Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2: US Prices, Dates, Stock

I would have bought one. The Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 went up for pre-order in September, black and gold, Triforce on the dock, green and gold Joy-Con, and it sold out before I could. What I did pre-order is the game it lands right next to: Ocarina of Time, rebuilt for Switch 2, out November 5. Now the console is a couple of days from release, a pile of other Zelda gear has been announced around it, and a story about HORI’s Zelda accessories is making the rounds. So here’s everything, sorted by the only question that matters if you’re in the US: what can you actually buy, when, and for how much?

How much is the Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2, and when does it come out?

October 29, for $519.99. That’s twenty dollars more than the regular Switch 2 sitting next to it on Nintendo’s store, and for the twenty you get the look: a black and gold dock with a gold Triforce on the front, Zelda patterns on the back of the console and the dock, and Joy-Con 2 in green and gold, with a tiny 8-bit Link tucked under the Triforce on the left one. Inside it’s the Switch 2 you already know, the same screen, the same 256GB, the same dock output. And the box has the usual: console, Joy-Con, grip, two straps, dock, charger and HDMI cable.

It also isn’t a Nintendo Store exclusive in the US, so retailers can carry it.

The 40 in the name counts from February 21, 1986, the day The Legend of Zelda came out in Japan on the Famicom Disk System. Forty years, and the series gets a gold Triforce on a dock. Fair enough.

Here’s all of it in one place, as listed on October 27:

Does the Zelda Switch 2 come with Ocarina of Time?

No. “Game not included,” in Nintendo’s own words. The console ships a week before Ocarina of Time, which is a separate purchase on November 5.

Is it sold out, and will it be restocked?

On the US Nintendo Store, yes, for now. The console, both Pro Controllers and the case all read “Coming soon” and can’t go in a cart. They went fast after the September pre-orders opened. I couldn’t get one, and reports at the time put the sellout within hours. Back then, Nintendo Life reported that Nintendo’s UK store promised restocks and the US pages said to check back soon. Nobody has given a date. Some coverage says the special edition “won’t be around forever,” but that’s a paraphrase that doesn’t trace back to Nintendo, so don’t lean on it.

It isn’t a Nintendo Store exclusive, and Best Buy reportedly listed it at the same $519.99. Retailer stock wasn’t checked for this page, so nobody here is telling you Best Buy or GameStop has one. If you’re hunting, the store pages are where a restock will show up.

One warning for anyone eyeing an import. The Japanese version is a Japanese-language system that only works with a Nintendo Account set to Japan. That’s not a souvenir shortcut, that’s a console you’d be fighting.

What’s the difference between the two Zelda Pro Controllers?

Ten dollars and a stand. The Zelda Pro Controller is $99.99, which is ten over the regular $89.99 one, and it gets black and green grips, a gold Triforce panel and the Hylian crest. Spend $109.99 and the same controller comes with a display stand that has a map of Hyrule on it. Nintendo hasn’t listed any hardware changes, just the new look.

The stand version is the one with strings attached: in the US it’s only sold at the Nintendo Store and Nintendo’s two shops in New York and San Francisco. The controller on its own isn’t exclusive. Japan and Australia don’t give you the choice at all: there, it only comes with the stand.

The case is the easy one. $39.99, Zelda patterns, a screen protector in the box, and from Nintendo’s own photos a green cleaning cloth with 8-bit Link art on it too, though the listing doesn’t mention the cloth. Same date, same “Coming soon”.

When is Ocarina of Time out on Switch 2, and what does it cost?

November 5. $59.99 digital, $69.99 physical, and it’s a Switch 2 exclusive. Nintendo describes it as the N64 story built from the ground up for Switch 2: new visuals, voiced dialogue, expanded cutscenes, an orchestral soundtrack and reworked camera and controls. Two small extras depending on how you buy it. The first physical print has textured foil cover art while it lasts, and buying digital by the end of November 23 (Pacific time) gets you a 40th anniversary wallpaper by email afterwards. If you go digital, clear about 29GB.

I pre-ordered it. I’m a lifetime Zelda fan, and my first one was A Link to the Past; the NES games I went back and played later. But Ocarina is the master classic for me. I’ve written it down before and I’ll say it again: Ocarina of Time changed me as a gamer. Literally.

Can you play a real ocarina in Ocarina of Time on Switch 2?

Yes. A real one. The game listens through the Switch 2’s microphone, so you can pick up an actual ocarina, play Zelda’s Lullaby, and the game reacts to it the way it does when you play it in-game. Any instrument works, and so does humming. That’s in Nintendo’s own description of the game, and when I found out, my honest reaction was: wait a minute, I can use an ocarina for real? The one catch Nintendo mentions is that an external microphone might not be picked up correctly, so play it to the console.

If you don’t own one, two are on the way, and they’re very different things. Nintendo’s is the real deal: a playable ocarina that Eiji Aonuma showed in the September Direct, for people who can actually play one. As of today it has no price, no date and no store page. Announced, and that’s all.

HORI’s Electric Ocarina is the other one, $49.99, out November 5 (the Nintendo Store ships it from November 12), and it’s an electronic toy. You press a button on the mouthpiece and touch the finger holes; you don’t blow into it. It has a free-play mode, an auto-play mode with 12 of the game’s songs, a volume dial, a headphone jack and a stand, and the console hears it the same way it would hear the real thing. It needs three AA batteries and a screwdriver, and neither comes in the box. It’s not a controller.

Can you buy HORI’s Zelda Switch 2 accessories in the US?

No, and that’s the part this week’s HORI story leaves out. HORI announced its Zelda Switch 2 line in Japan back on September 11, so it isn’t new this week, and it’s Japan only for November: a slim hard pouch, a shoulder pouch, an all-in-one storage bag, a wireless Zelda HORIPAD Turbo and a six-card case. In yen that’s 4,480, 4,980, 5,480, 8,980 and 1,780, which works out to roughly $28, $32, $35, $57 and $11 at October 27’s exchange rate. Those are conversions. There are no US prices.

HORI’s US store has none of them, only the Electric Ocarina. And HORI’s own Japan store isn’t a workaround either: it says it doesn’t ship overseas and may cancel orders placed through forwarding services. If the Zelda HORIPAD is the one you wanted, know what you’d be getting. It has a lot (TMR sticks, turbo, remapping, gyro, back buttons), but no rumble, no amiibo, no headphone jack, and it can’t wake the console.

If you just want something Zelda on your Switch 2 and the Nintendo gear stays sold out, PowerA sells regular Zelda-licensed items, like a Hyrule Crest case and a Master Sword-themed wireless controller. Not 40th anniversary stuff, but they’re listed on PowerA’s site.

When do the Ocarina of Time amiibo come out?

2027. Young Link with Navi and Young Zelda holding the Ocarina, $24.99 each, with no date yet (“The exact date will be announced in the future”) and no pre-orders. Tap one in the game and you get a mask in the style of the original N64 game, and any older Zelda amiibo you own gives you extras too. So the amiibo are not part of this month at all.

The console got away from me. The game I did get, and November 5 can’t come soon enough.