KYOTO, May 12, 2026, 22:03 (JST)
- Nintendo set a Sept. 17, 2026 release for the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Mineru’s Construct amiibo.
- The figure has poseable arms and unlocks in-game items, including a special paraglider fabric.
- The launch keeps Nintendo’s Zelda pipeline visible as investors watch Switch 2 pricing and software momentum.
Nintendo will release the The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Mineru’s Construct amiibo on Sept. 17, giving a date to a collectible first teased more than a year ago and tying it to one of the company’s most valuable game series. Nintendo’s U.S. store page lists the figure for release on Sept. 17, 2026.
The timing matters because the update landed on the third anniversary of Tears of the Kingdom, and because Nintendo is trying to keep players engaged with the Zelda franchise across Switch and Switch 2 hardware. Nintendo’s Japan site said preorders started on My Nintendo Store and would open at other retailers once preparations are complete.
The figure is an amiibo, Nintendo’s tap-to-use collectible line that connects to games through near-field communication, or NFC, a short-range wireless link. Nintendo said the Mineru figure has articulated arms and can deliver random items in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, with a chance to unlock a special fabric for Link’s paraglider in Tears of the Kingdom.
Nintendo Everything reported that the paraglider fabric partly glows in the dark, while Nintendo said in Japan that the arms can be bent with a fair degree of freedom so buyers can pose the figure. That gives the release a display angle as well as an in-game function.
Nintendo Wire said the figure was being shown through the Nintendo Today app, the company’s news and update service, and that pricing had not yet been detailed in its initial report. Nintendo Life later reported that U.S. pre-purchase was live at $34.99 on Nintendo’s website.
The release also broadens Nintendo’s current amiibo slate. Nintendo’s U.S. lineup page lists Mineru’s Construct alongside upcoming or recent figures tied to Kirby, Splatoon and other first-party franchises, showing that the company has not let the format fade in the Switch 2 cycle.
There is a market backdrop. Nintendo shares fell 7% in Tokyo on Monday after Switch 2 price hikes and concern over the company’s game pipeline, Reuters reported, citing investors’ focus on whether Nintendo can keep momentum after a strong hardware launch. Morningstar analyst Kazunori Ito wrote that the year-on-year decline in shipment guidance risked signaling weaker confidence in Nintendo’s pipeline, though he viewed that as “too pessimistic.” Reuters
That is why a small plastic figure still matters. The Mineru release is not a blockbuster game, but it keeps Zelda in the news, gives collectors a new purchase target and connects older Switch software with Switch 2 compatibility at a time when Nintendo is under pressure to show a fuller calendar.
Peers are watching the same consumer-spending problem from different angles. Reuters said Sony, unlike Nintendo, is more diversified and its shares rose Monday after it forecast lower gaming sales but higher profit, while Asymmetric Advisors’ Amir Anvarzadeh wrote that Sony was in a better position to pass higher memory-chip costs to consumers.
The risk is supply and price sensitivity. Nintendo has not disclosed how many Mineru figures it will ship, and collectible hardware can sell unevenly if early allocations are tight. For a figure launching in September, retailers and preorder limits may matter almost as much as the release date itself.
Nintendo said Switch 2 users can scan amiibo by touching the figure to the NFC point on the Joy-Con 2 right control stick or to the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller’s NFC point. That keeps the figure usable across Nintendo’s current hardware base, not just as a late-cycle accessory for the original Switch.
