It’s been a long wait to the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but the game is finally playable worldwide, and dedicated fans have been sharing their celebrations across the internet. From artwork, memes, and even midnight releases, there are countless ways that Zelda fans have showcased their love of the latest Nintendo launch.
2017’s Zelda: Breath of the Wild set a new standard for open-world gaming, and creating a sequel worthy of BOTW doesn’t seem to have been an easy feat. Tears of the Kingdom is believed to have been in development since BOTW launched, and was first confirmed to the world back in 2019. Nintendo kept pretty quiet on what was then called “the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” not officially revealing its title until 2022. From there, the game received one delay before finally landing on Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023. It’s been a long time coming, but that means fans have had plenty of time to prepare their launch-day celebrations.
Related: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review – Building Excellence
10 Poster-Worthy Fan Art Of Link & Zelda
One of the most impressive and beautiful celebrations of TOTK‘s launch day comes from Redditor Javqr, who shared their incredible artwork to the platform. Their piece highlights Princess Zelda, Hyrule Castle, and the Hero of Time Link, all with the calming blue and yellow tones associated with the more peaceful elements of Breath of the Wild.
The artwork also highlights hands, which is a major theme of Tears of the Kingdom, according to a recent Nintendo interview.
9 Hilariously Showing Off An Early Copy Of TOTK
The day before release soon saw social media become flooded with photos of those who had early deliveries of their pre-ordered copies of Tears of the Kingdom, but Redditor Microphone_Lamp and their digital copy didn’t want to miss out on the fun.
The user shared a hilarious snap of themselves holding absolutely nothing, captioning it: “Since everyone’s posting it, my digital copy is on time.” The witty post quickly garnered over 2,000 upvotes from amused fans.
8 Korok Art In The Style Of TOTK’s Heroes
Another stunning piece of artwork celebrating TOTK comes from user Sunthoon, who chose to celebrate launch day with a Korok piece inspired by the official Nintendo artwork of Link and Zelda.
Emulating the style of the now infamous official art, the creator brings to life one of the most popular (and yet most annoying) sidekicks of Breath of the Wild and, of course, Tears of the Kingdom.
7 Getting Priorities Straight On TOTK Day
Redditor Wexzuz showed the internet they have their priorities straight by sharing a snap of them picking up the Collector’s Edition of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – and making sure it was safe and sound in the car with a seatbelt.
This particular meme format has been used with a lot of games over the years, becoming particularly common when users finally secured their elusive Xbox Series X or PS5 consoles during periods of scarcity. Still, that doesn’t make it any less funny for TOTK, with over 200 fans showing their support for the image.
6 Beers Of The Kingdom
morning_runner chose a simple – but very relatable – way to celebrate delving into Tears of the Kingdom: with a cold beer. Snapping their photo in front of the Switch homescreen, the user simply wrote: “Beers of the kingdom.” While Nintendo is known for its family-friendly fare, the company is fully aware of the huge scope of ages when it comes to Zelda fans, even recently releasing a new trailer that focused not on younger players, but on a middle-aged male fan.
morning_runner probably isn’t the only player jumping into TOTK with a cold adult beverage, as the very first game in the Zelda series launched in Japan in 1986.
5 Unique Wood Carving
Showcasing another unique creation is Wallabiswoodcarvings (also known as wallabis on TikTok), who recently revealed their finished wooden TOTK carving. The carefully-carved piece features the logo for the new game, and is fully painted both front and back. Fans looking to see a little more of the creation process can find a full multi-video breakdown of its making over on TikTok.
While the majority of fans won’t be able to get their hands on such a piece, some lucky players will have nabbed themselves an official carved wooden board as part of the TOTK preorder bonuses. It might not be as individual as wallabis’ handmade creation, but it’s certainly one of the more unique preorder bonuses in Zelda history.
4 A Scolding For Players
There’s been a lot of love shared across Zelda forums since TOTK‘s release, but there’s also been some light scolding from those who weren’t able to access the game as early as others. qwertyuxcv was quick to use a very disgruntled Link meme to ask those in Australia or New Zealand: “Why the hell are you in this subreddit right now? Go back to playing TOTK!“
The funny meme highlights something that’s often raised on the launch of a big game: worldwide release times. Due to timezone differences, players across a range of platforms in New Zealand or Australia can typically access their games before the rest of the world – which often sees players outside of these areas sneakily changing their regions to get their games a little ahead of schedule.
3 Bokoblin With A Job
Tre77301 is one of many users who headed to a brick-and-mortar store to secure their copy of TOTK – but one of the employees at their GameStop seemed a little unusual. The Redditor snapped a photo of a cosplaying employee dressed as a Red Bokoblin, one of the most easily recognizable BOTW enemies.
Midnight launches used to be the norm for the gaming scene, but the rise in digital sales over the years has left them few and far between. That said, the cultural phenomenon that is Zelda meant a lot of stores opened their doors for a midnight launch – leading to a lot of fun moments like this GameStop employee’s cool cosplay.
2 Beating The “Best” Zelda Game
While BOTW is widely considered the best modern Zelda, 1998’s Ocarina of Time is still recognized as one of the pillars of 3D gaming. As such, it comes as no surprise that people would want to replay – or experience for the first time – the joy of the N64 classic. One such player is NoahDA1, who scared the ending screen of Zelda: Ocarina of Time at TOTK’s launch, with the caption: “Just in time.”
Ocarina of Time is, of course, where the Zelda timeline splits, and BOTW (and therefore TOTK), take place at the end of all three of the Zelda timelines. While they are distant, they are connected – but perhaps NoahDA1 would have been better off completing BOTW – TOTK‘s direct predecessor – for a full refresh on the game’s events ahead of the new release.
1 Getting Spruced Up For The Latest Zelda Game
Another hilarious meme celebrating TOTK‘s release comes shared by Redditor AndIHaveMilesToGo, who posted a side-by-side comparing a wedding look to what a big fan might wear to the game’s midnight release. Looking dapper for Link and his companions maybe shouldn’t outshine one’s sister’s wedding, but if a Bokoblin costume isn’t available, a tuxedo or suit may be the next best thing.
There’s no end to the many ways fans have celebrated the release of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and if early review scores are anything to go by, it’s been well worth the wait.
