The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has enjoyed the UK’s second-biggest Zelda launch ever, with physical sales 35 per cent ahead of Breath of the Wild and the biggest physical game launch of 2026 so far.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake for Nintendo Switch 2 is the UK’s second-biggest Zelda launch of all time, according to initial reports.
The Ocarina of Time remake had a 35 per cent bigger launch than Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch and Wii U in 2017, based on physical sales of the title.
However, it is roughly half of the units Tears of the Kingdom shifted in its first week of release.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the biggest physical game launch of 2026 in the UK, beating titles such as Resident Evil: Requiem, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and EA Sports FC 27.
Nintendo is yet to provide official sales figures, but the company has released a statement saying Ocarina of Time has had a “very strong start” commercially.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was originally released on the Nintendo 64 in 1998. It got its first remake in 2011 for the handheld console Nintendo 3DS.
The new version of the game has been remade for the Nintendo Switch 2 as part of the franchise’s 40th anniversary celebrations. Nintendo describes the 2026 release as a full remake with completely overhauled visuals, fully voiced cutscenes, symphonic orchestral music and reworked camera and movement controls.
According to review aggregator site Metacritic, Ocarina of Time has received a score of 96 so far, making it the highest-rated game of 2026 at the time of writing.
The Legend of Zelda games were created by legendary Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto, who was inspired, among other things, by exploring the countryside and caves around his childhood home in Kyoto, Japan.
When Miyamoto was growing up, he would go exploring in caves and imagine sticks and rocks he discovered were weapons. Those childhood experiences became an inspiration for the world and adventures of the Zelda series.
Ocarina of Time was also the first Zelda game in the franchise to be fully 3D and introduced Z-targeting, which used the Z button on the back of the Nintendo 64 controller to lock on to an enemy in battle.
The original 1998 game has a Metacritic score of 99, the highest score ever recorded on the site, while games news site IGN gave it its first-ever 10 out of 10.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time heading for second biggest Zelda launch in the UK
