To celebrate the arrival of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom on the Switch next week, Nintendo of Canada has announced the game will be playable at select Game Stop stores around the country.
You'll be able to try out this brand-new entry starring Princess Zelda from 28th September 2024 onwards. Here are the locations where you'll be able to check it out:
British Columbia:
- Burnaby (4700 Kingsway)
- Surrey (10355 152 St, Unit 1136)
- Richmond (6551 No 3. Rd, Unit 1513)

Alberta:
- Calgary (6455 Macleod Trail SW #52)
- Edmonton (5015 - 111 St NW, Unit 350)
Ontario:
- Brampton (25 Peel Centre Drive)
- Mississauga (100 City Centre Drive)
- Scarborough (300 Borough Drive)
Quebec:
- Lasalle (#1790 - 7077 Newman Blvd)
- Longueuil (#143 - 825 Rue Saint-Laurent)
This game will launch on 26th September 2024, so if you are still unsure whether it's worth your time, this in-store play session might help. You can also check out our hands-on here on Nintendo Life:
[source nintendo.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 31
That's pretty retro. Didn't know they did such things anymore due to all the 5 fingered bandits these days.
Kind of funny the full games been online for weeks and they're releasing in store demos like its 1999.
I got excited for a second before I saw 'in-store'. It's hard to wait the final week. 😅
Yep not leaving my house for a demo, game stop is like 2 miles away and I think I've been twice in five years
@rvcolem1 Just out of curiosity, where do you get your games from?
For me, it's mostly Amazon or Best Buy and every now and then, GameStop.
Wish they'd just release these demos on the Eshop. Not going to go to a Gamestop to play a game a bit early when I could just wait until launch.
Edit: Oh, it's a Canada only thing anyways.
If I can't get it shipped from Amazon Prime or Walmart Plus, I'll get it digital. I avoid brick and mortar stores like the plague. My wife won't even take me shopping, she knows I'm too old and grumpy.
Can’t they just give us a demo for our consoles at home? Bit odd to limit it to just the terminals in certain shops.
Wow, all the ones in BC are in the Lower Mainland, typical! too bad they're all in the same metro, and a 6 hour drive for me. not very good at spreading it out are they
Lol. In-store demo. They should've saved themselves the effort and released it in the middle of the pacific ocean.
@pizzagroom I’m in Kamloops, still not close enough
Welp, time to wake the kids up early and go on vacation to Canada. School can wait, this is Zelda we're talking about.
Happy for those who'll be able to check it out!
As for why it's an in-store demo it could be because of datamining (in which case I'd hope to see them release it on the eShop at least when the full release comes out) other than the obvious agreement they clearly reached with GameStop.
@JohnnyMind It's from the 28th of september, the game would be released for 2 days. So no need for datamining tbh.
@sanderev I mean, dataminers will datamine regardless of when they get their hands on games etc. but yeah, more than anything it's certainly because of an agreement between Nintendo of Canada and GameStop as mentioned.
A good way to market to younger demographics. Not might the best, exclusive way to market a demo for Zelda, considering there is a very large demographic of people aged 30-50 (OG Zelda fans) who wouldn’t drive to a mall for a demo.
Either way, I support the return of demos and specifically, demo kiosks at physical stores.
I remember playing Zelda OoT at a kiosk inside Dairy Queen when I was very young. That memory is vivid and was one of the first times I played N64. It was one of the factors that led me to ask for the console.
Hahahahah wow... I got excited for a moment, i where running towards my switch.
I read it as "demo on the switch".... That was disappointing, but yeah nice there a demo in store 👍
Wow in-store demos are still a thing? I can't remember the last time I saw one, let alone a Nintendo one. I don't think I've ever seen a demo Switch.
I don't live in Canada, so I can't participate in this. And even if it was here in the U.S., there's no guarantee that my local GameStop would have a demo. And even if they did, I probably would not give into the temptation to try it before its release.
As it is, much of my game time is spent playing Genshin Impact, and I am still trying to get through Tears of the Kingdom and another playthrough of Stellar Blade on the PS5. So I've got plenty of other things to keep my mind occupied.
And I made sure to take the day off of work to pick up the copies that I preordered: one for me, one for my girlfriend. So I'll have all day to play it on Thursday.
I'm getting the game day one so this doesn't matter a whole lot to me but still a cool idea. Nice little blast from the past. But of course, it's always the "have" provinces that get these events. Atlantic Canada is once again left in the corner and forgotten about 😔
Canada, eh? Nintendo should put the demos in Tim Hortons
@TheExile285 I do everything digital. Except for when the switch first came out. It is kinda a pain to manage on my SD card sometimes
Or they could let me play my already preloaded Zelda for a hour and cut me off after.
Nintendo Canada really likes their store demos. It was really neat when they had their pop-up Kiosk near by house. They had set up a Super Mario Odyssey demo station, as it was getting shown off during E3 2017. That sort of local-level hype that Nintendo likes to draw in the GTA goes a long a way (although it was more prevalent when I was a teen).
This is the one game I wanted a demo for. I’m open to be surprised, but not for any money.
A home demo could have sold this to me but as it stands i just dont think its for me so sont drop the funds on it. Oh well 🤷
Already playing a "demo" of it on my Steam Deck. Not crazy about playing as just Zelda, but aside from that it's pretty good so far.
@Borderlineland @VHSGREMLIN
Thats pretty standard with Nintendo´s first party games, isnt it? And they rarely (never?) relase home demos of their main games.
With the Switch they did that with Mario Odissey, Zelda BOTW, Mario Kart, Splatoon, and surely other i cant remember now..
@Zequio a shame, that. I like to get a feel of something/someone before I invest money and time in them. (Automobiles, computers, dates, etcetera…)
@VHSGREMLIN Dates??? lol, that would be a very creepy pick up line:. "I would like to get a feel of you before we get on a date".
@Zequio are you intentionally misreading this so you can falsely virtue signal? Bit weird, that. Do better.
Or they could just give us a demo on the eShop store? No?
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