Better late than never, eh? For what feels like forever, Nintendo has been talking about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, incrementally increasing the scope of what it has (and has not) been willing to show to the public ever since confirmation that it existed came in 2013. Of course, no name was given to the then Wii U only title, only that it would be coming in 2015 and would challenge some of the long-standing conventions seen previously in the series.
Fast-forward a year to 2014, where the first in-engine footage was shown and it became quite apparent that Nintendo was working on something special. Since that day, of course, we’ve had to endure several delays, witnessed the birth of a new Nintendo console and experienced several gorgeous gameplay reels showcasing Breath of the Wild in action. It’s now 2017 and, finally, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will launch for Wii U and Nintendo Switch on March 3. That’s less than a month away, folks.
There’s no going back now, either. As per Eurogamer (via GameSpot), a picture posted on the Twitter account of Monolith Soft’s Yasuyuki Honne shows the development team winding down following the conclusion of development on the ambitious title. If you squint really hard, you should just be able to make out an individual wearing Link’s hat, as well as Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto standing next to him.
京都の某ホテルで某タイトルの打ち上げ会♪いやー完成して良かったー＼(^o^)／♪ pic.twitter.com/kLvKfTD7nK
— 本根 康之 ゲムマ2024春 両日【G45】 (@honnesan) February 3, 2017
Well, that’s that then, really. With The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild having gone gold, all that’s left is the agonizing wait from now until release day. I guess we should just thank our lucky stars that everything worked out in the end and that the best possible result came to fruition – that owners of the Wii U and Switch will get to enjoy Link’s most ambitious adventure yet at the same time. It may have had a tough (and short) lifespan, but what a fitting end to the Wii U’s status as Nintendo’s flagship home console.