Nintendo has added support for the various Zelda amiibos in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. Scanning the Link or Toon Link amiibos will replenish your arrows. Scanning the Zelda or Shiek amiibos will replenish your health. If you scan the Ganondorf amiibo, it will cause Link to take double damage from enemies and the hearts in your health gauge will turn blue to indicate this change. If you scan the Ganondorf amiibo in Hero Mode, it will add 2x damage on top of the 2x you already have from being in Hero Mode. This means you take 4 times as much damage, so it effectively gives you a Super Hero Mode if the normal Hero Mode isn’t enough for you! And of course we already looked at what the Wolf Link amiibo does. Some of these amiibos can be used to heal during Cave of Shadows runs, too.
Hero Mode is essentially the game’s hard mode. Not only do you take twice as much damage as normal, but the entire game world is mirrored, just like it was in the Wii version of the original game. This is where you can go once you’ve done everything in normal mode (including the Cave of Ordeals and the new Cave of Shadows for Wolf Link). Potions will be significantly more important in this mode, just as they were in Hero Mode in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
Most of your time in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD will be spent exploring the fields of Hyrule or delving into the depths of its many dungeons. Inside, many foul beasts await, hoping to destroy you. The sound effects and music are quite good, just as they were in the original. The visuals are much more detailed than in the original versions of the game, with everything now covered in much better textures that have a lot more detail. You can see it in just about any surface, or even in the ridges on Midna’s head piece.
There are some minor flaws in the game though. One of them is the fact that when it’s early in the morning, the bloom effect is excessive and over the top. This makes the game look a little washed out if you’re outside. It’s more noticeable in some areas than others. There probably should’ve been a Boss Rush mode, like in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. These are both very minor things and overall the game is very high quality. Some of the game’s geometry is also improved over the original. For example, the gems on the walls in the screenshot below are much rounder than in the original game.
The main question your probably asking would be “Is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD worth getting?” If you really liked the original game or haven’t played the original, then yes. The game has a huge graphical improvement over the original, so it’s still worth it even if you own the Gamecube or Wii versions. The game will take you about 50 hours of play time to complete. My playthrough for this review took me a total time of 44:16, but that’s partly because I’ve played the original. This was a 100% run too, as I got all upgrades, all the Poes, all the golden bugs, all heart pieces, and all the stamps. I got everything myself, except I did have to look up the last 5 stamps that I was missing. You can pick up the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD for $59.99 at any of a number of retailers, or on the Nintendo Wii U eShop. I’d recommend a physical copy, as the digital download will eat 5,375.3MB (or about 5GB) of your Wii U’s system memory (according to the eShop page for the game)! Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time with this game and plan to tackle Hero Mode sometime soon. I do not regret purchasing this game at all! The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD is a game that sees you set out on an epic journey to save the world and your loved ones from the encroaching Twilight!
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Review copy supplied by author.
