Nintendo's first $70-priced title, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, arrives on the Switch this Friday, May 12. Fans are eager to dive into the sequel to 2017's Breath of the Wild, and for those that really cannot wait until that day, there is a little workaround they can try out if they want to start Link's adventure earlier than usual.
Of course, there are some people out there that are playing Tears of the Kingdom early because of emulation and broken street dates from physical retailers, but another way to play it early, at least in the United States, is to create a new eShop account based in another country where the game releases first, like New Zealand or Australia.
How to Play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Early
Switch owners will need to first create a brand-new Nintendo account and make sure to set the region to New Zealand or Australia. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches at midnight local time everywhere besides the US, which launches digitally at 9 PM PT on May 11 / 12 AM ET on May 12. So, those that create a New Zealand account can actually begin to play the game sometime in the early morning hours of May 10, giving fans a couple of hours of early access before it launches in the States. The process isn't that complicated, but it does require a couple of steps.
- The first thing Nintendo fans need to do is make a new eShop account for the region of their choice.
- Once the account is made, players need to log into the account on their Switch, which will add a new user to the console.
- Some people might think they can just hop into the eShop and buy the digital version of the game, but it's not that easy --a US credit/debit card will not work in the Australian/New Zealand eShop, so if someone doesn't have a card from either of those countries, they'll need to instead purchase digital eShop codes online from websites like Playtech New Zealand.
- Once the cards are purchased, they will be delivered to players' email addresses.
- The cards must then be redeemed in the new Nintendo account's eShop.
- Tears of the Kingdom's preload will begin, and once it's downloaded, players will be able to hop in as soon as it's available in New Zealand/Australia.
- Luckily, players will still be able to play the game on their regular American Switch eShop account once it launches worldwide, and the same save data will be used. So there's no need to worry about starting the game from scratch on a different account.
- It's worth noting that buying eShop accounts from a different region online will have some extra fees involved. Still, the extra price might be worth it for the hardcore Zelda fans out there that want to explore Tears of the Kingdom's dungeons and sky islands before other people.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available for the Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023.