A new Legend of Zelda trading card set appears online for pre-order, with a variety of additional collectible goodies included in the larger of the two packs.
Nintendo has been hard at work for the past year expanding its media empire to new formats, in part by creating mobile phone games and releasing plans for Nintendo Universal theme park rides. However, it's still looking at traditional forms of merchandise as well, as is evidenced by a new Legend of Zelda trading card set.
The Legend of Zelda series of trading cards was made public via a pre-order listing on the EB Games Australia website. The trading card series will include artwork from five of the games: Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask, A Link Between Worlds, Skyward Sword, and Ocarina of Time.
The trading cards will be available in a simple booster card pack that will include six cards and one decal or temporary tattoo, and a trading card box that comes with a total of 85 cards, including foil cards, gold cards, temporary tattoos, and decal stickers. The box set also comes with one of three possible collectors' pins and a poster. The two are currently available for pre-order at $6 and $20 respectively, and are set to release on June 30th of this year.
Unfortunately, the trading card set won't include any images or artwork from the upcoming Wii U entry to The Legend of Zelda series. The description of the set actually mentions two Zelda games premiering this year - specifically Twilight Princess HD and a new title, presumably the upcoming Legend of Zelda Wii U game, but the next Legend of Zelda game has been delayed to 2017. Chances are the description on this trading card set is simply out of date, as there have been no hints at any other Zelda game premiering this year. Gamers probably shouldn't expect any major updates regarding the entry until Nintendo premieres The Legend of Zelda playable demo at E3.
Nintendo made part of its empire off of Pokemon cards, which it recently re-released, and it actually started out its existence as a playing card company way back in its inception in 1889. With this in mind, it makes plenty of sense for The Legend of Zelda to get a trading card set of its own, though it remains to be seen how popular it will be. In any case, the artwork that has been produced over the years for The Legend of Zelda is gorgeous to look at, so the cards should be a nice collectible item even if the buyer has no intention of trading.
The Legend of Zelda trading cards will release on June 30th, and the next entry to the series is set to release sometime in 2017 for the Wii U.
Source: EB Games Australia 1, 2