The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time midnight game launch, Digi Mart USA News (London, United Kingdom): It is Thursday night, and the writer is sitting outside the Argos on Oxford Street, blurry-eyed and runny-nosed, among roughly 500 fans hoping to buy early copies of the remastered Switch 2 version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Similar launch events were taking place across the world, from Melbourne to Mexico City, with senior Nintendo executives reportedly waiting at the tills at key locations.
Most video games are now bought as digital downloads, so there is little reason to leave home at midnight. In earlier years, however, midnight launches gave likeminded enthusiasts a place to gather, and many fans queued outside stores such as Game or Electronics Boutique, often dressed as their favourite characters.
The writer, who once spent six hours queuing for the Wii U launch, says he values the launch as a shared cultural event.
This launch offered buyers a limited ocarina-shaped keyring and an exclusive replica of the original 1998 N64 box. Staff told the queue that everyone would receive the exclusive box regardless of stock, with boxes posted to anyone left unserved.
Progress stalled around 2am, and the store soon closed, with the remaining queuers asked to leave their details for postal delivery. The writer had been queuing for four hours by then.
Waiting for a taxi, the writer met another fan whose partner had attended the Paris midnight launch, where queues were similarly large. According to that fan, Nintendo France did not take details or promise to post boxes to those who missed out, leaving them with nothing.
The writer concludes that, despite the frustration, the London queuers were better off than those in Paris.
