‘Zelda is bigger than it’s ever been’: Nintendo fans explain the hype for Tears of the Kingdom

theguardian.com:

T his Friday, after years of feverish anticipation, Nintendo is finally set to release The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – the much-hyped sequel to its acclaimed 2017 epic, Breath of the Wild. Six years in the making, Tears of the Kingdom is set to be one of the biggest instalments in an already iconic, generationally beloved franchise, building on a predecessor that radically reshaped the conventions of the series and introduced scores of new fans to the fantasy world of Hyrule.

Befitting a tentpole release, Tears of the Kingdom has already been subject not only to swathes of online discussion, but also to two leaks: first of the game’s art book, a few months ago, and then of the full game itself, late last month. Still, anticipation for the release is at fever pitch, thanks to its predecessor’s reputation as both one of the best games in the Zelda franchise and one of the best video games of all time.

Ed King, a popular Zelda YouTuber who posts under the username Zeltik, says that Breath of the Wild sparked “a renaissance for Zelda, just because of how accessible that game is”. “A lot of people see Zelda, and especially the older games, as part of this complicated timeline,” he says. “Breath of the Wild definitely made it easier than any other game before to [understand]; you needed no prior information going in. And just because of how good that game was, it’s sold 30m copies, something silly like that – and so many new fans fell in love with Zelda because of it.”

The Legend of Zelda debuted in 1986 with a vibrant, then-groundbreaking action role-playing game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was designed to feel like, developers said, a “miniature garden that [players] can put inside their drawer”. The