The Long Wait Is Over: New 'Zelda' Hits Shelves

A six-year wait came to an end for "Zelda" fans across the world on Friday as Nintendo released the long-awaited next instalment of its 40-year-old gaming saga.

The game featuring the exploits of Princess Zelda and the elf-like warrior Link has sold 125 million copies worldwide since its first edition in 1986.

It helped forge "open world" games where the player is free to roam in virtual landscapes – an idea later taken up by games ranging from "Grand Theft Auto" to "Skyrim".

But its main challenge this year will be to boost earnings for the Japanese gaming giant and prolong the life of its Switch console, which experts say is in its dotage after seven years on the shelves.

In Paris, fans who lined up late at night applauded as a shop opened, streaming in -- some clutching Link toys or wearing elfin ears – to snap up "Tears of the Kingdom".

"I'm going crazy actually, because it's been six years that we've been waiting for this game," 19-year-old Taylor Meguira said as he waited in line.

"When 'Breath of the Wild' came out, it was a real revolution in the world of games," he added, referring to the 2017 instalment of the saga.

"Knowing that there is a sequel, which is coming out in an hour or a little less, it's just incredible, it just makes me so happy."

Clips circulating on the internet racked up millions of views before the release and the game was expected to be "by far the biggest contributor to Nintendo's sales this year", said Serkan Toto, an analyst at Kantan Games.

Yet the franchise's 1980's launch was something of a gamble for a company then best known for "Donkey Kong" and "Super Mario Bros".

The first episode, "The Legend of Zelda", plunged gamers into an unknown universe largely without instructions.

Creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who also gave life to Mario, was inspired by his childhood explorations of the Japanese countryside to offer a landscape of forests, lakes, caves and mountains.

"The scale of the game was huge at a time when most games were finished in an hour or two," said Kiyoshi Tane, an author specialising in the history of video games.

"It was something of a pioneer of what open-world games would become." (AFP)