Tears of the Kingdom is only a matter of weeks away now, and a few little snippets have been slipping out here and there. Today I want to round up all the latest Zelda News, including Eiji Aonuma talking about Tears of the Kingdom gameplay, strange pre-order bonuses offered in different parts of the world, plus Nintendo explaining the $70 price tag, and Nintendo is giving away a former special edition Legend of Zelda guide away for free!
Eiji Aonuma On Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom: Expect New Gameplay That Will Change The Game World
Liam Doolan, Nintendo Life
The legendary Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma turned 60 last week, and as part of his birthday celebrations, he shared a message at the Famitsu Game Awards after The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom won ‘most anticipated’ game – teasing what Zelda fans could expect from Link’s new adventure.
According to a rough translation by the Twitter account and YouTube channel ‘Genki_JPN’, you can look forward to new gameplay that allows you to change the world. Here’s part of his acceptance speech:
Eiji Aonuma: “In the sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, furthermore, the players free imagination will be filled with new gameplay that will bring about changes to the game world…
In a follow-up comment, Aonuma mentioned how he hoped everyone would feel “pleasantly surprised” by this and would enjoy exploring Hyrule in an “unknown” state.
Based on some of the previous trailers, it seems like Link will have access to some sort of building and crafting abilities – with all sorts of vehicle-like objects teased, along with what appears to be the return of his magnesis skills that can lift and carry certain objects. He’s also got that new-look arm…
More Unique Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Pre-Order Bonuses Revealed
DOMINIK BOŠNJAK, Game Rant
The Canadian branch of Nintendo revealed more unique pre-order bonuses for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom just weeks ahead of the one of the biggest Switch releases of 2023. The newly announced freebies are just the latest in a growing list of goodies Nintendo is using to incentivize Tears of the Kingdom pre-orders the world over.
The $70 price tag attached to the new Zelda game sparked some controversy among the fandom, though Nintendo insists Tears of the Kingdom will be worth it. While pre-order bonuses rarely add much to the overall value proposition of any particular game, they still help early adopters feel like they have gotten their money’s worth.
Nintendo has now confirmed that Switch owners in Canada, where Tears of the Kingdom is priced at CAD $89.99, will qualify for a free pin set or luggage tag themed after the next mainline installment in the long-running Zelda series. The pin set will be reserved for GameStop pre-orders, while the luggage tag is an exclusive bonus for anyone who places an advance order through Walmart. The merchandise will be provided by the respective retailer for all purchases made until May 11 or while supplies last.
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Pin Set Luggage Tag Walmart GameStop Canada pre-order bonuses
Nintendo hasn’t explicitly stated that these pre-order bonuses also apply to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Collector’s Edition, which is priced at CAD $174.99 in Canada. While that is presumably the case, Walmart currently lists that version of the game as out of stock, same as Amazon, while the Canadian branch of GameStop doesn’t list it at all. The only major retailer in the country that still seems to be accepting orders for the Tears of the Kingdom Collector’s Edition is Best Buy, but early purchases made through that seller don’t appear to qualify for these newly announced bonuses.
The pin set and luggage tag are comparable in value to the early adopter freebies that have so far been announced for other parts of the world. They are also much less unusual than the bizarre Tears of the Kingdom pre-order bonus, a spoon and fork, that’s currently being offered by Amazon Japan.
Nintendo says it won’t “necessarily” adopt $70 for future titles after Zelda
By Matt Wales, Eurogamer
Nintendo’s Doug Bowser has addressed the company’s decision to slap the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom with a $70 price tag in the US, saying it’s not “necessarily” a price point it’ll apply to all its titles in the future.
Nintendo confirmed Tears of the Kingdom would retail for $69.99 in the US – $10 above the price it usually adopts for its big blockbuster titles – at the start of February, leading some to wonder if this may become the new standard for the company’s games.
The move would certain align with a growing number of other publishers – including Sony, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, and Take-Two – who’ve recently looked to position $70 as the new normal for many of their titles on consoles.
However, in an interview with AP News, head of Nintendo USA, Doug Bowser, has suggested the company will continue to price its games on a title-by-title basis, while not ruling out the possibility of more $70 releases in the future.
“We look at what the game has to offer,” Bowser explained. “I think fans will find [Tears of the Kingdom] is an incredibly full, deeply immersive experience. The price point reflects the type of experience that fans can expect when it comes to playing this particular game.”
“This isn’t a price point that we’ll necessarily have on all our titles,” Bowser continued. “It’s actually a fairly common pricing model either here or in Europe or other parts of the world, where the pricing may vary depending on the game itself.”
Tears of the Kingdom’s predecessor, The Legend of Zeda: Breath of the Wild, was also notable for its £59.99 price tag in the UK when it launched back in 2017 – £10 above Nintendo’s other big-name releases at the time. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Tears of the Kingdom are the company’s only first-party games to repeat the price point since.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches 12th May, and our most recent look at the game arrived as part of a Nintendo Direct in February.
Official Zelda: Breath of the Wild guide released for free
By Oli Welsh, Polygon
With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom just a couple of months out, Nintendo — seldom noted for giving stuff away — has made a guidebook for its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, available for free.
The Breath of the Wild Explorer’s Guide, previously only available in a print edition as part of the Explorer’s Edition of the game, is available to download as a PDF from the Zelda website in its entirety — well, almost.
Pages 73 to 84 of this 100-page tome are, for some reason, missing. At first, I thought this might have been to avoid spoilers, but the missing chapters — on things like horses and great fairy fountains — don’t seem particularly spoilerific. Some later chapters are marked with a spoiler warning, and do make it into the PDF. So the missing pages are probably just a clerical error.
The Explorer’s Guide is more of an expanded manual than a full guide, featuring a walkthrough for the opening Great Plateau section, as well as more general introductions to some of the concepts and features of the wider game, like cooking and hunting for hidden Koroks.
For players new to Breath of the Wild who don’t want to go in totally blind — especially younger ones — it’s a useful little handbook. For seasoned players, paging through the guide is bound to give you an itch to explore Hyrule again, plus there are a couple of nice bits of art to look at. I’d never seen the lovely illustration opposite the content page before, which shows the very young Link of the first Legend of Zelda game proudly offering Breath of the Wild’s Link the Master Sword.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be released on May 12, and frankly, it can’t come soon enough.
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