A huge new expansion for 'The Legend of Zelda' launched overnight — a major surprise from Nintendo to fans

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (expansion)

The second major expansion to "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" surprise-launched overnight.
A new trailer showcases the expansion, dubbed "The Champion's Ballad."
More than just new story content, the expansion includes a crazy-looking motorcycle for your character Link.

The Hero of Hyrule is back once again, this time with a major expansion to the already massive "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

The expansion, which is called "The Champion's Ballad," is available now — a major surprise announced by Nintendo late on Thursday night during an annual gaming awards show. To get the new content in "Breath of the Wild," you must first purchase the expansion pass for the game; it costs $20, and gets you the previously-released expansion as well as the new one.

Nintendo previously said "The Champion's Ballad" would arrive in "December," but never put a release date on it. Then, on Thursday evening, "Breath of the Wild" producer Eiji Aonuma announced its sudden availability during The Game Awards — an annual game awards show held in Los Angeles.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

What distinguishes "The Champion's Ballad" from previous expansion content for "Breath of the Wild" is its focus on new story progression. The first expansion content, "The Master Trials," offered challenges aimed at dedicated players. But people play "Zelda" games for narrative-based adventure, and this second expansion content is more along those lines.

Oh, and there's a motorcycle! It's called "Master Cycle Zero." It looks kinda ridiculous, but it'll assuredly be a ton of fun to motor around Hyrule at high speeds. You can find out for yourself right now, as the expansion is available as of last night on both the Nintendo Switch and Wii U — you must own "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" in order to play it, and you must also buy the $20 expansion pass.

Check out "The Champion's Ballad" — and that insane new motorcycle — in action right here: