Hi guys, somehow I got a hold of the new Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition Switch 2 and didn’t have to sell off one of my children or trample an eager fan to get one. It was actually… Kind of easy. I’ll tell you about it below.
In the meantime, this Switch 2 design is glorious in all the ways that (aesthetically) didn’t really jive with me on the launch model. I was also able to secure the Zelda 40th Pro Controller as well and as a package…I am so ready for Ocarina of Time on November 5th. Let’s get into it!
Zelda 40th Switch 2: What’s in the Box
The box is decorated in a myriad of the usual Zelda 40th flair and not much else. It’s a Switch 2 box. Inside is the same crappy packing and butter side up, easy-to-scratch tablet and all the usual console pack ins. Notably, the Joy-Con grip has black rail insets to match the console. Amazing stuff here.
Nintendo Switch 2 – The Legend of Zelda – 40th Anniversary Edition
NintendoZelda 40th Switch 2: The Handheld
Its rugged, it’s got green, it’s got muted yellow, and no neon in sight. The Joy-Con on this puppy has the same shiny, plastic texture as regular Joy-Con but features a mostly symmetric color scheme. With dualling green primary colors and a more earthy yellow/gold secondary color tone, it gives the console as a whole a more natural feel.
Strangely, the rail portion housing the SL and SR buttons is black instead of yellow. The attached Joy-Con has a slight color bleed in the neon models, so having that here would have been a nice touch with the earthy yellow color. On the Joy-Con, we also have some nice geometric triangle patterns and some fairly missable 8-bit Link and Zelda sprites. The straps follow suit with the secondary yellow color body and black/green tassels. Oh… it sparkles.
The tablet, as expected, is more subtle with the Zelda branding, with the same black color as the Joy-con rail on the Joy-Con seat. On the original Switch 2, these insets matched the color of the launch Joy-con and game a weird mismatch with different colors.
The back of the tablet has a glossy printed and rugged-appearing geometric triangle design and…not much else. No real texture to mention of either. No Easter eggs or other branded stuff in sight, which is perfect in case you bring back different Joy-con colors.
Its worth noting that the screen on this model appears to be the same exact one as the launch model. Or at least it carries similar color tones, brightness, and even the infamous ghosting.
Zelda 40th Switch 2: The Dock
The dock is super fun and has a strangle blend of printed over glossy plastic and matte feeling plastic. I’m not a personal fan of this glossy plastic, but I’m also not touching the dock all the time either. It’s fine. The dark brown plastic is a good compliment to the yellow and black design here, but I can’t help but miss some shades of green from the Joy-Con.
I’m sure you’ve already seen it, but opening the dock shows a bunch of Easter eggs, like more 8-bit sprites. Otherwise this is beat for beat the same dock that comes with the original. The dock complements the console very well and doesn’t intrude at all in my entertainment center set up other than being a fairly neutral Zelda-themed decoration that houses a console.
Is it Worth it?
As a package I am very happy with how this console looks, and I’m sure by the myriad of pictures that existed before it’s release, I’m sure you might have already decided that. What’s worth noting here is that there are no elements here that indicate a V2-esque update to the hardware. Nintendo is well known for issuing silent hardware updates, and this is not one of them.
Another aspect of this is the price. It’s $519.99 with tax retail and I would not pay a single cent over this. Yes it is very easy to say from a guy who was able to secure one, but it really wasn’t that hard. Here’s how I did it:
- Subscribe to get updates on Hotstock.io (you’ll have to create an account). Download the application on your phone or subscribe on your desktop, whichever you are quickest on.
- Look at the history to see if there is a recognizable pattern of when products will drop and hover over the application during those times.
- When you get a notification of something being in stock, know that its slightly delayed so jump in right away.
- Have all your stores pre-logged in with an account and payment information
- If you click a link and it says “Sold out” try refreshing for a couple minutes. More often than not, stores glitch out because of high volume. It doesn’t always mean they are actually sold out.
- Some stores will rip the console out of your cart, and that happens sometimes. It just means somebody was quicker to the Buy button.
- In my experience, having multiple tabs open and spamming refresh doesn’t get better results. I have had significantly more luck just logging in ahead of time and coming in fresh.
- Most reliable store in my experience is by far Best Buy, with the least luck being Walmart and the Nintendo Store. You can even use our internal links for quick access to the sites in question. Good luck!
Considering the cost of the Switch 2 already increased by $50, an extra $20 on the asking price above that is more than enough for what is just a cosmetic upgrade. I would not expect these to be readily available on store shelves considering that storage scarcity has bottleneck production for game consoles right now, but chances are you should not have that hard of a time getting one.
Nintendo Switch 2 Carrying Case & Screen Protector – The Legend of Zelda – 40th Anniversary Edition
Nintendo
Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller The Legend of Zelda – 40th Anniversary Edition
Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 – The Legend of Zelda – 40th Anniversary Edition
Nintendo
