Update [Sun 15th Sep, 2024 09:00 BST]:
Nintendo has now confirmed the Switch eShop file size for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom as 5.4 GB.
Original [Sun 23rd Jun, 2024 13:00 BST]:
Nintendo has shared some key details about the new top-down Zelda game (starring the Princess herself), but there's still a lot of information that hasn't been revealed just yet. Fortunately, one small detail we've now got is the game's file size - revealing just how much space you'll need on your Switch if you're planning on picking up the eShop version.
According to official listings for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, you'll need around 6GB of free space. Grezzo's 2019 Switch release The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening requires close to the same amount of space. While the new top-down entry is reasonably sized by Switch standards, fortunately, it doesn't match the latest open-world release Tears of the Kingdom.
Echoes of Wisdom might look tiny in scale, but its overworld looks like it could be quite big and has already ignited a lot of speculation. You can learn more about this in our existing story here on Nintendo Life. It seems the game also has amiibo support! If you're looking to learn more about this new chapter in the series, be sure to check out our feature covering 25 things you might have missed.
Will you be getting a digital or physical copy of Echoes of Wisdom when it launches this September? Tell us below.
Comments 66
Makes sense to be close to LA’s file size. Link’s Awakening is probably my favorite game in the series so I hope this one is also good. Idk how I feel about the building yet, but I like how it is using the same art style/graphics of Link’s Awakening.
I wonder the file sizes of Mario Party Jamboree and Brothership…(UPDATE: I checked their websites and it seems like the file sizes for those games have not yet been revealed)
@PikminMarioKirby Sizes are about the same, as the article mentions.
@Qwiff Thanks for clearing that up! Guess I missed it.
@Liam_Doolan What’s the source that says the file size? (Update: Thanks!)
Guessing this is pretty much made already and they are just waiting to release at an optimal time. Can't wait for it!
I still can't believe we're getting a new mainline 2d game so soon after the announcement.
Awesome that Nintendo developers are still masters of compression technology
@Fisticuffs They had 11 years since ALBW and 9 years since TFH to come up with a new entry. I'd be surprised if they had nothing brewing after all this time. Even with five year gap between LA remake and this, hopefully the gap won't be that long again though.
Link’s Awakening is a top 5 Switch game for me. I bemoaned the full priced release at the time but I’ve since cleared every save file because the shorter length is actually rather inviting when considering a replay. Looking forward to this but I probably won’t be getting it straight away.
Phorever Physical
I've preordered it physically discounted just like most of the games I'm getting announced during the Direct but still, love to see a relatively small size for those getting it digitally!
Shouldn't this game be called The legend of Link: Echoes of Wisdom this title would honor both characters in retrospect. Since it's now told thru the eyes of Zelda herself
So excited for the return of 2D Zelda! Makes sense that it is about the same, but glad you guys brought that new to us.
I love how Nintendo still have reasonably sized games and they still look amazing, though I'll be getting it on a cartridge
@Axecon I'm surprised 6GB is considered "small". That's still over quadruple what the GameCube games had (Wind Waker and Twilight Princess). Is this going to have over four times the content?
@KingMike Compared to Xbox/PlayStation, where new releases are routinely 80GB to 100GB in size, and updates are between 20GB and 40GB, it’s downright tiny. Compared to GameCube/Wii/Wii U though, it’s in the same range, especially within the context of the HD assets Nintendo uses now.
Hmm...6 years ago an rpg titled Dragon Quest: Echoes of an elusive age was released for the Switch. Some years later the main character was a guest Star in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. also for the Switch.
It's all connected.
It's nice to see Nintendo keeping file sizes down for these games, especially for digital buyers.
I always go for physical if the option is available. So I'll be picking up a copy on cartridge day 1.
@DTfearTheBEARD
Why? Even 256GB SD cards are dirt cheap nowadays. They literally cost less then one indie game on sale.
Honestly, this looks like it’ll be Switch GotY. Can’t wait for this one!
Looking forward to this one. Will get it physical, probably from Amazon. So the filesize doesn't matter, even if I was curious enough to check out the article!
@Vriess That's not the problem at all. My Switch consoles have 1TB micro sd cards in each of them. I have five 1TB micro sd cards for my Steam Deck OLED. I just prefer physical over digital...
@Vriess You are missing the point of why people like to have physical media. Saving memory is not even half of it.
@RetroBox Me too buddy. me too. 💪🏼
@KingMike GCN used MIDI for music, this game likely uses WAV or a similar file type for higher fidelity. The music files alone are probably far bigger than the entirety of Wind Waker or TP on GCN. After all Twilight Princess on Wii U was 4.5 GB...
@KingMike On NES games were a few KB in size. Around 90% of games these days are assets, textures, shaders, audio, mesh, etc. etc. And ofcourse some overhead if they used a common game engine.
Wow, that is tiny. Tears of the Kingdom wasn't that large either. Impressive you can get games like that on a single cartridge.
@Arawn93
I'm not missing the point, I'm making one. And you're missing mine.
Based on what we've seen so far, and the prominence of Link on the cover art...
...I've got my fingers crossed that the game will be in two parts. Zelda and the building gameplay for the first part, and then Link with the sword gameplay for the second part.
Nintendo had a history of re-using assets from their previous game to the new one so this isn't that surprising. My guess for why this is bigger than Link's Awakening is that the Zelda sprite and Tri are new and their abilities and animations add to the already existing assets from the Link's Awakening remake.
@Vriess No. You are still missing the point as already pointed out by another. You are way too focused on memory and not on the other reasons why someone might want to own a physical copy. It’s not rocket science to understand why some people prefer to game with physicals if the option is available.
Buying it physical so not an issue. That way it also has some trade-in value for when either I or the Switch are dead.
I just like looking at a nice collection on the shelf, which honestly is the main reason for me.
This is obviously not the next big Zelda game. The development time was like one year. It's just something for Zelda fans since the wait for the next main chapter will be long.
Personally I don't find the game appealing. Despite the fact EoW lends its whole look from Link's Awakening, I doubt this game will be nowhere near as engaging. I couldn't imagine a more boring way to start the game: Zelda is captured by Ganon the Cartoon Villain and Hero Link comes to save. The gimmick is Link falls in dark dimension and Zelda leads the show.
Compared to the mystical narrative of LA, the story here feels like a complete afterthought. Even the cover looks like a cheap photoshop job.
I just hope they don't make the puzzles too easy since there are many ways to solve them. Breaking the game is only fun when there are enough set limitations.
Developers have always been able to break their own games. Cheat engines and such are one example. Thing is, limitations have always existed for a good reason. A journey is not fun if you can just fly over the mountain (looking at TotK.) Same goes to building endless amounts of beds or boxes to climb up. This is not innovation. Aonuma is literally breaking the series, and he doesn't even realize it :/
@quinnyboy58
That's how Ninty has always been.
They have an unbelievable amount of games that are finished and waiting for release.
The issue with that though is sometimes they never do because a new system will be out and they aren't compatible.
Metroid Prime 2/3 HD / remasters/ports are already done.
Twilight Waker HD remasters are already to go.
They already have another Pikmin game ready.
They also have a few others ready but they refuse to release them for some reason.
@TheDownfallHero7
That's one of the issues I had with Ninty condensing the systems.
Gaps between games are much longer now.
They should be able to still crank out multiple games every few months.
I've said this from the beginning.
Ninty should have NEVER had a game drought.
A new Mario or Zelda every 2 or 3 years at most!
A 3D year one.
Remake/remaster a year and a half later.
A 2d a year after
Another year and a half, then another remake/remaster
Year and a half then another 3d
And we'd still be at where Wisdom will be!
Only we get more stuff in between!
@Cia
Why do you feel that Wisdom isn't the next big Zelda game?
I'm genuinely curious.
@Cia I'd be okay with a simpler story as long as it feels like a "classic" Zelda if they're going to do it. I'm assuming that is what this game is going for.
Lighting all the torches was a Zelda puzzle meme for how many years? But I still enjoyed them.
I just find it charming how New SMB Wii just had the Koopa Kids come up and abduct Peach into a cake and steal her off and that was it. I like it's just like "it's a Mario game, that's all the story you need". As long as it fits what it wants to be, I'm fine.
It's probably not going to be Link's Awakening. That was very much a unique game with a unique development. I doubt will Nintendo will again let its devs just have that "throw ideas at the wall" attitude (since it wasn't even a game Nintendo gave them permission to make in the first place, hence the other Nintendo cameos in the game).
Yeah this one is gunna be a physical buy for me fellow gamers. Looking forward to it!
This game is going to be a download release for me, using a voucher even. (also for Mario & Luigi Brothership) so I save some money
@Cia you do realize the original Links Awakening was a short side project in and of itself while LTTP was being worked on, right?
Physical copy, without a doubt. 1st-party A-list Nintendo titles are always worth having a physical copy of.
very tiny game..
5.4Gb is roughly the same amount of difference between Breath and it's expansion Tears!
Pre-ordered a physical copy from Nintendo, that's a first but that seems to be where they're going lately. As far as release cadence goes, they're always going to stick to those toy company roots of maximizing consumer desire. They don't want consumers to decide between which Nintendo game to buy, they want the consumer to buy them all. They purposely make us thirsty.
@Spider-Kev I see what you did there…
@mereel
Haha
@KingMike XBOX and PS games are often 60GB and up. I have 2TB on my PS5 and 4TB on my Series X and I still have to play game jenga all the time. Meanwhile on switch I have 2.5 TB (note all of these are split between sources) and it holds hundreds of games, DLC, demos and save files. Big difference. Nintendo keeps their games small and it’s great.
I have to be way more structured with the twins for what I play (and as a Gamepass user that sucks) meanwhile on Switch I can play almost anything with no downtime (basically the time it takes to reboot the switch if I need to switch micro sd cards as I have two. ) so I can hop around on games based on my desire
@Ryu_Niiyama
What's your biggest SD card for your switch?
I have a 512gb
I'm getting annoyed with all these game collections not really being collections!
Resident evil 0,1,4,5,6,Rev,Rev 2
Metal Gear 1,2
Metal Gear Solid 1,2,3
Grand Theft Auto 3,VC,SA
At least the Cowabunga and 3D all stars collections are all on cart!
Urgh. 5.4GB. I wanted it to be 5.3GB. Preorder cancelled...
@Cia One year dev time? There is no way it was less than 3.
@Arawn93 You're right, he is missing the point. The point of buying physical is obviously so you can have a sense of false superiority over those who buy digitally.
One reason I prefer Physical over Digital is because if a game sucks, I can sell it.
I cannot do that with Digital!
*Looks annoyingly at Star Fox for the WiiU
“Estimated”, hasn’t pirategamer already told everyone it’s available online on pirate sites, doing the usual EG, sorry.. PG thing?
@Bigmanfan : no, the point of buying physical for a story based game you won’t go back to when completed, is so you can sell it and recoup half your money back.
Which of course, wouldn’t be needed, if Nintendo, etc didn’t charge stupid prices.
@Clammy That's fair, but I have a feeling that's not what most people do. Granted, if you do it, good on ya for saving the dough, but most people who care enough to write online about their love for physical games would probably never even consider selling them.
I hope there's some kind of dungeon editor similar to that included in the Link's Awakening remake.
And slightly off-topic, but it would have been awesome if we could have been able to save Zonai devices to amiibo (in the absence of online sharing).
@batmanbud2 They started working on Link’s Awakening after ALTTP and originally intended it to be a port of that game…
@Cia wait… weren’t you defending TotK all the time for exactly the same things you’re criticizing this game for? 🤨🤨
I like carts but I also like the ability to zip back and forth between games without having to swap one out. So...I dunno.
I almost never play docked. I'm on the go, go, gooooo! 😜
@Cia ok, so it’s not for you? I can respect that.
But every Zelda is pretty much the “next big Zelda” regardless of the style.
Making baseless assumptions that that it took a year to make (which is laughable in this era of gaming - more likely this probably started pre development on ideas right after LA released) is pretty disrespectful to the development team that put in the hard work.
@larryisaman
No, Link's Awakening was supposed to be a portal of the original Zelda
I got this digital because Nintendo had a great deal on there game vouchers I think you got a extra 16 pounds to spend plus your 2 games. So i got this and Brothership and put the 16 towards rocket knight collection.
@Spider-Kev Read the Iwata Asks about Link’s Awakening and its initial development as an “after school club” project.
“at the time, we still had the idea of simply transplanting The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past to Game Boy”
@larryisaman
A 16 bit game down to an 8 bit game, no.
Every interview since the beginning has always said it was the Original game
@Spider-Kev Donkey Kong Country on Game Boy Color 👍
Anyway I’m right and you’re wrong bye bye
This is not a small game IMHO. It's significantly larger than the Wii U HD versions of both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. But I think file size is more a function of their development framework than merely "HD". I still hope there will be substantially more content in here than Link's Awakening.
Seems tiny for today's standards.
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...