Hyrule Warriors
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This article describes a subject that is or may be outside the core Zelda canon. |
Related | ||
Release | ||
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Platform | Date | |
Credits | ||
Developer | Omega Force | |
Publisher | Koei Tecmo (JP) | |
Producer | Hisashi Koinuma | |
Guides | ||
Walkthrough | ||
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In-depth guide:
Hyrule Warriors Walkthrough |
Hyrule Warriors (ゼルダ無双—Zelda Warriors) is a Zelda spin-off game[1] for the Nintendo Wii U. It is a collaborative effort between Koei Tecmo, the creator of the Dynasty Warriors series, and Nintendo, the creator of the The Legend of Zelda series. It was announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation on December 18th, 2013.
The gameplay is highly similar to that of Dynasty Warriors, but the Zelda universe serves as the setting. It features multiple playable characters from the Zelda universe including Link, Zelda, Impa, Darunia, Midna, Fi, and more, as well as some original characters including Lana, Cia, Volga, and Wizzro.
It was later ported to the Nintendo 3DS as Hyrule Warriors Legends with additional content; and to Nintendo Switch as Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, containing all content from the Wii U and 3DS versions.
A sequel based on the Great Calamity from Breath of the Wild, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, was announced in September 2020 for release in November 2020.
Story
- Main article: Hyrule Warriors Story
The game's story is prompted by the ambitions of a sorceress named Cia. Once a great Seer tasked with watching over the Triforce[2], her heart was corrupted and she became obsessed with Link, setting out to acquire the Triforce so she could wish for his companionship. After raising an army, she attacks Hyrule Castle and captures Zelda. Link, a promising trainee, steps up to rescue Zelda, meeting many allies along the way.
Gameplay
The main gameplay of Hyrule Warriors is within individual stages. Most stages involve capturing enemy keeps and ultimately defeating a certain character or captain, though many have different requirements such as defeating giant bosses or a certain number of enemies. Hyrule Warriors continues the traditional Dynasty Warriors combat style of using various combo attacks on hordes of enemies.
Most attacks are accomplished by chaining a certain combination of weak and strong attacks. For example, pressing the strong attack button ( /
) immediately after a single weak attack (
/
) will yield a certain attack, while pressing the strong attack button after two consecutive weak attacks will produce a different attack. Players may also dodge (
/
) or block (
) enemy attacks.
For stronger enemies, Hyrule Warriors inherited Zelda 's "lock-on" mechanic, allowing the player to focus the camera and their attacks to take down a specific enemy by pressing .
Weak Point Smashes
"Enemies sometimes expose weak points during specific attacks. A Weak Point gauge will appear above an enemy's head when it's vulnerable to a counterattack. Whenever you see the Weak Point gauge, attack quickly and brutally to chip away at it. Once the gauge is completely reduced, you'll be able to perform a powerful Weak Point Smash."
After certain attacks, some enemies will become vulnerable to counterattacks, signified by a Weak Point Gauge that appears before their heads. Attack while the gauge is visible to reduce it. Once it is empty, the warrior will perform a powerful Weak Point Smash.
Special Attacks
- Main article: Special Attack
"Defeating enemies fills your Special Attack gauge. Press /
to use up your Special Attack gauge and perform a powerful Special Attack."
Defeating enemies, picking up Force Fragments, levelling up, or using potions fills the Special Attack gauge. When the gauge is full, press /
to perform a powerful Special Attack. This triggers a brief cutscene-like sequence during which nearby enemies are frozen in place while the warrior attacks them. Certain badges add to the Special Attack gauge, allowing up to three consecutive Special Attacks. Defeating enemies with a Special Attack does not fill the Special Attack gauge.
Focus Spirit
"Press when your Magic gauge is full to use the Focus Spirit ability. While Focus Spirit is active, attack power and speed increase, incoming knock-back damage is reduced, and defeating a certain number of enemies will yield various special bonuses. Press
/
while under the effects of Focus Spirit to completely consume your Magic gauge, allowing you to use a Focus Spirit Attack that knocks your opponents down, exposing their Weak Points."
The Magic gauge is filled using Magic Jars. Press when the gauge is full to use the Focus Spirit technique. This will temporarily increase the warrior's speed and attack power. At the end of its duration, the warrior will perform a powerful attack. One can press
/
to end the effect early and perform a different attack which forces enemies' weak point gauges to show.
If a certain number of enemies are defeated while Focus Spirit is active, the player will receive special bonuses such as extra rupees, EXP, hearts, rare materials, and high-rank weapons.
Items
"Press to use your currently equipped item, such as bombs or a potion."
Press to use the currently equipped item. To switch items, use Left and Right on the D-Pad or use the GamePad's touch screen.
- Bombs (power-up: Super Bomb)
- Found in the mine in the The Armies of Ruin scenario of Legend Mode
- Bow (power-up: Sacred Bow+Light Arrows)
- Found in The Sorceress of the Woods Legend Mode scenario
- Boomerang (power-up: Gale Boomerang)
- Found in The Sorceress of the Valley Legend Mode scenario
- Hookshot (power-up: Clawshot)
- Found in The Shadow King Legend Mode scenario
Item Power-Ups
"By acquiring item power-ups from enemies, you can gain the ability to use stronger versions of items for a short amount of time."
Sometimes defeated enemies drop item power-ups which enable the use of enhanced versions of Link's items. For example, the player may throw a giant bomb with a larger blast radius. The power-up lasts a certain amount of time, after which items return to normal.
Characters
Bosses
Stages
Scenarios
Bazaar
Badge Market
- Main article: Badge Market
"Creating badges for your warriors at the Badge Market will help improve their battle abilities. The bonuses granted by a badge apply only to the warrior for whom it was created. Creating badges requires both Rupees and specific materials, but the benefits they add to warriors can be immensely helpful in battle."
The Badge Market allows you to improve warriors by creating Attack, Defense, or Assist badges. Creating a badge requires certain materials gained by defeating certain enemies alongside a small fee in rupees. While the badges are mostly the same for each character, they require different materials.
Training Dojo
- Main article: Training Dojo
"You can spend Rupees at the Training Dojo to help warriors level up. However, you will not be able to raise their levels beyond that of the current highest-level warrior. The higher the warrior's level, the more Rupees it will cost to train the warrior. It's more useful to use the Training Dojo to grow low-level warriors."
The Training Dojo allows you to level up characters by paying rupees. The max level you may choose is from the highest level character you already have.
Apothecary
- Main article: Apothecary
"Visit the Apothecary to create a mixture for the next battle. The effects can be powerful, but very temporary. Furthermore, for warriors who've crafted an Empty Bottle badge, the Apothecary will provide restorative potions for every battle, free of charge! As you defeat more Gold Skulltulas, you will be able to create more varieties of mixtures and stock up on more types of potions. Plus, their effects will become stronger!"
Allows you to use materials gained and some rupees, in return you increase your chances of getting certain types of weapons. Such as more stars(damage), more slots on found weapons, more weapons in general, more rank to weapons dropped, weapons with empty slots, more attack (ATK) skills or Element (ELE) skills or Versus (VS) skills or Bonus (BON) skills or KO skills or Special (SP) skills.
Smithy
- Main article: Smithy
"By using the Smithy, you can transfer skills between weapons you own. To transfer a skill, you will need to spend an amount of Rupees based on the source weapon and the type of skill. The source weapon will also be destroyed in the process. You can only add skills to weapons with empty skill slots. Overwriting previously activated skills and moving sealed skills won't work."
You chose one weapon with at least one vacant slot in it; as a base weapon. Then you pick one skill from another weapon to put on the base weapon. You may only chose one skill; and it may not be a vacant slot or a skill that has not been unlocked yet. Also you destroy the weapon you chose the skill, not skills, from.
Updates
v1.1.0
- Japan: August 14th 2014
- US: September 26th 2014 (launch)
- Bug fixes
v1.2.0
- Japan: September 1st 2014
- US: September 26th 2014 (launch)
- Challenge Mode
- BGM Selection
- New weapon for Link: 8-Bit Wooden Sword (part of the Hylian Sword line)
- Bug fixes
v1.2.1
- New costume: Dark Link, unlocked by purchasing the Hero of Hyrule Pack.
v1.3.0
- Japan: September 30th 2014
- US: October 16th 2014
- 3 playable characters: Cia, Volga, Wizzro
- Option to turn off boss encounter cutscenes in Adventure Mode
v1.4.0
- Japan: November 27th
- US: November 27th
- The maximum warrior level is now 150
- Can now carry up to 999 of a single type of material
- New mixtures in the Apothecary
- Item Power-Up
- Guard Breaker
- SP Replenishing
- New medals
- Can now receive amiibo presents by touching an amiibo to the GamePad while on the title screen
v1.5.0
- Japan: January 29th
- US: February 5th
- The maximum warrior level is now 200
- New mixtures in the Apothecary
- XP Excelerator
- Rupee Festival
- Material Master
- New medals
- New weapon skills
- New features in the Smithy
- Can remove unwanted weapon skills
- Can now check skills before crafting
- Can sell weapons without having to fill out the maximum inventory
- New info added to Adventure Mode
- Total damage towards rank is shown
- Can restart stages without returning to the map
v1.6.0
- Japan, Europe: February 26th
- US: March 12th
- Increased maximum warrior level to 255!
- Added new mixtures to the Apothecary!
- Introduced new medals to be won!
- Expanded Challenge Mode!
- Performance is now recorded
- New scenarios have been added
- Fixed a bug causing long load times
v1.6.1
- Miscellaneous fixes to improve the overall game experience.
v1.7.0
- Prepared users to transfer characters from Hyrule Warriors Legends
- Added the Classic Tunic costume for Link
v1.8.0
- Made the Hyrule Warriors Legends characters and Ganondorf's Trident available when transferred
v1.8.1
- Fixed a bug with the Toon Link Amiibo
v1.9.0
- Added Medli as a playable character.
v1.10.0
- Added compatibility with the Link's Awakening DLC pack.
- Bug fixes
v1.11.0
- Added compatibility with the Phantom Hourglass & Spirit Tracks DLC pack.
- Bug fixes
v1.12.0
- Added compatibility with the A Link Between Worlds DLC pack.
- Bug fixes
DLC
Hero of Hyrule Pack
The Hero of Hyrule pack is a bundle containing the Master Quest, Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask, and Boss Packs. It also includes a bonus Dark Link costume, available immediately upon purchase. In the US, it is priced at $19.99.
Master Quest Pack
- Japan: October 16th – 1200 Yen
- US: October 16th – $7.99
- New Weapon for Link: Horse
- 5 new scenarios about Cia
- New Master Quest Adventure Mode map, including:
- 16 alternate color costumes.
- 7 new 8-bit weapons.
- 20 new Gold Skulltulas.
- 2 New Costumes: Guardian of Time Lana and Guardian of Time Cia
Twilight Princess Pack
- Japan: November 27th – 1200 Yen
- US: November 27th – $7.99
- New Character: Twili Midna with the Mirror
- New Weapon for Zelda: Dominion Rod
- New Twilight Adventure Mode map, including:
- 16 alternate color costumes.
- 6 new 8-bit weapons.
- 20 new Gold Skulltulas.
- 2 New Costumes: Postman Uniform Link and Ilia's Clothes Zelda
Majora's Mask Pack
- Japan: January 29th – 1200 Yen
- Europe: January 29th - €6,99
- US: February 5th - $7.99
- 2 New Characters: Young Link with the Mask and Tingle with the Balloon
- New Termina Map in Adventure Mode, including 20 new Gold Skulltulas, 5 new 8-bit weapons, and 12 new costumes
- 3 New Costumes: Skull Kid's Clothes Lana, Era of the Hero of Time Outfit Impa, and Era of the Hero of Time Outfit Sheik
Boss Pack
- Japan: February 26 – 500 Yen ("Ganon Pack")
- Europe: February 26 - €2.99 / £2.69
- US: March 12 - $2.99
- 2 new challenge modes
- Boss Challenge
- Ganon's Fury
- Costumes for Link, Zelda, Lana, Ganondorf, and Cia
Legends Character Pack
US: $12.99
Legends of Hyrule Pack
The Legends of Hyrule pack is a bundle containing the Link's Awakening, Phantom Hourglass & Spirit Tracks, and A Link Between Worlds packs.
- US: Wii U - $9.99, 3DS & Wii U - $19.99
Link's Awakening Pack
US: Wii U - $4.99, 3DS & Wii U - $9.99
Phantom Hourglass & Spirit Tracks Pack
US: Wii U - $4.99, 3DS & Wii U - $9.99
- New Character: Toon Zelda with the Phantom Arms
- New Weapon for Toon Link: Sand Wand
A Link Between Worlds Pack
US: Wii U - $4.99, 3DS & Wii U - $9.99
Reception
Hyrule Warriors was generally well received. The game currently holds a 75 on metacritic, with reviewers praising the soundtrack and fan service. The Adventure Mode has been highly praised by most reviewers for the replayability it adds to the game.
Gallery
- Main article: Gallery:Hyrule Warriors
Screenshots
- Main article: Category:Hyrule Warriors Screenshot Files
Videos
Nintendo Direct Reveal Trailer 12-18-13
E3 2014 Trailer
Features Trailer
Hyrule Warriors Nintendo Direct August 4, 2014
Launch Trailer
References
- ↑ "With Hyrule Warriors, there is a link between the two, but it exists as a separate dimension, so it doesn't exist as part of the main canon." — Eiji Aonuma, Game Informer Interview with Eiji Aonuma
- ↑ "Deep in the forests, far from mortal eyes, a great sorceress watched over the balance of the Triforce." — Narrator, Hyrule Warriors