Japanese games giant Nintendo on Tuesday announced a new version of the beloved 1998 action-adventure classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for its latest Switch 2 console.

The company provided few details about the Ocarina of Time remake on a livestream presenting upcoming titles, saying only that the game will arrive this year, the 40th anniversary of the series.

Its original version on the Nintendo 64 console was a 1990s landmark, with an immersive, detailed 3D world and a combat system that allowed players to "lock on" to individual enemies – today an industry standard.

Players controlled green-clad protagonist Link in a time-hopping adventure that straddled both his childhood and adulthood, as he confronted dark lord Ganondorf to save Princess Zelda.

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Ocarina of Time is regularly celebrated as one of the best games of all time in the gaming press, and has a 99% score on review aggregation site Metacritic.

A previous 2011 remake for Nintendo's 3DS handheld updated the original's graphics to take advantage of the machine's 3D capabilities.

More than 140 million Zelda games have been sold worldwide, with the latest instalment, 2023's Tears of the Kingdom, becoming the fastest-selling yet.

A live-action Zelda movie is planned for release in April 2027.