The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom pre-order guide

If you want to buy a ticket on board the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hype and pre-order the game before launch on May 12, you might as well get yourself some cool extra bonuses. Some retailers offer free pre-orders, such as a wooden plaque or an art print, which is a nice bonus that costs nothing extra. Or superfans willing to shell out the extra cash can get the nice Collector’s Edition with lots of accessories (if it ever becomes available again, unfortunately).

So which way of pre-ordering gives you the most benefit? There’s already one method by which you can save $20 on the game, but that’s on the digital version only and exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Here we take a look at the handful of pre-order bonuses for the physical edition of Tears of the Kingdom so you can make your purchasing decision in one place, easily.

These are the best incentives when it comes to pre-ordering Tears of the Kingdom for the regular price of $69.99 and get a little something inside.

Best Buy includes a free art print with the physical cartridge version of the game. It’s the main art for the game that we’ve all seen many times, which looks great, but keep in mind there’s no indication of its size.

The arguably more interesting pre-order incentive is GameStop’s offer of a free wooden plaque that looks pretty cool. But the trade-off with this exclusive pre-order gift is that GameStop requires you to claim it in-store. I can’t believe GameStop expects me to go out on the day I’m supposed to be inside play the game non-stop.

Walmart’s incentive is a free Master Sword wall roll. Unfortunately, after Walmart quickly sold out of a gold wall roll limited to 5,000 units, it came back with a black wall roll that sold out, came back and sold out again. The black roll is also “limited”, but there’s no mention of there being a fixed number, so maybe it will pop up again.

We’ve already got a little rundown on where to get the Nintendo Switch OLED The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Edition, which can now be ordered directly. It’s a gorgeous looking console, with gold Joy-Cons and a white dock, all decked out in Zelda graphic embellishments. If you want one for the asking price of $359.99 (which is not add the game), you can get one right now from Amazon, Best Buy, Target, or Nintendo.

If you buy the special Zelda-themed Switch OLED, you might as well finish the look and get the Tears of the Kingdom Edition of the Nintendo Switch Carrying Case for $24.99 at Best Buy and GameStop. It’s decorated with the same markings as the special edition console, includes a screen protector, and launches on May 12 with the game. Unlike the Zelda-themed Switch Pro Controller, it’s not sold out during the pre-order window.

Finally, let’s talk about the elusive white whale from Zelda preorders. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Collector’s Edition is the required expensive bundle of the game with a whole lot of extra fancy swag included. In it, the standard cartridge version of the game is accompanied by a metal steelbook case to look nicer on your shelf, along with a poster, collectible pins, and a small art book that all together costs $129.99.

The pre-orders at retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop and Target sold out very quickly and occasionally resurfaced for short periods of time, but it’s still not available at the moment. Are possible it may come back with more availability like the Metroid fear Special Edition does, but there’s absolutely no guarantee that this will happen before or even after May 12.