Be careful of spoilers, Zelda fans, Echoes of Wisdom appears to have leaked online

Those of you hoping to go into The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom might want to be careful, as the ROM appears to have been leaked.

It seems like you just can't spend any amount of time on the internet without being wary of spoilers these days, and as leak culture just continues to dominate, it's getting harder and harder to avoid them. Now, it seems like the ROM for Nintendo's next entry in The Legend of Zelda series, Echoes of Wisdom, has been leaked online (via Eurogamer). Earlier this week, YouTuber Nintendo Prime posted a video claiming that they had seen a link to a ROM that contains the entire game online, and that they "have confirmed" it's real. Nintendo Prime hasn't shared any footage from the leak online, noting that they just confirmed it "as part of my job," telling fans to "stop asking" for it because piracy is "illegal and career ending to do so."

Others verified the ROM leak was real too, with Zelda content creator Zelda Lore writing on their own Twitter, "WARNING! Echoes of Wisdom has LEAKED. People already have it on emulators. Be careful if you want to remain spoiler free." So far a quick look around the internet doesn't seem to show too much of the game, though I have seen elsewhere that the game's opening title screen has been shared (no I won't leak it, I'm not getting got by the Nintendo snipers today, thank you very much). A similar thing happened last year with Tears of the Kingdom, which eventually led to Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu's development being ceased and its lead dev having to pay Nintendo $2.4 million.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is the first title in the main series that will let you play as the titular princess herself, and it's currently due out in just under two weeks on September 26.