On January 11th, 2018, a Nintendo Direct Mini announced that Hyrule Warriors is coming to the Nintendo Switch. Previously released on Wii U and 3DS, the Switch’s Definitive Edition of the game will include everything previously released, DLC included. Legend Mode, Cia’s Tale, Linkle’s Tale, and the Saga of the Great Sea will all be playable. Thus, the game will have a total of 29 playable characters and numerous costumes and weapons for each.
The game will feature 2-player multiplayer, either on the TV and on the Switch’s screen. It’s playable with one Joy-Con per person, so no extra Joy-Cons necessary. The most surprising thing I’ve heard is that the TV mode will play at 1080p HD.
I’m interested to see how well this claim will hold up in practice. The Switch has been shown in the past to have frame rate issues when in TV mode. I can only imagine how having so many enemies on screen at one time will drag it down even further. Add onto that the effects from the characters attacking and I’d be surprised if you got any speed at all.
I suppose it’s possible that the updates have fixed it, but Warriors can have hundreds of enemies on the screen at one time. It’ll be a close thing, I think.
In other new, fans of Breath of the Wild will be happy to know that there are Champion’s garb costumes for Link and Zelda. The iconic blue tunics will allow you to decimate your foes in style. No word yet on if other things from BotW will make their way to the game, like weapons or attacks. Having the option to make Ganondorf turn into his Malice form as a special would be great.
On the whole, at this point in time, I don’t think I’m going to be buying this game. I’ve already got the Wii U and 3DS versions, and although it’d be nice to have all that content in one place, I don’t think it’s worth it for me. I’d only consider buying it if I only had one version AND no DLC already purchased. Two new costumes just isn’t worth the price.
Besides, there’s not much replay value for me. You go through the story once and that’s it. There’s local co-op in the other Hyrule Warriors, which could be fun, but the gameplay is just the same repetitive waves of enemies in different locations. Not the most scintillating gameplay when you have Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that they come out with some new story for this ‘new’ game. An extended plot might be enough to get me to open my home (and my wallet) to this rehash. This early in development though, with no extra information from Nintendo forthcoming, it’s gonna be a hard pass from me.
The game is slated for release in NA in spring 2018 and in Japan on March 22nd. No word yet on price or online multiplayer.
