An image of a Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom special edition Switch OLED model has reportedly leaked online, with the image featuring a special dock and joy-con controllers. The bundle also comes in a box themed after the new Zelda game.
These leaks were found on the Chinese forum Tieba and then posted to Famiboard by the user Kysen. Of course, the authenticity of these images has not been legitimized, so take everything with a grain of salt. That said, you have to admit that the box does feature that simplistic special edition charm that Nintendo is known for. It doesn’t go wild in the originality department. The dock has a golden logo that isn’t entirely visible from the photo, and the joy-cons are golden with green and white markings on the bottom. The photo was also taken with a Switch running Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, possibly indicating that the photo is recent.
Bigger fake leaks have happened in the video game industry, but it makes sense for Nintendo to try and bundle this game with the OLED. Tears of the Kingdom is set to release May 12, 2023, so it’s late enough for promotional items to start circulating. Whether or not the game ships with a special edition will be revealed whenever more details are shown about this game.
Breath of the Wild, the predecessor to Tears of the Kingdom, was released alongside the Nintendo Switch back in 2017. Although there was no console tie-in bundle, there were various special editions of Breath of the Wild. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is another recent game which released in 2021, but only had tie-in joy-cons, not its own special edition. Breath of the Wild did go on to be the best-selling Zelda game of all time, so its sequel getting a special edition console would certainly make sense.
