France has the best Zelda: Ocarina Of Time pre-order bonus and we’re furious

A retailer is giving away replica Nintendo 64 covers when you pre-order the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake, but it’s currently only in France. 

Pre-order bonuses are a hot commodity when it comes to purchasing video games nowadays, especially those which rise above your usual minor cosmetics.

Nintendo is typically one of the best in this regard – stemming all the way back to 2002’s The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker when it gave away a free copy of Ocarina Of Time for the GameCube via a bonus disc. More recently, it’s thrown in tote bags and bookmarks for Yoshi And The Mysterious Book, and pin sets for Star Fox. 

These bonuses can vary by region and in the case of the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake, the UK has been dealt a dismal hand in comparison to our French cousins. 

French retailer Micromania is giving away replica versions of the game’s original Nintendo 64 box to those who have pre-ordered the remake. EB Games Canada is doing the same thing in their stores, but that’s with the golden NTSC sleeve, whereas the former has the (for our money, superior) black and gold PAL version. 

There are some caveats to the box. It’s not an exact reproduction of the original Nintendo 64 sleeve, with the front and back being identical (so it doesn’t have the screenshots or text on the back).

Additionally, these will only be available in a limited quantity to those who have pre-ordered the game from Micromania and pick it up at midnight at any one of these 11 stores across France. 

Even with the hurdles, it’s still the best pre-order bonus around for the remake. If you’re in the UK, you’re stuck with a still-cool-but-not-quite-as-good replica set of the spiritual stones. To make matters worse, it seems this incentive has already sold out on the Nintendo Store.

It’s unclear why this incentive is locked to France in Europe, but the region is one of the biggest for Nintendo, so it may have been prioritised.

If you’ve got a thing for fancy boxes, the remake will sport a special foil cover at launch worldwide. According to Nintendo, these are available while supplies last, so you’re better off laying down a pre-order to guarantee yourself a shiny Link. 

Based on our hands-on preview, the remake is shaping up to be the perfect excuse to dive back into an undisputed classic. It’s set to launch worldwide on November 5, 2026, on Switch 2. 

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