Ocarina of Time Length Guide: Main Story Hours, 100% Completion, and All Dungeons
Launching exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 6, 2026 for $69.99 USD, the ground-up remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time arrives with a crystal-clear runtime breakdown for both newcomers and returning veterans. Fresh off earning a landmark 96 on Metacritic to become the highest-rated game of 2026, Nintendo EPD Group 3's reconstruction preserves the tight, dungeon-driven pacing of the 1998 Nintendo 64 classic while streamlining its clunkiest menus. Here is our complete walkthrough guide to how many hours it takes to roll credits, tackle the side quests, and achieve a full 100% completionist run.
How Many Hours to Beat Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake on Switch 2?
Beating the main story of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2 takes roughly 20 hours on a standard first playthrough. In an era where open-world epics like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom regularly demand over 100 hours, 20 hours hits a refreshing sweet spot where every single session unlocks a major item, a memorable boss fight, or a pivotal story beat across Child and Adult timelines.
If you have already played the 1998 Nintendo 64 original or the 2011 Nintendo 3DS version, your familiarity with dungeon layouts and boss weaknesses will shave an hour or two off that total, bringing a focused veteran run down to 17 to 19 hours. Conversely, players who stop to unlock Epona at Lon Lon Ranch, forge the unbreakable Biggoron's Sword, and hunt down quiver and bomb bag upgrades alongside the main quest should expect to reach Ganon's Castle in 24 to 26 hours.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time Playtime Breakdown (Switch 2 vs. N64 Original)
Thanks to modern quality-of-life upgrades on Switch 2, overall progression flows noticeably faster than it did in 1998 without cutting a single puzzle or chamber. Here is how the runtime compares across every playstyle:
| Playstyle | Switch 2 Remake (2026) | N64 Original (1998) | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Story (Returning Veteran) | 17 to 19 Hours | 20 to 22 Hours | All 3 Spiritual Stones, 5 Sage Medallions, and Ganon's Castle with prior puzzle knowledge |
| Main Story (First Playthrough) | ~20 Hours | ~25 Hours | Complete story campaign at a natural pace, unlocking Epona and core gear |
| Main Story + Side Quests | 24 to 26 Hours | 28 to 30 Hours | Biggoron's Sword trading sequence, Happy Mask Shop, Ice Arrows, fishing, and ammo upgrades |
| 100% Completionist Run | 30 to 35 Hours | 33 to 38 Hours | All 100 Gold Skulltulas, 36 Heart Pieces, 4 Empty Bottles, 10 Big Poes, and Boss Rematches |
Why the Switch 2 Remake Saves 4 to 5 Hours Over the 1998 Release
Shaving four to five hours off the original Nintendo 64 average comes down entirely to smart quality-of-life engineering rather than abridged content. The biggest time-saver lies inside the redesigned Water Temple overseen by producer Eiji Aonuma, where both the Iron Boots and Hover Boots are now mapped to a single D-pad button press instead of forcing players into the pause menu dozens of times. Combined with see-through lattice walls and color-coded water level pipes, backtracking through Lake Hylia's labyrinth takes a fraction of the time.
Across the overworld, the addition of a dedicated sprint button, manual jumping, and a 60 FPS free-orbit camera speeds up early traversal across Hyrule Field before Link ever learns Epona's Song. At the same time, because Eiji Aonuma tested and ultimately removed modern map-screen fast travel nodes to preserve the world's sense of scale, warping across Hyrule still relies on playing the six classic Ocarina warp melodies (Prelude of Light, Minuet of Forest, Bolero of Fire, Serenade of Water, Nocturne of Shadow, and Requiem of Spirit).
How Long to 100% Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake?
Reaching 100% completion in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 takes around 30 hours (and up to 35 hours if you tackle the Boss Rematch gauntlet and second-quest challenges without a guide). A true 100% save file requires tracking down every collectible across both eras of Hyrule:
- All 100 Gold Skulltula Tokens hidden across nighttime overworld spots, soft soil patches (using bottled bugs), crate clusters, and every dungeon.
- All 36 Heart Pieces scattered across Hyrule to reach the maximum 20 Heart Containers, plus the Double Defense upgrade granted by the Great Fairy outside Ganon's Castle.
- All 4 Empty Bottles, including the fourth bottle earned by hunting down all 10 Big Poes on horseback across Hyrule Field.
- Biggoron's Sword, unlocked by completing the timed Adult Link trading sequence from Kakariko Village to Death Mountain's summit.
- Every inventory and magic upgrade: Deku Seed Bullet Bag (40), Biggest Quiver (50 arrows), Biggest Bomb Bag (40 bombs), Giant's Wallet (500 Rupees), the Golden Scale at the Lake Hylia Fishing Pond, and all three Great Fairy spells (Din's Fire, Farore's Wind, and Nayru's Love).
Full Chapter and Dungeon List in Ocarina of Time Remake
To help you gauge how far along you are without spoiling story surprises, the campaign is structured across three acts featuring 9 full dungeons and 3 mini-dungeons:
Act 1: Child Link and the 3 Spiritual Stones (5 to 6 Hours)
- Inside the Great Deku Tree (Kokiri Forest): Unlocks the Fairy Slingshot and the Kokiri's Emerald.
- Dodongo's Cavern (Death Mountain Trail): Unlocks the Bomb Bag and the Goron's Ruby.
- Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly (Zora's Domain): Unlocks the Boomerang and Zora's Sapphire, opening the Door of Time.
Act 2: Adult Link and Awakening the Five Sages (12 to 13 Hours)
- Forest Temple (Sacred Forest Meadow): Unlocks the Fairy Bow and the Forest Medallion after claiming the Hookshot in Kakariko Graveyard.
- Fire Temple (Death Mountain Crater): Unlocks the Megaton Hammer and the Fire Medallion.
- Ice Cavern (Mini-Dungeon) followed by the Water Temple (Lake Hylia): Unlocks the Iron Boots, Longshot, and the Water Medallion.
- Bottom of the Well (Mini-Dungeon) followed by the Shadow Temple (Kakariko Graveyard): Unlocks the Lens of Truth, Hover Boots, and the Shadow Medallion.
- Gerudo's Fortress & Gerudo Training Ground (Optional Mini-Dungeon for Ice Arrows) followed by the Spirit Temple (Desert Colossus): Tackled across both Child Link (Mirror Shield) and Adult Link (Silver Gauntlets) eras to claim the Spirit Medallion.
Act 3: The Final Showdown (2 Hours)
- Ganon's Castle: Dispel the six elemental barriers (unlocking the Golden Gauntlets along the way), climb the central keep, and survive the two-phase final battle against Ganondorf and Ganon.
My Perspective
Honestly, having a flagship Zelda release in 2026 clock in at a tight 20 hours for the main story and 30 hours for a 100% completionist run feels genuinely refreshing. As much as I loved losing 140 hours tinkering with Ultrahand contraptions across the Depths in Tears of the Kingdom, returning to Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 is a masterclass in pacing. There is zero open-world bloat here: every single half-hour inside the Forest Temple or Spirit Temple pushes the adventure forward. And being able to snap the Iron Boots on and off with a single D-pad tap in the Water Temple turns one of 1998's most infamous menu chores into pure dungeon-crawling flow.
Based on the outskirts of New York City, Chaya 'Chayane' spent five years studying software engineering in Montreal before returning to her home state. A Full-Stack developer and Deep Learning AI architecture researcher, she explores neural networks and algorithmic optimization while engineering data pipelines for Retrocharting and Gamescharting alongside Grimtag. A gamer for over 20 years and an avid collector of Nintendo history and The Legend of Zelda, she explored World of Warcraft's Azeroth before bringing her deep technical background to video game analysis.
