The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom pre-order guide

If you want to buy a ticket on board the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hype and pre-order the game before launch on May 12, you might as well get yourself some cool extra bonuses. Some retailers offer free pre-orders, such as a wood plaque or art print, which are a nice bonus that don’t cost anything extra. Or superfans willing to shell out the extra cash can get the nice Collector’s Edition with lots of accessories (if it ever becomes available again, unfortunately).

So which way of pre-ordering gives you the most benefit? There’s already one method by which you can save $20 on the game, but that’s on the digital version only and exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Here we take a look at the handful of pre-order bonuses for the physical edition of Tears of the Kingdom so you can make your purchasing decision in one place, easily.

These are the best incentives when it comes to pre-ordering Tears of the Kingdom for the regular price of $69.99 and get a little something inside.

Best Buy includes a free art print with the physical cartridge version of the game. It’s the main art for the game that we’ve all seen many times over, which looks great, but keep in mind there’s no indication of its size.

The arguably more interesting pre-order incentive is GameStop’s offer of a free wooden plaque that looks pretty cool. But the trade-off with this exclusive pre-order gift is GameStop requires you to claim it in store. I can’t believe GameStop expects me to go out on the day I’m supposed to be inside play the game non-stop.

Walmart’s incentive is a free Master Sword wall roll. Unfortunately, after Walmart quickly sold out of a gold wall scroll that was limited to 5,000 units, it came back with a black wall roll that sold out, came back and sold out again. The black roll is also “limited”, but there’s no mention of there being a fixed number, so maybe it will pop up again.

While a bit pricier at $74.99, we’d be remiss not to point out that Costco is also joining in on the pre-order mayhem. At present, the popular wholesale offers members a Zelda-inspired PowerA Protection Case with every purchase, which includes a physical version of the upcoming Nintendo Switch title.

We’ve already got a little rundown on where to get the Nintendo Switch OLED The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Edition, which is now immediately available. It’s a gorgeous looking console, with gold Joy-Cons and a white dock, all decked out in Zelda graphic embellishments. If you want one for the asking price of $359.99 (which is not add the game), you can get one from now Amazon, Best Buy, walmart, Goalor Nintendo.

If you buy the special Zelda-themed Switch OLED, you might as well finish the look and get the Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo Switch Carrying Case Edition for $24.99 at Best Buy. It’s decorated with the same markings as the special edition console, includes a screen protector, and launches on May 12 with the game. Unlike the Zelda-themed Switch Pro Controller, it’s not completely sold out during the pre-order window (at least not yet).

Finally, let’s talk about the elusive white whale from Zelda preorders. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Collector’s Edition is the required expensive bundle of the game with a whole lot of extra fancy swag included. In it, the standard cartridge version of the game is accompanied by a metal steelbook case to look nicer on your shelf, along with a poster, collectible pins, and a small art book that all together costs $129.99.

The pre-orders at retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, GameStopAnd Goal sold out very quickly and resurfaced regularly for short stints, but it is currently still unavailable. Are possible it may come back with more availability like the Metroid fear Special Edition does, but there’s absolutely no guarantee that this will happen before or even after May 12.

Update May 6, 12:38 ET: Adjusted availability for various items and added Costco’s pre-order deal for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.