Nintendo’s new Zelda Tears of the Kingdom trailer is pretty sad

There are all kinds of demographics that will be next zelda The game, but this new trailer for Kingdom Tears— one that falls somewhere between personal cuteness and a personal attack on me, a 43-year-old man — who has one very specific audience in mind.

Kids, they’ll buy it. Young, young, this is new zelda The game, these guys all pre-ordered the game (or bugged their parents to pre-order it) months ago. But old players? That’s a different story. Older players have jobs. They may have a big house, they may have a family, they may have other things to do than play video games all the time.

Sure, they might have a key, and they got in zelda Sometime – maybe as recently as 2017! — but that was six years ago, and times have changed. In 2017, for example, I was 37 with two kids and working on a video game website. In 2023, I’m… well, bad example, but there’s going to be a lot of people in Nintendo’s bullseye for this game that might not be in this game zelda Because they were the last one.

For them, Nintendo Australia made this trailer, and it sure is something:

There are two ways you can read this trailer. The first is the way its creators and Nintendo clearly intended it, that this guy, who has a boring job and a boring life because he’s a boring middle-aged guy, can still find him some joy in this world. And he can find it by staying up late and playing a video game.

This reading works, especially if you’re the target market! zelda It makes him happy, whether at home or on the bus, and even inspires him to look out the window and appreciate a little bit of the scenery as he drives through it. “There is still good in this world,” he thinks to himself, and it’s all because he bought it The Legend of Zelda: Kingdom’s Tears.

However, there is also something troubling about the whole thing. It’s a shot Beautifulbut like IGN’s Maybe, says Brian Altano below also Good; It starts to make you forget that this is a video game trailer and you think that, maybe, this is just a very sad movie about a very sad guy:

I think both can be true at the same time! More sponsored videos like this please, it’s great to see some real ideas put into one.

Update 9:10 p.m. ET: Kotaku Australia Robbie Ennis He published a Very important updatewhich I paste below:

… A person who worked on the commercial reached out (and requested anonymity) to let us know that the Zelda commercial was inspired by a “Japanese Amazon review of Breath of the Wild.” I did a little digging, and I am sure it is this.

Google Translate isn’t perfect, maybe downgrade the translation a bit, but you can get the gist of it here in English:

He is a member of the community called Lyman. Rush hour hit him on the go, he bowed to his clients and bosses, Overtime every day while doing different things while being forced to train his pups. The mountains bother me and I don’t even know the name of the one I see on my way to work. When I come home dizzy, I don’t have the strength to eat, so I drink and sleep. If you have time to play games, go to seminars and get married. The days when I honestly wonder why I’m still alive.

I remembered it from the Switch Store sale I saw the day I went to buy a Mittsake. When I was crazy about Mario 64 as a kid, “It’s like Mario these days! It’s PS.” I was embarrassed when my friend told me. At the time, I was determined not to hate my friends, I also replied, “Sure is old Mario!”

The beauty of FF7 at the time and the shock of hearing the CD on TV, It may be a feeling that children today do not understand. So attractive and innovative for kids at the time.

I still don’t know why I picked up the key at that time. I just bought the main unit and a Zelda with a beer in one hand and thought I could sell it if it was boring.

Yesterday, when I was at work, I saw a mountain whose name I didn’t even know from the train window. The moment I thought, “I think I can climb it,” tears welled up and I couldn’t stop. Lymans of the same generation who were next to me must have thought, “What the hell is this guy?”

I would recommend it to fellow Lehmans who are pressed for time and who run along every day even if they loathe the maintenance of the status quo. Don’t say it’s just a game. We were born into the golden age of gaming. Have you ever seen your family move with Mario jumps? Remember playing Smash with a controller? Have you ever discussed Chrono Trigger or FF7 strategies with your friends? I know that now. I used to be a silly kid, but my parents were at Christmas and Christmas, You bought me expensive hardware and software. Besides being a brat, you managed to buy a game that was too expensive for me with the house money.

I’m impressed because I just realized I didn’t realize I’ve been working so hard in my life. I should have been more filial.

★ 5 There is nothing I can say because all the reviews are good. Zelda gives me the “challenge and reward” that I forgot. You can experience an exciting adventure where you can freely explore the world without a map. We are from the same generation getting sick every day in order to get through tomorrow. But do not be disappointed in life. It was the adventure I was hoping for in a place like this.