Nintendo officially announced a full remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time at its June 9 Direct, confirmed exclusively for Switch 2 with a release window later in 2026. That single reveal would have carried the entire show, but the presentation kept swinging: Deltarune Chapter 5 arrives as a free update on June 24, Kingdom Hearts IV was confirmed for Switch 2 alongside PS5, Xbox Series, and PC, and a dedicated Switch 2 version of Minecraft is on the way with enhanced lighting and world transfers from the original Switch. The Direct capped off Summer Game Fest weekend and promptly racked up more than 4.6 million views on YouTube.
The Ocarina announcement is the one people will remember. The 1998 original is routinely cited as one of the greatest games ever made, and the only modern way to play it has been the 3DS remaster or Nintendo's classic game subscription. A ground up remake on Switch 2 hardware is the kind of move that sells consoles by itself, and Nintendo knows it. The curious part is the presentation: no gameplay, no date, just a confirmation for a release supposedly less than six months out. That is either supreme confidence or a placeholder slot they intend to fill at a later showcase.
What else was announced at the June 2026 Nintendo Direct?
The headliners beyond Zelda: Nintendo Switch Sports Resort launches exclusively on Switch 2 in October 2026 with 12 sports including skateboarding and the classic golf, bowling, and boxing trio. Pokémon Pokopia is getting a free underwater update in August plus a three part paid Expansion Pass starting with Bubbly Basin. A dedicated Splatoon Raiders Direct airs June 30 ahead of the game's July 23 launch. Metaphor: ReFantazio hits Switch 2 on November 12, Kingdom Hearts collections arrive October 8, and Capcom is bringing both Onimusha: Way of the Sword on September 25 and Dragon's Dogma II: Dark Arisen on October 9.
Why does this Direct matter for the Switch 2?
It answers the third party question. The first year of any Nintendo console lives or dies on whether major publishers actually show up, and this Direct was wall to wall with them: Square Enix, Capcom, Atlus, SHIFT UP with a Stellar Blade port, Saber with SnowRunner, and a Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2 in August. The fan consensus that this was a JRPG heavy show is accurate, and that genre loyalty is exactly the audience that buys Nintendo hardware at launch prices.
When can you actually play the big releases?
Deltarune Chapter 5 is two weeks away. Rise of the Tomb Raider hit the Switch 2 eShop the day of the Direct. The fall is the real pile up: Kingdom Hearts in October, Switch Sports Resort in October, Metaphor in November, and Ocarina of Time somewhere in the back half of the year. If Nintendo holds that Zelda window, this becomes one of the strongest holiday lineups the company has shipped in a decade.
My read: Nintendo watched PlayStation reveal God of War Laufey and Xbox push Gears of War: E-Day during Summer Game Fest, then walked in two days later and ended the conversation with a 28 year old game. That is the power of that back catalog, and it is why the Switch 2 attach rate problem everyone predicted keeps not happening.