The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom |
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| Developer(s) | Nintendo EPD |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Hidemaro Fujibayashi |
| Producer(s) | Eiji Aonuma |
| Designer(s) |
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| Programmer(s) | Takahiro Okuda |
| Artist(s) | Satoru Takizawa |
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| Series | The Legend of Zelda |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Switch |
| Release date(s) | May 12, 2023 |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an exciting action-adventure game released in 2023. It was made by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch console. In this game, you play as a hero named Link. Your main goal is to find Princess Zelda and stop the evil Ganondorf from destroying the land of Hyrule.
Tears of the Kingdom keeps the fun open-world style of its previous game, Breath of the Wild (2017). But it adds cool new places to explore! You can now visit floating islands in the Sky and a huge underground area called the Depths. Link also gets new tools and powers. These help him fight enemies, explore, and even build amazing vehicles.
The idea for Tears of the Kingdom came from too many ideas for extra content for Breath of the Wild. The game was developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development team. The same director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, and producer, Eiji Aonuma, worked on this game too. They wanted players to try new things and experiment with the game's tools.
The game was first shown in 2019 and fully revealed in 2021. It was supposed to come out in 2022 but was delayed to May 2023. This extra time helped the creators make the game even better. When it was released, Tears of the Kingdom got great reviews. People loved the bigger world, new powers, and exciting story. It sold over 10 million copies in just three days! By March 2024, it had sold over 20 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games on the Nintendo Switch.
Contents
Exploring Hyrule and Beyond
Tears of the Kingdom is an open-world action-adventure game. It's similar to Breath of the Wild (2017). As Link, you explore the main land of Hyrule. But now, there are two exciting new areas:
- The Sky: This area is full of floating islands high above Hyrule.
- The Depths: A huge, dark underground world beneath Hyrule.
Link can climb mountains, ride horses, or use a paraglider to fly. Many characters and places from the last game are still here. They have been changed to fit the new story.
The Sky and The Depths
The Sky has many separate floating islands. Each island has puzzles, hidden treasures, and tough boss enemies to fight. The Depths is a dark place filled with strange glowing fungi. You need special items to light up your way. It also has dangerous lava and valuable treasures.
A harmful substance called gloom is found in the Depths. If Link touches it, his maximum hearts will temporarily go down. To heal, Link must return to the surface of Hyrule.
Dungeons and Shrines
Tears of the Kingdom brings back large dungeons. These are like big puzzles with boss enemies. They are similar to older Zelda games. There are four main dungeons:
- The Water Temple
- The Wind Temple
- The Fire Temple
- The Lightning Temple
You must complete these dungeons to move forward in the main story.
Shrines also return from Breath of the Wild. These are smaller puzzle areas found all over Hyrule. When you complete a Shrine, you get a Light of Blessing. Collect four Lights of Blessing, and you can trade them at a Goddess Statue. This will increase Link's maximum hearts or stamina.
Korok seeds are also back! You can trade these seeds to increase Link's inventory space. This lets him carry more weapons, shields, and bows. The game also has a new recipe system. This helps you remember what ingredients you need to cook meals or make elixirs.
Link's New Powers
A big new feature in Tears of the Kingdom is Zonai devices. These are special tools Link can use for fighting, exploring, or solving puzzles. You can even use them to build vehicles like rockets, sleds, and fans!
Link's old powers from Breath of the Wild are replaced with five new ones:
- Ultrahand: This power lets Link pick up and move different objects. He can also attach them together. You can use Ultrahand with Zonai devices to create vehicles and other structures.
- Fuse: Link can combine materials, equipment, or other objects with his weapons or shields. For example, fusing a rocket to Link's shield can make him fly high into the air!
- Recall: This power lets Link rewind the movement of an object. If a rock is falling, he can use Recall to send it back up.
- Ascend: Link can move upwards through solid surfaces, like ceilings or mountains. This helps him reach places he couldn't before.
- Autobuild: This power can instantly rebuild something you've made with Ultrahand before. It uses nearby objects or creates new parts using a material called zonaite.
The Story of Hyrule
Tears of the Kingdom takes place years after Breath of the Wild. The story begins with Link and Zelda exploring caves under Hyrule Castle. A poisonous substance called gloom has been leaking out, making people sick.
Deep in the caves, they find old pictures showing Hyrule's past. They learn about a mysterious group called the Zonai and an ancient war against a "Demon King." As they go deeper, they awaken a mummy held back by a glowing arm. Link's right arm gets badly hurt, and the Master Sword breaks. Hyrule Castle then floats into the sky. Zelda falls, and as Link tries to catch her, she vanishes with a strange artifact.
Link is saved by the glowing arm, which replaces his damaged limb. He wakes up on the Great Sky Island. There, he meets the spirit of Rauru, a Zonai, who is the source of Link's new arm. Rauru guides Link across the Sky Island. When Link reaches his goal, the broken Master Sword disappears, and Link dives down to the surface.
The Upheaval and New Allies
On the surface, Link learns that the event in the cavern, called the Upheaval, has caused chaos in Hyrule. He sets out to investigate strange events across the kingdom. Link travels to ancient Zonai temples with his friends:
- Sidon: The prince and future king of the Zora people.
- Tulin: A young Rito archer and the son of Teba, an old friend of Link.
- Yunobo: The Goron president of a mining company.
- Riju: The chief of the Gerudo tribe.
After defeating monsters in the temples, Link finds strange artifacts. These contain the spirits of ancient sages. Each sage chooses one of Link's friends as their successor. They give them powerful "secret stones" that they once used.
The Demon King's Return
Link sees Zelda many times, but she seems different. He finally finds her at Hyrule Castle. However, she reveals herself to be an impostor working for the Demon King, Ganondorf! This is the same mummy Link saw earlier. Link and his friends defeat the impostor. Link then searches for the last ancient sage, Mineru, whose spirit is still in the world. Link helps create a mechanical body for her spirit to live in.
Zelda's Sacrifice
Mineru and the other sages help Link understand Zelda's fate. He also learns more from special items called Dragon's Tears found across Hyrule. The artifact that vanished with Zelda sent her far into the past. There, she met Rauru, Hyrule's first king, and Sonia, Hyrule's first queen.
Ganondorf killed Sonia and used her secret stone to become the Demon King. Rauru then chose Mineru, Zelda, and the leaders of the Zora, Rito, Gorons, and Gerudo to be sages. With their help, Rauru fought the Demon King and gave his life to seal Ganondorf away. Later, Zelda received the broken Master Sword from the future. She asked the sages to help Link when Ganondorf woke up again. To fix the Master Sword, Zelda swallowed her secret stone. This turned her into the immortal Light Dragon.
Final Battle
In the present, Link cleanses the Great Deku Tree in Korok Forest from gloom. He then gets the Master Sword back from the Light Dragon. Link confronts Ganondorf deep below Hyrule Castle. With the help of Sidon, Tulin, Yunobo, Riju, and Mineru, Link battles an army of monsters. Then, he fights Ganondorf himself.
When Ganondorf is almost defeated, he swallows his secret stone. He transforms into the terrifying Demon Dragon and takes Link into the sky. With the Light Dragon's help, Link uses the Master Sword to break the Demon Dragon's secret stone, defeating it. The spirits of Rauru and Sonia help turn the Light Dragon back into Zelda. They also restore Link's original right arm. Rauru and Sonia then fade away. Link and Zelda fall safely back to the surface.
Some time later, on the Great Sky Island, Mineru says goodbye to Zelda and Link before fading away. The sages promise to protect Hyrule forever.
How the Game Was Made
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Work on Tears of the Kingdom began after Breath of the Wild was finished. The developers had so many ideas for extra content (DLC) for Breath of the Wild that they decided to make a whole new game instead!
The game was made by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD) division. Hidemaro Fujibayashi was the director, and Eiji Aonuma was the producer, just like for Breath of the Wild. Even though Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto saw early versions, he was busy making The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). So, his role was smaller.
Game Design and Inspiration
Aonuma said the team wanted to create something new but also keep the good parts of the previous game. Technical director Takuhiro Dohta said Wii Sports Resort helped inspire the new game mechanics. He also noted that using familiar places makes it easier for players when skydiving. Aonuma also mentioned other open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as inspirations.
The team made the world bigger by adding the sky and underground areas. Aonuma remembered The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. In that game, it was hard to go from the sky to the ground smoothly because of old hardware limits. But with the Nintendo Switch, Tears of the Kingdom lets players move freely between the sky, surface, and underground.
Because it was so similar to Breath of the Wild, the developers sometimes felt like they were making the same game again. Fujibayashi said it was hard to make the sequel feel different enough.
New Dungeons and Tools
Tears of the Kingdom brought back large dungeons. These dungeons are connected to the surface of Hyrule. Players can choose to tackle them in any order. Dohta explained that each dungeon was designed to feel unique to its area. They were also made to show off Link's new powers and tools. The dungeons were designed so players could enter and exit them easily, even by diving straight down from the sky.
A main idea for the gameplay was building new items. The team added more tools in Tears of the Kingdom to give players unique experiences. They were inspired by videos players posted online showing what they built in Breath of the Wild. Zonai devices were added to encourage even more creativity. The developers had to balance this creativity with some limits to keep the game fair.
Themes and Development Challenges
The theme of "hands" was important in the game. It shows up in the gameplay, story, and even the look and sound of the game. Dohta explained that working with other characters and Link's ability to create things with his hands are key parts of the game. Link's special right arm was created to make him stand out from past versions of the character. Aonuma said the theme also connects to Hyrule's history.
The Ascend ability was actually a special tool developers used to quickly exit the Depths. Aonuma and Fujibayashi found it tiring to navigate through the caves. They wanted a fast way to get to the surface. Adding this ability to the game created new challenges, like making sure players didn't land in empty spaces due to loading issues.
Release and Announcements
Tears of the Kingdom was first announced at E3 2019 as an unnamed sequel. Nintendo showed a trailer with gameplay and story details at E3 2021, saying it would come out in 2022. By March 2022, the game was finished, but Nintendo delayed it for a year to make it even better. They later announced a release in the second quarter of 2023.
More information was shared in a Nintendo Direct presentation in September 2022. This is when the title Tears of the Kingdom and the release date of May 12, 2023, were revealed. Another Nintendo Direct in February 2023 showed more gameplay. About two weeks before release, a playable version of the game was leaked online.
Images for kids
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Eiji Aonuma, the producer of Tears of the Kingdom.
See also
In Spanish: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom para niños
