With the advent of each new entry in Nintendo’s whimsical adventure series (and it’s not a frequent occasion, either) about a courageous boy ridding the world of darkness (read: Ganondorf), one of the first questions fans start to ask following such an announcement is, ‘how does this fit into the wider series’ timeline?’ Unsurprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is no different, but thanks to a series of screenshots provided to Game Informer by Nintendo, we may have the clearest indication yet of how the Wii U and Nintendo Switch title will fit into the wider lore. Check it out below.
The bulbous nose and hairstyle are unmistakable – the NPC Link’s having a little chinwag with is none other than Beedle, the eccentric shop owner who first appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker back in 2002 on the GameCube. Given Breath of the Wild‘s similar art style and cel-shaded inspired aesthetics, there’s always been those that suspected that it was in some way connected to Wind Waker‘s tale of a flooded Hyrulian kingdom, but it’d be hard to dismiss this being just pure fan service. Besides his appearance in the aforementioned title, Beedle subsequently went on to appear in the handheld DS sequels The Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, once again serving as a vendor of helpful items to help players along in their travels.
With the recent news that development on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has finally concluded, all that’s left to do now is wait patiently until March 3, wherein it’ll be available for Wii U and Nintendo Switch. We can’t wait to unravel the tightly-woven narrative Nintendo has hidden within its huge world.