Nintendo’s Zelda Remake Sets Its Own Switch 2 Record in Four Days

By Grace Kim

Nintendo sold more than 5.2 million copies of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time worldwide in the first four days, including 810,000 in Japan. Nintendo said the Switch 2 remake delivered a faster start than any other game the company has published for the console.

What does the four-day sales record show?

Nintendo disclosed the following:

• Global sales: More than 5.2 million copies in the first four days.
• Japan sales: 810,000 copies.
• Company benchmark: No other Nintendo-published Switch 2 game achieved a bigger four-day start.

The benchmark covers Nintendo’s own Switch 2 releases rather than every game available on the console. It also captures an opening window rather than a game’s full sales life. On the figures Nintendo released, Ocarina of Time moved faster than every other Nintendo Switch 2 release during its first four days on sale.

At Best Buy’s Union Square store in New York, the line wrapped around the corner, The Drum reported. The first fans had been waiting since 7 a.m. for the midnight launch. Some came in costume. One couple brought their newborn in a stroller.

The scene offered a visible snapshot of the release Nintendo counted at more than 5.2 million copies over four days.

“It was so freaking wild,” Best Buy’s Lisa Valentino, chief ads and media officer, told The Drum. She said gaming cuts across every demographic. “It is culture, and it is this phenomenon,” Valentino said.

Valentino’s account addresses the cultural reach of gaming. Nintendo’s disclosure addresses unit sales. The Union Square queue documents attention at one store; the company’s figures cover worldwide sales across four days. Together, they show a launch with a company-record sales pace and a visible retail turnout, though neither establishes how long demand will last.

Takeaway: Nintendo set its own four-day Switch 2 benchmark and paired it with visible crowds at a New York Best Buy launch.

What did Nintendo remake?

The title is a Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Nintendo 64 game released in 1998. The Drum described the original as often ranked among the greatest video games ever made.

That standing matters because Nintendo did not build this release from scratch; it updated a game from the company’s earlier hardware era for Switch 2.

The Drum said the remake reimagines the visuals while retaining the time-jumping gameplay. Link still moves between his child and adult selves, and that progression remains the central design feature. Nintendo paired a refreshed presentation with the play mechanic already associated with the original.

Takeaway: The Switch 2 release refreshes the look of a 1998 Nintendo 64 landmark without changing the child-to-adult progression at its center.

Why does the opening matter for Nintendo?

The 5.2 million-plus figure gives Nintendo its strongest disclosed start for any published Switch 2 game. The 810,000 Japanese sales also show that the total was not confined to one market; more than 5.2 million copies sold worldwide, with Japan accounting for 810,000 of them.

For a remake, the result links the commercial pull of a 1998 Nintendo 64 release to demand for the Switch 2 remake.

The launch evidence comes from two places. Nintendo supplied the copy totals and the company-wide benchmark. The Drum supplied the scene outside Best Buy’s Union Square store and Valentino’s account of gaming’s broad appeal.

Neither source provides a revenue figure or a sales breakdown beyond the 810,000 Japanese total, so the 5.2 million-copy result should be read as a unit-sales milestone rather than a reported dollar windfall.

That distinction keeps the claim precise. Ocarina of Time did not establish itself as the best-selling game on Switch 2 across all publishers; Nintendo only said no other game it published had a larger four-day start.

Even so, the result placed a game first released in 1998 at the front of Nintendo’s own Switch 2 field and gave the company a measurable launch on the platform.

Until Nintendo reports a longer sales window, the firmest marker remains the opening record: more than 5.2 million copies worldwide in four days, including 810,000 in Japan, plus the visible launch crowd at Best Buy’s Union Square store.

Takeaway: The next test is whether demand holds beyond day four.