With The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD’s launch coming in less than two months, an amiibo featuring Zelda alongside her trusty Loftwing has been revealed. This Nintendo Switch remaster of the Wii classic was first announced during a February Nintendo Direct, and it’s so far the only major Zelda release known to be coming for during The Legend of Zelda’s 35th anniversary.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD introduces several features that weren’t in the original. One of these is the ability to play the game without using motion controls. The original game’s motion controls were controversial due to the constant need to recalibrate the Wii Motion Plus in order to swing Link’s sword, as well as for the precision needed to land sword strikes. For the remaster, players can use either motion controls or the new tilt controls with the right analog stick, though it’s currently not clear if one control scheme or another will be locked to the Switch’s handheld and docked modes.
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A new Nintendo trailer showcasing the Zelda & Loftwing amiibo’s functionalities is now available on YouTube, revealing the Skyward Sword amiibo will launch alongside the remaster on July 16. Normally in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, players can travel between the surface and the sky by visiting one of the bird statues on the surface. But by scanning the amiibo, they can return to the sky at any point on the surface without needing to visit a bird statue, and it apparently even works when in a dungeon. When scanning the amiibo on the surface, Link can return to the spot where he used the amiibo to travel to the sky, similar to the travel medallion in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Other Zelda games have had many different types of amiibo functionality. The various Link amiibos were compatible with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and they would drop chests that would have a chance of giving different types of Link outfits depending on the amiibo used. The Wolf Link amiibo from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD release was also compatible, and when scanned Wolf Link would become Link’s companion for a short while. He would automatically attack enemies for Link, making him a boon to have when traveling Hyrule.
Though there is also a danger in locking a quality-of-life features behind a physical figure. Paying for a quality-of-life feature that should be in the game for free is already iffy as is, but locking it behind figures that scalpers will surely get their hands on in droves is a bad recipe. This feature will make this figure more desired and expensive to find, making the feature inaccessible to most players. While it’s not the most anti-consumer thing Nintendo has done recently, it’s annoying to lock a feature behind an amiibo that will only go up in value over time.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD will be available for Nintendo Switch on July 16, 2021.
Source: Nintendo
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