Best Buy wants you to remember the good ol’ days, when video games were fun and nothing hurt, by holding a midnight launch for both the Ocarina of Time remake and its limited-edition Switch 2 console. Select stores across the U.S. will have a limited supply of the console (via Wario64) and Switch 2 Pro Controller, offering what might be the last chance to get these seriously pretty pieces of hardware at retail prices.
Best Buy will have late-night select store openings on November 5th, midnight ET for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Switch 2). “Limited numbers of The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Nintendo Switch 2 system and Pro Controller will also be available”… pic.twitter.com/JOXopL5w2F
— Wario64 (@Wario64) October 8, 2026
Can’t think of a time in recent memory when a game launch warranted a midnight release. Sure, the Switch 2 had its big midnight shindig a couple years ago now, generating lines everywhere including at my local GameStop. But doing one for a video game release sure feels nostalgic. Fitting, then, that the game in question is Ocarina of Time, the Zelda game to end all Zelda games. (Unless you’re someone with my tastes who prefers Majora’s Mask, there are dozens of us!)
But if we’re being honest, the hardware is probably a bigger draw than the game itself. Pre-orders for the console and the Pro Controller are already sold out at Best Buy and Target, meaning if you want one before the scalpers inevitably do what scalpers do, fucking up your sleep schedule might be your last, best bet—although I was able to add a console pre-order to my cart at Walmart so there might still be some available there. Hell, you can’t even get your hands on pre-orders for the the special-edition carrying case, so the Ocarina hype is definitely real.
I think we miss being a part of a monoculture, and things like digital games and online shopping have fractured our communities a lot, so while I doubt Ocarina will create the kind of lines the Switch 2 did or even Halo 3 (god, what a midnight release that was!), I hope it does bring some people out. The good ol’ days were kinda good for a reason.
