Nintendo
Nintendo
Advertisement

Hyrule Warriors (JP) is a hack and slash game from Nintendo and Koei Tecmo for Wii U. It combines The Legend of Zelda with Warriors gameplay, crossing over many characters and locales from across The Legend of Zelda games.

An updated port for the Nintendo 3DS, titled Hyrule Warriors Legends was released worldwide in March 2016. A Switch version, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, was released in Spring 2018.

Plot

The balance of the Triforce is disrupted when the dark sorceress, Cia steals the Triforce of Power. Using its power, combined with her magic over time, she creates a series of interdimensional rifts, summoning monsters and villains from thru ought Hyrule's past and parallel universes, to invade the lands of Hyrule.

Sensing the danger Cia poses via precognitive dream, Princess Zelda gathers Hyrule's army; including, newly graduated knight, Link, loyal captain, Impa, and spunky sorceress-in-training, Lana, as they travel through Hyrule's three timelines and attempt to stop Cia; all while recruiting heroes from throughout Hyrule's past, present and multiverse.

Gameplay

The game features classic Dynasty Warriors styled gameplay, with the setting and characters of The Legend of Zelda. It shares very little with other Zelda games. The main gameplay seems to Link using the items from various Zelda games like Bombs and the Fire Rod in musou-style attacks.

Charging up a meter allows Link to do a special move. Filling up the magic bar allows a Focus mode where characters do a lot more damage. There is a map in the game to show the fighting with blue representing allies and red meaning enemies. The main goal is to control all the keeps, but there are other temporary goals like defeating bosses and clearing passages.

Story Mode

The normal mode where the player encounters the characters in a story based manner. The player chooses the stage which they play with some split paths. Each stage is only playable with certain characters in this mode. Each stage has a few hidden treasures like the heart pieces and Gold Skultulas.

Adventure Mode

Traversing the original Legend of Zelda, except instead of playing the screens normally, each screen is a challenge in the Hyrule Warriors world. The goals consist of killing a certain number of enemies, capturing certain bases are more, but to get an A ranking, players will have to meet 3 requirements; being taking almost no damage, defeating above a threshold of enemies and completing the level in a certain amount of time. These requirements are told when the player tries the level again. Searching a screen will unlock items and weapons.

There are playable characters and weapons locked behind this mode.

Co-op

There is co-op in this game, but in stead of splitscreen, one player uses the gamepad while the other plays on the TV. This results in a slight resolution drop from the main game though.

Characters

WiiU HyruleWarriors Link01 Hyrule Warriors Zelda
WiiU HyruleWarriors Impa
Lana (Hyrule Warriors)
Link Princess Zelda
Impa
Lana
Sheik (Hyrule Warriors) Darunia (Hyrule Warriors) Princess Ruto (Hyrule Warriors) WiiU HyruleWarriors Midna
Sheik
Darunia
Princess Ruto
Midna
Agitha (Hyrule Warriors) Fi (Hyrule Warriors)
HW Ganondorf 2
Zant (Hyrule Warriors)
Agitha
Fi
Ganondorf
Zant
Ghirahim (Hyrule Warriors) WiiU HyruleWarriors Cia
WiiU HyruleWarriors Volga
WiiU HyruleWarriors Wizzro
Ghirahim
Cia
Volga
Wizzro
HW Twili Midna HW Young Link
HW Tingle
HW Tetra
Twili Midna
Young Link
Tingle
Tetra
HW King Hyrule HWL Skull Kid
HWL Linkle
HWL Medli
King Daphnes
Skull Kid
Linkle
Medli
HW Marin HW Toon Zelda
HW Ravio
HW Yuga
Marin
Toon Zelda
Ravio
Yuga


Stages

The game takes place throughout Hyrule in both time and location. There are many areas from many games:

  • Hyrule Field (Original)
  • Twilight Field (TP)
  • Eldin Province (TP)
  • Eldin Caves (TP)
  • Skyloft (SS)
  • Faron Province (SS)
  • Earth Temple (SS)
  • Death Mountain (OoT)
  • Lake Hylia (OoT)
  • Forest 
  • Desert
  • Warped Temple

Items

These items are usuable by all the characters and have a field effect. Each can be upgraded by the power of the Great Fairy.

  • Bombs -> Giant bombs
  • Potions
  • Hookshot -> Pull down the Moon
  • Bow and Arrow -> Bow of Light
  • Boomerang -> Gale Boomerang

Weapons

Each character has at least one weapon that plays differently from the other characters' fighting styles.

Link

  • Hylian Sword
  • Magic Rod (Fire Rod)
  • Gauntlet (with a Ball and Chain)
  • Bottle
  • Epona (DLC)
  • Spinner (amiibo)

Zelda

  • Rapier
  • Baton (Wind Waker)

Impa

  • Giant Blade (Biggoron Sword)
  • Naginata

Lana

  • Book of Sorcery
  • Spear
  • Summoning Gate

Agitha

  • Parasol

Midna

  • Shackle

Fi

  • Goddess Blade

Ruto

  • Zora Scale

Darunia

  • Hammer (Megaton Hammer)

Sheik

  • Harp

Ghirahim

  • Demon Blade

Zant

  • Scimitar

Ganondorf

  • Great Sword

Cia

  • Scepter

Volga

  • Dragon Spear

Wizzro

  • Ring

Twili Midna

  • Mirror

Tingle

  • Baloon

Young Link

  • Mask and Kokiri Sword

Tetra

  • Cutlass

King Daphnes

  • Sail

Toon Link

  • Light Sword
  • Sand Wand

Skull Kid

  • Ocarina

Linkle

  • Dual Crossbows
  • Boots

Medli

  • Rito Harp

Marin

  • Bell

Toon Zelda

  • Phantom Arms

Ravio

  • Rental Hammer and items

Yuga

  • Picture Frame

Enemy Variety

  • Bokoblins
  • Larger Bokoblins
  • Moblins
  • Stalchildren
  • Gorons
  • Stalfos
  • Darknut
  • Redead Knights
  • Lizalfos
  • Dodongo
  • Argorok
  • The Imprisoned
  • Gohma
  • Manhandla

DLC and Updates

With the launch of the game, there was an update that added a Retro Master Sword as well as a Challenge Mode.

On September 30 for Japan and October for the rest of the world, there will be another update with 3 new characters, Cia, Valga and Wizzro. It also introduces the option to not play cutscenes during battles.

Announced during Tokyo Game Show 2014, there will be 4 packs of DLC coming to the game. Purchasing them all together in the season pass gives the buyer, Dark Link, a new Link Costume. The season pass costs $19.99 in US, 3000 yen in Japan, 13.49£ in UK and 14.99€ for the rest of Europe. The DLC takes up 1 GB in Japan, 1.6 GB in Europe.

Hyrule Warriors Master Quest Pack

The first piece of DLC comes October 16. It is priced at 1200 yen for Japan. It includes:

  • Epona (Link's Weapon) (Available separately for 500 yen)
  • New Scenario: The Black Witch Cia - Five chapters describing the rise of CIa including her meeting Wizro and Valga(Available separately for 500 yen)
  • Master Quest Adventure Map - A new adventure map with the Master Quest rules(Available separately for 500 yen)
  • Uncorrupted Costumes for both Lana and Cia (Available separately for 200 yen each)

Twilight Princess Pack

The second pack of DLC, based around Twilight Princess. It is priced at 1200 yen for Japan and came in the end of November. It includes:

  • 1 new character
  • Dominion Rod (Zelda)
  • Twilight Adventure Map
  • Ilia Costume (Zelda)
  • Postman Costume (Link)

Majora's Mask Pack

The third pack of DLC, based around Majora's Mask. It is priced at 1200 yen for Japan and came in the end of January. It includes:

Boss Pack

The final piece of DLC and the cheapest. In Japan, It cames in February 2015 at 500 yen. Here's the content it includes:

  • Two new modes

Legends DLC

Every DLCs from Hyrule Warriors Legends can be purchased but the Wii U game will only get the new characters and weapons. It includes:

Reception

The game sold pretty well, with over 190 thousand in America at launch and it launched with 69,090 in Japan. At the end of 2014, the game surpassed 400 thousand and 130 thousand in America and Japan respectively. This is particularly good for America as it outpacing all previous Warriors games. As of the end of January, the game has shipped over 1 million.

In terms of reviews, Famitsu gave the title 36 (9/9/9/9) out of 40. Meanwhile, westward reviewers didn't see it as well. It scored a 77.33% and a 75 on GameRankings and Metacritic respectively. The biggest criticism was the repetitive combat, with the value dependent on if the player liked other Warriors games.

Videos

Videos
Wii_U_-_Hyrule_Warriors_Teaser_Trailer
Teaser Trailer
Wii_U_-_Hyrule_Warriors_E3_2014_Trailer
E3 2014 Trailer
Wii_U_--_Hyrule_Warriors_Trailer_with_Link_and_a_Hylian_Sword
Trailer with Link and a Hylian Sword
Main Page: Hyrule Warriors/videos


References

External links

Advertisement