The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD launches on the 4th of March this year for WiiU. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is being sold for $59.99 physically bundled with an exclusive Wolf Link Amiibo, while digital version are available for $49.99, obviously with no amiibo. To be clear this Wolf Link Amiibo is only available bundled with the physical version of the game and is currently not being sold in any other way. The original Twilight Princess was released on the Gamecube and Wii 10 years ago in 2006.
Wolf Link amiibo when tapped on the WiiU gamepad will pull Wolf Link into a new area called the Cave of Shadows, which appears to be the official and final name of the rumored Twilight Cave. In this dungeon it is survival of the fittest as you do all you can to make your way through with as many hearts as possible. In a series of challenges it serves as a score attack challenge mode of sorts, and after you have completed the dungeon you will get to save your remaining hearts onto the amiibo as a record of how well you went. There is no word of whether you will gain anything useable in game for completing the Cave of Shadows yet. The Wolf Link amiibo will also be used for Legend of Zelda WiiU that will be released later this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGvAte-D-P8 Other amiibos from the Legend of Zelda universe will also be usable in Twilight Princess HD once a day. Here is how you can use them:
- Link or Toon Link: These Amiibos will allow you to instantly restore your arrows
- Zelda or Shiek: These Amiibos will instantly heal you no matter how badly you've been hurt
- Ganondorf: This Amiibo will have Link take double the damage until the next time you exit the game session. This is essentially a replacement of the Hero Mode present in Skyward Sword, WindWaker HD and A Link Between Worlds.
At this point in time the Wolf Link Amiibo is only being sold as a bundle with the physical release of the game but there has been a Children's Product Certificate filed for the Wolf Link Amiibo hinting at a possible standalone release. Additionally, the Amiibo website shows Wolf Link as a standalone there in his own casing, and not with Twilight Princess HD. However, previous amiibo that were only bundled with games were shown like this as well. None of this, nor the mention of 'currently' in the press release prove that it will be sold separately.
There has been a trend in the past with issues relating to Amiibo availability, especially for those of high demand. Twilight Princess HD is no different from this and in some ways worse. With Wolf Link only being available in a bundle with physical versions of the games this could also mean different regions have more access to it that others due to the region locking on the WiiU for games. Aside from Wolf Link the next Amiibo that grants a difference in gameplay is Ganondorf, who is currently a semi-rare Amiibo, a "hard mode" DLC like his will drive up demand to a point it might become even rarer.
There has also been no word of whether the Wolf Link Amiibo will be able to interact with any other games like Super Smash Bros or Hyrule Warriors. The Amiibo compatibility website currently lists it as TBA with other games and likely won't be updated until closer to release. With a limited run of Wolf Link Amiibo as a part of the bundle chances are that as physical copies of the game begin to run out scalpers will begin selling them on websites like Ebay for a premium.
To help clear up whether the digital version of the game will be able to access any of the new content created by the Wolf Link amiibo, and some other questions we had as it relates to this amiibo and story we have reached out to Nintendo, and will update if we get a response.
Quick Take
I am not a fan of this. I get that people like collecting things and that amiibos are fun figurines of all your favorite Smash and Nintendo characters but using them to lock out game content isn't good for anyone. If I had wanted a challenge in Zelda games like Skyward Sword or Windwaker HD I could just play Hero mode, now I need to buy a Ganondorf amiibo? For something cosmetic like skins in Woolly World sure, for changes like in Mario Party 10 or this I'm worried how much further it will be taken in the future.
What do you think of Wolf Link amiibo? Are you planning on getting the game? Are you worried about the use of amiibos?
