Best Buy Is Bringing Back the 1998 Zelda Midnight Launch for Switch 2

Remember when getting a huge game meant standing outside a store at midnight? Best Buy is betting you do.

The retailer has announced late-night store openings for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's launch on Switch 2 next month. If you already preordered the remake, you can change your order to pick it up in-store at midnight on November 5. Yes, that means actually lining up outside a Best Buy instead of waiting for a delivery driver to ring your doorbell.

Back in 1998, digital storefronts didn't exist for home consoles, so the only way to get Ocarina of Time early on Nintendo 64 was showing up at a retail store at midnight. That's a feeling Best Buy is clearly trying to bottle again.

The midnight event isn't just for people who locked in a preorder. The game will be available for purchase, and maybe more importantly, the special 40th-anniversary Zelda Switch 2 system and Switch 2 Pro Controller will be up for grabs in limited quantities. That's a big deal, since the Zelda-themed console sold out almost immediately last month.

Nintendo showed off the first gameplay footage for the Ocarina of Time remake in September, and it looks fantastic. The game has a full visual overhaul, which hasn't gone over well with everyone. The Switch 2 exclusive also packs eight other big changes from the original, including the ability to jump at any time. Sounds like a small thing, but it's actually sort of a big deal.

So if you've been on the fence about how to get your hands on the remake, or you're hunting for that Zelda-themed console, November 5 might be worth clearing your evening for. Midnight launches are part nostalgia trip, part scavenger hunt, and this one comes with some genuinely rare hardware on the shelf.

What do you think? Will you be lining up at Best Buy on November 5, or are you happy to wait for the mail?