For a brief moment, the world of Zelda fans was turned upside down: For almost two weeks, an official Nintendo website displayed a notice that the acclaimed 3DS classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds was playable on Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) . After the discovery circulated on November 13, 2026, Nintendo pulled the plug and quietly removed the reference—leaving behind a small web faux pas that sparked a major debate about the future of 3DS games on the Switch 2.

A revealing button on the anniversary website

The blunder was uncovered by Reddit user vertexjrpg, who shared a screenshot of the official website for the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda . In the site's 'History' section, which according to archive data from the Wayback Machine had already gone live on November 4, 2026, a regular NSO icon appeared alongside the 2013-released 3DS adventure. After US media outlets like Kotaku verified the listing on the morning of November 13 and submitted a press inquiry to Nintendo, the reference disappeared without a trace from the site that very afternoon.

That this is actually a secret shadow drop or a premature leak of a 3DS library is considered highly unlikely. Everything points to a classic oversight in web maintenance:

  • Missing subscription designation: Even if 3DS titles ever found their way into the subscription service, they would almost certainly be part of the more expensive Expansion Pack (Expansion Pack) — yet the website lacked exactly this addition.

  • Name confusion risk: Observers suspect that a web developer simply placed the button in the wrong database entry—possibly due to confusion with the Super Nintendo predecessor A Link to the Past (in Japan, both parts are called Triforce of the Gods 1 and 2).

The dilemma of locked 3DS classics

The reason a single incorrect icon immediately caused a heartbeat in the community lies in a palpable problem of game archiving. While GameCube and Game Boy Advance titles have long secured their place in the NSO catalog in the Switch 2 era, a painful gap remains for the dual-screen generations. Neither Nintendo DS nor Nintendo 3DS, Wii, or Wii U have yet been included in the subscription service.

For A Link Between Worlds , one of the highest-rated handheld Zelda games ever, this currently means near-complete inaccessibility:

  • Closed eShop: Since the Nintendo 3DS's digital store was shut down years ago, the game can no longer be downloaded through regular means.

  • Expensive used market: Anyone wanting to legally catch up on the adventure today requires original 3DS hardware as well as a physical cartridge copy.

Especially now, as many newcomers are discovering their passion for Hyrule through the freshly released Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time , the absence of such modern classics in the current ecosystem feels particularly bitter.

Music of the future—and the fear of a third subscription tier

Even if the current listing is the fault of an inattentive web editor, the gaming community remains hopeful that Nintendo will solve the technical problem of dual-screen emulation on Switch 2 in the long term—not least to make countless classic Zelda and Pokémon editions from the 3DS era accessible once again.

At the same time, however, a clear concern accompanies all the anticipation: Should Nintendo one day actually roll out a 3DS library for Nintendo Switch Online, subscribers fervently hope that this will not require a third, even more expensive price tier. Until then, A Link Between Worlds remains exactly where it appeared 13 years ago: on the small clamshell handheld of back then.