Nintendo kept the idea of a midnight game launch alive as it debuted The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake tonight.
The line at the Nintendo store in San Francisco (one of just a couple in the U.S.) stretched around the block in Union Square. Nintendo’s big November game is going to go up against Grand Theft Auto VI, which debuts on November 19 and has scared everyone else away except Nintendo in terms of major game launches. No one wants to go up against Rockstar Games.
But last night, the press was there on the scene and the people were lined up for the 9 p.m. Pacific time opening. The first guy in line was, funny enough, from Paris, France.
Jean Baptiste Benoit is 29 years old and he moved to San Francisco about four years ago. He’s been playing video games for many years and he has a “very strong collection” going back perhaps 20 years with his family.
“Today is pretty much a special moment because it gives us the opportunity to have like this Zelda 40th anniversary game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time,” he said.
Benoit said he more than three hours, holding the No. 1 spot in line. He said he has likes buying limited edition consoles. For the Switch 2, he was waiting for the Zelda game before buying a limited edition. This was the first time he has waited in line to buy one in person.
Benoit noted he was one year old when the Ocarina of Time first came out in 1998. But he had played it on older systems and now he will get a chance to play it on the Switch 2.
“It’s a bit like growing up with the game,” he said.
He has played a number of Zelda games, but he didn’t finish Breath of the Wild. He did finish Wind Waker. I asked him if he was going to play GTA VI too. He said he would, and he would be able to do it because there are 24 hours in a day.
“It’s not the same kind of excitement,” Benoit said. “With Zelda, it’s more like nostalgia fit inside 2026 graphics. With GTA VI, it’s going to be something new in video games.”
With Zelda, Benoit said, “I’m really waiting to see what it looks like on the Switch 2 because it has a lot of power compared to what we used to have.”
One of the other people in the first ten in line was someone I knew. Dean, 16, from the Bay Area, was back to buy his copy of the Zelda game. I met him last year when the Nintendo Switch 2 went on sale at a midnight launch at the same store in June 2025.
I asked him why he came back to stand in line for a few hours again for the Zelda game.
“Zelda is my favorite series. I came in late, admittedly, with the Switch. I played the Wii U before that. So I came in with the Switch playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” he said. “From that grew a love for the series. I played Link’s Awakening, then Skyward Sword on the Wii U, and then I played Wind Waker. That’s where I really fell in love with the whole Zelda series.”
I noted that Ocarina of time came out 12 years before he was born. I asked him how he learned about it. He said he exchanged stories with fans about the ocarina of Time, and he added, “I’ve always wanted to experience the launch of Ocarina of Time for myself because I just think that would be really awesome.”
I asked if he was trying to be No. 1 again. He was and he arrived five hours early, but then he got hungry and went to dinner.
“I’m fine with being seventh,” he said.
I asked if he would play GTA VI too. But he noted he was 16 and the mature-rated game was “just too scary. And I can’t afford a PS5. I save all my money for the fancy gold consoles.”
He is a veteran of midnight openings. His first was for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, when he went to a GameStop midnight opening.
I asked him how important video games were in his life.
“They’ve definitely been a really big part of my life. Over the last year, I feel like I’ve really grown a lot more, and now like I’m doing a lot more things. I’m playing more sports. I’m like just doing more. I don’t know teenagerish shenanigans and stuff, but they still definitely hold a very big place in my heart, and I am happy that I can be here tonight, sharing the joy with everybody else.”
I reminded him that Sony has decided to get rid of physical discs for games in early 2028. Since he doesn’t have a PS5, that didn’t worry him. But he’s a huge fan of physical discs and he said he doesn’t think Nintendo will take away physical games.
“I know Nintendo would never do that to me. They love me so much. They would never take away my physical games,” Dean said.