendar to return to Hyrule with a fresh new look.

Why does it matter? Because we're not talking about just any game. Ocarina of Time is, for much of the industry and the community, the title that defined how a three-dimensional adventure is designed. The fact that Nintendo has decided to rebuild it from the ground up, and to place it in the year-end launch window on top of that, says a lot about the confidence it has in the project and the weight it wants to give it in the most competitive season of the year.

What you need to know

• Nintendo has officially announced the release date of the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• The game will launch in November, right in the middle of the holiday season.
• The source of this information is Eurogamer Spain, which reports on the company's announcement.
• This is a remake, not a remaster or a re-release of the Nintendo 64 original.
• For now, the news focuses on the date; further details about the content will have to wait for new official communications.

What a remake of Ocarina of Time means

It's worth making a clear distinction between the concepts. A remaster improves what already exists: it raises the resolution, touches up textures, adjusts the frame rate. A remake, on the other hand, rebuilds the game from scratch on a modern technological foundation, and that opens the door to fundamental changes: controls, camera, pacing, interface, even tweaks to dungeon design or the combat system. Nintendo had already reinterpreted Ocarina of Time in the past for handheld, but that was an update, not a complete reconstruction.

For players who grew up with the original, the obvious question is how much Nintendo will respect the classic experience and how much it will dare to modernize. For those who never played it, the remake is the chance to understand why this title appears on so many lists of the best games of all time without having to wrestle with controls from almost three decades ago.

November, the month of the sales wars

The choice of month is no accident. November is, year after year, the moment when the major publishers concentrate their releases ahead of holiday shopping. Placing Ocarina of Time there is a statement of intent: Nintendo wants this remake to compete head-to-head with the season's heavyweights and to be one of the star gifts of the holidays.

It also affects the creator community. A launch of this magnitude in November means that a large part of the year-end content on YouTube, Twitch and TikTok is going to revolve around Hyrule: comparisons with the original, guides, speedruns on the new version, no-death challenge runs, reactions to the changes. Anyone who wants to ride the wave needs to start planning now.

Our take

At the Underworld Lordz newsroom we received the news with a mix of excitement and caution. Excitement, because Ocarina of Time is part of gaming's heritage and seeing it rebuilt with current technology is something we've been asking for for years. Caution, because a poorly focused remake can turn a classic into a soulless product. Nintendo has the track record to get it right, but we also know that announcing a date guarantees nothing: what matters is what's inside the game.

From a competitive standpoint, the point that interests us most is the speedrunning community. Ocarina of Time has one of the most active and technical speedrunning scenes in the world, built on glitches and tricks from the original that a remake will almost certainly eliminate. That isn't bad in itself: a new category is born, with its own routes and discoveries, and the first months after launch will be a festival of records falling every day. For Spanish-speaking runners it's a chance to establish themselves from minute one.

Our criticism lies elsewhere: Nintendo is still far too stingy with information. Announcing only the month, without breaking down what changes compared to the original, leaves the community speculating for weeks and feeds leaks that the company itself then has to deny. A bit more transparency wouldn't hurt anyone, least of all with a game of this caliber.

What do you think?

We have a date, we have hype and we have plenty of unanswered questions. Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord: do you prefer a remake faithful to the original, or do you want Nintendo to dare to really change things?