Best Buy Wants To Travel Back To 1998 With Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Midnight Launch

Back almost three decades ago, digital storefronts didn’t exist for home consoles. So when The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time originally launched on Nintendo 64 in 1998, the only way to get the game early was showing up at a retail store at midnight (something my dad actually did because I was only 12 years old at the time).

Best Buy wants to recreate that feeling with the announcement of late-night store openings for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s launch on Switch 2 next month. In fact, people who have already preordered the remake can even change their order to pick it up in-store at midnight on November 5. Keep in mind that this includes standing in line outside a Best Buy instead of just waiting for delivery at your doorstep.

In addition, the Best Buy midnight launch will have something for people who haven’t preordered the game. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will be available for purchase, but maybe more importantly, the special 40th-anniversary Zelda Switch 2 system and Switch 2 Pro Controller will be available in limited quantities, too. That should be exciting since the Zelda-themed console sold out almost immediately last month.

Nintendo showed off the first gameplay footage for the Ocarina of Time remake in September, and it looks fantastic. The game features a total visual overhaul, which hasn’t gone over well with everyone (they’re wrong, by the way). The Switch 2 exclusive also has eight other big changes from the original title, including the ability to jump at any time. That sounds funny, but it’s sort of a big deal.