Nintendo UK outline Zelda Anniversary Plans

News by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor

Published on Sept. 22, 2011

The Legend of Zelda is a whopping 25 years old this year, and Nintendo is going the full nine yards in promoting the history of the series while also gearing up for the launch of Skyward Sword, the newest in the series and arguably the Wii's swansong title.

In a media blast this morning Nintendo UK outlined their complete plans to celebrate 25 years of The Legend of Zelda with a symphony concert, free DSiWare download and the launch of a limited edition bundle of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

This week Nintendo takes Skyward Sword on the road to the Eurogamer Expo, letting the UK public get their hands on the same build of the game that was shown off at GamesCom.

Next week will see even more Zelda land in people's hands as The Legend of Zelda Four Swords Anniversary Edition is made available as a free download to all Nintendo DSi, DSiXL and 3DS owners via the Shop Channel on the 28th September.

On the 25th October The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony Concert Tour will arrive in London for a one-off UK date at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo. This one-night-only event will see a 70-piece symphony orchestra and choir perform music from across the 25-year history of Zelda with a playlist hand-picked by Nintendo maestro Koji Kondo. The playlist will include all-new music from Skyward Sword.

The Skyward Sword hands-on tour continues on the 29th October with the game playable to UK fans at the Gamecity Festival in Nottingham and then the celebration is topped off in November with the release of Skyward Sword on 18th November.

First-print copies of Skyward Sword will ship with a free CD that will feature select arrangements from the Anniversary Symphonic Concerts while a limited-run special edition of the game will feature that CD along with a Golden Wii Remote Plus featuring the Hylian Crest, prominently featured on Link's shield. Nintendo points out that the Golden Wii Remote contains no actual precious metals, though. Shame.

Nintendo UK has also put together a fully featured 25th Anniversary website for fans to visit. Zelda technically turned 25 on February 21st this year, the anniversary of the first title's Japanese Famicom Disc System release.