500 Zelda Fans Queue for Ocarina of Time at Midnight — SkimNews
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- Ocarina of Time drew an approximately 500-person queue outside Argos on Oxford Street for the midnight launch of its lavish 4K Switch 2 remake, with similar events in Melbourne and Mexico City.
- Nintendo paired the launch-night purchase with a limited ocarina-shaped keyring and an exclusive replica of the original 1998 N64 box, while senior executives waited at tills at key locations.
- Argos initially assured the London queue that everyone would receive the replica box, even if stock ran out, but progress stopped at 2am as the shop prepared to close and hundreds left address details for postal delivery.
- Nintendo France took no details and made no promise to post boxes at the similarly enormous Paris queue, where one attendee left with nothing.
- London’s Zelda queue was already snaking around the corner when the writer arrived at 22:45, mixing veteran Nintendo enthusiasts with Gen Z attendees who were confused by the midnight-launch ritual.
Why it matters: Nintendo and Argos drew roughly 500 committed fans in London for an exclusive replica 1998 N64 box, but the 2am shutdown at Argos left the remaining queue dependent on postal delivery, while Paris offered no fallback. Fans gained a shared midnight spectacle, yet the promised collectible—not the game itself—was the launch’s most fragile benefit.
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