Zelda fans are hours away from being able to dive back into Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. While we’ve all been waiting years for the release, one superfan is taking it to the next level. Alex Pekala is spending days camped outside the Nintendo NY store to get a physical copy of the game. In an age where you can get a digital game within seconds, that’s a level of commitment rarely seen these days.
The YouTuber began his adventure on May 10 when he set up a small tent on the sidewalk. With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releasing at midnight on May 12, that’s 72 hours total spent on the street corner. Each day begins with a new vlog posted to both his Twitter and YouTube. The videos feature daily life on the sidewalk, interviewing people, and, you know, the casual arrival of President of Nintendo Doug Bowser.
Waiting outside for 72 hours to pick up The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an impressive feat, though it falls rather short of what Pekala pulled off when the Nintendo Switch originally released in 2017. The vlogger spent one month waiting to pick up the latest handheld console. It was well worth the wait as he was the very first person ever to get a Switch, sold to him by Bowser himself.
Waiting in line for a game was the standard up until a few years ago. Of course, today games can be downloaded early and played digitally the moment the clock strikes midnight on the day of release. That being said, there’s nothing quite like waiting outside of a store to get a game you’ve been wanting.
