In the midst of the Summer of Gaming filled with events, book-ended by Sony’s recent State of Play from this week and the PC Gaming Show on June 8th, it looks like Nintendo will also be throwing its hat into the ring. According to Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb in a recent episode of his Last of the Nintendogs podcast, a Nintendo Direct is planned for June 9th.
While Grubb wasn’t able to go into too many details about what we might see at this Nintendo Direct, or even what time it will be aired, he noted the usual caveats of time zones being a major factor for when fans of Nintendo will be able to see the supposed Direct before mentioning that it will go live on Tuesday morning.
Grubb’s recent statement ties into his claims from last month about Nintendo planning Direct for mid-June. At the time, he said that the company would likely wait until after the biggest of the shows – Summer Game Fest – had wrapped up before going ahead with its own showcase. There are also no details about whether this Direct will be focused on first-party releases or if it will also include games from third-party studios and publishers.
If this rumored Nintendo Direct is focused on first-party games, it is likely to be headlined by the official announcement of a remake of the seminal The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Rumors from a few months ago have indicated that Nintendo is looking to release it near the Holiday season.
A 2026 launch for a remake of Ocarina of Time would be quite fitting, since the year also marks the 40th anniversary for The Legend of Zelda as a whole, with the first entry in the franchise having come out all the way back in 1986 on the NES. As for why the company would pick Ocarina of Time to remake rather than the original, it likely comes down to the fact that the action-adventure title has only been released on the Nintendo 64 in 1998, with a remake coming to Nintendo 3DS in 2011. Considering the legacy of the game, introducing it to a wider modern audience would likely be a no-brainer for Nintendo, especially with a movie based on the franchise being in the works.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time also has tremendous legacy behind it, with many considering it to be one of the greatest games ever made thanks to its combination of the at-the-time relatively unique open structure in a 3D game, its mastery over 3D gameplay thanks to the introduction of Z-targeting, and its gameplay structure that, while an evolution of the one from A Link to the Past, would go on to become the foundation of most The Legend of Zelda games moving forwards until the 2010 release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
A remake of Ocarina of Time would also open the doors for Nintendo to potentially bring its immediate sequel – 2000’s The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – to a wider audience as well, since the original was developed using Ocarina of Time’s engine and assets.