Prerelease:The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This page details prerelease information and/or media for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

To do: Document the various unused ideas (including Guardian and Divine Beast designs) from the Creating a Champion book. Add stuff from CEDEC 2017 UFOs, punk Ganondorf, modern Link, tiny people in tiny villages. There's early footage that uses Skyward Sword Link visiting random Google Earth-esque buildings.

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was first shown on Nintendo's E3 2014 Digital Event on June 10, in the form of a very brief trailer showcasing the unknown protagonist (who eventually would be revealed as Link) being pursued by an unnamed enemy (a Guardian). The game did not have a subtitle at the time but it was the next mainline Zelda game for the Wii U. It would take over two and a half years before the game eventually launched on the Wii U and its successor, the Nintendo Switch.

Gameplay was shown at The Game Awards in December of 2014. It did not only feature a very early version of the entirety of Hyrule's map but closer gameplay looks areas that would be known as Faron Woods and the southern part of the Bridge of Hylia in the final game. Hateno Village and Hateno Tower were also briefly glimpsed on.

The map of Hyrule shown at The Game Awards was essentially a very rough, less detailed version of the map in the final game. While the general shape of the land and features of the map were there, town details, names, and so on were missing from the game. For instance, the lava field is clearly visible on the Death Mountain region but the summit and peak were absent. The same can be said about Hyrule Castle and many other areas. The map of Hyrule in this 2014 preview also had some features that were later altered in the final game. Meandering streams were added or removed, roads and paths slightly altered, and maze ruins were added in various locations. It should also be noted that the scale and size were altered and it appears from the early map in comparison to the final, more green spaces were added.

Nintendo announced the NX in early 2015. Via Nintendo's Twitter account in early 2016, it was revealed the game would also be released on the NX (later known as the Switch). The game faced a few delays and public apology by Aonuma himself via YouTube. The game did not appear at E3 2015 but was playable at E3 2016 on the Wii U. A new trailer and gameplay video was shown at The Game Awards show on December 2016.

On the Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017 livestream, Nintendo revealed (another) Breath of the Wild trailer, along with the launch date.

Development Timeline

• 2014
  • June 10th - A brief trailer is shown at E3 2014 Digital Event.
  • December 5th - The first gameplay footage is presented at The Game Awards 2015.
• 2015
  • March 17th - Nintendo announces the NX, later known as the Switch.
  • November 12th - A small clip is shown during the November Nintendo Direct.
• 2016
  • April 27th - Nintendo reveals that the game will be released on both the Wii U and NX.
  • June 14th-16th - A playable demo of the Wii U version is available at E3 2016.
  • October 20th - The reveal trailer for the Nintendo Switch is released, showing the first footage of the Switch version of Breath of the Wild.
  • December 1st - A new trailer called "Life in the Ruins" is shown at The Game Awards 2016 along with a "let's play" video.
  • December 26th - According to the build date, Breath of the Wild's 1.0 build is finished.
• 2017
  • January 12th-13th - Nintendo reveals the launch date of the game on the "Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017" livestream, along with a trailer. It was later uploaded as a single video in the official Nintendo channel.
  • February 21st - According to the build date, the game's launch day update, 1.1.0, is finished.
  • March 3rd - Breath of the Wild is released worldwide, alongside the launch of the Nintendo Switch.

Very Early Screenshot

In the days leading up to the release of The Breath of the Wild's first DLC pack, an in-development screenshot of the game was released showcasing an early concept of what would be the hidden Koroks spread across Hyrule's map. The single screenshot shows Link on an unknown hill with the Master Sword pedestal from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword serving as a placeholder. The texture work of the hill and the on-screen button prompt resemble what was shown in the demo from The Game Awards 2014. However, one notable difference is the absence of a magic meter from the aforementioned demo. The final game does not use a magic meter but instead uses a stamina gauge.

Creating A Champion

The Creating a Champion book (known as Masterworks in Japan) has numerous pieces of concept art showing ideas that were cut from the game, as well as early designs for enemies and characters. Some of the most notable examples include:

• The numerous early designs for Guardians, which showed them as more demon like, organic monsters rather than the robots they are in the final game. Additionally, another design shows them as humanoid robots, similar to their counterparts in Skyward Sword.
• Various Divine Beasts that were cut from/not chosen for the final game. These included Divine Beasts based on a manta ray, crab, sauropod dinosaur, jellyfish and whale. Additionally, it seems the latter was a late removal from the game, since a model of it can be found in one of the game's ancient tech labs, as well as in diagrams on the walls.
• The book also contains art for Hyrule as it was 100 years ago, including Hyrule Castle Town and the castle itself in top condition.
• Malayna had a few redesigns too. Most notably, a Lynel esque form, which implies the Horse God wasn't meant to be a fairy at one point in development.
• As did the Sheikah. Their early concepts show them wearing every type of feudal Japan style clothing under the sun, as well as the Stealth outfit Link can buy in-game.
• Another enemy that got redesigned were the Wizrobes. Quite a few of these designs actually show their faces rather than just eyes and shadows and at least one resembles the Poes from the Wind Waker.
• But it's not just characters that changed in development. No, places did too. Rito Village had more trees and floating islands and the Fairy Fountains looked incredibly garish, being more like ornate temples and circus tents than fountains.
• Finally, Zelda herself went through a ton of redesigns in the game's development, many of which are shown here.