Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Hyrule Edition of the Nintendo Switch Lite Announced

Nintendo Switch Lite Hyrule Edition, Available September 26, 2024

Next to the newest Zelda game, Echoes of Wisdom, Nintendo has also announced a new "Hyrule Edition" of the Nintendo Switch Lite, which comes out on the same day. It gives you the classic golden color with black buttons, similar to what you had with the Game Boy Advance SP for The Minish Cap or the Nintendo 3DS XL for A Link Between Worlds. So, it looks generally quite nice.

This comes five years too late, however. If they had this made this right when the Nintendo Switch Lite and the remake of Link's Awakening came out, then this would have been my first Nintendo Switch. After Tears of the Kingdom and its edition of the Nintendo Switch OLED, this feels a bit pointless, almost as pointless as the Hyrule Edition of the New Nintendo 3DS XL back in 2015/2016, where they even share the same name. Coincidence? I believe not.

At least in this case there never has been a Zelda edition of the Switch Lite, so this gives you a different, more compact experience over the Nintendo Switch OLED, which might be nice for the Zelda fans who prefer to play on the go. I play on my TV 90% of the time, however, so this isn't really for me.

I might still buy one for my collection, though, which is probably what Nintendo is banking on with this: either people buy it for the portability or they buy it, because it looks great and they can't resist the "Zelda" label. Or both. But don't tell me that there is even a single Zelda fan out there who doesn't have a Nintendo Switch yet and really needs this.

This probably also won't be it. This is a Zelda game and they are likely also announcing a Limited Edition with an artbook and some other goodies later. In the very least there will also be an amiibo of Zelda, matching the one of Link from Link's Awakening.

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