Last year Dark Horse teamed up with Nintendo to announce The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts, a handsome hardcover book in the same vein as the gorgeous Hyrule Historia. It's now unveiled the Limited Edition, which looks lovely.
It addition to gilt-edged pages, this edition includes a sleeve that unsheathes a Master Sword, so to speak.
Fans who purchase The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts limited edition will experience the thrill of finding and unsheathing the Master Sword! The cover features a 3D embossed sword hilt sculpt with a metallic foil finish. The sword hilt is life size to give the reader the satisfaction of unsheathing the very realistic sword from the acetate sleeve that encases the book. The cover's background features the Lost Woods (a maze of mystifying forests that has appeared throughout the franchise) in a custom-mixed deep purple ink with a soft-touch lamination and spot-gloss UV, framed with metallic foil. The book's pages are gilded as well.
Both the regular and limited editions of The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts have over 400 pages of fully realized artistic masterpieces, exclusive interviews with the artists behind the beloved video game franchise, the official pixel art of the early series, and rare promotional art never before published in this format.
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It looks rather impressive though the core content is the same as the standard edition. It's an extra $40 (based on the recommended price, though some are offering the standard edition for less) for the limited edition with a price of $79.99, so it's a tough call on whether the extra presentation is worth that much. A video from IGN does take a closer look, which may help with the decision.
Are any of you planning to pick up this book when it arrives? It's due in North America on 21st February and Europe on 23rd February.
[source darkhorse.com, via youtube.com]
Comments 19
I'm fine with the regular Edition, thank you very much.
Very interesting, seems like the book is almost entirely artwork with next to no text. Would have preferred some notes from the artist/design team over a fancy cover though.
I'd happily pay £60 for a replica Master Sword however...
£30 markup for a plastic sleeve and different cover art? Yikes.
I have the standard edition pre-ordered. I will stick with that.
I think the standard edition matches the Historia better. I'll be keeping that.
Why no Mario and the book of the mushroom kingdom
Comments in English only please.
@jswhitfield8 exactly my point! The special edition does not look fine near Hyrule Historia.
I do like Ltd editions, but considering I have the standard edition on pre order already for £25, I don't think it's worth spending an extra £40 for this. Does look good though
I missed out on Hyrule Historia's Limited Edition because Amazon cancelled my order at the very last minute. I'll try again with this.
Ouch at the extra cost. Even again, once it goes on the second hand market....
Geez, I'd love to get it, and even though I could easily afford it, I think double the price just for gilded paper edges and a alternate cover + plastic sleeve isn't worth it.
Also... I like the cover art of the original much better. :/
I wasn't going to, I was going to stay strong. But I saw this and cracked like an egg.
If it has different content compared to Hyrule historia, I definitely want to have it!
Cool, but I'm not dropping an extra $40 for a gimmick like that.
Already preordered the standard edition when it was first announced, and with a price like that, I don't regret my decision.
You kidding me? Just a stupid sheath gimmick and for an extra $40? No thanks, I already preordered the standard edition and that is quite enough.
I'm almost as excited for this book as I am for BoTW! I highly enjoyed reading through Hyrule Historia and I'm keen for some more Zelda art. I think I'll stick with the standard edition.
I bought the regular edition. I like how it matches the Historia, and I paid like $16 for it on Amazon. Also, I use the crap out of art books for reference while drawing, and i'd rather not worry about a such a nice collectors item getting dog-eared or the cover getting messed up. My inner collector says "buy it!", but I can't justify it!
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