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0:15—Amid the floating islands on display here, we briefly see a mountaintop with smoky tendrils on the left side of the scene. The smoke is extremely reminiscent of Ganondorf's flowing red hair, which we'll see up close at 1:18.
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0:20—If you squint, you can see a blue slime fighting with a Construct in the foreground near the bottom of the screen. That's not exactly surprising, as enemies could be tricked into fighting each other in Breath of the Wild, but it's still a cute little touch for the trailer.
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0:25—A Construct is seen chopping a tree, suggesting enemies will have tasks to keep them busy while they're waiting for Link to engage them in battle. The tree-chopping itself could hint at an in-universe reason for why these Constructs were made in the first place or could suggest a way for enemies to gather resources for their own larger construction projects.
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0:41—We can see a huge, intricate pattern drawn on the ground here, mirroring another that shows up on a mountainside around 1:28. What do they mean? Were they left here by ancient aliens?
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0:56—Our first glimpse of a town, which seems to have a strong affinity for mushrooms.
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1:08—What is hiding inside that unnatural-looking tower of clouds high up in the stratosphere? Our money is on a major dungeon and/or boss.
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1:23—We saw Zelda wearing this kind of Link-style activewear outfit in previous trailers, and we got glimpses of her falling into darkness amid tumbling rocks. Could this be the key moment when Link and Zelda are separated early in the game?
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1:34—While falling amid a tunnel of lasers, we briefly see Link unfurl a feathery wingsuit to quickly change direction. That's a change from the handheld glider we've seen him use to float in other scenes.
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1:36—Check out all those blue bubbles in the glass globe in the background. Is this the world's largest gashapon machine?
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1:39—This shot gives a quick glimpse of the return of horseback combat. More importantly, though, we can see a group of farmers and townsfolk battling alongside Link in the background (including one wearing a pot on his head). At the very least, it seems like they'll provide a way to distract enemies while Link prepares his attacks.
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1:54—The Link-style adventure garb Zelda had earlier is gone, replaced with a strapless dress and ornate jewelry. You have a few weeks left to create your own headcanon fanfic about how/why Zelda transitions from one outfit to the other.
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2:08—In prison, a teardrop tattoo like the one Zelda is sporting would have a very important meaning in gang culture. Here, though, it's more reminiscent of the teardrop on the Sheikah crest, and it's probably an important clue about the title of the game. Also worth noting: That teardrop isn't visible on Zelda's face as she's falling at the 1:25 timestamp...
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2:14—Link's shield is actually attached to the blade of his two-handed sword, providing extra oomph to a defensive parry. If you pause at just the right moment, you can see this shield flying off after absorbing an enemy attack. Did it break, or will Link be able to go retrieve it for another block?
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2:19—You can see some sort of bird-person companion flying alongside Link here. That same companion appears again in a cut scene at 3:08, saying, "OK, let's go."
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2:20—This looks like a horse-based escort mission where Link has to protect townsfolk from attacks during transport along a road. The sticky gel on the wagon axles and the connection to the horse's bridle suggest Link built this wagon himself from component parts.
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2:2—Another shot of the fiery red dreadlocks coming out of the distant mountain, as we get a glimpse of some basic platforming gameplay. Don't look down, Link!
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2:34—This massive walking rock ballista once again hints that enemies might also be able to build larger constructions from component parts.
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2:45—For years, a large contingent of players has been loudly speculating that Zelda will be a playable character at some point in the game. Zelda saying, "I know why I am here. It's something only I can do" is sure to add to that speculation (as is the presence of Link battling alongside other characters in this trailer).
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3:10—The earrings, necklace, and forehead crest on this dark-skinned character match precisely with the ones we saw on a certain princess earlier in this very same trailer. Only this character is sporting eight teardrop tattoos? Interesting...
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3:14—A nice "getting the band back together" shot of Gorons, Gerudo, and a few assorted Hylians standing alongside Link. But none of them can hold a candle to the lunk-headed guy up front wearing a wooden bucket as a helmet. A+, no notes, new favorite Zelda character of all time.
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3:15—As Zelda says "You are not alone," we get some quick gameplay footage of Link battling alongside a red Zora-like character that's twice his size. This is almost surely a computer-controlled combat ally, but is some sort of limited two-player mode too much to ask for from Nintendo? If it is, we're counting on modders to add two-player support to the emulated version of the game post-haste!
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3:22 Zelda in a flowing dress (and sporting two teardrop tattoos on her face) clings tightly to the Master Sword. "Link, you're our final hope," she says, followed shortly by "Link, you must find me!" Is she a damsel in distress again? Or is that just what Nintendo wants us to think?
For years after Nintendo's 2019 announcement of a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel, we had to subsist on one relatively brief gameplay trailer for any hint of how the much-anticipated Tears of the Kingdom would play. Today, as we approach the game's planned May release, Nintendo has shared what it says is the final trailer for the game, the third public gameplay tease in as many months.
As we wait for our first hands-on time with the first Zelda title in six years, we've gone through that last trailer practically frame by frame to pick out every interesting feature and speculative tidbit we could. Here's a quick look at some moments that your eyes may have quickly glossed over on first viewing, along with trailer time codes to check them out in full context for yourself.
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