Final Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer confirms Ganondorf's return

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's final trailer has rolled out ahead of launch next month on May 12, finally showing us our villain.

Earlier today on April 13 saw the release of the final trailer for Nintendo's highly-anticipated sequel, presented by series producer Eiji Aonuma. The brand new Tears of the Kingdom trailer finally confirm the return of Ganondorf, as well as Link and Zelda once again struggling to defeat him to secure the fate of Hyrule, this time for good.

— YouTube video

This new Tears of the Kingdom finally sets up the story of the Breath of the Wild sequel, giving players some much-needed motivation for their exploits around Hyrule (something we touched upon after last month's gameplay trailer). We've seen plenty of gameplay and cinematic snippets from Tears of the Kingdom to date, but none that have set up the sequel's story like this.

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This new trailer being story-driven gives it an undoubted resemblance to Breath of the Wild's launch trailer, which debuted in March 2017. The trailer quickly became beloved among Zelda fans for putting some of the more heart-wrenching moments front and centre with an awe-inspiring score, setting up the epic struggles of the Switch launch game.

— YouTube video

Before Tears of the Kingdom's final trailer even aired today, many Zelda fans were anticipating the new trailer similar to the famed Breath of the Wild one above. Only time will tell as to whether this new trailer for the sequel ends up being remembered with the same reverence fans hold for Breath of the Wild's final pre-launch outing, but that's a seriously high bar to live up to.

If you're still looking to reserve your copy of Tears of the Kingdom before launch, or even bag that fancy Collector's Edition, you can head over to our full The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom pre-order guide for more. Recent data from a Japanese retailer claimed Tears of the Kingdom pre-orders are outpacing Breath of the Wild's, which bodes incredibly well for Nintendo's sequel.

Check out our upcoming Switch games guide for a look ahead at everything else Nintendo players have to look forward to this year.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.