In today's The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay trailer, we found out that yes, Link can indeed build vehicles. And he does this using the brand new ability 'Ultrahand'.
Now, if you've been around these parts for a while, then you probably spotted this name and went "wait, what, Ultra Hand? Like the 1960s toy?" And we're pretty sure that's what this big gameplay feature is referencing. The toy was created in 1966 by Gunpei Yokoi, who played a pretty major role in video game development, as he designed the D-pad, Game Boy, and WonderSwan.
Ultrahand, in Tears of the Kingdom, allows Link to pick up one large material from a distance and fuse it to whatever he's building. In comparison, the Ultra Hand (keeping up?) is a grabber toy where you hold two handles at the end of a cross-cross-connected plastic device and use them to grab things from far away. The toy usually came with objects like balls or ball-like objects with cylinders which you had to try and grab.
Sense the similarities? Lots of others certainly do.
Nintendo is always keen to acknowledge its past, and we reckon it's doing just that here. The Ultra Hand was most recently spotted in Splatoon 3, with Harmony sitting and playing with the stretchy device. But it also has been in a Zelda game before, too.
In Majora's Mask 3D, the Ultra Hand can be spotted as decoration behind the counter at the Bomb Shop. So while its return to the series is in name alone, it's got some history in Hyrule. Perhaps the Bomb Shop owner is responsible...? And hey, what if Link's weird hand is actually the Ultrahand?