Nintendo's Killer Zelda Preorder Bonus

by Fennec Fox
November 13, 2002 00:00 AM PST

Order GC Zelda in Japan and you could get a bonus disc with Ocarina of Time (and a brand new game) for free. If you're in Japan, that is.

As all nimble GamePro.com readers should know, The Legend of Zelda: Baton of the Wind is hitting Japanese GameCubes on December 13. What we bet you didn't know about was Nintendo's Japan-only preorder campaign for the toon-shaded thriller�and, if you're any kind of Zelda fan, you'll likely be cursing the luck of the Japanese for months to come.

Starting on November 28, Nintendo will begin accepting preorders for the GameCube Zelda at toy and electronic shops all across Japan. Gamers who pay a reserve deposit on the game will receive a special bonus GameCube disc that contains�prepare yourself for this�the complete version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, fully playable on your GC console (though without improved graphics). That's not all, even�the disc also contains Ura [Another] Zelda, a sort of "second quest" for Ocarina of Time that Nintendo developed for the 64DD system but never released. As if that wasn't enough to set your pants on fire, the bonus disc also includes new gameplay movies from Resident Evil 4, F-Zero GC and a few other hot GameCube releases.

So how do you, the average American gamer, get your hands on this disc? Not very easily, it seems. As of right now, Nintendo is only giving out the bonus disc to people in Japan who preorder Zelda on or after November 28. It'll only be available in the larger electronic chains, and once they run out, that's it, apparently. Exactly how many bonus discs Nintendo will give out is unknown�various sources pin the figure at 100,000 to 128,000 copies�but they'll undoubtedly be completely snatched up before the sun sets on the 28th.

Nintendo of America, meanwhile, is being suspiciously silent on whether this disc will come over here. Vice president Perrin Kaplan hinted about a Zelda compilation disc earlier this year, but calls to the office weren't returned today, and Nintendo's PR company wasn't even aware of the Japanese bonus disc when we called them. We'll keep you posted if they do offer some more info�it'd be simple torture to restrict an offer this hot to Japan only.

The logo for Ura Zelda, an original game that takes place in the Ocarina of Time universe. Note that this is different from Zelda Gaiden, another cancelled N64 project.