Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake sells 5.2 million in four days, Nintendo's fastest Switch 2 launch

Hyrule is clearly still a popular destination. Nintendo has announced that the full remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time sold more than 5.2 million copies worldwide in its first four days after launching on Switch 2 on November 5.

A new record for Nintendo on Switch 2

According to Nintendo, that makes it the fastest-selling Nintendo-published Switch 2 game, both worldwide and in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. The count includes physical and digital sales, based on Nintendo's own data. In Nintendo's Japanese release, around 810,000 of those copies were sold in Japan alone.

Why it is landing so well

The original came out on the Nintendo 64 in 1998 and is still one of the games people mention first when they talk about the best ever made. This version is a ground-up remake rather than a touch-up: new visuals, orchestral music, voice acting, longer cutscenes and reworked camera and movement controls. Link still travels between his child and adult self across two eras, but the controls should feel far less stiff than they did in 1998.

Nintendo is also pitching it as an easy way into the series, and the numbers suggest plenty of first-timers took them up on it. It also supports ZELDA NOTES in the Nintendo Switch App, which adds helpful extras while you play.

My take

A launch this big for a remake says a lot about how much goodwill Ocarina of Time still has. I would not be surprised if it keeps climbing through the holidays, especially with the themed Switch 2 bundle and Pro Controller that launched alongside it.

You can read Nintendo's official announcement here.