Retailers have a history of mistakenly loosing product information early (particularly for unconfirmed or unreleased products), so it’s not all that surprising to learn that Target may have repeated history one more time. What’s a bit more surprising, though, is the game in question. Despite hints in A Link Between Worlds and lighthearted acknowledgement from Eiji Aonuma in interviews, there has never been official confirmation of a Majora’s Mask remake for the 3DS. This leak, though not an official confirmation, makes it seem a whole lot more likely.
Related: Hyrule Warriors E3 Preview
The leak comes from a Target employee who posted two images to the forums on gbatemp.net, both showing a product listing for the supposedly upcoming game. The images can be seen below.
Though many have suggested the images may be doctored or fake, the original poster and supposed Target employee included a number of explanations for why the leak is likely the real deal, in a Q and A format.
Q. The number doesn’t match what American Target numbers look like!
A: That’s perfectly normal. The tag is from Canada, not the States, hence the difference.
Q. It says there’s one on the sales floor!
A: That’s incorrect. That number represents how many spots it has on the sales floor. The On Hand number tells us how much there is.
Q. I’m pretty sure someone just printed this off as a hoax.
A: While it’s likely, no, it isn’t. The tag was implemented with the shelf planogram (Which details where items are on the shelf, as well as fixture layout). So unless someone wanted to have every Target store open in Canada post a fake label, this is probably the most solid proof there is yet. As well, in the 4chan thread I stumbled upon, someone from St. Catherines, Ontario, was able to mention that the same tag existed in their store as well.
Q. Why are there two known street dates (Dec. 31, 2014 and July 18, 2014)?
A: Seeing as I noticed this after it was set, it originally had July 18th set, however, it was changed between that set date and the date I took the photo.
Q. Why is the current street date December 31st?
A: It’s most likely a temporary date until it can be properly implemented in the system, or, it was removed to prevent some kind of issue with the release date of an unannounced game (I assume the former.)
While far from official confirmation, it’s tough to fathom this Target employee spending so much time arguing his case if he didn’t at least believe the leak was legitimate. We may know more soon, but with Hyrule Warriors and Zelda U stealing most of the Hylian spotlight as of late, it’s unlikely we’ll hear all that much about Majora’s Mask before 2015. That is, unless it’s slated for the holidays.
[Header image by toenolla at DeviantArt]