Midori has dropped a huge rumor for what’s coming up on the Nintendo Switch 2.
Over the weekend, she made this tweet:
“There is a project at Nintendo with the codename U-King-O
It might be related to the rumors of the next Nintendo console codename.”
So why is this tweet a big deal? Because we already know what U-King is. As explained in this page about Nintendo codenames by website The Cutting Room Floor, U-King was the codename used for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Each part of that codename means something too. While most gamers played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Switch, the title was originally planned for the Wii U. So that’s where the U from U-King comes from.
As for King, it is believed that Nintendo went with this codename because they were thinking of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker while making it. While the games are obviously vastly different, the two use cel-shading. So it’s likely this codename was used for the game from the onset, even before they came up with the title Breath of the Wild, back when they didn’t know what this game would become. And they used it right until the end.
As for how we know about this codename, if it was only meant to be known to people working for Nintendo, dataminers found this codename in the files in Nintendo’s website from E3 2016. Surprising as it is, it looks like finding this esoteric data paid off, seven years later.
You may also have noted that The Cutting Room Floor has added an entry for U-King-O. That’s how much people take Midori’s credibility seriously. As for the O, it is not a suffix or codename that has been used by Nintendo before. There is speculation that O stands for Ounce or Oz, but that information didn’t come from Midori and we can’t vouch for it. Either way, the assumption is that the O stands for the Switch 2.
As for why Midori felt secure in leaking this out now, she would know when it would be safe to reveal a project, which is when it’s about to be announced. If a game project is revealed too early, fans will get angry if it gets cancelled before being announced. It can also harm a project if it is revealed in the middle of development, because fans may make wrong assumptions on a project that hasn’t been completed.
So, what I’m saying is if Midori’s rumor is true, and she hasn’t been wrong before, Nintendo is ready to announce a new The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild project. Everyone believes this is a special edition of that game, but let me put forward the possibility that it could even be something else. Like a spinoff game, featuring the perspective of a character that fans always wanted to play? I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to play a Kass video game where you fly around Hyrule chasing Link.
