GameStop to sell Legend of Zelda Monopoly with exclusive content

DLC is one thing. An extra character skin here and there, maybe some gear and an achievement or two, but nothing that would particularly change the way the game is played. Although it has started getting a little silly -- as we saw with Watch Dogs -- you'd have to buy several copies of the game if you wanted everything.

Now, it seems, the preorder exclusive model is spilling across to board games; and not just any board game -- but Monopoly. What could possibly be offered as an exclusive for Monopoly? Well, as has been revealed by the GameStop-exclusive special edition of the new Legend of Zelda-themed version of the game, not much. But that hasn't stopped it from happening.

The game -- which features Hyrule locations instead of the more familiar Monopoly properties, Monopoly money bearing pictures of rupees (in the wrong colours), Deku Sprouts and Deku Trees instead of houses and hotels, and Zelda-themed cards and game pieces -- is being offered as a $39.99 preorder with a release date of 15 September.

If you buy it from GameStop, you get an exclusive game piece -- the Ocarina of Time -- as well as the standard Bow, Hookshot, Boomerang, Triforce and Hylian Shield. In addition, you get six "Item Power Cards for added game play" (although exactly how they add to the game play is unclear): Goddess Harp, Wind Waker, Minish Cap, Spirit Flute, Phantom Hourglass and Ocarina of Time; a lithograph of the Hyrule map; and a square box as opposed to the boring old standard Monopoly rectangle.

The extra token may not be such a big deal; the game cards potentially are. It seems that if you want to find out what the "added game play" is all about, you don't really have a choice about where you buy the game.

Monopoly indeed.