Though it may not be quite as commercially successful as Mario, personally I can’t think of a better value than a console that comes with a pre-packed Zelda title. Whether it’s bundled or just available on day one, having Zelda as the first thing you play on your shiny new box is a surefire way to feed the flame of your next-gen console excitement. The Wii U never really had that at launch last year, but that may all be about to change. According to a report from Destructoid, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD may be strapped onto 32GB Wii Us ’round the globe come October.
The bundle is what you might expect – basically just the Deluxe Wii U console with the game included. Presumably it’s a physical copy, however it could just as easily be a pre-installed download ala the Fire Emblem Awakening 3DS bundle, so we’ll have to wait and see for that. If the console itself has even the slightest semblance of Zelda branding or adumbration on it, then I may need to buy a second Wii U, so for my own sake I hope it doesn’t. But really I hope it does.
In addition, there are purportedly some 3DS XL bundles on the way as well, this time for the upcoming Pokemon X and Y entries to the mainline Pokemon series. The XLs will come in red and blue respectively, and sell for $199.99. No surprise there. These will most likely reap disgusting amounts of money for Nintendo this holiday – whatever keeps them in the green I suppose.
Nintendo has yet to comment on whether these are actually a real thing or not, but it certainly makes sense. Perhaps a future Nintendo Direct will contain some answers? All I know is that I haven’t played Wind Waker in five years, so I fully expect that my revisit to the Great Sea in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD will be a glorious endeavor.