In celebration of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's one-year anniversary, Nintendo has released a brand-new piece of artwork based on an important scene from the game. Nintendo has typically prepared anniversary celebrations for its titles, and Tears of the Kingdom is no exception. Nintendo already announced a Tears of the Kingdom soundtrack and artbook release earlier this week as part of its celebrations. Now fans can enjoy a piece of artwork from Nintendo that mirrors an iconic scene from the game that fans will recognize.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released exactly one year ago, on May 12, 2023. The game is a sequel to 2017's Breath of the Wild, continuing the adventures of this world's incarnations of Link and Zelda. The game also introduces a number of new mechanics that help Link explore the vast open world of Hyrule. Fans and critics praised Tears of the Kingdom for its new features and more intricate storytelling, giving a bunch of new scenes between Zelda and Link that furthered their relationship in many fans' eyes. One of these scenes is captured in the first-year anniversary artwork for Tears of the Kingdom.

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In a new tweet posted to Nintendo's official account, it shows Link and Zelda falling out of the sky, with Link reaching out and grabbing her hand. The tweet celebrates the occasion, asking fans about what their favorite memories are of exploring Hyrule in Tears of the Kingdom. Astute observers note that this piece of artwork mirrors a piece of artwork that was released for the launch of Tears of the Kingdom last year, which fans appreciated as a fun call-back.

Tears of the Kingdom's Anniversary Art Mirrors an Important Scene

The two pieces of artwork, when put together, also mirror two important scenes from Tears of the Kingdom. The 2023 launch artwork mirrors the game's opening cutscene, where after Link and Zelda meet Ganondorf, the dark warlord ends up corrupting Link's arm. Zelda then falls into a pit underground, which spurns Link to try and save her, reaching out with his corrupted arm as they fall. The anniversary artwork, on the other hand, is taken from the endgame of Tears of the Kingdom, where Link tries saving Zelda again in the same way, with the two falling out of the sky this time.

Many fans joked that it took Nintendo an entire year to "press A," as this artwork was based on a quick-time event scene that is impossible to fail in-game, while others gushed about how it captured Zelda and Link's relationship in Tears of the Kingdom. Many were happy about this piece of artwork celebrating the 2023 game and were excited about what will be next for the long-running franchise's future.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.

Franchise

The Legend of Zelda

Platform(s)

Switch

Released

May 12, 2023

Developer(s)

Nintendo

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

How Long To Beat

59 Hours

Metascore

96

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