Leaked Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ad gets officially released with even more never-before-seen gameplay footage

Nintendo has just published a new TV ad for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and while it might seem a bit familiar if you've been paying attention to the leaks, there are extended bits of new footage that offer some exciting possibilities.

The 'You Can Do What?!' ad mostly features young adult Switch users - the kind probably fresh off of a rooftop gaming party - experimenting with creative solutions to various in-game problems. The footage shows us a quick escape from enemies using the ascend ability, a clever use of light-giving plants to explore a massive underground cave, and an extended look at Hyrule Castle. We also see Link armed with a shield cannon doing battle with a Flame Gleeok - arguably the highlight of the leaked version of the ad.

The leaked ad was only 30 seconds long, however, and this new version is a full minute. Much of the additional footage concerns one player's attempt to get across a line of rails connecting two sky islands. Building a powered railcar with Ultrahand isn't enough, as it just tumbles over on a broken section of the track. But adding multiple cars to the train gives the vehicle enough length to cross the gap.

That puzzle solution is very cool, but perhaps even cooler are the implications for the creative ways Tears of the Kingdom's sky islands might connect to each other. I can just imagine a group of islands joined by rail lines where you've got to find ever-more-creative ways to get across - and maybe even some items that you've got to build transport cars for.

It seems these rail lines are a recurring motif in the game, too. In the last Tears of the Kingdom trailer, we saw Link doing battle with an enemy construct as both of them ride railcars through a lava-drenched area, seemingly underground.

While that was the final proper Tears of the Kingdom trailer, it looks like we can expect more drops of new footage through brief TV ads, as with the Japanese commercial showing Link with a cannon.

Check out our guide to all the new Zelda Tears of the Kingdom abilities and powers that have been revealed so far.

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.