Nintendo has attached an eShop incentive to the Switch 2 edition of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but anyone hoping for physical swag will have to look abroad.
Players in the United States who buy the digital release ahead of its November 5 launch will get a Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary digital wallpaper package. According to Nintendo's social media announcement, the perk runs through late evening on November 23. Buyers will get an email containing a My Nintendo download link, with files sized for varying displays and devices.
Digital Art Versus Physical Steel
The artwork pulls from the branding seen on the 40th Anniversary Switch 2 hardware and its matching Pro Controller, weaving character artwork of Link and Zelda into a triangular pattern. Because it is purely digital, custom fan versions are already making the rounds online.
Physical buyers in the US do not qualify for the download. Retail pre-orders across Nintendo's official shop, Amazon, and Best Buy are limited to a textured foil game jacket. That has left some domestic buyers looking enviously at regional promotions elsewhere.
Canadian retailer EB Games includes an alternate holographic outer sleeve modeled on the classic retail cartridge package. French store Micromania has arranged a replica of the original Nintendo 64 retail carton. Other territories have lined up trinkets ranging from physical Spiritual Stones and decorative key chains to branded tote bags and sticker sets.
The Price Equation
American digital buyers do at least see a lower shelf price upfront. The eShop listing sits at $59.99 in the US, which undercuts the standard $69.99 physical cartridge by $10. Several retailers have already discounted boxed copies to match that $59.99 download tier during pre-order campaigns, blunting the digital savings.
With November 5 arriving in two weeks, buyers will have to decide whether the lower base price and the downloadable backdrops beat hunting down imported physical packaging.
GDFiled by The Games Desk
Consoles, handhelds, PC gaming and the platforms and hardware behind them.
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