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The only newly added sidequest clearly documented before launch is a Castle Town potion-shop request involving a lurking bug. The shopkeeper gives Link an empty bottle; after you catch the bug, you keep the bottle and can have it filled with a healing red potion. Nintendo’s remake launches for Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5, 2026, but the complete number of new sidequests will not be known until the finished game is available. Use the new Threads of Time quest log together with a manual checklist of returning activities so optional rewards do not disappear behind main-story progress.
What is confirmed about new sidequests
Nintendo describes the Nintendo Switch 2 release as a “completely reborn” version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, with enhanced visuals, fully voiced cutscenes, expanded dialogue, symphonic orchestral music and microphone support. The game launches on November 5, 2026. These presentation and control changes are confirmed features, but they are not automatically sidequests.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda | $70.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - World Edition | $59.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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The Legend of Zelda™: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch™ 2 Edition | $69.00 | Buy on Amazon |
Pre-release coverage identifies one unambiguously new quest: a Castle Town potion-shop request. GamesRadar’s October 16 hands-on report describes a shopkeeper who is “freaking out about a lurking bug.” The shopkeeper hands Link an empty bottle and asks him to catch the bug. Once the task is complete, Link keeps the bottle, and the shopkeeper offers to fill it with a healing red potion.
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That is the clearest confirmed addition, not a confirmed final total. Nintendo has not published a complete sidequest list, and preview coverage cannot establish how many smaller requests may be hidden in later areas, optional dialogue or post-game content. Treat any exact count of “new” quests as provisional until the November 5 release is playable.
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Other previewed additions should be logged as optional content changes rather than separate sidequest chains:
- A harder target-shooting version gives you less time to hit targets.
- The Forest Temple has minor layout changes.
- The Hall of Fallen Heroes provides a rematch area.
- Microphone support lets you hum a learned melody or play it on an actual instrument so the Nintendo Switch 2 microphone can hear it and make Link’s in-game ocarina respond.
Those features may affect how you complete optional activities, but the available descriptions do not name them as new, standalone questlines.
Use Threads of Time as your primary quest tracker
The remake’s Threads of Time menu is a built-in quest log. Shacknews reported on September 8 that it shows where to go and what to do next. Open it whenever the main story advances, after a major item or song is acquired, and whenever an NPC gives Link a new instruction.
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- Recording active objectives instead of relying on memory.
- Pointing you toward the next destination or task.
- Separating an optional request from the main quest when the game marks it that way.
- Rechecking an instruction after you change from the child era to the adult era.
Why you still need a manual list
A quest log is not the same thing as a 100-percent checklist. The returning game contains activities that are started through shops, minigames, races, item trades and repeat visits to NPCs. A completed dungeon or story chapter can make the map feel finished while leaving an optional bottle, mask, heart-piece opportunity, upgrade or challenge incomplete. Record each checklist category separately and mark the reward only when you have actually collected it.
New Castle Town bug request: step-by-step
This is the only new sidequest described in preview coverage with a specific request and reward. The report does not establish a universal unlock date, an exact shop location within Castle Town, or whether the request changes between eras, so use the log and the shopkeeper’s dialogue to identify when it becomes available in your copy.
- Return to Castle Town after story progress. When a new objective appears in Threads of Time, visit the potion shop and speak to the shopkeeper rather than assuming the shop has only its normal inventory.
- Accept the bug request. The shopkeeper is alarmed by a lurking bug and gives Link an empty bottle. Do not spend or discard the bottle before completing the request.
- Search the indicated area. Follow the quest log and the shopkeeper’s directions. The pre-release description confirms the target is a bug but does not publish a fixed route or spawn timer.
- Catch the bug. Complete the capture interaction the game presents. If the objective does not clear, reopen Threads of Time and verify that the active task is still the Castle Town request.
- Return to the potion shop. Speak to the shopkeeper after the capture. The bottle remains Link’s, and the shopkeeper offers to fill it with a healing red potion.
- Record both outcomes. Mark the sidequest complete and note that it supplied an additional bottle plus a red-potion refill opportunity. The bottle itself is the durable reward; the potion is the healing contents offered by the shopkeeper.
Because the exact availability trigger is not published before launch, do not assume the quest is present on the first Castle Town visit. If the shopkeeper has no request, advance the story, change eras when the game allows it, and check the log again.
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Returning sidequests that belong on every completion checklist
The remake’s new material sits on top of the established optional activities. The following categories form the backbone of a complete sweep. The game’s final dialogue, locations and reward presentation should be treated as authoritative if they differ from the Nintendo 64 release.
| Activity | Typical era or timing | Region or hub | Known prerequisite or trigger | Reward or completion target | One-time chain or repeatable activity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Happy Mask Shop sales | Begins in the child-era story flow; verify era changes in the remake | Castle Town | Access to the shop and its mask customers | Complete the sales sequence, ending with the Mask of Truth | One-time trading sequence |
| Epona and Ingo | Adult era | Lon Lon Ranch | Reach the ranch in the adult storyline and enter Ingo’s challenge | Win Epona | Challenge sequence |
| Great Fairy Fountains | Child and adult visits may both matter; verify each fountain in the remake | Six fountain locations across Hyrule | Finding each fountain and meeting its access requirement | Visit all six; record each upgrade or ability granted | One-time visits |
| Big Poes | Adult-era activity in the established game; verify the remake’s timing | Hyrule Field and related routes | Ability to encounter and defeat the ten Big Poes | Defeat all ten for the bottle reward | Ten separate encounters |
| Magic Beans | Plant as a child and harvest the planted spots later | Ten planting locations | Buy, plant and later return to each spot | Plant and harvest all ten Magic Beans | Ten linked planting-and-harvest tasks |
| Fishing Pond | Check both available eras if the remake preserves both sets of objectives | Fishing Pond | Enter the pond and meet its size or catch objectives | Complete the pond’s optional objectives | Repeatable fishing activity with milestone rewards |
| Dampé | Child and adult graveyard visits use different activities | Kakariko Graveyard | Speak to Dampé and choose grave-digging or racing activities | Finish the grave-digging and race activities | Some activities repeat; mark each distinct reward or best result |
| Settlement minigames | Timing varies by activity and era | Castle Town, Kakariko, Lost Woods and Gerudo’s Fortress | Reach each minigame and satisfy its score or time condition | Clear every listed minigame | Usually repeatable challenges with one-time completion rewards |
| Biggoron trade sequence | Primarily an adult-era item-trading chain | Multiple locations, ending with Biggoron | Begin the long item-trading sequence and protect its time-sensitive steps | Include it if your definition of a sidequest covers long trades | One-time chain |
How to sweep the game without missing an optional reward
1. Begin a two-column checklist
Use one column for Threads of Time entries and another for activities that you discover independently. For every item, record the era, region, prerequisite item or song, reward type and completion state. This prevents a sidequest that never appears as a formal log entry from being mistaken for a completed task.
2. Revisit hubs after every major story change
When a dungeon, sage event, major item or learned song changes Link’s options, revisit Castle Town, Kakariko, Lon Lon Ranch, the Lost Woods, Gerudo’s Fortress and the Fishing Pond. Speak to NPCs in both child and adult eras wherever the game permits. A change in age can be the difference between an unavailable request and a new dialogue line.
3. Check the prerequisite before searching for a reward
Write down the item or song that unlocks an activity before you leave its region. For Magic Beans, the relevant task is not complete when the bean is planted; it requires a later harvest check. For the Biggoron sequence, track every trade rather than only the final item. For the Happy Mask Shop, a single successful sale does not equal the Mask of Truth objective.
4. Separate repeatable challenges from one-time chains
Target shooting, fishing and many settlement minigames can be attempted repeatedly. A high score may be optional, while a specific reward or completion threshold is the checklist target. Conversely, the mask sales, Biggoron trades and the Castle Town bug request are chains: record the handoff, the return visit and the reward.
5. Confirm the reward in your inventory
Do not mark an activity complete merely because an NPC congratulates Link. Check for the bottle, mask, heart-piece progress, upgrade or other reward named by the objective. If the game presents a new entry in Threads of Time, clear it only after the reward state is visible.
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Era-by-era route for a first completionist playthrough
Child era
Use child-era visits to start the Happy Mask Shop sequence, investigate the Lost Woods and Kakariko activities, begin Magic Bean planting and inspect every accessible Great Fairy Fountain. Add each planted bean to your checklist immediately; otherwise the later harvest sweep becomes guesswork. Check Castle Town for the potion-shop request whenever the log signals a new optional objective.
Adult era
Return to Lon Lon Ranch for Ingo’s Epona challenge, complete the adult-era portions of the Big Poe hunt, harvest the Magic Beans and continue the Biggoron trade if you are counting long item chains. Revisit the graveyard for Dampé’s adult activity and check Gerudo’s Fortress and the other minigame hubs for changed requirements.
After major dungeon progress
Use the Threads of Time menu as a trigger for a settlement sweep. Then manually compare your list against the nine categories above. This two-pass method catches both newly logged requests and classic activities that are not represented as a single quest entry.
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For a strict “new sidequest” count, require a newly introduced objective, NPC request or reward chain. The Castle Town bug request meets that test in pre-release coverage. A harder version of target shooting is additional challenge content, but it is not described as a newly named quest chain. Minor Forest Temple layout changes are level-design changes. The Hall of Fallen Heroes is an optional rematch area, not a documented NPC quest. Keep these in separate checklist sections so your final total is not inflated by counting every new feature.
How to verify the final list after November 5
- Update the game and start a fresh checklist on launch day so preview assumptions do not become permanent entries.
- Read every Threads of Time entry exactly as written, including entries that appear after a reward is collected.
- Compare logged objectives with the manual categories: masks, Epona, Great Fairies, Big Poes, Magic Beans, Fishing Pond, Dampé, four regional minigame hubs and the optional Biggoron chain.
- Search each settlement and dungeon hub in both eras after the main story changes.
- Record any NPC request that has its own objective and reward as a separate chain, even if it is short.
- Keep challenge variants, rematch rooms and altered dungeon layouts in an “optional content” section unless the shipped game explicitly labels them as quests.
- Only publish or rely on a final new-quest count after these checks are complete.
Edition and accessory notes
The relevant edition for this guide is the Nintendo Switch 2 release launching November 5, 2026. Nintendo lists the regular game price at $59.99 in the United States; regional pricing and availability can differ. The Electric OCARINA OF TIME is listed at $49.99, while the announced Young Link and Young Zelda amiibo are listed at $24.99 each and announced for 2027. These accessories are sold separately and are not required for the sidequest checklist described here.
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