The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has finally gone gold, only five years too late to save the Wii U

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is officially 100% happening.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has gone gold, meaning it is complete and off to manufacturers to be made ready for retail release.

Nintendo hasn't made a big song and dance about the news, which broke via a tweet from Monolith Soft's Yasuyuki Honne, translated by Trusted Reviews. Monolith Soft, best known for Xenoblade, aided Nintendo's core Legend of Zelda team with Breath of the Wild's huge open world.

It's a bittersweet moment for Nintendo and The Legend of Zelda fans. The hugely anticipated RPG is the fulfilment of long-held expectations, and will no doubt give the new Switch a shot in the arm as it launches on early March.

But for those who purchased the last Nintendo console in anticipation of this new The Legend of Zelda game, it's awkward to see it finished within a week of the Wii U being discontinued.

The latest figures from Nintendo show the Wii U was the worst-selling console it has ever produced. It's hard not to wonder whether The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild might have changed that, had it released alongside the Wii U in 2012.

Nintendo has said it intends to release first-party Switch software regularly rather than allow fans to suffer the long gaps of the Wii and Wii U years. We're really hopeful that means the Switch will bound along gracefully and attract plenty of third-party support. It's an odd console, but Switch is the best place to play the new Legend of Zelda, which is a pretty big thing.

It's just a shame it wasn't a thing the Wii U could ever boast. Poor old console.