The highly-anticipated Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is all set to release in just a few days, but fans can play it early using the New Zealand release date and time trick
Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom (TOTK) is a sequel to Breath of the Wild (BOTW) from 2017.
Legend of Zelda Tears of The Kingdom New Zealand release date and time trick for early access
Tears of The Kingdom comes out in less than 2 days here in New Zealand. I know I'm getting it earlier than most but it doesn't prevent time from going as slow as it does.
pain
— Jontohil2 (@jontohil2) May 10, 2023
did you know you can play Zelda Tears of the Kingdom hours EARLIER and get a discount through Playasia??
Grab a New Zealand eShop card! ⤵️I'll show you live on stream tomorrow at 4:30am PST/7:30am EST pic.twitter.com/lsLlsPl9gq
— Aka Mana 🖇️ (@theakamana) May 10, 2023
To other streamers:
For those planning on streaming Tears of the Kingdom, is there any risk in creating a New Zealand account and purchasing/playing the game in that time zone? This is for someone living in the US.
Would this work?
Anyone doing this?
Can Nintendo do anything?— Gladd (@Gladd) May 9, 2023
Going to sleep and tomorrow morning I'll be playing The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom EARLY RELEASE in Australia.
Can't wait!— Smarpy (@Smarpy) May 11, 2023
Although TOTK will launch in a couple of days, eager fans who wish to play it one day early can use the New Zealand. Find out how to use the trick below.
Is there early access available for Legend of Zelda TOTK?
Sadly, for fans, there is no early access pre-order bonus for Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. Although there are such pre-order bonuses available, it has a local midnight release time. This means that fans who are eager can play it one day early on May 11th instead of May 12th. This is possible using the New Zealand trick and does not require a pre-order.
TOTK New Zealand release time and how to play early
The New Zealand release date and time countdown for Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is set for 00:00 NZDT on May 12th. Meanwhile, Nintendo Switch will exclusively launch the game at 00:00 local time for each region. As such, the aforementioned TOTK NZDT launch hour translates to 04:00 PDT, 07:00 EST, and 12:00 BST on May 12.
In order to use the NZ time trick players need to register and create a new Nintendo account. When doing so, they need to fill in the account form and choose either New Zealand, Australia, or Japan as their country/region of residence.
Is it worth playing the TOTK early using the NZ time trick
Although using the NZ time trick allows fans to lay TOTK one day early, it is not for everyone. Fans planning to use the trick should note that they will not be able to use their credit card for either the New Zealand, Australia, or Japanese Nintendo store. As such, they cannot purchase gift codes online.
Playtech currently offers $15 and $30 gift cards for NZ, while TOTK will cost $99.95 on the NZ eShop. Meanwhile, players can get Japanese Nintendo gift cards from playasia, and purchase the game for ¥6,500 on the eShop. Players in Australia can also get gift cards at G2A.
As for Xbox users, the NZ early access is not recommended. This is because unlike Nintendo, Xbox users need to play Legend of Zelda TOTK on this new region account all the time once they use the trick.
Moreover, players in the United States or UK in particular will have to pay more to when buying a digital copy of the game from other regions if they use the NZ time trick. The most ideal situation would be if players are looking to create a second account for a different region. In such cases, Japan is the ideal pick since the Japanese Nintendo eShop offers some great exclusive games.
Players can also out YouTuber SwitchForce’s tutorial for further guidance on using the NZ trick.