The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is set to release exclusively for Nintendo Switch on September 26. In the best kind of surprise, Nintendo announced this brand-new mainline Zelda game during the June 2024 Nintendo Direct. Better yet, it’s coming soon. And it stars Princess Zelda. And it features a unique and clever gameplay hook. Preorders are currently rolling out at the usual retailers. Read on for the details.Preorder The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of WisdomThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom0There are no special editions of the game, so the standard one is the one to get. And if you’re waiting on it to go up for preorder at Amazon, you may be waiting a while. Recent Switch games have only become available at launch – not for preorder.What Is The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom?Echoes of Wisdom is the first mainline Zelda game to star Princess Zelda, which is pretty cool. Fans have been asking for that literally for decades, so it’s nice to see Nintendo finally listen. It also uses the same almost claymation-looking art style as the remake of Link’s Awakening. It looks great.As the game kicks off, purple rifts start opening in Hyrule and swallowing people up. Link gets sucked in, but Zelda escapes. So it’s up to her to save the kingdom (because apparently her military can’t do it for her while she runs the realm? I don’t really understand how the details hash out).The standout gameplay feature is the use of echoes. Zelda has something called a Tri wand, which lets her summon items and enemies she’s encountered previously. She can use these summoned echoes to fend off other enemies and to solve puzzles and to access previously out-of-reach areas. It looks like it will require players to be creative, which was also a big part of Tears of the Kingdom. It’s cool to see that kind of creative puzzle solving come to a 2D-style Zelda game.Nintendo Switch Lite Hyrule EditionIn addition to the new Zelda game, Nintendo is releasing a stylish new edition of the portable-only Nintendo Switch Lite console. It’s not available to preorder yet in the US, though it is in the UK (and it ships to the US). The casing is gold, with black buttons and sticks. It has a tiny Triforce symbol under the right stick. The back of the device sports a big version of the winged Triforce Zelda symbol thingy. It looks great.It also comes with a free 12-month individual subscription to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. That lets you play a whole bunch of classic games from Game Boy, NES, Sega Genesis, SNES, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy Advance. You also get free access to massive expansions to games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon 2.Other Preorder GuidesChris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Threads.
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