The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the nineteenth mainline game. It was released simultaneously worldwide for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch on March 3, 2017.

Story
Link awakens from a deep sleep and a mysterious voice guides him to discover what has become of the ruined Kingdom of Hyrule. Link meets an Old Man and learns from him that 100 years prior, a great evil known as the Calamity Ganon rose up and laid waste to Hyrule. Unable to be defeated, it was sealed within Hyrule Castle while the ruins of the land were ravaged by nature over time. Although trapped, the Calamity Ganon has grown in power, and Link must defeat it before it breaks free and destroys the world.

Development
The Zelda HD Experience, a The Legend of Zelda tech demo of the Wii U, was shown at. In June 2011 Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that Nintendo is planning on creating an HD The Legend of Zelda title.

Breath of the Wild was officially announced in a Wii U Direct presentation on January 23, 2013. Eiji Aonuma stated that the game intended to challenge what was expected of The Legend of Zelda franchise, such as having to complete dungeons in a specific order. The game was already expected to have a long development time, so Nintendo released for the Wii U to decrease the gap between releases. During, the first video of the game was shown, revealing Link riding a horse, in addition to a Guardian and Hyrule Field. During the Game Awards 2014, Miyamoto and Aonuma showcased another gameplay video. It demonstrated the scale of Hyrule, which was designed with the open world concept of the original The Legend of Zelda in mind. It also showed the first use of the Paraglider, map features, as well as additional riding and fighting mechanics. Features to be used on the Wii U gamepad were also shown during these videos, which were later removed during development, when the game was ported to Nintendo Switch.

The game's original release was intended for 2015, but as new ideas were implemented during development, the release date was pushed forward several times. The final release window of the game was first revealed in financial documents released in March 2016, and later confirmed by Nintendo via Twitter.

During, the game's first playable demo was made available for visitors. It featured the Great Plateau area and showed many new elements of the game, such as dodging, the creation of food by collecting materials, the use of enemy weapons, the return of the stamina gauge, new mini-dungeons called Shrines, and the Sheikah Slate.

Nintendo revealed the final March release date of Breath of the Wild during the Nintendo Switch presentation in January 2017. Shortly afterwards, on February 9, 2017, the game was completed after more than five years of development.

Release
Breath of the Wild was released simultaneously worldwide for the Wii U and as a Nintendo Switch launch title on March 3, 2017.

Limited Editions
Various limited editions for the Switch version of Breath of the Wild were released worldwide.


 * In North America, the Special Edition included the game, a tapestry map, a Sheikah Slate carrying case, a soundtrack with 24 songs, and a Sheikah Eye coin. The Master Edition included the same content as well as a Master Sword statue.
 * In Europe, the Limited Edition included the game, the soundtrack, and the Master Sword statue.
 * In Australia, the Limited Edition included the game, the tapestry map, the soundtrack, the Sheikah Eye coin, and the Master Sword statue.
 * In Japan, the Collector's Edition included the game, the Link (Rider) amiibo, the soundtrack, the tapestry map, and an interchangeable alternate cover. The Deluxe Collector's Edition included the same content as well as the Master Sword statue and 20 postcards.

No limited edition for the Wii U version of the game was released.

Pre-Order Bonuses
Several retailers offered bonus items for pre-ordering the game. These included a black t-shirt featuring the Sheikah Eye in the Nintendo Official UK Store, a Z icon keyring and a poster featuring artwork from the game in GAME retailers, a wristband in Grainger Games, two double-sized art cards in Argos, and a pin badge in ShopTo. In GameStop retailers, a poster featuring the game's cover artwork was included.

Reception
Upon release, Breath of the Wild was met with critical acclaim. It also earned a Metacritic score of 97 by almost 100 critics, placing it among the highest-rated games of all time. Notably, the game received the most perfect review scores for any game listed on Metacritic up to that point. The game was estimated to have sold approximately 1.3 million copies in its first three weeks and around 89% of Switch owners were estimated to have also bought Breath of the Wild.

Timeline Placement
The plot of Breath of the Wild directly refers to events that take place 10,000 years and 100 years prior to the game's setting. However, neither of these events are obviously placeable within the established timeline of The Legend of Zelda. Before the game's release, Eiji Aonuma revealed that Breath of the Wild takes place after. In an interview following the game's release, Aonuma touched upon the idea that details of the history of the Zelda timeline as presented in Breath of the Wild may have changed from previous games, similar to how real-world history books are often revised after a while.

Many locations reminiscent of locations in past Zelda games appear throughout the game, referencing several entries in the game series. These include the Arbiter's Grounds, ruins of Lon-Lon Ranch, the devastated Temple of Time, and various springs devoted to Hylia. Additionally, most landscapes are named after characters and landmarks from previous Zelda games, although these can be easily interpreted as easter eggs instead of significant timeline hints.

At least two references found in-game may be interpreted as direct hints regarding the timeline placement of Breath of the Wild, even though they seem contradictory: First, the history of the Zora includes a tale about the sage Ruto who aided the Hero in his fight against Ganon. These events only unfolded in the Adult Timeline, if they indeed refer to the same princess Ruto encountered in. Additionally, during the first recovered memory, Princess Zelda appoints Link as her knight by performing the Ceremony of Legend. She recites words which may contain references to the adventures of past heroes in SS undefined,, and (notably). This may hint at a timeline placement after, in the far future of the Child Timeline. However, while not quite as audible in English, at least in the German version additional verses of the legendary words can be clearly heard in the background, which may also reference and  and thus the other two timelines, respectively.

amiibo Support


Breath of the Wild is compatible with all lines of amiibo figures, scannable by using the amiibo Rune ability, which can be activated via the game's options menu.

All regular amiibo will grant random items and materials, while most The Legend of Zelda-related amiibo will summon treasure chests, containing rarer and sometimes exclusive items (like costumes or special weapons related to the respective games). Additionally, Epona and Wolf Link may be summoned into the game, using the Super Smash Bros. Link and the Wolf Link amiibo, respectively.

A line of Breath of the Wild amiibo figures was also released on the same date as the game, making it the second mainline Zelda game (following ) with its own line of amiibo. The figures include two versions of Link, Zelda, a Bokoblin and a Guardian, all featuring their in-game design.

Updates
An update for the retail, Wii U version of the game containing extra game data is required to be installed in order to run the game. The update requires 3 GB worth of space to be installed.

DLC Packs
On February 14, 2017, Breath of the Wild producer Eiji Aonuma announced that a series of paid downloadable content would be released for the game, known as the Expansion Pass. The Expansion Pass is available for purchase for ¥2500 / $19.99 USD / $28.19 CDN / €19.99 / £17.99 / $30.00 AUD / $33.00 NZD alongside the full game beginning on March 3, 2017. The Pass is available for both Wii U and Nintendo Switch and features a staggered release of content, though individual content packs cannot be purchased individually. Each Pack and its contents are as follows:

Trivia

 * Breath of the Wild is the first main game in the series to be localized into Russian and Dutch. Eiji Aonuma himself appeared in the Russian and Dutch Nintendo Switch presentations to introduce the game to Russian, Dutch, and Flemish players. Although the Dutch localization is text only whilst retaining the English voice-overs, the Russian localization covers both text and voice acting.
 * During development of Breath of the Wild, various designs for Link were planned, including him riding a bike in a tracksuit and a musician Link wielding a guitar. Other concepts for the game included Hyrule Wars and The Legend of Zelda Invasion, the latter featuring an alien attack.