The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is one step closer to coming out, marked by another trailer releasing in the February 2023 Nintendo Direct. News on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been sparse, but the amount fans know about it is growing with every trailer. This time, viewers heard what may have been Ganondorf talking, and saw a tease for a new figure shown from the chest down. New enemies appeared, and the number of changes to Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule seem to grow with every preview, including new Nuts & Bolts style vehicles.
Fans could still use a proper gameplay preview for Tears of the Kingdom to contextualize the differences between it and Breath of the Wild, but that should come closer to the game’s launch. Right now, discussions of Breath of the Wild's weapon durability and dungeons have been briefly pushed aside by a brand-new feature that caught everyone by surprise. Tears of the Kingdom seems to allow Link to craft different types of vehicles for use throughout his journey, and the feature feels oddly similar to Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts’ Customization Was Ahead Of Its Time
Link suddenly tapping into his inner mechanic is a lot like the shift Banjo and Kazooie felt going into their third major console game. After a successful platforming career on the N64 with Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, the Rare mascots came with the company when it was sold to Microsoft. After a few years, Rare began gearing up for a new Banjo-Kazooie game on the Xbox 360. What emerged in 2008 confused and upset fans, as Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts stripped much of the older titles’ collectathon platformer elements in favor of vehicle creation and driving. The game opening with a scathing parody of past Banjo-Kazooie titles didn’t improve anyone’s mood.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts bombed commercially, and directly contributed to Rare being restructured into the Sea of Thieves developer it is today. However, sentiments toward the game have improved over time, and some now note how far ahead of titles like Minecraft and Breath of the Wild the game was in player freedom and customization. Nuts & Bolts still has the multiple semi-open worlds and collectible Jiggies of past Banjo-Kazooie entries, though the on-foot sections are de-emphasized in favor of vehicles. Players can collect many blueprints and over 1,000 parts to build any vehicle that they can imagine. Relevant vehicle types can then be used in challenges, and even these allow for creative solutions on the player’s part.
Tears of the Kingdom Incorporates Nuts & Bolts’ Best Aspects
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Tears of the Kingdom is drawing so many comparisons to Nuts & Bolts. Link may not make a habit of using vehicles throughout the franchise, but several could be found in Breath of the Wild. The DLC Master Cycle is an obvious example, but Link can also jury-rig a couple more travel methods. Using a Korok Leaf to steer rafts across water is a notable mechanic, but Octorok Balloons can also give any wooden platform temporary flight. This feature is integrated into the game’s Master Mode for aerial enemy encampments, and it seems that assumptions of these flying platforms inspiring Tears of the Kingdom were more correct than anyone could have known.
According to close analysis of the recent trailer, Tears of the Kingdom will feature many mechanical parts scattered across Hyrule, all of them sharing a distinctive green color possibly associated with the Zonai people. At what fans suppose are scattered Sheikah workshops, Link can assemble these parts into anything from an automobile to a hot air balloon, and even a functional hoverboard. The specifics of this system are not yet known, but it could end up working like a less directed form of Banjo-Kazooie’s vehicle creation.
A heavily modular design approach, combined with Link’s preview automobile resembling Banjo’s flat, rectangular starting vehicle, makes it easy to see how both systems align. Like how players gradually learned to use Nuts & Bolts’ physics to creatively solve problems, this new tool being added to Tears of the Kingdom’s mechanic repertoire should exponentially expand the player’s arsenal. While Tears of the Kingdom probably won’t see Link getting into many races, crafting transportation should add a valuable layer to Breath of the Wild’s gameplay, and could make Nuts & Bolts shine even brighter in retrospect.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will release May 12, 2023, for the Nintendo Switch.
