Nintendo has launched surprise pre-orders for the electric ocarina accessory tied to its upcoming Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, having notably left the item out of its official gameplay reveal event, which instead promoted pre-orders for a 40th Anniversary console and a foil game cover. The move matters because demand for Zelda-branded Switch 2 hardware and accessories has been intense, with consoles and peripherals selling out rapidly across major retailers, leaving many fans frustrated at how hard pre-orders have been to secure.

The ocarina accessory costs $49.99 and is set to release on 5 November, a week after the game itself launches. It is not a genuine wind instrument; players press a mouthpiece button rather than blowing into it, and it can mimic real-world play in-game via a "Link" mode, offer 12 pre-set songs through Auto-Play, and connect to the companion Zelda Notes app for saving and sharing custom tunes via QR code. It also includes a headphone jack and a display stand. Meanwhile, pre-orders for the Zelda-themed Switch 2 console remain scarce, appearing only intermittently through the Nintendo Store, while retailers such as Amazon, Target and GameStop have struggled to keep stock or, in GameStop's case, have paused in-store pre-orders altogether.