Hoang 1

Hao Hoang

ENGL 1301-122

Dr. Sharity Nelson

9/21/22

The Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch Advertisement

Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (BOTW), a part of the Legend of Zelda franchise,

is a recent release game that caused Nintendo uproar to promote the game. First, Nintendo

announces the game through an advertisement video of the actor sitting on the couch playing the

game; then, the actor would need to travel and take the game console with him. At first glance,

one might think this is a BOTW promotion; however, a closer visual analysis of the ad video will

show that their promotion is biased toward the Nintendo Switch more than the game. The ad

promotes the Nintendo switch to Nintendo game enthusiasts by providing the visual of the game

console accessibility for audiences through a visual story. The author provides a transition focus

on the actor's facial expression reacting to the graphic gameplay on the console to reassure of the

console enjoyment. Also, the author includes the beautiful open-world visual scenery of BOTW

to invoke a sense of familiarity or provoke a person's adventure characteristic.

The Nintendo switch advertises the accessibility of the console through a visual story of

the actor playing with the console through different locations such as the plane or bus. The

advertisement video has a scene where the actor plays BOTW on a couch (figure 1) and looks at

his watch to check on his task (figure 2). After he checks his watch for the task, he would stand

up and disassemble the Nintendo Switch from the dock, which will switch his game display from

the TV to his small and convenient console display with the same graphics performance (figure

3). The author of the advertisement display this small scene to attract the audience by
 Hoang 2

emphasizing the Nintendo Switch's capability as a high-performance portable console urging the

audience who doesn’t have the leisure of staying in one location to experience the full gameplay

of their favorite game without sacrificing graphics or sound quality which is usually seen in

many other portable consoles was shown in those short transition. It is an action in return would

provoke the audience's desire to immediately add the console to a wishlist for their shopping

spree.

The transition of the ad between the actor (figure 5) and the console with the BOTW

game displayed (figure 4) attracts the audience through the actor's reaction to the gameplay to

reassure them of the console's enjoyment. An example within the advertisement would be the

video depicting the moment of the actor on the bus to the moment on the plane, with the

transition focus on the actor's countenance and the BOTW gameplay variation. The

advertisement utilizes the human recognition of facial expression with the transition allowing the

audience to focus on the actor's reaction (figure 5). It will enable the audience to get a visual

opinion of the person playing the game, which increases the assurance of the audience with the

product's enjoyment. The ad further emphasizes this by highlighting the actor's smile to be

visible to the audience to indicate that the game will be nothing less than a wondrous adventure

to invoke the audience's desire to venture and buy the Nintendo Switch then enhances this idea

through the Visual gameplay of BOTW.

The visual gameplay of BOTW displayed during the advertisement ensnares the audience

to buy the game and the Nintendo Switch by invoking a sense of nostalgia from the game to fans

of the Legend of Zelda franchise through the usage of the variety of beautiful scenery within the

game. An example is shown in the advertisement video in the form of a short clip of the

gameplay with the character in the game experiencing multiple wonderous adventure plots, such
 Hoang 3

as the character "Link" being chased down by a desert monster (figure 6), Link standing on top

of the tower looking at the beautiful sunset (figure 7), and Link in the middle of gliding on the

sky to doing a game main quest (figure 8). The clips were short yet captivating to get the

audience's attention drawn to the game while having the vision of themselves adventuring to the

plain and experiencing these adventures just like the main character. The game scenery invokes a

sense of nostalgia in a fan of the Legend of Zelda franchise by transiting between these clips to

remind them of the franchise's other games; in addition, the game's open-world concept also

draw in any player that desires an open-world experience with a variety of choice and quests to

provoke the adventurous inner characteristic of the audience. Through the game exclusivity on

the Nintendo Switch, they would use these experiences to invoke a sense of familiarity urging

the audience to purchase the console to play the game.

The game BOTW TV advertisement is a thriving attraction for the Nintendo Switch

audiences through the usage of the visual example of the actor traveling with the console capable

of handling high-performance gameplay without sacrificing the graphic or sound experience

while enhancing that with the transition between the actor countenance and the gameplay to

assure of the console enjoyment. The ad even goes as far as including the game's visual scenery

within the gameplay to attract the audience to the game and use exclusivity to urge the audience

to buy the console for the game. The ad has successfully informed the audience of the excitement

that the console carries which helps support the console sale through the audience's

understanding of the necessity for the console.

Appendix
 Hoang 4

Figure 1

Figure 2
 Hoang 5

Figure 3
 Hoang 6

Figure 4
 Hoang 7

Figure 5

Figure 6
 Hoang 8

Figure 7

Figure 8
Hoang 9
 Hoang 10

Work cite

Nintendo “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - UK TV Ad (Nintendo Switch).”

Jan 18, 2017. Youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3XmVt27RI4. Accessed 29

September 2022.